Day #362 – Penetanguishene, ON

This morning was all about The Big Chute, otherwise known as Lock #44 on the Trent-Severn waterway.

It is a marine railway that lifts you up and over the land and lets you out on the other side.  Sounds simple, made me nervous. Last night we moved over from our dock to be first on the “blue line” to lock through right as they opened at 8:30.  They called one boat before us as they were smaller and loaded them first.

When they called for us we motored in and it took some adjusting, but we were finally in and on our slings.  Our bow sprit was hanging over the top of the boat in front of us.

They started up and we were moving.  I will try and show the succession of how this monster works.

The lower the carriage into the water…

then they load the boats onto straps…

note on the larger boats how the stern hangs out over the platform…

up and over…

and before we knew it, we were floating out on the other side.

These lockmasters know what they are doing and do it well.  This one commented, “It never rains at the Big Chute.”  I beg to differ as it rained last night, but then he wasn’t on duty.

The morning was spent twisting and turning through narrow channels

with tons of current.

When we completed Lock #45 at Port Severn we exited and were through the Trent-Severn and into Georgian Bay at 10:30. The current was huge as we exited.  It was like a slalom course in places.

We completed the 240 miles and over 40 locks, two of which were lift locks and one being the railway lift.  It was an experience that we are glad to have had.  Lots of work switching fenders and navigating tight areas so, we are glad to be through and out onto more open water in the Georgian Bay.

We had a beautiful ride to Penetanguishene and the sun came out for us.  We arrived at Bay Moorings Marina and took on 200 liters of fuel.  Price today 99 cents per liter.  We are happily docked and looking forward to our mini Looper Reunion.   The other good news is that we beat the storm.

Day #361 – Port Severn, ON

We left Orillia and headed out this morning.  The sun appeared for a few minutes and then disappeared again.  That was disappointing as this is such a beautiful area to travel in and it would be so much prettier on a sunny day.

We traveled along quite well until we came across this railroad bridge.

It was closed and we could not pass under as it only had 15 feet of clearance.  We hailed on the horn and no one appeared.  We waited longer and after about 20 minutes a guy appeared and opened it up.  Not sure if we woke him, he was away on a coffee break or what.  None of the bridges or locks on the Trent-Severn carry radios, so there is no way to communicate.  You can see the guy walking up the stairs to let us through.

We weren’t sure what this sign was supposed to convey.  What is the difference between a sunken island and a large rock?

The area is getting much rockier with steeper hills.

People don’t miss an opportunity to build anywhere, even on these little islands.

They build on large rocks above the water.

We only conquered two locks today.  Lock #43 is called Swift Rapids.  The picture below shows what it looks like from the top of the lock.

We arrived at Lock #44, The Big Chute, at 1:30.  Bob and Charlotte had driven up from their cottage in Honey Harbour to take our picture while we traveled over this railway system to the other side.  Unfortunately, there were too many boats ahead of us and we would have gotten through really late.  Instead they caught our lines at a dock and we are tied up for the night.  We all watched as these boats are lifted out of the water and taken across.  More to follow tomorrow, but we are glad to be here and the sun has come out.  Yeah!