July 31, 2012 Day 81 Big Chute to Papoose Bay Total miles to
date: 1513.1
|
Loading Carried Away on the Big Chute |
|
Here we go! |
|
Getting ready to go down |
This was a big day for us
as we took our turn in riding the Big Chute. We arranged with Our Time to take photos of each other’s
boats. We went first and tied up on the blue line to be the first ones through
at 8:30 when the lock opened. We pulled into the structure and the crew
positioned us into two slings. Once they were satisfied that everything thing
was right (they insist on being perfect – and we agree with that!), the railway
car took us up the incline and then lowered us back in the water. It was a fun ride and over all too
quickly! We tied up our boat below so we
could walk back up and take pictures of Our
Time. One advantage of having
someone else along is that it gives them the chance to look at the props. We
have a small ding in one prop but overall not too bad considering we hit
something in Otter Creek in Vermont. Our Time had a long orange line wrapped
around their portside prop and the Big Chute crew backed up the railway car so
they could reach the props and remove it for them. We might add that the day began cloudy but
the rain did not begin until we were through the Big Chute! Then we did travel in a heavy rain or about
45 minutes.
We arrived at our final
lock in Canada, the Port Severn Lock 45 at 10:45 and had to tie up for a while
to be able to lock through. Because of the thunderstorm that had developed,
they were not able to open the bridge for 30 minutes after the last lightning
strike, so we waited until 12:15 and went through the lock and then the swing
bridge. We immediately pulled into a marina to buy oil for the boat, and then
we were on our way once again with Our
Time to head to the Georgian Bay!
The first part of the bay was challenging with a very shallow and narrow
channel but it eventually opened up into a wide body of water. We had chosen Papoose
Bay off Beausoleil Island as our destination and we anchored there with Our Time and several other boats who had
also come here. As soon as we arrived
Joyce pulled in all the fenders, tied up all the lines, and cleaned the
decks! We have a wash down pump and the
water here is so clean it makes sense to use it to wash the boat. The fenders
still need cleaning but that will get done later this week.
|
An anchoring neighbor at Papoose Bay |
This was a day of firsts –
our first time to ride the Big Chute and our first day to travel in a
thunderstorm. It was also a day of “lasts” – our last lock in Canada, and our
last day on the Trent Severn! (It is
also the last day of July!) We also just crossed 1500 miles! We will be on the
Georgian Bay for a few days with its challenges of navigating through rocks,
but the beauty of the area is supposedly unequalled. We had a nice dinner on the grill, planned
our route for tomorrow, read and just enjoyed a quiet evening at anchor.