.... and other Bucket List trips!
Welcome to Dave and Joyce’s blog. This blog was initially created to capture our Great Loop adventure. However, it has now transformed into our “Bucket List adventures” blog. Many people followed our Great Loop blog and have told us how much they enjoyed it. That somewhat surprised us … and totally pleased us. So we decided to continue the blog with post Great Loop trips … i.e. “Bucket List”. We hope you enjoy our new adventures!
A note about navigating the blog: Since the beginning, the blog was an active journal, updated daily whenever Internet service was available. The latest information is always posted at the top of the blog page to make it easier for viewers to see our daily/weekly progress. However, when viewing it later, the format is a little awkward. For example, to see the pre- Great Loop blog, scroll down to the archive section and click on the last link July 2010 . After the page is displayed scroll down to the bottom and begin viewing by scrolling back to the top. This will give you a better sense of the trip since it is the true time sequence of our travels … we hope this makes sense … Enjoy!
Cell: 317-403-0128
Email: davejoyceajohnson@gmail.com
This morning we had the marina drop us off at Discovery Harbour in Penetanguishene, ON. This place tells the story of the original 19th century British naval and military outpost built to defend Upper Canada during and after the War of 1812. It gives you a real feel for the lifes of sailors, soldiers and officers who worked at this isolated base on beautiful Penetanguishene Bay. Above Pat and Joyce and the home of the Clerk-In-Charge in the background.
Officer quarters kitchen is bigger than most others' entire homes.
Latter we had lunch at the historic site and George ordered us poutines ... this is a quiz. What is poutines? Other Canadian dishes we sampled are; Chelsea buns, Peameal and Butter Tarts ... all very good (especially for the waistline ... not!).
Hey Prof Baughman ... We'd expect that you may know the answers :-) See you Monday!
Sadly, this ends our cruise with Pat and George. When time flies by, you know you are having a great time. It seemed like days and in reality it has been almost 2 weeks.
A super big thanks to our special friends and hosts ... thank you sooo much Pat and George!
Above Pat, George and Joyce in front of the original Officers' Quarters. A huge difference how the officers lived and the sailors/soldiers lived. Very large and nice quarters for 3 officers. Somewhat small and crowed quarters for others.
Heading towards where replicas of the H.M.S. Bee and H.M.S Tecumseth are docked.
Left picture a sailor explaining the small ship Bee. Above we are told about the larger Tecumseth. Below we check out the lower quarters and galley of the Tecumseth ... all in all, very interesting.
Big Chute sitting high while Reflection "dog-paddles" waiting for the chute to decend into the water.
And let the ride begin! Reflection about to take the dive down. Kind of like a slow motion roller coaster.
Later through one last lock we arrive in the Georgian Bay. Several narrow, but well marked channels must be navigated before getting to the big body of water. However the above markers are ridiculously close. George had to steer with the motors to make the turn ... great job!
Captain George eases Reflection into the Chute.
Looking from the stern ... Reflection is thinking OMG, I did that!
Joyce admiring the view of the Georgian Bay heading for Midland ON.
We arrive at the Bay Point Yachting Centre, take on fuel and head for our slip. This is a huge marina with over 600 slips. Joyce says it reminds her of marinas we visited in the New England states after we bought our boat. Lots of sail boats and cute waterfront homes.
Tomorrow we visit Midland and then early Sunday morning the limo picks us up at 5am to take us to the airport.
After leaving Orillia this morning we encountered our first lock of the day. It was crowded but they managed to squeeze 5 of us in.
George follows a caravan of boats to the next lock.
A view of the 48 ft. high lock we just exited.
Pat taking pictures of the rocky channel. Magnificent scenery!
After boats have straps snugged under them the train ride begins ... all aboard, going up!
Going down, down, down!
Joyce enjoying the beautiful scenery.
Again, a full lock. We locked next to a vintage Chris Craft. The owner told us he had "Class of 51" completely refurbished in 2001. Beautiful wood boat.
Pat at the helm following "Class of 51" towards Big Chute.
Several boats float into Big Chute.
Al and Sue on their boat at the highest position, begin their decent down the tracks.
We are staying on the wall tonight and plan to be at the "blue line" first thing in the morning. Not much room in the Big Chute when Reflection sits her bottom down :-)
Then we will be on to our final lock that puts us into the Georgian Bay and then on to Midland, ON. Staying there until Sunday morning where a limo will take us to the Toronto airport.
As predicted, yesterday was mostly a rain out. Joyce and Dave managed to stay dry walking to the laundromat and back. George wasn't so lucky. He took his computer to a repair shop and got drenched on the way back. However, he somehow manage to keep the Chelsie Rolls and cinnamon bread dry ... oh so good and oh so bad for the waist line:-)
We decided to eat at our favorite restaurant (again) as above Chef George prepare Chicken Parmesan. It was too wet to eat on outside deck, so dinner was served in Reflection's main dinning room ... great food, great time ... our compliments to the chef!
Today is a great day ... which translates to shopping day in Orillia. Today is also Pat and George's 43th wedding anniversary ... so Happy anniversary to both of you! We celebrated by going to a nearby restaurant for dinner ... good, but not nearly as good as our favorite restaurant:-)
Orillia was a great stop but tomorrow we look forward to cruising to our next destination ... The Big Chute ... ya ain't going to believe this lock!
Left the wall early this morning and shortly after entered the narrow Trent Canal. Captain George transmitted a "Security" (pronounced Securitay) announcing our entrance into the "one-way" channel. We hoped and prayed no one approached us from the opposite direction. Solid rock lines this channel and with Reflection's beam at 14.5' there is no passing for 18 miles (except for a few pull-over spots). Encountered no boats ... yeah!
Out of the Trent Canal Captain George points to entrance to Lake Simcoe.
Pat and Joyce ride another bath tub lock down. From this point on we will go down in elevation. We are leaving the highest point in the world that a vessel can, under its own power, come from the sea.
Once in the lake George gives Dave the controls (hey, he knows its hard for Dave to hit anything in this big body of water:-). The large lake is approximately 20 miles across to the narrows which gives us access to a nice marina in Orillia.
It was a long day, encountering 7 locks, but it was smooth cruising all day. Tomorrow will be stormy so we will stay in the marina for 3 days, giving us time to do housekeeping, laundry and see the sights of Orillia, ON.
We left the marina this morning heading for Fenelon Falls. George is hoping we can get there early enough to get a place along the downtown wall. Above George on auto pilot crossing Lake Sturgeon.
What wasn't so easy was putting Reflection between two small boats occupying "our" space along the wall ... however Captain George managed to squeeze her in with no damage to anyone:-) What a great spot. Easy walking to restaurants and shops.
It was a nice, easy crossing and we were at the downtown lock by 11:30 am. This is a pretty tall lock ... 18 ft. Above Pat holding the bow in place while Dave handles the stern.
Joyce managed to find the shops ... but not until Dave found the "special shop" that sells vodka and gin:-) Tomorrow we plan to leave early and head for Orillia. Storms are predicted for Tuesday so we want to be in a marina before they hit. It will be a long day on the water and we plan to stay at Orillia for three days.
Happy Fourth of July to all! We departed later today because the marina we are staying in next has only a few places for vessels the size of Reflection and they are next to the fueling station. In order not to hamper fuel sales we arrived around 3:45 pm. With a lot of current flowing Captain George expertly swung Reflection in behind the above boat on the face dock where we stayed for the evening.
We cruised from Buckhorn to Bobcaygeon with only two (but very crowded) locks and lots of open water. So it was a nice relaxing cruise. Above the girls are ready to investigate the quaint downtown shops. Later in the evening we enjoyed pizza at a local eatery ... another great day in Canada. Tomorrow we hope to tie off at Fenelon Falls ... more information later. Stay tuned in!
Above Pat getting lines ready for departure. My oh my ... look how narrow the channel is that we are about to cruise.
Many, many little rock islands and homes. Captain George has to be alert navigating the narrow channels. Get outside the channel and chances are there is going to be damage to your boat.
cruising by rapids ... everything in this area is simply magnificent.
However it quickly opens up to beautiful rivers and lakes ... with little islands and small homes inhabiting them.
Above we cruise by a small church sitting on a rock island.
Waiting at the blue line for the lock to open. All locks have walls and the section painted blue is reserved for waiting boats. Later we tied to an island wall next to a lock that we will go through tomorrow morning heading for Bobcaygeon. A great day of cruising and sight-seeing!
We began our journey through the Trent-Severn waterway cruising from Peterborough to the community of Lakefield. It was only 10 miles but took most of the day ... navigated through 7 locks! Joyce and Dave had forgotten how much work it was. Captain George and Admiral Pat re-familiarized them with the process and after a few locks we were all a locking machine:-) Above George approaches a "normal" lock. Above right George and Joyce admire the view from the top of what Dave calls the bath tub lock. Boats enter the tub container, tie off and go up while boats in the top container come down ... its an amazing and different kind of lock. Seven locks in one day is a lot of locks and can be exhausting. But, we thoroughly enjoyed it ... and it made the relaxation period special. George cooked super-hamburgers on the grill with all the fixings ... dinner and wine served outside on stern deck of Reflection ... oh so good ... sleeping well tonight ... good night to all.
Yesterday we boarded "Reflection" and got settled into our stateroom ... very nice with lots of storage. Later Captain George cooked us a wonderful meal (pork chops and gravy with veggies). With a full stomach, and several glasses of red wine, we retired early.
Up early with the sound of rain, we worried about the Canada Day parade. The rain stopped and the parade was quite a success. Afterwards we walked back to the marina/park where food vendors galore were set up. Joyce and Dave had Thai food and Pat and George chose Russian ... all very good!
Later Dave and Joyce scouted the marina looking for a small boat they could borrow .... found one .... look familiar Linda and Steve? ... Oh, by the way Mr. Steve, Mr. Dave is in contention for the Liam "best buddy" award :-)
We ended the day with spectacular fireworks viewed from the top helm of Reflection. Gorgeous evening with mother nature adding a full moon to the show.
It was a 8 hour bus trip, but went without a hitch. We left our hotel in the morning and walked less than a block to the Greyhound terminal with Doug as our guide and porter! We had one transfer in Toronto and arrived at our hotel in Peterborough around 4:30 pm. Checking our marina view, Joyce thinks she spots "Reflection". Dave says no way ... they will arrive tomorrow ... or so he thought.
What a happy sight to see that George and Pat arrived safely ahead of schedule! We spent sometime "catching up" and decided we can't do it in one day, but will have plenty of time later while cruising the Canadian waterways.
July 1st will be a very festive time in the marina and adjourning park .... more on that later. Its kind of festive right now (two fisted Joyce)! Tomorrow we move onto Reflection ... can't wait. Also, Captain George and Admiral Pat give a big thanks to Doug and Vicky for delivering Dave and Joyce safely to Peterborough:-)
First leg of trip completed! Angie and Rob delivered us to Dough and Vicky's home on north side of Indianapolis. All posing with Darcy in front of SUV that will take us to Windsor, ON.
Arrived in Windsor around 3:30 pm ... nice trip. Joyce viewing Detroit River from our beautiful room. Photographer missed the big freighter that cruised by earlier. Tomorrow we hop a bus to Peterborough, ON
Canal will open on Wednesday. If so, they should make it
to Peterbourough, ON by July 1st where we will board
"Reflection" and begin crusing the Trent Severn and Georgian Bay waters. Our friends Doug and Vicky are taking us to Windsor, ON, where we will board a bus to Peterbourough. More later!
Bull riding