Days 329 and 330 - Lagoon City — Captain Father John

Miles cruised 20, locks transited 5, distance dropped down 121′, fuel purchased $0 slip fee $60, daily high temperature 78°f

Our evening on the Kirkfield lock was lovely. We had the company of two other boats, a sailboat heading south and a black rental houseboat heading north with us. While security is not a big concern in Canada, it is always nice to have at least one other boat nearby just in case. Dale and Andy had dinner at the local restaurant across from the lock masters office called Flo’s Lock Ness restaurant. John and Priscilla had dinner on CL. The yellow tail snapper we caught in Key West was still excellent.

We are running the generator so we can watch the Olympics. Hungary defeated Brazil in water polo 10 – 5. Brazil is our hometown favorite since our son-in-law Oscar is from Brazil. We are also running the generator to charge the batteries so we do not get an early morning wake up call from the CO detectors which are also the low battery alarm. Historically the CO detector in the aft stateroom is the most sensitive and goes off first. We have not been unplugged since we switched staterooms a few months ago. If the low voltage alarm goes off, Dale and Andy will be the first to know. If we were going to keep CL and anchor out more often, the addition of one more house battery would be a plus. Since we were tied to the lock wall we did not have to run the anchor light and the house battery held out all night.

I fished from the lock at sunset. There is not much going on here to bring in the fish. I did have two good hits on my chartreuse Rapala. One of the fish I was able to bring to the top of the water and other took a lot of line and then got off. That is what is called catch and release. Sometimes I release them before I see them.

Sunset at Kirkfield Lock.

On Monday morning we let the black houseboat lock through first. It is always best to lock through alone if you can. We locked through the Kirkfield lift lock alone and were able to get great photos with us in the front of the 49′ drop. Where else can you be on your boat and be suspended five stories in the air.

Here is the sign reminding us that the colors of the channel markers change at this point. Red left and green right.

Several miles later we passed the black houseboat at the Sunset Bay Marina. They were fueling up. We continued on to the next lock. The lock master held the lock gates open for quite a while. Then the black houseboat appeared and we had to fend them off. With three more locks to go we told them to go ahead of us. That worked best.

We arrived at Lake Simcoe and it was flat. We turned north toward Lagoon City Marina. As we approached the entrance we decided to pull over to the beach, drop the anchor out deep and swim. Several smaller boats went closer to shore and anchored where they could jump off their boats and be waist deep. The other choice was to plug in, turn on the AC and read the news on the Internet.

We passed through the “Hole in the Wall” arched bridge. It has a clearance of 28′.

Pulling in to slip 631 at Lagoon City Marina was a challenge. I thought we had run aground because CL would not maneuver into the slip. I hit the bow thruster and nothing happened. Weeds jammed it immediately. The dock hands had to really pull us in because the weeds in the slip were so thick. It took two burly men to pull our stern in to the dock. It will be interesting to see how easily we can exit.

CL is suspended on a thick bed of weeds. We will need to clean the strainers.

We took a dingy ride around Lagoon City. It is not unlike Marco Island where everyone is on a canal and has a waterfront lot. There are many low bridges that determine how tall your boat can be, depending on where you live in the lagoon. Since this is Canada many of the home owners are Asian because they have British Hong Kong passports.

The forecast for Tuesday is rain. And unfortunately the forecasters got it right. It is raining buckets on us and will continue for several more hours. We still need to pump out and cruise to the Port of Orillia marina today. We will wait for a break in the rain and make our move.

Bonus photo – this does not end well.

We will stay at the marina in Orillia for six days. They offer a docking deal of stay two nights get one night free. We took two. On Friday John and Priscilla will rent a car and drive to Niagara Falls to meet their family. They will return on Sunday and resume the cruise on Monday. Laura and Artie from Leap of Faith are nearby. We hope to see them tonight.

Chef (Carl) Wooden – quote of the day.

“The sea is certainly common to all.”
– Titus Maccius Plautus

Titus Maccius Plautus (c. 254 – 184 BC), commonly known as Plautus, was a Roman playwright of the Old Latin period. His comedies are the earliest Latin literary works to have survived in their entirety. He wrote Palliata comoedia, the genre devised by the innovator of Latin literature, Livius Andronicus. The word Plautine refers to both Plautus’s own works and works similar to or influenced by his.