WHAT A GREAT DAY

July 27, 2011  Dateline:  Midland, Ontario Canada

This morning I left Orillia at 7:30 AM with Captain Jerry Clayton at the helm.  I had to go through 3 locks as well as the Big Chute Marine Railway and cover 50 miles.  My starboard engine ran well and my bow thruster was strong.  My first challenge was a railway bridge that is usually open except when a train is coming, I had to stay in place for 25 minutes.  The good news is that there was no wind blowing me around.  We told the first lock tender that there was an issue with one engine and I had limited maneuverability. She passed the word on down the line.  I was treated like royalty for the rest of the journey.  I went over the Big Chute and through the Port Severn Lock alone.

Coming out of the Port Severn Lock the current was incredibly strong as the dam was allowing excess water out of the system.  The channel was as wide as my beam and I had to twist through a very tight curve.  Rich and Jerry worked together telling me what to do with my transmission, rudders and bow thruster.  Team work got me and them through it.

The country side is just beautiful on this leg of the trip.  It is Canada as we Americans think of it. The pine trees are tall, the lakes are full of small islands and the lake shores are lined with cottages.  Some of those cottages were more like large houses.

Along the way I saw this cute little boat—neat huh?

Look at this house you will see that it is cantilevered on the left hand side.  Jerry told Rich that the house was originally a mobile home that was supported by I-beams. Later, the trailer was removed and a house built on the I-beams.

View from the top Big Chute

Big Chute is a marine railway cradle car that sits on railroad tracks.  It is equipped with straps and actually lifted me out of the water carried me over a hill and then down the hill on the other side back into the water.  While it carried me all by myself,  it did carry 5 boats on the previous load.

Cables and rails of Big Chute



I saw this moose in the woods.  Have you ever seen a white moose?  Jerry said that this one was a work of art that once stood, with many others, in Toronto.