June 11, 2018 - Big Chute to Meaford

Today is our big day!  We will be doing the Big Chute.

 Last trade is waiting on the blue line.

Big Chute Marina.  We were on the t-head for the night.  

 Here it comes to get us!

We made it!

As we got closer to our last lock (Lock 45), we got a little confused.  Several channels merged together and we had to stop and really think about where we were supposed to go.  Very confusing!  Right before the last lock there were some nice marinas.  If we only knew we would have done the Big Chute yesterday and stayed at one of these.

Lock 45 was the smallest lock on the TSW and we locked through with another boat.  The other boat's dinghy was nudging against our hull.  Wish we were able to do this lock alone.  We talked about some very narrow channels that we had to go through earlier but the ones after lock 45 were something else!  Nothing that I read prepared us for this.  Very, very small and twisty with current!  All eyes were on deck!!!!!!!

Open water here we are!

June 10, 2018 Port of Orillia to Big Chute Marina

Great day for traveling!  The scenery has changed to more rocks and I have no words that can describe the beauty of this cruising area.  It is just amazing!  Traveling by boat is totally different from traveling by car.  If you travel by car you would never see this amazing scenery.  I am so glad we are boat people!

 Backtracking from Port of Orillia Marina to get fuel and pumpout!

Nice marina, wish we had more time, would have liked to stay here for a day.  All boats must pass by this waterway.  We met some people who moved their boat here just for that reason.  We've heard that come July and August it's a parade of non-stop boats!

 You can see the bottom!

Not sure what happened but all the trees are dead on this island.

 You can see rock shoals on the side of the marked waterway.

 Back in the skinny channels!

 Nice house on an island!

 Here we go twisting and turning!

June 8 & 9, 2018 - Port of Orillia

June 8, 2018 - Port Of Orillia Marina

The Port of Orillia Marina is very nice.  Clean, modern restrooms with free laundry.  Whoo hoo! and we lucked out, they are having a boat show this weekend!  The town is very nice with lots of restaurants, shops and a grocery store within walking distance.

This morning we had this funny looking boat come in.

Check out this motorized chair, windshield and all.  So cool!!!!

Selling the dock systems that we saw along the waterway.

The marina was pretty empty until Saturday.

Another plane arrived!

June 9, 2018

If you stay two nights at this marina, you get the third night free.  So...Yup, we decided to stay!  Who can pass up a boat show?

While out during my morning walk with Teak we saw this lonely baby swimming around the marina.

Today I decided would be a good day to work on our sun shades again.  This was our free day at the marina and how many times can you walk the boat show?    I was hoping to finish them but it looks like I will need one more day. 

The view from our back porch!