Sept 5, Lake Simcoe, ON

Woke up this morning and it is a little windy and overcast. We head off about 8 am to cover about 40 miles and transit seven more locks.

Early morning clouds as we leave Fenlon Falls.

Lock 35 at Rosedale

Float plane at the cabin

We are looking for the loons and this loon was not afraid of us.

Narrow channel cut through the shale rock.

First we go through Cameron Lake and one more lock going up and then entered Balsam Lake which is our highest point on the Trent-Severn Waterway, 840 feet above sea level. From that point we start going down again.

The next lock we came to was our first lock going down and it was the highlight of our trip today. The Kirkfield Hydraulic Lift Lock was built in 1907 and is another one of those double pan locks (think bathtubs) where the pan on top takes on an extra foot of water and goes down while the other goes up. We enter this one in the up position and that made it even more interesting. We motored into the upper pan and as we approach the end of the pan, we are suspended nearly five stories in the air. Pretty spectacular! We were the only boat transiting going down or up and get taken down 49 feet in just a few minutes. Great view of the country but not much around.

Approaching the Kirkfield Lift Lock.

Entering the open pan -slooowly

Linda five stories above the waterway below.

Kirkfield Lift Lock from below as we exit.

After the Kirkfield Lock the bouys change from red on right to green on right and we go through a series of very shallow canals. We are going very slowly (5.5 knots) so as to not stir up any logs but feel the boat bounce a few off the bottom even at this speed. We do not think we have any damage as we are going sooooo slowly and have hardened props and a full keel. The boat has no vibration so we think we are ok.

We transit five more locks and enter the largest lake on the Trent-Severn Waterway, Lake Simcoe. It has a well deserved reputation of getting nasty on a big south wind and we are somewhat concerned as we have a south wind of 15 mph or so. We decide to "stick our nose out" and see how thing really are. We enter the lake about 2 pm and head west. The weather is blustery and overcast and the 15 mph winds kick up the lake into 2-3 foot waves. KOKOMO II and crew bounce for about an hour running at 15 knots (our cruising speed when we want to make time) until we reach the shelter of the narrows on the north end of Lake Simcoe.

KOKOMO II at Hot Knots Marina

Calm waters are a welcome sight even if it is pretty grey out.

We are spending the night just past the narrows at the Hot Knots Marina with twin 30 amp power (makes 50 amp with our adaptor) and internet. It rains the rest of the afternoon and we think it is the remains of Hurricane Gustov passing through. We are watching Hurricane Ike and thinking of everyone in Stuart and Boca Raton.