Hastings, Ont Tuesday, 7/13/10 to Peterborough, Ont 7/14/10

Today we leave Hastings to venture on to Peterborough.  Peterborough is a college town and is home to some auto plants and other large plants.  They have an excellent marina.  This is where we were introduced to a product called Bug-Tek.  This is the most effective spider elimination stuff we have ever run across.  Unfortunately it is available only in Canada.  It is worth the trip just to get a liter of this stuff.

Information about Peterborough can be found on:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peterborough,_Ontario

Sue and Joe aboard their trawler Quixote, passing Hastings as we were just getting underway.

As we noticed earlier, signs is small towns are more for information than for marketing.

Nice boathouse along the way.

This appeared to be one of the early built houses, one that has a stately "farm house" feel to it.  Most of everything else we saw  near by was probably built on parceled out pieces of the original property that belonged to this particular house.

And one nearby that was not so stately.  But it IS for sale.

There were many like this along the way.

A group of waterway buildings.

And just up a ways, what else but flamingos?

Fenders and waves!

It does not need to be elaborate to be a functioning marina.

I bet these folks have kids.  (or maybe grandkids?)

Looks sort of like an alligator.

Little Lake Marina harbor entrance at Peterborough.

From the fore deck of the Salt Shaker.  Some lucky kids going to get some kayak training.

Sailing lessons for the older kids.

This fountain is near the harbor entrance.  It is especially pretty at night when it is lit up.  We are back on the waterway.

Campbellford, Ont Monday 07/12/10 to Hastings, Ont 07/13/10

The trip from Campbellford to Hastings went from noon to about 5:00 PM and involved locks 13 thru 18.  There will only be one or two pictures of locks in this set, I promise.  Hastings is a little bitty town that boasts a beer store and an ice cream store on our side of the river and most of the rest of the town is on the other side of the river.  To get there, you walk across a bridge that is right at lock 18 and then another long bridge that reaches the other shore.  Once there you can purchase sandwiches.  Sooo- we had it all, beer, ice cream and sandwiches.  This was my first time for a Canadian ice cream cone.  Ice Cream seems to be a passion for all folks Canadian.

Information about Hastings can be found at:   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hastings,_Ontario

This is a view of, most likely lock 13.  We are heading toward the doors which are in the process of opening.  There is the dam and associated falls on the left and a power house on the right.

Since there are so many of thest things, I nominate it for the national bird of Canada.  I am sure Pat thinks at times that I miss a lot.  And I do.  She sees lots of things before I do and does not hesitate to point this out.  However, when it comes to float planes, I always see them first!  No matter how obscured from view they are.  This is from my past life as a light plane pilot.  Also my dad had float planes during his life. 

Scenes like this are one of the many reasons for doing the trip.  We could not get enough of it.

There were thousands of these colorful chairs along the waterway.

There were many of these along the waterway.  And some even larger.

There was no shortage of small business to serve you along the waterway.

This kind of art is common on the doors of boat houses and such.  Like this one, it is all very well done.

Back among the rocks.  So far, so good.

This is from the back of the Salt Shaker, moored along the city wall.  If you know exactly where to look, you can see Pat walking across the bridge bringing sandwiches from the shop on the other side of the river.  The boat with the two fenders hanging down is moored along the "blue line" at the entrance to the Hastings lock.  The blue line is where you wait for the next lock opening.  It is the same lenght as the lock so all boats that are at the line are assured entry on the next opening.  Very little communication between boats and the lock masters is done by radio as it is elsewhere.  Along the Trent-Severn it is all visual and position related.

This was our only neighbor at the wall.  A Canadian couple with their dog on a multiday ride thru some of their countryside.  I think the dog is on the forward deck checking us out.  This is in the morning as we were about to depart.

Trenton, Ontario 07/10/10 to Campbellford, Ont. 07/12/10

These are our first two days exploring Trent-Severn.  We are at the extreme east end of the winding back and forth, north and south but ever working its way west canal, river and lake system.  The canal system is a part of Parks Canada.  Each of the 44 locks includes a public park.  They are all very well designed and well managed.  People come to them to see the locks, to picnic, to fish and to camp.

There is so much to tell about this beautiful part of Canada that it is easiest for me to put up a lot of pictures of our journey but give a website really goes into the detail.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trent-Severn_Waterway

Once we get turned around, we will head thru the "welcome" gate.

First lock of a set of 5 in fairly rapid succession.  Notice how much smaller these locks are compared to those of the Erie Canal system.  Since the Trent-Severn never saw commercial service, there was never any pressure to enlarge them as there was on the Erie.  The doors for this lock, like most on the system are hand operated.  There is a turnstyle type set of handles at each door that the operator grabs hold of and walks around pushing on it, which is what makes one think of a turn style.

After all the description above, here is one of the turn styles that opens the doors.

Out of the set of 5 and we are now "on the system."

Just to throw another lock photo, the is looking at the level we just left and are just waiting for the front doors to be opened so we can motor out.

Everything along the waterway is neat and tidy.  Typical of the sign that greets you at each lock.

This is a reminder to stay in the channel.  If this is one you can see, how many are there that lurk just beneath the surface.

We are in cottage country.  How pretty is this?

We are also in farm country.

This lock 11 of 11 and 12, a set of staircase or "flight" locks.  We will be lifted to the waterline in this chamber and once there, they will open the front set of doors and we will then be lifted to near where the top of these and then be let out into that upper level of the waterway.

The Summer Star of Ron and Sally (and of course Frank).  They are from Sandusky, Ohio and are doing a cruise from Sandusky via Lake Ontario to the Trent-Severn and then back to Sandusky via Lake Huron and Lake Saint Clair.  We have linked up once again here at Campbellford.

I must have just heard a "funny."  We are helping Don and Rosie "undock" so they can get a jump on their schedule.  We are staying one more night.

"Just Rosie" motors off.  Notice the 3/4 size fridge/freezer combo on the screened in portion of the stern deck.  It is from the kitchen department at Lowe's.  Lowe's honored their delivery policy, even to a boat at a marina.  They had fun getting it on board Don tells me.

Pat smiling at me.  We are on the bridge that crosses the Trent River at Campbellford.  Pretty town.

Also from the bridge.  View of the sea wall and park.  Notice the large coin among the trees.

This is the "coin."  Canada discontinued both their $1.00 and the $2.00 bills.  In their place they have the coin for the one dollar amount called the "looney" and the two dollar coin affectionately known as the "tooney."  The tooney was designed by Brent Townsand who hails from Campbellford.  This statue was erected in honor of that event.

Interesting facts can be found here: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coins_of_the_Canadian_dollar

The front window of an antique store.  It looks like they have some unique and hard to find items.  Good thing for us,  It was closed this day.

We chose Campbellford to do a test assembly and launch of our Porta-Bote.  If anyone wondered what that surfboard looking thing on the port side of the Salt Shaker is, here is the answer.  As you can probably see, I was a little optimistic about the motor.  It was actually a freebe that came with a West Marine "blow up" raft.  I was curious if it would be adequate to push the "bote."  It did a great job pushing down stream.  Upstream was a different matter.  Lucky, the boat rows good.

Laundry out to dry prior to departure.  Note the Porta-Bote is once again folded up and stowed on the port cat walk.

Oswego, NY 7/7/10 to Brighton, Ont 7/7/10 to Trenton, Ont 7/8/10

We departed Oswego on a beautiful morning and crossed Lake Ontario to Brighton.  The distance across the lake was about 67 statute miles and took maybe 3 hours to cross.  The seas were uncommonly light, maybe 1 foot becoming 2 feet as we neared Canada.

We cleared customs, long story there, but the Canadian customs people were helpful and we entered the country on terms we were both happy with.  The next morning we traveled the short distance from Brighton thru the Murray Canal to the Bay of Quinte and up to Trenton.

Never saw so many weeds in the water.  As we neared Trenton, I got the dreaded overheat alarm on the port engine and of course shut that one down.  Once at the dock at Fraser Park Marina, we got our heads together with those in the know there (Craig, the most able dockmaster and Dave, a most able mechanic) and decided that we must have picked up some weeds that covered the water intake on that engine.  Took apart, examined, a swimmer went under the boat to check for obstructions to the water intakes etc.  No trouble found and things were all once again normal.  We took this opportunity to have the engine oil changed.

Our first view of the "big lake"

The magic screen.  It shows we are making 22.4 knots over the bottom and we are just over a third of the way across the lake.

We were almost all the way across when we caught up with Don and Rosie.  Got this picture of them making their way across.

And they got this one of us!

Arrived at our first Canadian dock.  Note the yellow quarantine (Q) flag we are flying.  It is customary to fly this flag once you are in the waters of a different country destined for one of their ports.  Once you clear their customs, you remove it and replace it with a flag of the host country.

All dressed for Canada.

Jeni (of Bill and Jeni) who own and manage the marina.  A great restaurant they have there.  Lots of people from the locality also enjoy it.

When you are in a really small town, there is likely not more than one of anything.  So signage does not need to be creative, just informative.

And if you need gas, it is here.

This is the HQ and restaurant of Bill and Jeni's marina.  Very well laid out facility and is very unique in the area.  The single word "cafe"  makes it very inviting.

Another shot by Don.  We are on the Murray Canal, just about to pass thru an opened bridge for which there is a $5.00 toll.  Here is the bridge tender with his collection basket at the end of the long pole.  Pat said to the bridge tender "there is a religious feeling to this."  He laughed at the idea and asked her if there was anything she needed to confess.  Then he noticed we had the season pass for the canal system and told us we could take the $5.00 bill back because the sticker covered the bridge as well as the canal locks etc.

Don and Rosie's boat against the far wall.  Craig, like any good dockmaster/manager at a popular marina such as Fraser Park needs to get boats as efficiently packed in as possible to make the best possible use of the dock space.  It may not be evident but the bow pulpit of the Just Rosie is overhanging the swim platform of the boat at the left and the swim platform of "Just Rosie is only about two feet from the seawall that the sailboat is against.  The remarkable thing about this is that Craig took only a quick look at the "Just Rosie" and scarcely looked at the space and determined with the confidence of an aviator that it would fit.

Speaking of the boat to the left of "just Rosie" these are the props the owner of this boat has been waiting a long time for to replace the ones that need to turn the other way to be correct.  Turned out these are the same wrong way!  Lots more waiting I expect.  These are big props.  These are expensive props!

Canada has public parks everywhere there are people.  This is one of the gardens of the one associated with Frazer Park.  They are all manacured to the 9's.  Very pleasant to be around.

We had the good fortune to be docked behind the Summer Star, a pretty motor yacht from Sandusky, Ohio.  this is Ron (of Ron and Sally) with Frank.

This is a night view of the Bridge over the Trent River at night.  This has wetted our appitite to get going in the morning.