Good morning, cruisers!!  Or do we call you Cruising-voyeurs?  We are planning on a 25 miles day today.  Some skinny water ( very shallow water in the Trent Canal), Lake Simcoe (only cruise on a good day), up the Couchiching Lake and only 5 locks.  Sounds exciting, doesn’t it?

Most, if not all, the waterways in Canada are “non-discharge” zones.  That means you cannot discharge your black (waste) tank into the water.  You have to find a “Pump Out”.  The pump out locations have a sign much like the one below.  Basically, the pump vacuums out the wastes from your holding tank.  We have encountered some excellent ones here in Canada.  If you stay at a marina, they are usually free.  If you are just passing by and need to be evacuated, then it may cost a fee dollars.

 

I really like this picture.  The reflections on the waters beside Always Home.

At the nearest swing bridge was a pole with a huge nest.  I couldn’t tell if they were osprey or eagles.  I asked the young attendant.  Osprey!  Looks like a couple of heads bobbing up for breakfast.

Onward.  Those blue skies are captivating, aren’t they?

My first view of the inside of the lock…remember, we are going down, is the wall.  Sunlight sparkling off the slime that is reaching out from the wall.  Stretching their collective probes to gather in as much sunlight as possible as the water recedes down the lock.  Clumps of goo look like they are waving at me.  Take me with you!  Not today.  Maybe the next boat will take you away from the lock and move you farther along.  They aren’t really waving are they?

The different kinds of pine trees really caught my eye.

As we are waiting briefly as we approached lock 38 which was about a mile away were geese.  Really, you say?  Well, they were minding their manners and I wasn’t paying them any attention until squawking and a mad flurry of beating wings headed toward me.

I did mention the 5 locks today.  It must be a special day for me.  Lock 37 had goo waving at me.  Lock 38 had a rather large shrimp like creature nibbling along the lock wall.

Out of Lock 38 and moving on to lock 39 which is less than a mile away.  We are going very slow since the water is shallow along this stretch.  Although we aren’t required to give a Securitee’ call, we were still anxious for other boaters coming our way.

More pastures and farms in this part of the Trent-Severn.  More rural.

No, I haven’t figured out why some slime is fluorescent green while others is dark grey goo.  Fascinating science project, don’t you think?

Lake Simcoe is the largest lake in the Trent-Severn Waterway.  It is around 20 miles long and 16 miles wide.  We will be only cruising in the most northeastern part of the lake.  It is said that this lake should be cruised during a good day.  OR the waves can be rather fierce. Today?  It looks pretty darn good.

We will be going through “The Narrows” which is the narrow part of land separating Lake Simcoe and Couchiching Lake.  Like the name implies, the current is swift and lots of people and boats congregate there.  There are several marinas within the narrows. The Port of Orillia promises to be busy since all the “Ports” we have traveled near are always very busy.  We were watching for all these things and trying to spot the marina we were going to buy some diesel fuel.

I really couldn’t take a picture of the water depth at the marina.  No sense of depth would be possible.  The marina attendant told us… isn’t it wild that you can’t tell whether the rocks below your boat is 10 feet or 2 feet?  Yes, wild!  The water was so clear, you really couldn’t tell.  Wayne pulled a never before magic act.  He backed in Always Home against the current to the fuel dock!  Several people watched in awe.  Me being one of them!!  It was truly awesome.  Where are the video cameras when you need one?  oh yea, in my pocket.  I was busy with handling lines and holding my breath to take a video.

Entering the Ojibway Bay Marina became our next challenge.  The wind was up as it normally is in the middle of the afternoon.  The fuel dock had several small boats on it.  The dock master was yelling at us to move over there…gun it…over there!!!  Hand signals and body movements were what we got rather than a radio communication.  We understood his hand signals, perfectly!!  Inside the cove, the wind was minimal and the current gentle.  We found our berth easily at the head of the T-dock.  This is a small marina.  It looks like Always Home is the largest boat here.

 

To end our exciting day, I posted the picture of the ketchup flavored chips.  Did I post the popcorn flavored salt I found at a grocery store in Peterborough??  What can I say?  Very interesting taste buds here in Canada.  I just had to share.  Hope you don’t mind.