Days 318 and 319 - Bigley Shoes — Captain Father John

Miles cruised 49, fuel purchased $0, slip fee $62, daily high temperature 84°f

Banjos restaurant in Hastings came highly recommended by Laura and Artie on Leap of Faith. It was the only restaurant on the same side of the river as the marina. Banjos has character which means it is old and rundown and was full of flies. They claimed to have an electronic fly eradication device on the wall but the waitress pointed out to the manager that the “blue” light that indicates it is working was not on.

A photo by Andy in the ladies bathroom. Guitars but no banjos and sheet music for wallpaper.

The forecast for Friday was for SW winds 15 – 20 mph gusting to 25 mph. We need to cross Rice Lake which is 14 miles long and faces SW. We decided to shove of at 8:00 am to cross as much as the lake as we could before the waves built up. Rice Lake is three miles wide at some points so we were able to crank up the turbos and blow out the carbon after running at 6 mph for three days. The waves were just building to 1 – 2 feet as we turned north into the Otanabee River. Friday was light duty. We cruised 39 miles and transited only one 8′ lock (#19) to arrive in Peterborough. Given the choice of tying to the lock wall with no services or plugging into a marina, the marina always wins.

We arrived at the Peterborough Marina in Peterborough, Ontario at 12:30 pm and received the second best swag bag of the trip. The AGLCA harbor host Freya Peterson put it together. The best swag bag was from Utz’s Marina in Cape May. Freya makes homemade jalapeño jam and puts a jar in each bag. She also had several brochures for the stops on the Waterway and Georgian Bay. We get a 10% discount on the slip fee and a free pump out for being Loopers.

It is a little nostalgic to be reading in the Looper forum that our friends on Mitzvah and Ocean Dancer have crossed their wakes. Mitzvah crossed her wake in the North Channel of Lake Huron and Ocean Dancer crossed her wake in Michigan City, Indiana. We had hopes of catching up with them again before our Loop ended. They will proudly fly the Looper gold burgee signifying their accomplishment.

Once again we have front row seats to music at our marina. On Friday nights the Peterborough Holiday Inn has a live jazz band perform on their patio. Several of the boats on our dock rafted together on the wall at the Holiday Inn. Even though we are a few hundred yards away, the music was plenty loud. One advantage to listening to the music from our boat is that I was able to go fishing. I bought a Canadian fishing license in Hastings so I hope to share many fish photos during the remainder of our trip in Canada. My son JP gave me a collapsible fishing rod to take on the Loop. It is convenient to store away and works just fine catching big fish. When we were in Key West, JP bought a collapsible fishing rod for himself. We fished off the pier at the Galleon marina. Both of these fishing rods will end up at our condo in Stuart. The fishing pier is directly in front of our condo.

We had one minor moment of drama today. Priscilla and I took the dingy out for a little spin and the engine conked out. It would start and run for a short time and stall again. My guess is the fuel filter. Perhaps the fuel filter should be changed every 12 – 14 years whether it needs it or not. I tilted the engine up. This is international symbol of distress. A nearby musky fisherman notIced our dilemma and towed us back to the dock.

I spent some time in the water brushing the scum off the waterline. It is cleaner but some of the tannin stain remains. Other Loopers have recommended cleaning the tannin off using lemons. We will try it. I also dove on the bottom of the boat. After 5,250 miles we have no dents or dings on the props or rudders. So far so good. No growth on the bottom. The Pettit paint has been amazing in both fresh and salt water. The water intakes are clear of weeds. We picked up a few barnacles on the hydraulic swim platform lift and trim tabs. The barnacles died in the fresh water and are easily scraped off.

On Sunday we will transit the famous Peterborough lift lock. That is the highest hydraulic lock in the world at 64′ for the lift. I walked over to watch it in operation today. It is an amazing feat of engineering.

Bonus photo – this is the first time there has been an inaccuracy in the CL blog. It turns out when we asked the locals in Peterborough where we could find a shoe store with 30,000 pairs of shoes we were met with blank stares. After further investigation we discovered the famous shoe is not in Peterborough but is in Bobcaygeon. If you look closely at their advertisement you will see that it is worth the wait. Bigley’s shoe store now has 40,000 pairs of shoes and 25,000 bathing suits. We will be in Bobcaygeon on August 11 and will provide a full report.

We will cruise 15 miles and transit 6 locks to get to Youngs Point. We will meet some friends of Andy’s friends there. As avid boaters in this area, they will show us around and provide great insight into the next phase of our adventure.

Carl (Chef) Wooden – quote of the day.

“Who is staring at the sea is already sailing a little.”

Paul Carvel