Lake Michigan can be windy!  We anchored in Northport Bay intending to stay one night and ended up staying three.  The winds were pretty fierce and the waves on Lake Michigan were a little more than we wanted to deal with.  However, we were well sheltered and were able to take the dinghy into Northport and explore the village.  There was a very interesting private home which had a caboose as part of the residence. 

From the Northport Bay anchorage, we could see this island in the distance.

After three days on anchor we got an early start and were underway before the sun was even up.

We cruised seven hours to Frankfort and had lunch at the Hotel Frankfort; the menu included some interesting facts. I quote almost verbatim: “The hotel was built between 1932-1933 by Joseph P. Oberlin.  It’s rumoured that Oberlin was a good fried of Al Capone’s.  Capone controlled the red brick house on the beach”. 

The shoreline of Lake Michigan on the Michigan side is very scenic.

Interesting fact: Michigan has more lighthouses than any other state in the US (over 150 active and inactive lighthouses). Here are a few that we have seen.

Since we have been on Lake Michigan, we have seen a lot of monarch butterflies while we are cruising. 

We are currently in the Village of Pentwater (where we have not seen any mosquitoes due to the many purple martins that are around the marina).  There are four other Looper boats here – it certainly is fun meeting new people and running into people you have seen before on this trip – The Great Loop!

On July 31, the odometer hit 1,000 kilometres!  It was during a long cruise to Sault Ste. Marie – 11 hours as we had lost a travel day due to high winds. However, the scenery more than made up for it and the cruising conditions were perfect.  We arrived in Sault Ste. Marie just before 5:00 p.m. (we got an early start!).

The next day we crossed the river to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan to obtain our US cruising license and to clear customs.  The process couldn’t have been simpler.  Three very nice customs agents came to our boat, hand delivered the license and we were off.  Sault Ste. Marie is a working harbour, we encountered these two freighters just as we were exiting the harbour.

Since we had to make this detour to Sault Ste. Marie, it was very appropriate that our first port of call in Michigan was De Tour Village! 

Mackinaw City was our next stop where we toured the Coast Guard Icebreaker Mackinaw which is now a museum. This was the largest icebreaker on the Great Lakes and was in service for 62 years until decommissioning in 2006. The next day, we took a ferry to Mackinac Island – where there are no motorized vehicles.  Only horses, horse drawn carriages and bicycles are on the island.

Of course, with horses, there is extra work to be done!

And there were a lot of bikes.

We had lunch at the tea room at the Fort and had an amazing view.

Next stop Petosky, which we liked so much we stayed for three days.  It is a delightful town with great restaurants and shops, walking and biking trails, a great marine store and beautiful sunsets.

Next we will start working our way down the east coast of Lake Michigan.

We have been making our way through the North Channel (located in the north of Lake Huron). Our first port of call was at Killarney – the gateway to the North Channel (from the east).  We had some very interesting guests on our dock one evening and they were nice enough to bring their own supper.

When they were done, they went on their way.

We discovered a beautiful anchorage not very far from Killarney where we stayed for two nights. 

While Jacques was fishing, he saw a bear close to this shoreline.

We then cruised to Little Current on Manitoulin Island (the largest freshwater Island in the world).   We were only planning to stay two nights at the Municipal Marina but the weather did not cooperate and we ended up staying for three.  Thunderstorms and high winds are not conducive to pleasure boating!

Jacques took his bike to Rona for some needed boat supplies and ran into this friendly sales associate on his way.

Croker Island is where we learned about using stern lines while at anchor.  The water is so deep right up to shore that you can set your anchor and then back up your boat quite close to land and tie a line from the stern of your boat to a rock or a tree.  This allows many more boats to access an anchorage as the boats are not swinging in the wind.  We had never done this before so there was a bit of a learning curve.  First step:  set the anchor.  Second step: ready the dinghy. Third step:  Jacques goes to shore with the dinghy and the line while I maneuver the boat into the right position.  Fourth step:  Jacques secures the line to a tree.

Of course, you have to reverse all of these steps in the morning when you depart.  We are not convinced we like using a stern line (however we are still complete novices). 

Not all days are nice and sunny, this day of cruising was a bit dismal and grey.

Turnbull Island was next on our agenda but on our arrival, there were so many boats in the anchorage that we decided to look for an alternate location. At Sanford Island there were far fewer boats and in our opinion it was a nicer spot.  It was time to anchor as the wind was coming up and storms were on their way.  Due to high winds we have been at Sanford Island for two days.  We haven’t seen too many other boats but this one caught our attention!

Our next planned stop is Sault Ste Marie! 

Words almost fail me to describe Georgian Bay – it is spectacularly beautiful here!  It also can be scary!  There are many narrow channels to maneuver and at times our hearts were in our throats!

We have been (and continue to) anchor out in Georgian Bay.  Our first anchorage was at Chimney Bay at Beausoleil Island, a Parks Canada site. We spent two days at anchor taking an opportunity to rest from all the locking on the Trent Severn Waterway. Then onward with no particular destination but stopping for lunch at the world-famous Henry’s Fish and Chips – so famous that people fly in to eat!

We then continued on to Parry Sound, a last-minute decision.  We had dinner out at a fantastic new restaurant Bella Cucina with our friends from DougOut (Doug and Lynne from Tennessee) and ZIN (Tom and Cathy from Virginia).  Everyone agreed it was the best meal of the trip so far – we are only one month into our trip but the other two boats have been underway for quite some time. Parry Sound is the home town of Bobby Orr, so we had to check out the Bobby Orr museum.  Hey L’il Bro – I checked this out for you!  Parry Sound is also home to a fantastic used book store, Bearly Used Books, where I could have browsed for hours. 

Leaving Parry Sound, we cruised with DougOut for 66 kilometres through some beautiful waterways and tight channels – was very good to have a buddy boat along for the ride!

Georgian Bay has many channels; some of which have interesting names: Hangdog Channel, Roger’s Gut, The Parting.  The picture below was taken from our dinghy, but when we first saw these buoys, we were on Gyp C (and there was no time to take pictures). 

This interestingly enough is the entry to Obstacle Bay, where we decided to anchor for the night.  It is a real incentive to stay within the channel markers when this is what you see what seems like inches from your boat. 

We enjoyed this remote anchorage (no cell service at all!) by hiking and picking blueberries (see our boat in the background).

Another day of cruising brought us to Collins Inlet, where we saw this fellow having a leisurely swim in front of our boat. 

We are certainly seeing Canada as we have never seen it before! It brings to mind the song by the Arrogant Worms ‘Rocks and Trees’ as evidenced by the picture below.

We have really enjoyed our time on the Trent Severn Waterway – the scenery as we have mentioned is spectacular but there are also some interesting sites in people’s back yards.  This cottager apparently really likes dogs.

Not all boats on the Trent Severn are pleasure boats – this is a Parks Canada scow – note the large debris they found on the waterway.

The Trent Severn Waterway has many narrow channels. Here are our friends from Tennessee (on the left) crossing another boat in one such channel. 

And in another channel you really want to ensure you are on the correct side of the buoy!

We spent three days at the Port of Orillia Marina.  Besides doing some needed maintenance, we checked out a few restaurants, went to a live play at the Orillia Opera House (home of the Gordon Lightfoot Theatre) and did the farmer’s market. 

We departed Orillia on a beautiful Sunday morning.  We weren’t expecting a traffic jam but that is exactly what we got!  To get to Lock 42 you must first get past the CNR train bridge – which swings open for boaters when there are no trains.  We had to wait almost an hour before the bridge opened – we were fifth in a line of nine boats.  Small boats like the one you can see in the picture below can pass right under the bridge and don’t have to wait. 

The bridge finally opens!

Lock 44 is actually not a lock at all but a marine railway called Big Chute. Your boat is moved along a railway track, lifted out of the water, carried over the roadway and then placed back in to the water again.  Here we are waiting our turn.

View from the helm as we approach the railway.

The reason we had to take the train! This picture was taken from the back of our boat – of which about eight feet was hanging over the edge of the railway carriage.

After a three minute ride we were back in the water.

There was one more lock to do after Big Chute and then we were in Georgian Bay.  We refueled in Midland – our first refueling since June 20.  Midland is known for its murals and this one you can see from the water.

We took 16 days to traverse 387 kilometres, 43 locks and 860 feet (up 597 feet from Lake Ontario to Balsam Lake and then down 263 feet to Georgian Bay. Not the fastest journey ever!

We have arrived at Buckhorn Lock – the halfway point on the Trent Severn.  So far, we have completed 30 locks and the scenery has been amazing!  Our favourite lock so far is the Lift Lock at Peterborough.  This is the largest hydraulic boat lift lock in the world – you move 65 feet in two minutes.  Compared to a normal lock this is very, very quick! Note the boats at the top of the lift lock – they are ready to exit and we are waiting to enter.

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Here is the view from the top of the lift lock:

The scenery has been fantastic and we even survived an area called Hell’s Gate on the charts which has a heck of a lot of rocks…

… and which interestingly enough has a church on a rock!

One of the interesting things I have found so far on this journey is the number of places to get books.  Many marinas have book exchanges but I have also found these mini libraries – and when I say mini, I mean it.  Here is an example of a book ‘library’ in Campbellford – on a beautiful trail along the canal:

As it so happens, I always seem to have a book ready to return when it is time to pick one up. 

For our boater friends, here is a tip learned from our new friend Doug from Tennessee – if you happen to blow out an impeller, use a shop vac to vacuum out the first heat exchanger to remove any leftover debris.  Jacques did this early this morning and is very, very happy with the results as the engine is working so much more efficiently. For those of you who think boating is all glamorous, here he is working on the engine:

We spent three sunny days in Trenton at the Trent Port Marina – a beautiful new facility only four years old.  We timed our arrival to coincide with the mini Looper convention and met other people who are also in progress on America’s Great Loop.  It was an opportunity to learn lots as everyone is at different stages of their journey – we thought we would be the newbies with only a week under our belt but there was one Looper boat there that was on day one of their adventure.

We took our new folding bikes and visited the Air Force Museum located at CFB Trenton – about a 15-minute bike ride from the marina. The photo below of the F18 brought back memories of our time spent at Canadian Forces Base Bagotville in the late 80s back when the F18s were still new.

We are now headed up the Trent Severn Waterway. 

We traversed the first six locks in windy conditions. We were expecting that the canal would be sheltered from the wind but the wind was coming from the north and we were not sheltered at all.  At Lock 1 the water was very high and all of the usual docking spots were not usable.  We managed to dock by putting our bow line around a regular cleat but our mid line had to go around a tree and we had no stern line! Not our normal docking technique at all but it worked in a pinch. 

Locks 2 to 6 were much easier to navigate, mostly because the lock masters were ready for us and there was no waiting – the doors were open and we could motor right into the lock. 

We spent Canada Day journeying from Frankford to Campbellford.  The locks are more modern than what you find on the Rideau Canal – especially the ones in the lower part of the Trent Severn.  They were built in the early 1900s and the lock masters houses were built in the 1920s.  There is definitely a difference in architecture as compared to the Rideau Canal. But what is similar is the friendliness of the lock staff – we had superb service at all of the locks.

The most interesting lock was at Ranney Falls – it is a huge structure encompassing two locks.  Once we were in the lock the sound of the steel doors closing made it feel like we were being thrown in prison and there was no escape.

It even looks like a guarded prison too – this is the view from the bottom of the lock. 

Campbellford is home of the world’s largest twonie.

After this picture we ran into a policeman who arrested Jacques (we are not sure if it was for having the name Campbell, for trying to steal the twonie or for his flashy Canada Day shirt).

So far we have met Loopers from Tennessee, Virginia, Florida, New Zealand, and Michigan.  Still waiting to meet some Canadian Loopers but we know they are out there!

Week one is complete!  No more engine mishaps and the sun has been almost continuously shining.

We took our time meandering our way down the historic Rideau Canal.  While this waterway is currently used by pleasure boaters, the original purpose of the canal (due to tensions between Great Britain and the United States) was to find a safe alternative for the transportation of goods and people and avoiding the exposed St Lawrence River.  The Canal and the accompanying locks were built between 1827 and 1832. The Rideau Canal was recognized as a UNESCO Heritage Site in 2007.

Between Rideau Ferry and Kingston there are 15 locks; we are in no hurry and are taking our time so took five days to travel to Kingston.  For comparison, this would be a drive of about 1 hour and 15 minutes. The lock stations are a great place to dock the boat and spend the night. 

The scenery along this route is spectacular – the waterway really is a gem.  This is the view from the top of Kingston Mills Lock (3 locks all together).

Most of the locks are operated manually as you can see in the picture below. Note this bridge is electrically operated; some smaller bridges at other lock stations are operated manually.

One of our favourite parts of being on the Rideau Canal system is seeing and hearing the loons. 

We also saw hundreds of swans on the River Styx as we approached Kingston. These two happened to be close enough to the boat to get a good picture.

We met our first ‘Loopers’ at Lower Brewers Lock Station and they happen to be from New Zealand!  They started their Loop from New Orleans in January and are about half way through. We definitely hope to run into them again!

In Kingston we got a few necessary errands done and checked out some of the local spots. Jacques’ favourite – The Kingston Brewing Company for a local brew – and a fantastic evening with our friends Fran and Keith at the Wooden Heads. It is actually quite difficult to choose a restaurant as there are so many good ones.

Here is what it looks like entering Kingston from the Rideau Canal. This bascule bridge opens on the hour for boaters except during rush hour as this is a main thoroughfare.

After two nights at Confederation Basin Marina we are spending a night on anchor. Next stop: Trenton!

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton