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Day 30 2nd year. June 19. On to Lake Simcoe and Orillia. Miles 18.9. Total. 3153

 Woke to a beautiful cloudless day.

Traveled through the last two locks and the coutryside before the lake- Lock 40 Thorah, dropping 14 feet and Lock 41 Gamebridge, dropping 12 feet- 




then through a swing bridge and the breakwater into Simcoe Lake.

We lucked out as we entered the lake, it was flat calm this morning.  The shore line is lined with homes, at least what shore we could see.  Simcoe Lake is 20 feet long and 12 miles wide, half the size of Lake Okeechobee, but twice as deep.




Are traveling with On Business across the lake.  This is their cruising grounds.  Will take about 2 hours to cross.

Once across lake, we enter Atherley Narrows, the channel that connects Lake Simcoe with Lake Couchiching.  The narrows are filled with marinas, five to be exact, and they come in all shapes and sizes.  The current through Atherley Narrows is strong and the water is very clear.  We can see the bottom at 8-10 feet.


Exiting the Narrows, we enter Lake Couchiching. Couchiching means place where forces meet and squeeze through in the Objiwa language.   Will travel across the narrow width of the lake to dock in the city of Orillia’s marina, Port of Orillia.




Got settled at our dock 

and walked to the small downtown located on the southeast shore of Lake Couchiching.    The town offers easy reprovisioning for boaters and apparently is the place to go to indulge in all the goodies it’s three bakeries can provide.  Will have to taste test for you!

Can attest to great sweet and savory tarts, butter tarts, sticky buns, fruit pies, scones, and sandwiches.  Don’t know their secret for flaky crust but I wish I did. Bill and I splurged with our lunch at Mariaposa market to get a extraordinary peanut butter cookie smothered in chocolate and M&Ms.  Yummy!

After lunch we wandered around town and found the old City Hall which is now an opera house with a show celebrating Gordon Lightfoot, a native of this area. Also found some more old brick buildings and enjoyed the waterfront park.  Had to walk off our lunch and cookie.







At the end of the day the marina had a Canadian flag lit up.




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