Day 22 2nd year. June 11. On to Lovesick, Lock 30. Miles 16 Total miles 3073

Had a lazy morning and untied from the wall around 11:00 and headed past Lakefield.

The winding channel lead us to Lake Katchewanooka, Obijwa for lake with swift rapids. We are now officially in the Kawartha Lakes, a series of nine lakes, each created by a dam. The Canadians call this cottage country where many a summer cottage can be seen on the forested shoreline.

As we cruise through Katchewanooka Lake the terrain became hilly and rocky and I finally got a photo of the elusive loon whose calls are so distinctive in the evenings and mornings.

At the end of the lake we came to Lock 27, Young’s Point and rose 7 feet.

Then we entered Clear Lake and travel its length of about 5 miles. This lake has even more cottages dotting it’s shore.

At the end of Clear Lake there are several islands which we negotiated around and we start to see more granite shoreline and small granite islands. One channel in this area is called Hell’s Gate with its narrow channels and granite outcroppings. We made sure we stayed in the channel!

From here we took a short side trip into Stoney Lake- aptly named for its many rocky islands and submerged rocks. Apparently all the well to-do from Toronto have very large summer cottages here.

We wound our way back out of Stoney Lake and into the channel for Burleigh Falls Lock, which raised us 24 feet. this is a picture of the rapids and falls.

After the lock we entered Lovesick Lake and traveled between its small islands. We crossed the lake to Lovesick Lock #30 and rose 3.5 feet. Will tie up to their lock wall for the night. Since Lock 30 is on an island, the lock workers must travel to and from work in a boat.

This is the Anglican Church of the Lake which parishioners attend during the summer. It is only accessible by boat.

The picture below is our view from our boat.

Lock 30 on Lovesick island is connected via the dam walkway to the Provincial Park on Wolfe Island. We decided to check out the park and hike on its trails. Bill was in his glory with all the rocks!

Since the Lockmaster left, we are the only ones left on the island.

I bet you are wondering about the name of this island -Lovesick. Well, according to legend Lovesick Lake got its name when beautiful Polly Cow, the daughter of handsome Jack Cow, a charismatic Chippewa chief of the 1800’s, fell in love. But she was rejected and heartbroken, fled to a deserted island on the lake where she nearly died of lovesickness. Another version of the story is that Richard Fawn, a local young man, who fell in love with an Irish girl, Katherine O’Donahue. When he was rejected, he paddled to the Island and pined away until his friends discovered him and took him home. Take your pick, either way a man or woman ended up with a broken heart.

June 4-5. Day 63-64. On to Cape May New Jersey. 53.4nm. Total 1534 miles.

Left Delaware City at 5:35am to be able to take advantage of the strong currents going with us while traversing Delaware River and Delaware Bay. The Delaware River goes south about 15 miles and flows into the Delaware Bay. As we travel south, New Jersey is to the east and Delaware is to our west. We are traveling just outside the shipping channel and are really moving at 10.9 knots. That is three knots faster than we normally travel, as the outgoing tides are pushing us along. Nice to have Mother Nature helps us save on fuel. The Delaware River is about 8 miles wide so there is plenty of room for the freighters and the pleasure boats. So far, we have not encountered any commercial traffic, but there is a large freighter behind us that will eventually pass us as they travel at 14 knots. The Delaware Bay proper varies from 23-29 miles wide and 26 miles long. There are five lighthouses on the Delaware marking the shipping channel. We went by Ship J...

Reflections on the Bahamas

Reflections on the Bahamas Over the past 10 weeks, we have traveled through Abaco, Eleuthera and Exuma Islands and enjoyed the hospitality of the Bahamian people. We have learned all about the islands, its unique geography - limestone, caves, blue holes and chalk cliffs; and colorful history-pirates and rum running, salt ponds and cotton plantations, boat building and wrecking/salvage. Traveling over 1300 miles through narrow cuts and wide bays to vast depths of ocean, we negotiated the islands and found safe harbors, calm coves for anchoring, bays filled with moorings and marinas large and small. This trip required us to pay close attention to the weather, the tides and currents as we traveled between and through the islands. The Bahamian people are warm and friendly, willing to give us rides, advice and directions, as well as some secret recipes!! We enjoyed hiking trails, walking the beaches, snorkeling the coral rocks and reefs, discovering ruins and ol...

Day 98. 2nd year. August 27. On to Manistee. Miles 25 Total miles. 3910.

We weighed anchor on a sunny 50 degree morning. So we put on our sweatshirts and drove from below as we left Frankfort. Going through Frankfort’s channel and breakwater we encountered a few intrepid fisherman and further along as we cleared the breakwater there must have been over a hundred fishing boats. Almost like playing bumper cars, but with boats. Had to negotiate a path between them as the fishing boats were all trolling fishing lines behind them. We were still seeing fishermen 4 miles south of Frankfort. These guys sure take their fishing tournaments seriously! The shoreline that we pass heading south are still sand dunes bluffs some as tall as 200 feet. As we travel, we pass the small town of Arcadia and Portage Lake, each situated on an inland lake which is connected to Lake Michigan by a dredged channel. Interesting to note that the dredged channels were originally small rivers connecting the inland lakes to Lake Michigan. As we passe...

Crustacean Travels

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