There are no words to express how grateful we are to be having this experience on "The Loop." What amazes me is loopers say the best is yet to come. The beauty of the waterways and the people have made this experience incredible. We have been cruising for 11 days with our friends from Sno Daz- Principal Bob and Sharon and tomorrow we will go our different ways- but we know that we will meet up with them in some port, in some city or we will go and find them in Florida. We toasted our success and experiences with our champagne from Judi and Ricky Jones! It was wonderful!
Today we visited an historic port that the British created to defend them against the Americans in Pentang, ON. It was very reminiscent of St. Mary's City- but advertised as the Williamsburg of the north. It was an interesting day- but Williamsburg, no! :-)
This afternoon we sat down with a representative of Parkland Marina's- Mike, who graciously gave us over an hour of his time making suggestions and informing us of safe ways to travel through the Georgian Bay. There is no room for error in these waters- granite boulders and rocks lie just below the surface, so homework for cruising is critical in this water. For all other loopers- you need to make Wye Heritage Marina a must stop. Facilities are amazing, bathrooms the best we have been in- and the people incredibly nice. Thank you again Mike for all your help!
Tomorrow we start our journey solo- excited but nervous, and sad that we won't have Sharon and Bob at the end of the day for docktails and dinner!
The pictures you see below are from the Big Chute- in which your boat is placed on a carriage and portaged across the land into Little Chute below. It was something we were looking forward to for a long, long time. Bob and Sharon went in the first transport of the day and we went in the Chute as the only boat. Our boat rested on the bottom of the carriage and the majority of FRYEDAZE's weight we suspended in slings. I sat out front and at first it felt like an amusement park ride- but then it was thrilling and exciting!
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| These granite rocks are what we were carried around in the Big Chute Lift |
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| Portaging boats across the land at Big Chute! |
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| This was the original carriage at Big Chute. It became antiquated when vessels became larger and wider. |
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| This was the view from our marina slip in Orillia. It felt like a giant aquarium- the water is crystal clear and the plants look like they belong in an aquarium. We were told that they would trim the plants the day after we left! |
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| This was an island we saw on the way out of Orillia. It had thousands of birds all over it- and you can see some of them in the trees,. |
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| One of the many swing bridges we traversed through the last part of our trip on the Trent Severn. |
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| Sno Daz going through another skinny channel! |
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| Looking back at the Big Chute after our boat was deposited on the other side |
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| The final lock of the Trent Severn Canal System! |
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| One of the British ship replicas we saw today in Discovery Harbor |
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| The turtle that was swimming by our boat this afternoon.. Glad I had a camera because no body thought it was important enough to come check it out when I called to them! |
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| FRYEDAZE coming through the Hole in the Wall Bridge |
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| FRYEDAZE in the craziness coming out of Lake Simcoe on Sunday |
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| Tying FRYEDAZE into one of the locks. Going down the boats are assisted by the locktenders because the cables are so much lower than the boats |
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| FRYEDAZE coming through the Narrows on the Trent Severn |
On to the Georgian Bay and new adventures!
It looks beautiful! You guys are doing a great job of sharing your journey, and are really making us look forward to our time when we can visit this area on Hakuna Matata.
ReplyDeleteWishing calm seas for you.