Susan Darlene Doing the Loop: July 2007

Britt, ON

Did I mention rocks in the Georgian Bay?

Coming back from dinner in the dingy.

The buoys have reflective material on them to make it easy to see at night.

The new meets the old in Britt.

We are staying at Wright Marina in Britt, ON (population 500). I took the dingy to dinner.

It cost you $1.00 to take a shower. The $1.00 coin is called a "Loony".

It's morning and time for the fishing boats to go to

work.

This bench is a beauty.

Georgian Bay is "God's Country"

You can see that the water level is about four feet down in the bay.

Parry Sound and North

This is one cool bike. Not only does it become compact for storage it also has an electric motor.

This is "Georgian Bay" grass in front of the marina s

tore.

Bob is not checking out my chest but is hiding my Tennessee Volunteer shirt. He's from Nashville and is a Vanderbilt fan.

Not only do boats come into "Henry's" for lunch planes also land. We had some great Walleye for lunch.

Did I mention the bugs at Henry's?

There are as many sea planes as boats in this area.

Here are two that are getting ready to take off in the morning fog.

Many families are on vacation.

A nice place to s

top and visit.

This sailboat was stuck until we waked them.

We have run into many "range markers" in this

area.

In the last five years the water has dropped 5 feet at Britt, ON. Check out the rocks.

Meet the original owner of "Wrights Marina" in Britt, ON. He moved to this area in 1930 and was born in 1914. Yes on Monday. July 30 he will be 93 years old. He doesn't look it. His grand kids now run the marina.

Here lies "Crazy Eights" with a shaft problem. We ran with them from Orillia to the Big Chute (they took those great pictures of our boat there.) We were surprised to see them here.

This marina is "First class" as you can see by the cook out area.

This is the smallest LST (Landing Ship Tank) I have ever seen.

Before, during and after the Big Chute

As we left Orrilia, ON we followed "Crazy Eights" and another boat to the Big Chute. The photo's in the blog entry before this were taken by the crew of Crazy 8's.

This area is beautiful.

Here we are approching the "Blue Line" for the Big Chute. You let the lcok-masters know you want ot lock thru by docking at the blue line.

Here we start the adven

ture.

The straps are on. Some people got air in their water line and blew impellers going over the land.

A 45 foot canal boat comes in behind us.

Time to stop road traffic and go to the other side, down a hill to the water.

We are now at our last lock until we hit the Chicago lock. This lock make the 108th. This is a very small lock. It is 80' by 24'.

We're done with locks and now head for the narrow entrence to Georgian Bay past Potato Island.

Big Chute Railway

We finally got to the Big Chute Railway. There is not a lock here. Boats travel on a railway car over land to go from one body of water to another. This was just to keep a species of wild life from moving into the other water system. In this photo we approach the rail car. Click on the picture to get a better look.

Sue didn't even have to give the lock-masters a line.

The straps are starting to get tight.

We are now held up by straps and the engine is off.

Look ma no water.

Now we go down hill to the Severn River.

Bobcaygeon to Kirkfield

The locals hang on to their cars for a long time.

Meet our new friends, Keith and Liz Rasmussen.

A mink swimming by the Bobcaygeon Inn.

A tree of broken dreams.

The young guys get the most dangerous jobs. They should move the electric wire higher.

It's time to put boats in the water.

A close call putting a boat in the water.

The parade starts. :-) We are ready to leave Buckhorn, ON.

This is why I don't mind the cost of fuel in Canada.

It looks like Liz is telling a fish story. They visited us at the the lock as we passed thru Bobcaygeon with the boat working great. They will visit us in October.