Turf to Surf

  13 months, 142 locks, 7,000 + Miles, 19 States, 2 provinces, 3 countries….We made it!  Circumnavigation of the eastern part of the US, the Great Lakes, The Keys, The Bahamas, The Rideau and Trent-Severn waterways…..Absolutely amazing what you can accomplish one day at a time.  We sat down to make a top 10 list of favourites and we couldn’t narrow it down to get even close. The large cities, small towns, wildlife, sunsets and sunrises, the beaches, mangroves, salt marshes, cliffs, mountains, farmlands and the PEOPLE; Boaters at every port welcoming us, locals who stopped to chat, friendly lock operators, patient tow drivers, friends and family who came to visit or followed our blog and last but far from least…..  Loopers, with our dinners, docktails, sharing of stories and life experiences.  So many great people!!! A special thank you to the America’s Great Loop Cruisers’ Association who without their help, we would never have considered, tackled and conquered such a wonderful challen

On the road again with Richard’s sister Sue and her husband Rick as crew for this last leg of our loop. A small hick up before departure….no power to our thrusters.  Richard and a tech spent a few hours troubleshooting.  Seems the captain accidentally hit a switch while vacuuming……yes! he vacuums because I don’t. Lake Simcoe calm as glass. Passed Orillia with a short wait at the railroad bridge.  We were lucky, some of the boats ahead of us had a 3 hour wait. Couchiching lock……down 21 feet…. We spent our first night on the wall here below the lock. 30 minutes down stream we had to wait over an hour for this swing bridge, parks Canada staff were at the dam working on water control issues. Swift Rapids lock down 47 feet;  this is the deepest single chamber lock on the waterway. Beautiful cruising, gorgeous homes and cottages all along the shoreline. Onto the Big Chute Marine Railway. Up, onto the rail car where the lock staff lift your boat with straps that keeps us balanced as the hull