The Big Chute, Viridian Takes Flight and the End of the Trent Severn Waterway (23 July 18)

Today Viridian passes through the last two locks, 44-45, to bring to a close our cruise from Trenton to Port Severn.  What a fantastic voyage and a wonderful way to experience Canada.  Today we cruised from The Big Chute Marina to Bay Port Yachting Center.  This morning, before heading to the blue line to take the Marine Rail down the 60-foot drop, we walked over and watched some boats go through to get an idea of what we were in for.  There were a few boats on the down-side waiting to go up and one big cruiser on the topside going down.  At the bottom we watched the massive travel lift bring the cruiser down the rail and put it into the water.  Next, three smaller boats loaded into the pan and were whisked up the mountain and put into the water on top.  Having made a few pictures and talked to the attendants, we were ready to get in line and take the flight down.  The first two boats to get carried down were Miss Norma and Dash Away.  It took only a minute or two to load them into the pan and off they went.  In no time the machine was back on top depositing 4 boats from below.  Viridian and Gypsy Spirit got the call over the loud speaker to enter the pan.  Viridian was first and had a front row view of the descent.  (We made a time lapse video to post on this blog but not able to due to weak service.) It was like our boat took off from a runway (in slow motion) and flew over the mountain and landed in the waters below.  It is amazing how fast this thing operates.  Once we were all down, we set sail for the last lock until we get to the Illinois River.

Today's route took us from Big Chute Marina and through Lock 44 (Marine Railway) down into the Six Mile Chanel, through Gloucester Chanel and into Gloucester Pool where we passed Marie Island, Wigwam Island, Liberty Island, Llanberris Island, Big Gem Island, Union Jack Island, Clare Island, Zachary Island, Herb Island, Porcupine Island, Rockcliffe Island, Deer Island, Tucker Island, Lockerbie Island, and Little Gem Island, all in a space of one mile.  These islands sit in crystal clear water on huge rock formations that accent their foundation and reflect on the mirror waters so that it is hard to distinguish between real and reflection.  This is what we will be seeing for the next 400 miles as we cruise among thousands of rocky, tree covered islands in gin clear water.  Once through the Georgian Bay, we will sail into the marina on Mackinac (The ac is pronounced aw; who knew?) Island, stay a few days and then start the journey south to Chicago along the eastern shore of Lake Michigan.

We will stay in the Bay Point Yachting Center for three nights to allow some unpleasant weather to pass.  Then it’s into the Georgian Bay for our return to the US of A.

That's the news and here's come views:

We are here

Today's route from Big Chute to Midland, Ontario

Viridian on the T-dock ready to cross to the "Blue Line" to board the Marine Railway Lift

Original Marine Railway Tracks

This is the original rail car no longer in use

Current rail car being used every day all day

Rail elevations difference keeps car with boats level

Looking at where we will be going, 65 feet below

The belly of the beast

The heart of the beast

Raceway for the dam

A look at the rail car from a boaters view

The downhill portion

Boats loading on the lower side for a ride up

Up and Over

Dash Away and Miss Norma starting their ride down

Viridian and crew taking the Big Chute Marine Railway up and over

Once we landed safely on the other side with Miss Norma and Dash Away, we formed up and sailed for our final lockage on the Trent Severn Waterway

Gypsy Spirit - 42 ft Nordic Tug

Comes with the territory

Good Times

Land of 1000 Islands

Last Lock, too small for more than two boats at a time

Dump The Pump, Family of Loons, Flock of Seagulls and Loony Loopers

Hastings Marina was a fine place to stop for the night.  The only negative about Hastings was that we were told that there was a laundromat just up on the corner on Main St.  We loaded our clothes in our nylon wagon and pulled them all over town looking for laundromat, but it had gone out of business, so we came back to the boat to live to wash another day.

Morning brought another perfect day on the 44th parallel, and we headed for Peterborough with Gypsy Spirit, Dash Away and Miss Norma, but we all left spaced out about 1 1/2 miles apart.  This gave us the feeling of being the only boat on Rice Lake. We motored along at 6 kts while the diesel drummed out its one lone note like a roll on a kettledrum.

Our route took us along the Trent River, through Rice Lake and past a dozen or more islands before turning north up the Otonabee River that leads to Peterborough Ontario.  This was a fantastic journey that words fail to describe, and pictures leave us disappointed.  The only way to experience a place like this is to come here and marinate in it like we did today.

Arriving at Peterborough Marina, we were assigned a slip with a stern in approach with one-foot clearance between the dock, and the boat next door.  We had folks to throw lines to on the dock and they helped us shoe horn Viridian into her slip.  After getting tied up, we walked over to the marina house to check in and get keys.  We were also given a free ice cream cone of our choice before leaving.  In addition to all the goodies, we were told that the band "A Flock of Seagulls" would be performing, and we had a free pass to attend.

Once we got the paperwork done, we loaded up the laundry and Meg started a load or two while I walked over to Boaters World (like a small West Marine) and ordered a VFLO 12v, 40 psi, 5 gpm fresh water pump to replace the waning Frankenstein/Mister Potato Head pump now on its way out again.  This will eliminate the accumulation tank and all the junk pump parts now in constant failure mode.  Once the pump was ordered and the wash was going, we joined other fellow Loopers at Riley's Irish Pub on Main St. downtown Peterborough for a fine meal and good fellowship.

That's the news and here's some views:

We are here

Today's route across Rice Lake and up the Otonabee River to Peterborough

WebMaster (cleaning spider webs off the bow)

Beautiful Rice Lake

Family of Loons

Pretty Farm

Otonabee River

Waiting for Lock 19 to open

Lock Ducks

Approaching Peterborough, Ontario

Peterborough Marina

Boats packed in for a long weekend

 Us Loopers at Riley's Irish Pub

Viridian, Dash Away, Gypsy Spirit, Miss Norma and  Free Spirit II

"Flock of Seagulls" 80's techno bad

Loon the Lock Lady

The locks don't open until 0900 every morning, so we took our time getting ready to leave Campbellford.  The firstmate went for an early morning exercise walk and snapped a few pictures along the way.  There were at least six boats leaving this morning, and there is only enough room for two boats to safely enter and tie up with adequate separation to avoid bad things happening.

The first two boats, Dash Away and Gypsy Spirit, departed for the 0900 opening and Viridian and Miss Norma departed after what we thought was enough time to lock up afterwards.  This may have been ok if the Lockmaster had dumped the water and got ready for the first arrivals heading west.  Four boats waited for the first two to clear and were positioned for the next two boats to enter and ascend.

The Lockmaster had other plans. She wanted all four boats to cram into the lock and set the stage for the next five locks up to Hastings.  That was a bad plan and we told her so, and we refused to all try to fit into the lock.  It was clear when 36 ft. Viridian, a 46 ft. trawler and a smaller 32 ft. Ranger Tug were inside that no other boats were going up in this lift, so the doors shut, and up we went.  However, we did not escape the lecture once we got to the top about who runs this lock and who is in charge etc., etc.

Once out of the gate, we decided amongst ourselves that we would regroup into twos and approach the next lock and once again with the intention of only two boats at a time going up.  This worked just fine, and the following locks took us in twos, and once again we were all engaging in pleasure cruising. 

Today we cruised through some beautiful lakes behind the dams with thick, treed islands sprinkled all around.  The sky was a deep blue with fair weather, fluffy clouds placed just in the right places.  A cool air blew to keep us comfortable along the way as we sailed deeper into the backcountry north of Lake Ontario.

We finally got our first look at the famous loon, a bird that lives on the water in this area that has a haunting call at dusk every day.

That's the news and here's some views:

We are here

Today's route

Another tandem lock

Peaceful waterfront cabins