THE FIRST LEG July/August 2010
(L. Ontario/Sacketts Harbor NY to L. Michigan/Northport)


What follows is the record of the Elissa II's voyage.  It has as the framework, the Ships Log, a record we automatically keep to record each day.  The Log is basicaly a travelogue with a little bit of technical stuff (weather, sea conditions, course, speed, distance/time and "issues" if any)included.  Bill's entries appear in black, Bonnie's, in blue.  Big deals will show in red.  in addition to the Log, comments about preparation, places visited, off water adventures etc will appear  in green.

July, 2010

 07/17:  Away at 0900 enr Yacht Haven Marine, Drummond Island, MI. the last outpost of US.  Arrived 7 hours and 112 miles later.  Warm, mostly sunny, beautiful now (@1900, grilling burgers for dinner (with freshly picked corn-discovered a family’s produce stand on the island-yum)  waves from 2-4’ (occasional 5’) mostly astern.  Great ride.  Off in AM to Canadian shore.

  07/18:  Away 0900 to Blind River, Ontario (1^st place on route to clear in to Canada Customs , all done by phone, they had a record of us w/PP numbers etc from previous visits—Also knew Bill was to be with ME and not some “ other woman”----hmmmmm).  Grey, drizzle/light rain in AM, light winds, no seas to speak of.  I was so focused on details of charts thru very tight, shallow areas that when I got to open waters I turned south  instead of north- cost us about half hour and 5 gals diesel…he was so focused on the electronic charts he lost the big picture—lesson learned!  Out of BR @ 1300, arrived Spider Bay Marina, Little Current Ont. at 1700 in steady, moderate rain (still falling).  Decided to forego walk into town due to rain and fact that the stores we planned to visit had already closed.

  07/19:   Made the 1200 hour opening of the Little Current Bridge. Cool, sunny, light winds.  Proceeded direct to Kilarney, tied up at Herberts Fish & Chips dock…ate, yumm!.  After lunch, I went to Med Clinic to thank Nurse Mary who provided much needed 1^st responder care for my 3^rd degree burns last summer.  Cleared K @ 1500 for the short run easy to yet another most awesome anchorage in  Thomas Bay.  I’ll leave it to Bonnie to flesh out the Bay with text and photos…a picture can say it all! Gorgeous (you’ll find I have a limited vocabulary on this trip).  We were greeted by another boater in TB and invited to a “cocktail party” on shore..BYOB and share a goodie! Meet some very nice people—2/3 Canadians who shared stories of their ventures on the Trent Severn!!!!

  07/20:  Played around in TB in AM, walked small island nearby, many photos; took bracing swim/bath, attempted to jury rig a dinghy hoist (failed when under way).  Finally left at 1120 down the inland route towards Port Severn, our final intermediate destination.  Arrived at St Ammant’s Marina in Bynge Inlet at 1700 hours and 57 miles further on….passed by some lovely anchorages due to dire weather forecast which never materialized!!!!

  07/21: Left Bynge 0900 threatening, dark clouds, grey seas and fitful winds.  By noon had sun, stiff breeze and 2-4 ft waves in the unprotected areas of the route.  Arrived Echo Bay (secluded, 360 degree protected, anchorage) at 1645, another 60 beautiful miles beneath the keel.  About 40 more to go before we enter the Trent Severn Waterway. Cruised by beautiful islands and rocky vistas.  Have realized that the “library” of to be read books isn’t going anywhere as the route is so rocky ..tho’very well buoyed with red and greens…it takes 2 of us to be sure we are passing the correct buoy and missing rocks/boulders above and below the water.

  07/22:  Away at 0815 for an interesting last day of our trip to GET TO the Trent Severn Waterway.  Dawned clear, light winds, wave < 3 ft.; @ 70’.  Last few miles added some stress to adventure.  Got lost approaching Port Severn, western terminus of the waterway.  Bonnie finally figured out where I had taken wrong turn..heehee..now one knows what he really saw in me 40 yrs ago!!!  Once discovered, made good time to first Lock (#45) on the waterway.  Made regretable decision to pause in an empty slip in small abandoned marina next to lock to plot our going thru the first lock.  Scraped bottom on rocks in a marina w/under 4 feet of water.  Finally made it clear, locked up 20 feet (very easy to tell lock masters and attendants we are beginners  and they are very very helpful) and moved to a Marina @ ½ mile north on route to next lock and 40  more after that.  Was glad to have navigator (Bonnie) as two minds work so much better than one, especially when I get lost at the much higher speeds we now can operate under.  YEP!!!!!!

 07/23:  Off at 0915, cloudy, damp, sun later.  Negligible wind/wave.  8 mile run up Severn River to 2^nd lock “The Big Chute” about which Bonnie will amplify with photos.  For me, in a word, awesome.  Arrived at delightful town of  Orillia, ON about 40 miles from beginning  of canal and thru the 1^st five of the 44 locks total. 

  07/24:  Lay Day in Orilllia.  Cleaned up, did boat chores, restocked provisions, wandered that really nice little city of 30,000 and closed the day at a ABBA/Bee Gees concert at the Orillia Opera House.  Fun!!

  07/25:  Away at 0730.  Bright sunny day, 15 kt wind behind us crossing Lake Simcoe (a very large lake, check it out thru Google) and arrived at the village of Bobcaygeon 10 hours later.  In the process, we traversed 9 locks, going up 263 feet to the highest point on the canal at 841 feet above sea level.  We are now “downbound” and will descend 597 feet over the next 130 miles and 31 locks.  This is an awesome voyage!

  07/26:  Short run today in  brilliant sunshine cerulean skies w/puffy white clouds.  Descended thru multiple locks (now down to 23 remaining) and stopped for the night @1645 at Lock 23.  Before lunch we stopped at the largest commercial art gallery in Canada, featuring all Canadian artist-awesome.  No doubt Bonnie will amplify on this. Gallery on the Lake exhibits paintings, metal/wood sculpture, Chinese silk embroidery, pottery, textiles of Canadian artists! Is in the middle of no where..you can reach it by car or boat-obviously.  Wonderful…and Bill even stayed longer than “30 min, Bonnie”!!!

  07/27:  Left o/nite site at 0830, 2 locks and 4 miles later transited the Petersboro Lock (# 21, suggest you Google this) one of a handful of such mechanical marvels in the world  and at 65 ft-7 stories is the highest.  Stopped and toured museum with fascinating history of the concept and the construction of same.  Left @1200 downbound towards Trenton.   At 1530, some 30 miles later and at end of a speed run down 10 miles of Rice Lake experienced mechanical issue.  Boat throttled back from 3200 RPM to idle, alarm went off indicating low oil pressure.  Were just outside entrance to Hastings Harbor, so we anchored out of channel, checked oil level to discover dipstick dry (this AM same check had us between full and add).  Added 2 qts of oil and motored the remaining mile to the Marina at low power.  Can’t figure out what caused problem but have arranged for Marine engine mech to visit us tomorrow AM as we want to ID problem before proceeding.  More to follow.

  07/28-07/29:  Unplanned two day maintenance stopover (see above).  AM on 28, Harbormaster referred us to Mocean Marine (a one man shop on Bay of Quinte, about 50 minutes by road from Hastings.  Dave arrived @1400 spent about two hours crawling around in engine room and bilge and ID’d actual problem…muffler cap blew off of muffler as result of failure of the pipe that feeds engine cooling water (very hot) into the muffler so it can exit boat via engine exhaust system.  He left @1600 to return next day with his hydraulic boat trailer needed to remove boat from water so he could remove muffler. $$$$$$$ He did so.  Getting the damn muffler out was a real chore, took both of us close to an hour (incl BOTH of us falling over when the crowbar slipped).  Once out however, repair went smoothly.  We fiberglassed the cap back on (two layers, about an hour apart for curing) then reinstalled in boat.  We were back in the water and on our way by 1630.  Traveled about 17 miles, 5 locks, spending the night tied to lock 13 wall (lovely).  Off to Trenton and the big lake in AM.

  07/30:  Away at 0810, clear, cool, calm.  Last few locks, close together and (only when compared to all preceding)-boring only as it was farmland or more urban areas).  Arrived at Trenton (lock 1) @ 1640 (8.5 hours, only 4.5 “moving”-rest of time in or awaiting locks 2 kayakers who were traveling the 240 miles of the TSW were incl in 1^st 3 of 4 locks so waited for them..no problem as was interesting to talk with them).  Spent night at Marina near town center.

  07/31:  Away at 0815. Headed east.  Bright, sunny warm w/15-20 kts from east, waves for 1^st 60+ miles 2-4 feet.  Arrived Sacketts Harbor NY (our “home port” for month of August) at 1630.  Secured boat, were picked up by Elizabeth & Meridian.  Fifteen days and 698 miles (about 45 miles/day on average) from Northport. An awesome experience..educational, gorgeous scenery, wonderful Canadian hospitality (and except for the names and locations, their news sounds like our USA news..troops overseas, pblms with the National census, immigration, embezzlers, unemployment, etc!).  AND the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow was Elizabeth and Meridian!!!!!