Jack Tar Adventures

link to today’s route: https://share.nebo.global/voyage/8ef769a7-65d4-4b18-8a1b-0a0cb4a41af5

HAPPY CANADA DAY! 🇨🇦

We were incredibly lucky to get a spot on the Lakefield lock wall.  It’s a very popular spot because it’s shady and has power pedestals (fewer than a quarter of the lock walls do).  Plus, there are a lot of amenities within walking distance in the town.  We didn’t expect to get so lucky considering the holiday and the extreme heat – everyone is clamoring for power to run their air conditioning.  We were clamoring to get our batteries recharged for the fridge and freezer since we’ve been without power for three days, and all the idling waiting for locks to open has depleted them. Just by lucky chance, a houseboat left a few minutes before we locked through.

Since we’ve been on the Trent-Severn, we’ve run into many rental boats, both houseboats and Le Boat rentals.  They’re a great setup for vacationing families. They have plenty of space upstairs on their flybridge, as well as a large kitchen and salon area. 

While we were trying to cool down under the shade of the trees, a 45-passenger river cruise boat called the Kawartha Voyageur docked on the lock wall a few boats ahead of us.

The Voyageur is 120’ long, and there are many narrow passages where a boat our size wouldn’t be able to pass. And guess who isn’t turning around.  We discovered it’s important to keep an eye on their website so we know which sections they’re traveling on to avoid.

Thurs July 2:  Lakefield

It’s another day with a heat index of 105 degrees, so we are staying put and taking advantage of our shady spot on the lock wall.  We couldn’t leave even if we wanted to, because several locks up ahead to our north aren’t working after the power was knocked out during the tremendous thunderstorms last night. Many of our neighbors left this morning, where the locks are open in the other direction. Their vacations are coming to an end, and they need to return their le boats.  At the same time, there were still boats jockeying for wall space because they couldn’t move any further north. Just as quickly as one boat leaves the lock wall, another boat comes to fill its space.

Fri July 3:  Lakefield

Some of the locks ahead have power back, like the next one, lock#27 at Young’s Point, but locks 28-30 are still closed. The swing bridge at lock #31 at Bobcaygeon is also still closed. At lock #43 at Swift Rapids, there were welders on site to repair the gate, which is now open. Needless to say, we can’t go anywhere for the time being. The lockmaster was kind enough to let us stay an extra night even though the rule is you can only stay at any one lock for two nights in a row.  She said it would be irresponsible to kick us off since there’s nowhere else to stay in the walls at the moment.

I spent a good deal of time over the past few days at the bottom of the lock. Even though it was shady there, I was in the water most of the time to stay cool.

We had a really nice dinner at a Greek restaurant in town with three other couples we met on the lock wall, including Sue & Charlie, who we originally met in Scotia.