ONBOARD ODDYSEA: 7/10/11

FRIDAY JULY 15TH 2011

We are currently in Killarney, Ontario. The Internet here is only just strong enough to post some text, but forget about loading pictures! We'd be home before the first one even loads.

The weather has been fabulous, the bugs haven't carried us away (yet), and the scenery is incredible.

When we get somewhere with stronger signal I will do all the back posts.

Today we are taking the dinghy to a little cove that was recommended for picking blueberries. The locals tell us that this is the peak season. So if we find some and don't have to wrestle any bears to bring them back, we will have blueberry cobbler on the menu tonight for dessert!

SUNDAY JULY 10TH 2011

After leaving the boat in Midland, Ontario for the past 3 weeks, we returned from Minnesota just a couple of days ago and are more than ready to head back out on the Loop. It is a beautiful summer day in Canada! You can say what you want about winters up north, but during the summer months there is no place nicer.

Being it is Sunday there is still plenty of boat traffic. One thing about Canadians, they drive their boats fast. All the time! No matter where they are or how close they are to you. They have absolutely no disregard for their wake. Several times today large cruisers blew past us or met us and didn’t slow down a notch. They don’t slow down for kayakers or even when meeting other boats in tight quarters. It’s mind blowing.

The radio chatter has picked up dramatically. It was so quiet when we traveled the Trent Severn that this seems so out of the ordinary. It is a weekend though and everyone is trying to keep in touch.

We are traveling through what is called the Thirty Thousand Islands. It is incredibly scenic. Photos just don’t do it justice. Thousands of rock islands are scattered about with pine trees on many of them. How they can grow there I can’t imagine.

There are hundreds of cabins on islands too. Here

are a few examples. This would certainly be some peace and quiet.

I did some checking on the Internet as far as prices go and a cottage on your own private island will set you back about ½ a million. I did further checking to answer my main question. Yes, they have bathrooms and no it doesn’t go in to the lake. They have a holding tank or their own septic if space allows. Hey, questioning minds want to know.

This is a grocery store we passed. It is accessible

by boat and you can see the docks to the right where the shoppers are tied up.

After 38 miles we arrived at our destination, and to

the smell of hot grease and fried fish. Henry’s Restaurant is a well know place for their fish dinners. Since it was lunchtime on Sunday it was the happening place. Folks were arriving by boats and floatplanes. Since they offer overnight tie-ups we’ll spend the night. There is a service out of

Parry Sound that flies you in for dinner. The flight probably takes 20 minutes one way. Cost is around $160 Canadian and doesn’t include tax, tip or fuel surcharge. Just in case anyone is wondering.

Henry’s is located on Frying Pan Island. Don’t you just love the name? And so perfect for a fried fish place. The nearest town is Sans Souci, which in French means without cares.

Much to our surprise we ran in to some Loopers we met in spring of 2010 at Fernandina Beach, Florida. It was at that marina that the pistol shrimp made

so much noise during the night that we could hardly sleep. Phyllis and Bill of GULLWING have an adorable pug named Savannah who is quite the boater despite not liking the water.

We also met Ron and Erin from RUNNING ERINS who are from Ft. Myers Florida and also doing the Loop.

After happy hour at a picnic table overlooking the lake we wandered up to Henry’s for dinner.

There was no shortage of food and we left with our cholesterol levels up a point or two.

Our waitress models her Henry's T-shirt for us.

THURSDAY JUNE 16TH 2011

THE BIG CHUTE

A gorgeous morning as our friends, and fellow Minnesotans, from the SOUTHERN BELLE help cast us off. They will be right behind us in the Big Chute so we have traded cameras and will meet up on the other side to retrieve then. So these photos were taken by the captain and crew of the SOUTHERN BELLE.

The Big Chute Marine Railway is the only one of it’s kind in North America still in use. Here’s a bit of back-story on it. In 1914 there were contracts for 3 locks to be built. Two were completed but WWI began and there was a shortage of manpower and resources. The marine railway was built as a temporary solution. Finally in the 1960’s they got around to dealing with the temporary solution and were going to put a traditional lock system in. Only by this time, the Lamprey eel had arrived to the Canadian waters as far as the bottom of the Big Chute. The eel had already caused a devastating impact on the fishing industry and they didn’t want it to get any further into the water system. So they built a bigger and better marine railway. To this date, no lamprey has hitched a ride all the way to the other side.

The Big Chute is a modified railroad car with straps in it like those in a boatlift. The water here is crystal clear so you can get a good sense of what the railcar looks like and see the sets of straps.

The park rangers who operated the Chute drive it along the rails into the water and direct us exactly what to do. Ross maneuvered the ODDYSEA over a set of the straps, which are then lifted and tightened to the point were the boat is balanced on her keel.

The Chute is driven by a system of pulleys along rail tracks. It seems to function a lot like the cable cars of San Francisco. Except for the going in the water part.

The props are lower than our keel, so the boat needed to be positioned in order that they could hang off the back. We’d be going nowhere fast if they got squished.