Midland, Ontario

We woke up in our beautiful anchorage off of Hope Island in the Georgian Bay on Wed., August 8. After each of us did our daily exercise routine, we took off for a short three hour cruise backtracking a bit to Midland.  There, we arrived at Bay Port Marina where we would stay for six nights.    We were renting a car to drive to Toronto to visit Jonny’s cousin Cathy and her family and from there Lynn was flying to Chicago to surprise her sister Lisa for her 60th birthday.  One of the things Midland is known for is their collection of murals depicting historic events located throughout the town including on the waterfront.

Upon arriving, we took advantage of a nightly briefing on cruising the Georgian Bay conducted by one of the marina owners.  The almost two hour briefing was most informative and he was even available to mark routes and anchorages on our charts!  The marina was well equipped with every convenience including capable staff and they gave amazing deals to Loopers which resulted in costing us only $30 a night!  

Afterwards, we got a ride into town and walked around a bit.  Midland is a very nice mid-sized town with all the amenities that cruisers need.  It was quite an attractive town.

We had dinner at an excellent restaurant called the Explorer’s Cafe’.  The owners were a couple who had met on explorations in Antarctica and were married among a colony of penguins! The menu was quite unique and delicious as were the decorations that reflected their far flung travels.  

On Thursday we rented a car to drive two hours to Toronto where we stayed overnight at Jonny’s cousin, Cathy’s.  A highlight was a visit to the Art Gallery of Ontario where Cathy’s daughter Natalie now works.  There was a great exhibit of art from the Canada’s First Nations peoples that was really quite amazing, as was the museum building itself.

Cathy made a delicious steak dinner for us all. The steaks were so good that Jonny went to Cathy’s butcher the next day to stock up on meats for our freezer.  It was a great visit with Martin, Cathy, Natalie and Rebecca.

On Friday morning, Jonny dropped Lynn off at the Billy Bishop airport in Toronto that is located on an island in the middle of the city.  Lynn actually took a short ferry ride to get to it which provided a nice view of the city!

Upon arriving in Chicago, Lynn was picked up by Ellie, Lisa’s youngest daughter.  Lisa was totally surprised at Lynn’s arrival which was perfect!  That night Lisa, Lynn, Maddie, Ellie and Danny all went out for dinner in Evanston where they live.  The following day we spent getting ready for the birthday party.  The guys were stringing lights and we all worked together making the yard beautiful.  Lisa’s party turned out to be a blast with lots of food and drink, darts, and karaoke! It was hilarious and everyone, especially the birthday girl, had a fabulous time!

Other highlights included drinks at the lovely rooftop restaurant where Ellie is working one of her two summer jobs.  It was another beautiful night. We really lucked out in the weather department!

While Lynn was away, Jonny did innumerable boat chores including changing the oil and filters in the generator and the main engine.  He cleaned the carburetor on the outboard, explored Midland by bike and even did some laundry!  He also got to watch a special show put on for some newly arrived cruise ship passengers.

After a wonderful three day visit with the Makoul’s, Danny, and Lisa’s friends, Lynn returned to Midland on Monday by train, plane, car and van!  Jonny welcomed her back home on Zendo with a delicious dinner including the special patented Mirai corn on the cob that Lisa bought at a farmer’s market in Skokie.  We were now ready to continue our journey through the Georgian Bay amdNorth Channel.

Hope Island, Georgian Bay

The first thing we did on Tuesday, August 7 was to take turns with the paddle board.  After breakfast, we took  Zendo from our anchorage off of Discovery  Village to the town dock of Penetanguishene.  The locals shorten it to Penetang which is a lot easier to pronounce!  The name is obviously an Indian name and it means  “land of the white rolling sands”.  The name is quite descriptive of the undeveloped areas we’ve seen here and we were sure that it all must have been quite pristine. 

The town’s history is a reflection of three cultures  -  Native American (Heron), French, and English which gives it a uniqueness and something of which that the residents are quite proud. The waterfront is very impressive and it obviously caters to a boating crowd.  There were probably 120 boat slips at the town marina and there were other large marinas nearby.

The friendly woman at the nearby visitors bureau pointed us to the short walk into town where we saw that extensive infrastructure work was underway including new sewers and sidewalks all along the main drag.  The town looks to be well kept and attractive overall.

We visited the local Catholic church, an impressive edifice towering over the town.

We also saw evidence of the local sporting culture!

Our favorite part of the town was a lovely park that extended from the church to the waterfront.  It was beautifully landscaped and had about a dozen statues, all by the same sculptor, commemorating important figures in the history of Penetang - many of them associated with the church and the town’s multi-cultural roots  The town also had two reconstructed historic villages that we didn’t have time to visit.

From there we traveled on a beautiful, but slightly overcast, day to a group of three islands owned by the Beausoleil, a native American group.  We cruised through them to select our anchorage for the evening.  We were eager to stay nearby because the waters were reported to be Caribbean crystal clear and they really were!   

We found a great anchorage by Hope Island and ventured out in the dinghy to the nearby beach. 

 It  was a perfect combination of sand and rocks and we strolled along the beach for about a mile before returning to Zendo.

That evening we relaxed, ate leftovers and just communed with nature. There was not a building in sight in this tranquil setting. This was a perfect introduction to our highly anticipated trip to Georgian Bay!

Penetanguishene, Ontario

On Monday, August 6, we finally arrived in the much anticipated Georgian Bay!  We left our lovely anchorage in the Lost Channel at 8:45 after each of us enjoyed some paddleboarding.

We had two more locks to go through before we completed all 45 locks on the 125.6 mile long Trent-Severn Waterway.  The Big Chute is truly the most unique one of all.  This lock is a railroad-style lift that actually hoists the boats up on straps and wheels them over a rocky cliff to the other side.

We tied up Zendo before entering the lock and walked over to watch the Big Chute in action.  It was an amazing sight!  It is the biggest lift of its kind in North America.  We were lucky to arrive when we did because the day before it broke down stranding dozens of small and large boats for the night!

Having satisfied our understanding, we took a place on the blue line where we lined up to wait our turn to load onto the lock.  The lockmaster determines who goes and when based on how many boats of varying sizes can be accommodated.  In our case, we had to wait until two other groups went ahead off us.  When it was our turn, they assigned two 28 foot boats in front with two jet skis behind them and our boat alone in the back in the middle.  The lock tenders ride alongside on the lift as well. The lift brought us all up and out of the water and over a rocky ledge then slowly lowered us into the water on the other side.  All this took only eight minutes and was an incredibly cool experience.

We took off for the last lock of our journey, the Port Severn lock.  This was the smallest lock of all of them.  We had to wait almost two hours at the lock wall to go through because it can only accommodate a small number of boats.  So we chatted with fellow lockmates and had lunch.  While waiting, Lynn happily discovered how to retrieve the blog posts that occasionally disappear on her causing her to have to do numerous rewrites.

When it was finally time for us to load, we were packed in like sardines. So much so that our dinghy was touching the back wall of the lock. Also, one of the lock tenders acted as a human fender to prevent our boat from knocking into the one next to us.  Of all the locks we’ve been through, we’ve never been packed in like at this one!

When we exited that lock, we officially entered the Georgian Bay!  We went through the Potato Channel where it was very important to follow the narrow and winding passage through numerous rocky outcroppings  above and below the surface of the water.

As we entered the open bay, we left the small boat channel and headed towards our anchorage for the evening.

Our anchorage for the night was in Penetanguishene Harbor opposite the Discovery Village complete with 18th century schooners.   It was a beautiful setting with only a sailboat joining us in the calm waters there.

Lynn made a delicious chicken curry in her Smart Pot with chick peas, cauliflower and peas.  We had a pleasant dinner on the aft deck.  Anchoring out in these pristine anchorages is truly our favorite thing!

Lost Channel, Ontario

We got a late start on Sunday, August 5 as Lynn was having trouble loading two days of  her blog entries which ended up loading the Orillia entry out of order with the one from Fenelon Falls.  We did get to use the shower facilities at the Starport Marina and while Lynn was fussing with the blog, Jonny invited one of our dockmates aboard to see Zendo.  

We finally took off across Lake Simcoe bound for an anchorage further along the Trent-Severn.  Boat traffic was heavy due to the great weather and the holiday weekend.  We passed a lot of “cottages” which are getting bigger as we go.  Some even have seaplanes parked next to their boats!  Many have garages for their boats.

Georgio is keeping a very low profile hiding under a chair and not doing his usual early morning crying or wandering.  He is either very contrite or in shock from his late night excursion. We hope it scared him enough to stay put!

After crossing the northeast corner of Lake Simcoe we entered a narrow portion of the Trent Canal and cruised past the city of Orillia (the biggest one on the Trent-Severn).

We got stuck behind a swing bridge while waiting for two very long freight trains to pass. 

We cruised through Sparrow Lake where the trees started changing from deciduous to mostly fir trees and the rocky landscape of this northern section became more apparent.

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We started looking for an anchorage before the Big Chute lock and found a lovely spot in Lost Channel (great name)!  It was calm and serene with a few cottages in sight but also a significant piece of undeveloped wooded shoreline.  Once we set the anchor we realized that the house on the point lot was entertaining for the weekend (all the blow-up toys and small watercraft should have been a clue for us)!  They had their music cranked up.  It was loud but not too obnoxious.  We considered moving for about a minute but it was already 6:00 and we didn't want to bother.  

So we settled in and went for a wonderfully refreshing swim and cooked burgers on the grill.  The music ended before too long and we ended up having a blissfully calm night.