Peterborough, Ontario

We planned a long cruise for Wednesday, July 31 traversing Rice Lake, one of the largest bodies of water on the Trent-Severn.  It was a beautiful sunny day with temperatures in the 70’s.  We had a day of smooth sailing with very little boat traffic, surprising since it was the beginning of a long four day weekend in Canada.  Once we got off of the lake we turned onto the very sinuous and picturesque Ononabee River.  This is a beautiful stretch of water.   The way it wound through the countryside it reminded us of the St. John’s River in Florida

The scenery was a combination of wooded banks and cottage colonies, some quite modest and others that were newer and larger.  

We followed it all the way to Peterborough, our destination for the day.  Peterborough is a good sized city of 81,000.  We were lucky to get a slip in the marina as they were almost full.  On Wednesday and Friday nights they have a free concert in the park adjacent to the marina.

We arrived at this very comfortable marina at about 1:30.  We had a dice dockage with our aft deck facing away from the action on the docks and no boat across from us. It was a big marina that really caters to loopers.  That afternoon, we just relaxed on board, no boat chores, laundry or cleaning.  Even Jonny took it easy and nursed his hurt knee.  That evening we had burgers on the grill and zucchini from the farmer’s market and didn’t even go into town.   Very unusual for us!

The following morning Jonny walked into town for some boat supplies and the all essential, beer.  When he returned, we both went back into town to explore this good sized town with all the amenities.

We found another great farmer’s market where we loaded up on local cheeses, fruits, and vegetables including some very colorful mushrooms. 

We had lunch in a New Orleans themed restaurant where the portions were so huge that we ate Lynn’s and brought Jonny’s home to eat later. 

Returning to Zendo, Lynn resumed her online shopping for her sister Lisa’s birthday present and Jonny went for a bike ride to check out the unique lift lock at the next lock.  We had a light salad and corn on the cob from the farmer’s market for dinner.  

By 8 p.m. the band was starting to play at the park next door.  We walked over to check them out and we were somewhat surprised to see a fairly large crowd.  The opening act was just OK but the headliners, Dwayne Gretzky (!?),  was really quite good!  They played mostly cover songs from our era so we happily sang along and danced the whole night.  The band was big enough to have a sax player in addition to all the standard instruments and two talented female singers who had all the dance moves down pat!  It was a lot of fun and we stayed until the end of the show.

When we got back to Zendo, our dock mates, Sergio and Diane came over, as promised, to share their experience boating in the Georgian Bay. They were heading back home to Montreal and they reviewed charts and the places they stayed including pristine anchorages with us.  They were very enthusiastic about their time there and we’ve been looking forward to it as the highlight of this trip.

But before they started their review, they told us that they had seen Georgio walking on the dock while we were at the concert!  They knew he shouldn’t be off the boat so they watched to see what he would do and were ready to grab him and put him back.  Luckily, he strolled back onto the boat.  We had taken a chance and left him on the aft deck while we were out thinking that the boat was high enough off the dock that he wouldn’t roam.  Well, we were wrong so we won’t be leaving him on the aft deck when we’re away any more.  He is an indoor kitty and his front paws are declawed so it’s really not too safe for him to be out and about especially in strange places. 

By the time the events of the evening were over, it was midnight - well past our bedtime these days - and we went right to bed and fell fast asleep.

Hastings, Ontario

We awoke to a beautifully  quiet and calm anchorage by the Hagues Reach lock wall on Monday, June 30. 

We  were very glad we stayed here after the hectic day of locking we had the day before.  Jonny went for a bike ride first thing in the morning.  He rode into Campbellford and brought back butter tarts from Dooher’s, the highly regarded bakeery there. Butter tarts are a big thing in this neck of the woods and now we can see why.  They are delectable little sugary pies with a delicious flaky crust and a filling that is somethin like what you would find in a pecan pie.  Most of them are plain but some have raisins or pecans. Yum!

We went through our first two locks of the day right after we left our lock wall.  The first of them was one of the tallest we’ve seen and the design (really water stains)  looked like a huge piece of modern art!

Locks 11 and 12 are at Ramey Falls.  We tied up ther to explore huge suspension (pedestrians only) bridge that spans the river there. It was quite impressive!  

There was a lot of construction next to it because they are building a new dam there. 

We arrived in Campbellford, a slightly larger town than most in the area and worth exploring. When we tied up at the town dock we saw Laurie and Bob from Miss Behavin who we had gone through locks with the day before.  They had stayed over at the lock wall. We were glad we hadn’t, our location was so much nicer.  

Walking over to the bakery, we bought more butter tarts and one of their famous salted caramel doughnuts (there was a line when we arrived)!  Everything was delicious and we assuaged our guilt in buying more tarts by deciding to freeze some of them.

Resuming our cruise, we went through two more locks.  The lock tenders take pride in the flower gardens they nurture on their grounds.

It started to sprinkle as we were in lock 14.  Lynn tied up her line and scurried through the boat to get rain jackets and close the windows.  As soon as we left the lock it started to rain harder until it was pouring buckets as we were making our way across a wide open lake.  We were under quite a storm and one that had not been forecasted at all!  As we arrived at lock 15, it started to let up.  The lock tender came out to tell us that we would have to wait for her to run the lock for two cycles in order to empty it of the deluge of water that the rain produced!  So we hunkered down for a 30 minute wait.

So we continued on our way going through three more locks (a total of eight for the day).  We arrived at the town of Hastings at 5:30 and stayed at the lock wall right behind Change of Pace with Terri and Jeff. After chatting with them for awhile we wandered into town for the fish and chips that was recommended by several of the lock tenders.  The town was pretty good sized but nowhere near as attractive as Campbellford.

Jonny was nursing his knee because he had slipped and twisted it on the aft deck ladder while we were in one of the locks.  We took it easy that evening icing his knee and pumping him full of ibuprofen to try to prevent it from swelling.

Warsaw, Ontario

First thing we did on the morning of Sunday, July 29 was to walk across the street to a very good supermarket called Metro to do a little grocery shopping.  And by 9:30 we were underway on our foray through the Trent Severn Waterway.  Within a mile we encountered the first of the 44 locks we would be going through on the 240 miles of this historic waterway.

This waterway took 90 years to complete.  The desire was to find a good route  (free of possible military intervention by Americans)  to transport men and supplies from northern Canada to to the southern border.  Efforts to build a route from Georgian Bay to Lake Ontario began in 1834 in bits and pieces but was frequently thwarted and was not entirely completed until 1920.  Today the waterway is a wonderful draw for boaters, tourists and an important source of electric power due to the many locks and dams. 

The route took us through serene low lying flatlands, farmlands and other areas with lots of summer cottages.

Throughout the day we went through a total of 10 locks and met a number of interesting people.  We chatted with Phyllis and Bob, aboard the sailboat Gabriel whose mast was stepped due to the low bridges encountered en route.  They were returning to their home in Michigan having traveled all the way to the Florida Keys. 

After awhile we ended up in the same locks as a huge old tourist canal boat that had seen much better days.  It was being crewed by four men who were taking it further into Ontario to be totally refurbished.  It was rather unwieldy, traveling like a wide barge and it struggled just a little inside the locks.  Because the boat was so large, the locks could only handle two, maybe three, additional boats if they weren’t too large.  And the third one could only be accommodated if it rafted up to ours.  So that’s how we got to meet Laurie and Bob on Misbehaving.  They rafted up to us for three of the locks.

One bit of excitement occurred when Jonny who was busily chatting with the small boat behind us in the lock, neglected to tend his line.  As the lock lifted, the line that he had tied became so tight that try as he might, he was unable to free it.  Finally he called Lynn who was handling the line on the bow of the boat to get the knife from the fly bridge and he cut the line.  It was his favorite line but had he not done it, we would have had a big problem!  Another story for the archives...

We decided to stop for the night on the lock wall at lock #10, Hague’s Reach.  We were the only boat docked at this peaceful park-like setting.  

The lock master gave us the keys to the squeaky clean bathroom and we were set for the night.  We celebrated our first day on the beautiful Trent-Severn Waterway with some liquid refreshments.

Afterwards, we had sausage and peppers for dinner on the aft deck.  Georgio, however, decided to be naughty and jumped off of the boat onto the grassy lawn.  This is the first time he had ventured so far from the boat, in fact only the second time he even tried to get off of it. Jonny spotted him halfway across the lawn near a picnic table and when he called him, Georgio froze and then quickly returned to the boat.  After that he had to stay inside with all the doors closed.  He wasn’t happy about that at all since he really likes to sleep on the aft deck chairs at night. That’s no longer possible if we are docked on a level basis with the shoreline.

We did manage to have another spectacular sunset after a busy and eventful day of travel.

Trenton, Ontario

We set off from our Picton anchorage on Saturday, July 28 at 8 a.m. for a beautiful cruise to Trenton.  The water was like glimmer glass and the sky was clear and sunny.  There was very little boat traffic on the wide open waters of Quinte Bay.  As the day wore on, clouds started to roll in and  ind and waters kicked up so we were very glad we left early.

When we got close to Trenton we called the marina about where to get a pump-out as this, excellent in every other way, marina did not have one.  They told us that the pump-out located nearby was not functioning and we would have to backtrack for an hour to find one!  Jonny, as ever resourceful, thought to call the yacht club which we were directly across from to see if they had one.  They did and only charged us $15 which is low for Canada!

The Trent Port Marina where we had reservations is hands-down the nicest marina we’ve ever been to.  The city has obviously decided to invest in it since this is the entryway to the Trent-Severn Waterway, a fantastic cruising ground that draws people from far and wide.  It is an especially popular part of those who cruise all or part of the Great Loop.  The grounds of this marina were exquisite, as well landscaped as any high end hotel. 

The marina building is very contemporary with an almost sailboat-like appearance.

The washrooms are are laid out as self-contained, nicely decorated pods, each containing its own large shower, sink, toilet and spacious dressing area and each bigger than our bathrooms in our Miami Beach home!  The laundry facilities are free and include detergent and dryer sheets.  There is a very comfortable and inviting cruisers lounge with computers available for use.  An herb garden invited cruisers to help themselves to a wide variety of fresh herbs which Lynn eagerly  availed herself of.

Two grocery stores are across the street from the marina and the center of town, just a couple of blocks away.  This marina is so attractive that a wedding was taking place the afternoon we were there.  Clearly, Trent Port Marina deserved all of its five star ratings!

We spent the afternoon cleaning Zendo and dining on board.  We were visited by this tiny boat with its happy occupants!  

It was after sunset when we finally walked into town.  It looked like a nice town but almost everything was closed by 9 p.m.  Apparently there is live music several nights a week and farmer’s markets twice a week but we missed both.

We returned to Zendo to finalize our plans for the following day when we would start our journey on the Trent Severn Waterway on our way to the Georgian Bay and North Channel.

Picton, Ontario

On Friday, July 27 we cruised through the western end of the 1000 Islands completing our sojourn through this special part of the world.  We left our dock at the 1000 Island Playhouse in Gananoque at 7 a.m. on a beautiful, partly sunny day.  There were white caps on the water but it was not a rough ride. 

After cruising past Kingston we re-entered the big waters of Lake Ontario briefly before entering the protected Bay of  Quinte.

We had a long day of cruising and though it was sunny, it was so windy that we had to alternatively put on and take off our windbreakers.  Fortunately, the water just had a slight chop because we were mainly in protected passageways.  We settled into our long day cruising routine listening to the radio with Jonny at the helm and Lynn knitting and working on her new needlepoint project. Georgio continued roaming around the boat making himself comfortable wherever he landed.

After reading some good food reviews in Picton we decided to stop there for the night. It looked like a cool town up a little branch off of the bay.  We tried to reserve a slip at one of the marinas (or at least a mooring ball) but none were available.  So we cruised a bit further out from the harbor and found a good place to anchor close enough to dinghy into town. 

We dinghied about a mile to get to town but there was no town dock to tie up to.  We had to call a couple  hotels and marinas before we found somewhere that would let us tie up!  Once we secured our dinghy, we walked up the hill to this good-sized little town.  Strolling the streets we found nice, up-to-date shops and a vibrant center.

We found the Acoustic Cafe’ which had won a number of local awards for the quality of its food and beer. Even as early as 6 p.m., it was full but we were able to score a table in the bar until 7 when it was reserved and also when the live music was to begin.  We ordered beers and sandwiches and settled in to await the live music.  Then our server informed us that the reservation for our table was cancelled so we were free to stay and enjoy the performer which we did.

By 8 p.m. we dinghied back to Zendo.  The outboard which was just overhauled was running sluggishly so we will have to have that looked at.  The next day we would leave for Trenton, Ontario, the official start of the next phase of our journey on the Trent-Severn Waterway.