Kirkfield to Orillia, Ontario

On Thursday, July 12, we left Lock 36 and headed to Sunset Cove Marina to meet Barry and Sheryl and begin our next leg of the trip. We said our hellos and chatted for a while before making our way through Locks 40 and 41 to begin our Lake Simcoe crossing.

The weather on Lake Simcoe was predicted to be 15 knots with waves at one meter (a little more than three feet). Following IRISH AYES was XPLORER, SEAQUEL, and SEA KNIGHT. The day was overcast and VERY windy. We had narrow and shallow water before entering and after crossing Lake Simcoe, which has been common throughout our trip in Canada.

The water here is so clear you can see the bottom most of the time. It is rather disconcerting to see huge rocks and plant growth beneath the boat as you move along, not really knowing how close to our keel they really are.

We came to the entrance of Lake Simcoe, and immediately saw white caps everywhere. We knew then the trip was going to be rough. For about an hour and a half, we bounced and rolled, with water spraying over the bow of the boat, all the way up to the fly bridge. Three foot waves my foot!!!

Fortunately, we had secured everything before we left the Lock wall, because we had heard that Lake Simcoe could become rough at any time, and with winds being so strong over the last few days, we felt that we would be in for somewhat of a rough ride--and how true this was. As we got closer to the north shore of the lake though, we were protected by the land mass, and the winds and seas finally calmed. We had a pleasant ride on in to Port of Orillia Marina. It was quite an adventure.

One interesting thing about this trip was a guy (a pretty dumb one if you ask us) in a small aluminum boat who got in between our boat and XPLORER on Lake Simcoe and traveled several miles, following closely behind us. This guy was obviously missing a few brain cells to be out on Lake Simcoe in these conditions in such a small boat. We never figured out why he was following us; however, at some point he turned around and headed back to who knows where. XPLORER made a Security Call to the Canadian Coast Guard to let them know that this guy was on the lake and could be in danger.

From Lake Simcoe, we entered what is appropriately known as “The Narrows.” Once again, we were watching charts, depth, and buoys very carefully. There were areas so narrow our boat appeared too wide to make it between the buoys, but we went very slow and made it through without problems.

We arrived at the Marina in Orillia, Ontario, where we will stay at the dock for a few days to explore the city, reprovision, pump out the holding tank, and take on some fresh water. Stay tuned….