mvalwayshome

Good Morning, Everyone!  Ready for an adventure?!  We painfully scoured the internet for hours trying to determine what the winds and waves would be today.  We have a mixed weather forecast today so we decided to give the Georgian Bay a chance.  The sun will be shining.  The seas will be maybe 1 meter high.  Time to let Always Home get going again.

Moon setting early morning

<Can you hear the background music…. calming cellos and woodwind instruments.>

Sunrise at Wye Heritage Marina

The cloud look ominous but the weather forecast indicated we would be cruising out of the clouds heading north.   ( calming woodwinds turning to more clarinet and oboes..deeper tones…maybe even a bassoon with the ultra low tones. Like that deep baritone hum.)

Sign Leaving Wye Heritage

< Background music is picking up a beat.  Cellos, string bases, and violins are beginning to sound out of step with each other. Like they are half a beat off from each other.  Timpani  Drums begin to softly be heard. Low rumbling rising and quickening. >

On the Georgian Bay heading North

< Background music is louder.>   What is that music from Jaws? duh duh DUN duh DUN Ominous tone of something bad is going to happen?  We didn’t hear it.

For the next 5 hours all we heard were waves pounding the side of Always Home.  All the calmness of the still morning was gone.  The water went from a gentle 1 foot waves to much higher.  We rolled up and down and sideways.

For the next 5 hours Wayne was riding a bronco bull!!  The sun was shining brightly.  The air was cool.  So half the forecast was right.

For the next 5 hours – that 1 meter sea?  That was 3 feet!!  Water crashing on our port side, splashing up as high as the fly bridge.  Fresh clean Georgian Bay water in Ontario.

(Remember the Coast Guard mantra….  3 feet seas means every 10th wave is 6 feet?  Every 100th wave could be 9 feet? Remember that?  But who’s counting?  Maybe me??  )

Here is Wayne’s video for the last hour where he could take at least one hand off the wheel so he could capture just the smoothest part of our ride…

Here is what I saw for 2-3 hours.  Flat on my back looking up at the ceiling of the flybridge.  I had tried to move around, got whacked to the floor and decided to stay there.  The boat rolled from side to side, up and down, side to side.  I figured I would bounce less if I stayed flat to the floor.  😉  Seriously, I was down for the count.

What I looked at for 2 hours

When we turned west, with the waves and wind to our back, the water calmed down enough that I could actually rise to my knees and stumble to the bench.  Eventually, I was able to stand and help Wayne find the marina.

Whew…. those woodwind instruments are back.  Calm southing sounds of the low tones of a flute.  Beautiful!  The sun is still shining.  We arrived at the marina in one piece.  We arrived safe and sound.  Always Home is the best Looper boat ever!!

I looked down into the salon.  Things moved.  Nothing broken, miraculously.  Refrigerator/Freezer locks held.  Coffee pot saved.  All is good.  We needed to clean anyway.

We were greeted by several loopers that had also arrived at Killbear Marina due to weather.  Yea!!  Time to decompress and get on land that is not moving.

Is that a shark circling in the night sky?    <sound track off>  crickets and frogs only for the night

Good morning!  It looks like we are going to be here for several days.  Winds are howling.  Waves are 3 – 6 feet.  We are expecting over 20mph winds later in the day.   Time to stay put and wait for calmer days.

Sunrise one morning when I actually got up early enough.  The water looks flat and beautiful, at this moment.

Sunrise

We did have time to rent a car and get some provisioning in.  We drove downtown to investigate the “Midland Murals” that we heard so much about.  They are painted on fronts and sides of the buildings around the downtown area.

I found a website that shows many of the murals I personally saw:  http://www.midland.ca/Pages/Midland-Mural-Tour.aspx

Here are the ones I found:

This large mural picture was taken from across the water at the Midland Town Dock.  It depicts the early history of Midland.  “This mural measures 80 ft high and 250 ft wide and is the largest outdoor historical mural in North America. It displays Sainte-Marie Among the Hurons as it would look like in the 1640’s.”

Largest Mural painted on the side of the granary

Train – takes up the whole side of the building – see the train engine smoke going up the building?

Train – at the end of the Train mural

Winter Harbour

Midland Pier

Cruise Lines

Lighthouse – almost looks real

Town Water Fountain

Schooner

Industrialist Mr. James Playfair

First Lumber Mill – bringing logs downriver

Outside the Post Office

Wharf

Clothing Store

Found this mural outside of The Beer Store – local photographers

This small mural above the store.  I almost missed it.

Seamstress – The Woolen Mill

They were almost on every building down the main street.  It looks like I missed several.  Really well done.

Downtown Midland

Images of stormy weather.

Gull gliding in the wind making no effort to flap her wings to stay aloft

Gulls looking at me for a free handout – giving me the evil eye

Turbulent skies

Sunset – July 31st at Wye Heritage Marina

I just wanted an opportunity to give a public “Thank You” to all the Trent-Severn Waterway locks and swing bridge operators.  Everyone was courteous, friendly, and most helpful.  When we were going down in the last several locks, there were extra lock attendants to take our line and feed the line around the cable so that we could easily control the boat.  I didn’t have to get on my belly and try to reach the cables on my own like in the Erie Canal.  😉

We are here in Wye Heritage Marina in Midland, ON for several more days.  Lots of wind.  Lots of weather.  In the meantime, here are images I thought were worthy…

The “Rolling Stone” made of ferro-concrete years ago in the owner’s front yard.  Fascinating!

Concrete Boat called the “Rolling Stone”

If I read these coins correctly, it only costs $1.40 Canadian to make a call.

Cost of a phone call

The Wye Heritage Marina is a very large facility.  Over 900 slips.  These boaters really know how to make their space their home-away-from-home.  They bring BBQ, chairs, tables, kayaks, bicycles and all sorts of summer time accessories to be available at their slip.  The Marina has picnic tables at almost every slip.  Wonderful that everyone uses the areas.  The weekends are quite busy.  Parking is available right at your slip as well.

Docks are like our back yard!

In front of the restaurant a dutiful puppy waits for her master.  Isn’t she the cutest!  She didn’t even budge when we walked by her.

Sunset at Wye Heritage Marina

Good Morning!  It is a glorious Saturday morning.  We have been reluctant to travel in the Trent-Severn on the weekends because of the extra local boaters on the water.  The weather is too good to pass up.  We are going to do the “Big Chute” today and leave the Trent-Severn Waterway.  The Big Chute, the last lock and just a few miles from the end of the Trent-Severn to Wye Heritage Marina in Midland, ON.  A bit cloudy and in the mid 60°F to start our day.  We heard last night that the last lock, Lock 45, is having a big celebration today.  We wonder what that means to our travel.

Are we all strapped in and ready to go on the Railway today?  It is going to be an exciting day, for sure!

Early morning fishermen – still water

Leaving Big Chute Marina for our space on the blue line

Caution?  Now they tell us when we are on the blue line?

Approaching the Big Chute

The Big Chute took the first load of boaters over the street promptly at 9am.  The lock master told us via his megaphone that we would be next.

Looks pretty simple.  Just drive Always Home into the carriage and listen to the lock folks about what to do next.  We were on the Big Chute all by ourselves!!  Our props were hanging out the back of the platform.  If you look closely in front of our Always Home are those yellow paddles.  They use them for smaller boats, jet skis, and the like.  With us, the straps are used to keep us balanced as the weight of the boat is on the keel.

By the way, we shut off the engines, generator, and the air conditioners.  Anything that needed water access had to be shut down since we were going to be riding on air for several minutes.

Wayne’s View after getting into the Chute

Up we go! Out of the water…. The street barricades are down. Safe for us to go across now.

Over the road

All strapped in! We lifted the fenders so they wouldn’t be in the way.

As we are going down, the back view – looks pretty steep!?

Have you ever taken a train ride?  When the train passes over streets, there are bumps, noises, groans, squeeking and strains.  We heard that!!  Wayne can’t remember the vibrations and noises.  My video of the event is too big to put on the blog.  Maybe later I can add it.

Approaching the water on the other side of the road

Gently put back into water!

The crew of “Sweet Sensations” went on the first trip of the day.  They were on the bottom of the Big Chute and kindly took some pictures of Always Home coming off the Big Chute.  Thanks!!

Big Chute rising back to the other side of the road

Looking back at the Big Chute Railway as it is rising back up the railway to bring down the next load of boats.  It seems unusual to see it move empty, but I guess it was too early in the morning for boaters to go up the Trent-Severn.

Out of the Big Chute and into the Narrows on our way to the last lock, Port Severn.

Entering the Narrows

As we approached Lock 45, we saw boats, boats, and lots of people!!  Most of the boats were smaller ‘go-fast-boats’, but they were like flies, just buzzing around jockeying for a position somewhere along the lock wall, the small dock, somewhere.  We saw a group of boats entering and filling the lock so we gracefully glided to the front of the blue line.  Then people swarmed all over the area!!  Oh no!!  Hundreds of people are going to watch us lock through.  We are going to lock through?!?!  Wait….

People everywhere celebrating the 100th Year of the Lock

We were on the front line of the Hundredth Year Celebration of the opening of the Lock 45, Port Severn.  They were conducting the “re-enactment” of the first lock up river!!  In this photo below, which I found on the internet ( http://www.orilliapacket.com/2015/07/25/lock-45-turns-100), you can see all the charming little boats that are originals or reproductions of the original boats using the lock for the first time.  You can see Always Home on the back left.  We waited for over an hour for the festivities to be completed before we could move onward.

Centennial Celebration of Lock 45 – 

We had a front row seat of the re-enactment.  It was fun.  When we finally were able to get into the lock, there were still dozens of people watching carefully as we entered the lock.  After all, we were the First boats locking down on the first day after the 100 year celebration!!

We were alarmed, however, when we go to the bottom of the lock, there were boats on both sides of the lock walls waiting to go up.  Smaller boats but they took up half of the space available.  People brought out their boat hooks to maybe push us off them should we get too close?  I held my breath as Wayne squeezed us by.  As we squeezed by, a couple of the boaters applauded at Wayne’s masterful handling of the Always Home.  Whew!!

Up ahead?  Debris??  More debris in the Georgian Bay?!  Officially, leaving Lock 45, we had completed the Trent-Severn Waterway!  Yea!!  We are now entering the Georgian Bay.  But debris?  I get the binoculars out to verify the debris field.  They are birds!!  Not a pile of logs!!  Wonderful!!

Birds!! Not debris, after all!

The color of the Georgian Bay water??  Clear and cold water.

Georgian Bay Water

Our marina for the night….

Wye Heritage Marina

We did “The Big Chute” and successfully completed the Trent-Severn Waterway today!  A very wonderful day!!

Sunset at the Wye Heritage Marina

Good Morning!!  A sunny cool day greets us this morning.  65°F.  Nice.  We are planning a 34 mile day today.  Most of the real shallow water on the Trent-Severn is behind us.  We will have 2 locks before we stop for the night at Big Chute.  The Big Chute is the other pinnacle of the Trent-Severn Waterway.  Our boat will be transported over a street via a railroad track.  Wait for it!

Entrance to Ojibway Marina- calm waters this morning

Leaving Ojibway Marina – calmer winds and water it looks so much nicer this morning

Back into the Couchiching Lake early this morning.  The water is almost like glass.  How wonderful!

Rocks!!  They are fortunately out of channel.  It is quite deceiving in that you can see the tip of the rock just rising above the water line.  The water is so clear, you can see the bulging rock below.  Reminds me of an iceberg.  So much more ice below the water than what you see on the top.

Iceberg rocks!! So much more ROCK below the surface

Our view before leaving Couchiching Lake.

Waterway Scenery

Lock 42 was very busy this morning!!  There was a Catamaran, 5 small boats, and us!!  Quite a busy morning.

Just how many boats can you fit in a lock?  – Going down 20 feet!

Coming out of the lock behind “Sweet Sensation” ( the catamaran ) we found very small boaters in the water.  Kayakers!  Of course, they seem oblivious to us larger boats.

Leaving Lock 42

I thought this small rail way from the house to the water was pretty slick.  An easy way to transport your boat, eh?  From a covered garage into the water.

Rail way to transport your boat into the water

At first glance I thought this guy was real.  Nope, just a silhouette.  We have seen mannequins sitting on benches and swings making it look like real people are watching the boaters.  Anything in an effort to slow boaters down to a “No Wake” area, we think.  OR they were humans sitting really really still as we waved at them.

Man silhouette on the boat door keeping an eye on everything

Around many of the river corners are rocks.  They are quite pretty.

Rocks near the markers

Trent River is really a combination of little lakes and rivers.  26 miles of water going in and out of big and small water.

River scenery on a beautiful day

Rocky shore line.  Trees growing out of the rocks.  Reminds me of the high country in Arizona….except there is more water here.

Rock, Water, and Trees!

Wait!!  There is a huge boulder over there!!  What?  No birds resting on the top?

Big Rock just hanging out!

We are approaching lock 43.  Another lock?  However, the significant thing about this lock is that it is one of the largest hydraulically operated that moves boats the farthest up/down.  We will be going down 47 feet!!  Lowering us almost as much as the lift lock.

Swift Rapids – Lock 43

We waited for the next lock opening.  They look like they are almost full!

Entering the Swift Rapids Lick 43

Wayne took a photo as we waiting for the lock to go down.  Does it look like we are 47 feet higher than the water below??

Our day ended as we entered the Big Chute basin with the Big Chute Marina and the Railway Lift.  We will be going over tomorrow.  Today has been eventful enough.  We also wanted an idea of how this railway system worked before we put Always Home on it.

I walked around and saw the railway car take a boat over the road.  Our boat is going on that tomorrow morning?!

Big Chute crossing the street

The Big Chute Information sign

The Big Chute lifts the boats out of the water and transports the boat over the street to the other side and gently returns the boat to water.  We will have our keel (bottom) resting on a wooden platform with straps holding us in an upright position. So we won’t tip over. The railway will keep the boat level the whole time.  Another very unique experience!!  That is for tomorrow morning when we have gathered our wits and had a good night sleep.

Description of the Big Chute

On my short walkabout, I spied a transparent Tardis!  Haven’t seen one in a long time.  Where’s my screwdriver? ( Doctor Who reference )

Big Chute Marina phone booth

Big Chute Marina evening