The Trent–Severn Waterway is a 240 mile canal route
traversing Southern Ontario cottage country, and is a National Historic Site of
Canada administered by Parks Canada under the statutory authority of the
Historic Canals Regulations. Of its 240
miles, around 20 of those miles are man-made channels. There are 45 locks, including 36 conventional
locks, two sets of flight locks, hydraulic lift locks at Peterborough and
Kirkfield, and a marine railway at Big Chute which transports boats between the
upper and lower sections of the Severn River. The system also includes 39 swing
bridges and 160 dams and control structures that manage the water levels for
flood control and navigation. There are 18
hydroelectric generating facilities located along the route. As a trivial aside, while on the Trent-Severn
Waterway, one reaches the highest place where a boat can be navigated from sea
level under its own power, 840 feet, 11 inches.
The history of the Trent-Severn Waterway is somewhat
pathetic. In the mid-19th century, the
river systems of Central Ontario were used by lumber barons to transport newly
felled trees to sawmills closer to their markets. Many of the logging companies opposed the
building of locks because they might interfere with this. Nevertheless, because it seemed like a good
idea in terms of moving people and goods other than lumber through the rugged
central Ontario region, construction began in the Kawartha Lakes region in 1833
with the Lock at Bobcaygeon marking its beginning.
The slow progress was noticed by the Canadian government. In 1878 Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald tried to speed up progress by making it government policy to ensure that the system would be completed. To realize some of the economic benefits of a complete canal, the Government of Ontario built some of the locks. The lock system, they argued, would aid the development of central Ontario, allowing a quick and efficient flow of goods to and from the major trading centers along Lake Ontario. Unfortunately, it took over 87 years to complete the canal system. To make matters worse, when the canal was finally completed, it failed to have a major impact on the economy of the regions it was built to serve. By the time the canal opened for business its design had been made obsolete by larger boats: it had been designed for boats too small to be commercially viable. Furthermore, in the years that it was under construction, railways had further developed their networks and improved service, which influenced settlement patterns. The waterway became totally obsolete for commercial purposes when the present day Welland Canal (connecting Lake Ontario and Lake Erie) was completed in 1932. The Welland Canal could handle large, ocean going cargo ships.
For sake of
comparison, the Erie Canal in New York runs about 363 miles from Albany, New
York, on the Hudson River to Buffalo, New York, at Lake Erie, completing a
navigable water route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes. The canal
contains 36 locks and encompasses a total elevation differential of
approximately 565 ft. First proposed in
1807, it was under construction from 1817 to 1825 (7 years) and
officially opened on October 26, 1825.
Today, the Trent-Severn Waterway is maintained for
recreational boating and tourism. The Waterway connects two of the Great
Lakes—Ontario and Huron—with an eastern terminus at Trenton and a western
terminus at Port Severn. Its major natural waterways include the Trent River,
Otonabee River, the Kawartha Lakes, Lake Simcoe, Lake Couchiching and the
Severn River. It is open for navigation from May until October, while its shores
and bridges are open year-round.
On June 22, 2013, Brenda and I left Trenton for our first
day on the Trent-Severn Waterway. We
started at 0830 and stopped at approximately 1745, a mere 26 miles from where
we started. We docked at the bottom of
Lock 11.
The Trent River is nice.
It is quite wide in places except where you go through some clearly
man-made cuts, where it can get very narrow – like barely can two 40 footers
pass each other. The river is also very
well marked. You really do not need
fancy electronics here. Charts and
binoculars will easily get you through. It’s funny – if you read some of the cruising
guides they make it sound like this is the most dangerous and hazardous
waterway in the world. Yes, there are
shallow spots, but the water levels are maintained and if you stay in the
marked channel, there should be no issues.
You are well advised not to screw up, however, as it can be a costly
error, but that goes with every marked channel.
This is especially true where some of the channels are rock lined. As I said, they seem to do a very good job
marking the channel, so I’m not sure what the entire hubbub is about.
There are nice homes along the waterway. After all, this is “Canadian Cottage Country.” And, there are what appear to be campgrounds
along the banks in places where folks bring extensive equipment to spend time
in the great outdoors. We have seen
mobile trailers surrounded by what look like brand new redwood decks,
above-ground pools, and even a hot tub.
There have been miles and miles of grass lands like we haven’t seen
since the Gulf Coast of Texas. It is
very pretty and very serene.
The lock operation is another story. “Here we go again” is all I can say. The lock operators like to talk, and they all
seem to want to talk about their problems.
They have a situation up here that seems similar to that on the New York
Canal System: full timers are being laid off and replaced with part-timers; the
river is being mismanaged by the new form of management. The Union is fighting with management. Blah, blah, blah. I’m not really sure what to say at this point
other than…..shut up and do your job and be thankful you still have one. One other point must be made clear: If you are passing through a lock and you
wonder when they started hiring elementary school children to operate lock
machinery, stop and look in the mirror – you’re not 18 anymore. Yes, it seems that the canal regulatory authority
has taken to letting go the full timers and replacing them with college
students working summer jobs. Rumor has
it, this choice has led to a number of considerable flooding issues.
So far, all of the locks we have gone through have been
manually operated. That is to say that,
the gates are opened by two people who run in a circle pushing a bar that turns
gears. There are other valves opened in
a similar way which allow water into the lock to raise the boats. The locks are in great shape and the grounds
are well maintained. Speaking of which,
we got our Parks Canada Canal Pass this morning.
The canal pass is a great idea. This way you don’t have to pay at each
lock. To purchase the pass, we pulled
into Lock 1 and the doors closed. Then,
they raise you to the top. Then, I got
off the boat, ran into the office and purchased the pass. It is all very efficient. However, unlike the one pass you buy to transit
within the entire New York Canal System, the Trent-Severn only pass costs three
times as much (for a one way transit) and does not entitle you to stay the
night on the lock walls. Actually, we
were never charged for staying on the lock walls in the Trent-Severn Waterway,
however, it was made clear that we would be charged a “modest $.90 per foot” to
do so. This fee included only the right
to tie the boat to a concrete quay with no power, water or other service. On the Erie Canal, one can stay on the lock
walls as part of the pass price.
So as I said, we only made it 26 miles on our first day. This is because there are so many locks close together in a very short period of distance. It is also because they don’t start running boats through until 0900 and finish at 1800 on Saturdays and Sundays, 1700 on every other day. Moreover, the last lock through will be approximately a half hour before it otherwise closes. This is ridiculously civilized. I think the longest stretch we went without a lock was 7 miles. The closest distance between locks today was around .4 miles. This is true in the first 50 miles of the TSW. Later, things will stretch out a bit and cruising will become a lot more enjoyable. Also, it doesn’t help that we were stuck all day with two other boats, neither of which were not operated all that well, and both of which arguably cost extra time. It also rained on and off all day.
Throughout the trip on the Trent-Severn Waterway, we met some really nice folks. On our first night tied to a lock wall, we met Bob and Sharron. They introduced themselves as follows: “Hello, I am Bob and this is Sharron. We’re Canadians from Toronto, a civilized part of Canada…….” So I said, “Hi I’m Larry and this is my wife Brenda, we’re Americans from ….oh don’t say it, yes, California!” After we finished laughing, we had cocktails on the wall and shared a lot of interesting information. When it was all said and done, we were both wondering why the hell there is a border between our two countries. There’s nothing like cocktails to induce good international relations. Shortly thereafter, those two grabbed up their gear and headed off to catch a taxi to a hotel in town. Well, alrighty then.
So, we had the wall all to ourselves. It was very quiet and the surroundings were
lovely. The banks are covered with wild
flowers and vines. The river is running by and is full of what appear to be
little chunks of ice. Actually, that is
foam from detergent allegedly being fed into the water as part of a sewage
plant up river a spell. It is detergent,
not ice. Perhaps it foams like that
because of the strength of the current.
I’m not swimming here.
On June 23, 2013, we celebrated Brenda’s birthday. I let her sleep until almost 8:30 and presented
her with a birthday card that played, “Somewhere Over the Rainbow”. It was very foggy and overcast. Ultimately, the sun would come out and it
would turn out to be a beautiful day.
At 0850, we started the engine and prepared to enter the
next set of locks. This first set of the
day was a “double”, also known as a “flight”, by which I mean you go into one
set of doors, get lifted and then, instead of exiting the lock into a canal, we
went immediately through another set of doors and got lifted again. The whole thing involved a 50 foot lift. We were travelling with the same three boats
as we were the previous day. Waiting
while 4-5 boats stuff themselves into each lock really puts a drag on
things. It takes some folks soooooooooo
long!
A new couple joined our little locking club. I call them Welsh Bob and Irish Anne. Are all men in Canada named “Bob”? Anyways, they were great to talk to……after I
fixed a very bad boating habit of Bob’s.
Once they joined the group, they were side-tying to us in the
locks. We’d go into the lock first and
then they would simply come in and tie to the side of our boat, as if it were
the lock wall. This is not unusual. However, the first time they tied to us, they
floated into the lock and before they were even tied off to our side, Bob cut
the engines thereby allowing his boat to drift into position. So, Bob and I had a little talk and fixed
that. From then on he was really happy
at how easy it was to control his boat while tying up inside the lock. Irish Anne was happy too insofar as getting
their boat to stop while she put the first line through the wire bollard was no
longer a death defying experience. So,
today we got to give a little back.
Speaking of wire bollards, this is how these locks
work. Each lock has a blue line. They do not use vhf radios on the Trent so
there is no way to communicate with the lock personnel. What you do is pull up to and tie to the wall
with the painted blue line. This signals
the lock person that you are ready to go.
Then, you wait for instructions.
Sometimes there are none. Rather,
the lock doors simply begin to open and then, you start your engine and go on
in. Once you enter the lock, there are
rubber covered cables bolted to the top and bottom of the lock, spaced roughly
12 feet apart. The trick is to pull
close to the wall and then stop the boat, have lines prepared and then, loop
one end of the line around a cable and return it to the boat. Then you simply hold the line as the water
level in the lock moves you up or down.
Here, unlike in the Erie Canal, you are required to stop your engine
when inside the lock. When you get to
the top, or the bottom as the case may be, you start your engine as the doors
are opening, and then motor out and you are on your way again.
Welsh Bob and Irish Anne are on a boat called
“Farfour”. It is named after a British
liner that was taken into service during WWII to carry men and munitions into
war and was ultimately sunk after being hit by five torpedoes fired by German
U-Boats. Welsh Bob said his uncle died
aboard that boat and naming his as such was a tribute. He also said he was named after his
Uncle. It’s an interesting story,
reminiscent, in a way, of the sinking of the Lusitania.
For the most part, things were very slow going. We ended up stopped at one lock for nearly an
hour. Nobody was there. The folks responsible for operating this
particular lock just didn’t show up. I
guess they just didn’t care. Well,
that’s easy since, in Canada, you cannot fire a person from their job, even for
gross incompetency without giving them notice in advance and paying them a pile
of money. Yes, sometimes this country
seems like one giant liberal labor union.
Well, anyways, someone did show up and off we went.
By 3:30 in the afternoon, we had only travelled 18 miles! We had gone through 7 locks. They were all very slow. The countryside is very pretty, however. The waterways are lined with “cottages” and
campgrounds, rice paddies, and trees.
Things seem very clean. And the
lawns! I have never seen a place where
everybody’s lawn looks like a golf course; beautifully manicured and very
green. I have seen folks out on their
riding mowers, so it’s not fake grass.
In any event, we stopped at the town of Hastings and tied to
the lock wall or town wall. We were in
the lock and the wind was really picking up.
We were both tired and thought seriously about stopping for the
night. Nevertheless, when I looked at
the numbers I became sort of disgusted.
This is a delivery for me and so I was a little disappointed at having
worked that hard all day in the muggy heat to have only made 18 miles! We discussed it, decided we were not really
interested in this town, and agreed to take off again. We decided, at a minimum, we would make it
across Rice Lake and start up the Otonabee River. The wind had really started picking up so we
asked the lockmaster at Hastings what he thought the conditions on the lake
would be like. He said, “rough.” I asked him what he meant by “rough” and he
said he didn’t know. Just a dog sound I
guess. So, off we went.
I am not sure what he meant when he said the lake would be “rough”,
but for us, at least, it was not. Sure,
it was windy. And, as a general rule,
shallow lakes can get quite sporty when the wind whips from one end to the
other for 20 miles as in the case of Rice Lake, and despite the fact that it
was whipped and capped, the waves were less than a foot and, for Abreojos, this
meant a ride she liked. In fact, when
the conditions are like this, it’s as though she floats across the tops of the
waves like a hydrofoil instead of plowing through them. Yes, all at 7.3 knots. The other thing about crossing this lake, and
for most of the TSW, my computer chart plotter has not been behaving well. At first I thought it was the Canadian Hydrographic
charts being incompatible with our software.
Later I determined that the ‘hockey puck” gps we plub into the laptop
died. We do have charts and we used
them. We purchased each and every chart
for the Trent-Severn Waterway. (They are
no on sale if anyone is interested. I’m
not going to need them again.) So, for the rest of the Trent Severn Waterway, navigation
has been “old school” and a simple matter of identifying and following the very
well laid out path of marks. I do want
to give a sincere shout-out to our friend Rob at Cruising Services who is
sending me a new GPS unit to replace the dead one. He has been great. So, like I said, we do it by hand the way we
learned long ago. Things will get back
to normal when we return to the Great Lakes.
I would meet the new GPS somewhere in Georgian Bay.
Crossing the lake was fun.
We had wide open water, sunny skies, and a nice breeze to cool things
down a bit. There were lots of little
boats out there, but nothing of a bother.
Once we found the mouth of the Otonabee River, we headed up. By the time we entered the river, it was
nearing 7:00 pm, so it was time to start giving some thought to where we would
stop for the night.
On the charts, we identified what appeared to be a public
dock in the small shire known as Campbelltown with enough room for our boat
only. One cruising guide said there was
nothing on the dock to tie to, but they were wrong. There were plenty of cleats. Another guide said there was only four feet
of water at the dock. Well, there is 9
feet. What the cruising guide did not
tell us about were the chunks of steel sticking out where old bolts and other
metal parts had broken off. A neighbor
who lived adjacent this dock told us as we approached that there was plenty of
water, but watch out for the steel that is sticking out. With the binoculars, I could see that it was
not that bad, so we put all our fenders on the starboard side and approached
very slowly and made a pretty, gingerly landing, tied off to the numerous
cleats, and shut down the engine. Throughout
the evening, we had some small boat wakes, but nothing of any concern.
This place is genuinely out in the middle of nowhere, it
seems, although it is only about 5 miles by road from the larger town of Peterborough. However, we were immediately adjacent to a launch
ramp and enjoyed launch ramp antics over cocktails as the day wound down. We met a couple of police officers who were
very friendly. They were launching their
boat for a cruise out to the lake and some of the islands where folks are known
to go party on weekends. They busted or
netted quite a few. We saw how drunk
folks were when they came back to the ramp. It’s pathetic.
I guess it’s just a “small boat” thing.
We’ve met many a drunk along the way on big boats. But they are always tied to a dock someplace,
not careening around river bends at high speed with a passenger barely hanging
onto the front of the boat.
In Canada, boat operators must have a license. Not only must they have a license, they must
have it in their possession while on the water. While such a license is not hard to obtain
(one can go online, complete the course, and pass the 50 question final exam,
and it only costs a couple bucks), it sure gives the police here the right to
stop everyone and anyone they see to ask for it. But I’ll tell you something, in quite a few
cases, once that barn door has been opened, it’s possible the whole herd is
going to run, so to speak, especially when alcohol and boating are involved. So
in Canada, boat operator licensure = a reason for police to stop you, if only
to inspect the license. Then, it’s “open
season” on whatever they find. While I
like the idea of minimum training requirements, as a lawyer, I’m not sure I
like the implications associated with using boat operator certification as a
means for the police to get into your business in the absence of some other
articulable reason to be concerned.
Anyway, this is Canada and they make their own rules.
There are many cultural differences between our two
countries. Travelling is always about
experiencing these and either attempting to understand them, or simply being
entertained by them. I choose to do a
little of both. For example, when
locking through side-tied to another vessel, there is opportunity for
conversation. So I said to Welsh Bob, “I
was wondering about something. You folks
have the Queen of England on your money, but everything is in French.” His response was hysterical. He simply said that, “We just haven’t gotten
around to fixing that yet.” I almost
fell off the boat laughing.
In another example, the folks in this Province (Ontario)
seemingly don’t think much of their brethren in Quebec, the next province over
to the east. I mean, really. This is Toronto Maple Leaf territory. Even mentioning the Montreal Canadians could
get you in a fight.
Then Irish Anne hears Welsh Bob and me laughing in the back
and asked if we were telling “tall stories”.
So, I couldn’t help it. I told
Welsh Bob the one about the Canadian and the American guys up pissing off a
bridge. The Canadian guy says, “Wow,
that water is cold!” And the American
guy says…….well, you can probably guess the ending of that one. We laughed and laughed. It was a great day.
So, here we are the only two Americans “toodling” along,
passing through this beautiful country, in the company of intrepid Canadian
travelers, seemingly without a care in the world. There are lots of other Americans wanting to
get up here. Unfortunately, the Erie
Canal has been closed for weeks now due to rain and flooding (and poor
management). They’ll get here soon, I
hope. The folks here are mostly very friendly
and you feel safe all the time. All
boats passing wave at us and we wave back.
Everyone waves at each other and greets each other on the streets. I really enjoy being in a place where folks
passing you on the sidewalk make eye contact and say, “Good morning” or “Good
Afternoon”. It is a sign of a decent,
mannered society.
Unfortunately, there are many boaters here who are
extraordinarily rude with their wakes. I
thought Florida was bad. So let me pay
some credence to what my “brother” Barry from Tampa once said in response to my
commentary regarding Florida boaters. He
said, “Hey man, they all come here from somewhere up north.” Yeah, like Canada. So, if you are going to travel on this
waterway, you better button things up anytime you are on an open stretch. We had three goons fly past us at four times
our speed, in a channel barely wide enough for one boat, not to mention two. Nobody uses vhf radios around here and
getting to “the place” is the goal, not the voyage there. I suppose it’s because folks up here have a
rather short boating season, so they want to do as much as they can in that
short time span. Nevertheless, it’s f’ing
amateur hour out here!
For the next few days, we travelled in the company of a
really great guy named Robert B. whom we met actually a couple days ago. (Yes, another Robert) On the TSW, when several boats show up at a
lock at the same time, you all travel together that day unless and until
someone stops or otherwise separates from the group. Travelling with this Robert has been
great. He lives in Ontario and is an
avid boater who knows this canal system very well. He knows how long it should take to get from
place to place at a certain speed and knows the great places to stop. In fact, he spent one season on the TSW
documenting all the ice cream shops along the route. Robert has been more than generous with his
advice and guidance. When you have to
run through “skinny water” over boulders, it’s good to be able to “school” off
of someone who knows what they are doing. This is especially true when you have no
electronic chart plotter to show you the preferred line. Robert is cruising in an aluminum boat he has
all but built himself called “Magi B”.
Once you get to know him, you’ll appreciate the name.
We went through a very unique lock in Peterborough. It’s a hydraulic lift lock that is one of
only 2 of its kind in the world (the other is located about 12 miles from where
here). Basically, it is over a hundred
years old and still works like a champ.
You sail into a pan. The back
gate closes. Then there is a pan on the
other side that they fill with water; about one foot more than the pan in which
you are floating. The weight of the
water in the other pan is just a little heavier and, like a scale, the heavy
side goes down and the side you are in goes up.
When you get to the top, they dump about a foot of water out of your pan
and you sail out. It was one of the
things I was looking forward to experiencing.
Unfortunately, the whole thing is over in barely a minute. I suppose one could stop and sit around and
wait to watch other boats go.
Last night we spent a great evening at a lock wall at a
place called Lovesick Lake. This place
was immensely beautiful and way off the beaten path. It was like being in a lake somewhere in the
high Sierras. The rock formations
covered with trees were beautiful and the silence was certainly something to
behold. We went swimming in clear, cool
water which was quite a relief. I’m not
a big fan of fresh water for boating. I
prefer salt water. And, as a general
rule, it has been my experience that swimming in lakes leaves a slimy coating
on your skin. Not here, however. This water was fresh enough and clear enough
to drink. It was a very different
experience. Moreover, when boating
around here, you need only look over the side to see the boulders you are
passing over with mere inches to spare.
One night, we stopped at a place called Roseville so we
could pump out the holding tank and use the wifi for some business. This is not a place I can in good faith
recommend. The marina charges $25 for a
pump out! Yes, that’s right, $25. They only charged us $20 in Miami. Their excuse is that, because they are in a
rural area, and on a septic tank, it costs them extra to have their septic
system maintained. I say it’s simply a
rip-off. They also advertise diesel
fuel. But, from the looks of the paper
sign taped to the pump, however, it would appear it has been a long time since
they have even had diesel. Furthermore,
if you want to use the wifi, you have to drag a chair and sit outside the
repair and service office to get it. I
did clean a rather large ball of weeds and grass out of my raw water strainer,
though.
Frankly, I am beginning to think the Trent-Severn Waterway is
overrated. The first time around the
Great Loop, we travelled through Lakes Erie, Huron and Michigan to get to the
Western River System without ever entering Canada. I would do that again and skip the Trent
altogether. The cruising guides describe majestic beauty everywhere you look
and quaint little towns. I disagree with
both. Yes, it is very pretty up here but
there are basically no parts that could logically be described as
“majestic.”
First, the locks so close together, that it is impossible to
really slow down and enjoy the vistas. I
suppose that if you wanted to spend an entire season “gunkholing” around the
TSW, you would have some really great times.
I don’t know. For me, it is just
not that interesting. Every inch of
shoreline, every granite outcropping, every rock is covered with a
house/cottage. Anchoring out here would
be like anchoring in someone’s back yard.
There simply is no secluded place.
The other thing I think makes it unattractive to cruisers is
the price of booze. First of all, you
cannot buy beer, wine or liquor at anything but a government run
establishment. They are called LCBO’s. Someone should write a guidebook just to find
these places. They are generally not
that close to the docks or lock walls.
And, once you do find one, be prepared to prevent your credit card from
melting! Alcoholic beverages are on
average 100% more expensive than in the US.
For instance, a 1.75 liter bottle of Captain Morgan that would cost
around $35 in the US costs over $75 in Canada.
Oh, and forget about beer. I was
stunned when I purchased an 8 pack of something domestic and it cost nearly $23.00. What they do is charge for each can
individually. We were respectful of the
laws in Canada as far as what you are allowed and not allowed to bring into the
country. The limits are very, very
low. On the one hand, it is noble to
respect and follow the laws of the place you are visiting. On the other hand, check in is usually over
the phone and as such, there is not likely to be anyone coming to inspect for
and find the 10 cases of beer, the 24 bottles of wine, and the 5 gallons of rum
you have stored in your boat and to which you refer as “ship’s stores.” So, if I had to do it over again, I think
this is one body of laws I might have to fracture.
Up to this point, we have not been bothered by the rental
houseboats that roam all over the upper lakes and rivers during the
summer. We timed it well. Imagine turning over control of a 40
something foot houseboat to a group of folks who has never operated a boat
before. They get a 15 minute instruction
video and that’s it. We have been warned
that locking through with some of these folks can be more than interesting. We made it all the way through without having
had a chance to witness this.
On our last actual day on the canal, we got to experience
the Big Chute. This is not really a
lock, although it transfers you from the Upper Severn River to the Lower Severn
River. It is a railway that carries your
boat up over a knoll and then down a hill before returning you to the
water.
So, you come around a bend and there it is. It looks rather strange, kind of like a trestle
bridge halfway submerged. We stopped and
looked because we were not completely sure what to do. Then, we saw the guy waving at us to come on
in. So, I maneuvered the boat to line it
up with this thing, and moved forward very slowly into slings like those on a
giant travel lift – the thing used to move large boats out of the water and
into the boatyard. There is a thick
wooden platform that the boat will actually sit on, and the slings simply keep
the boat from rolling over. The
equipment operators on the Big Chute are total professionals and really know
their jobs. They do this for thousands
of boats each year and have probably transferred just about anything that can
travel on the Trent Severn Waterway. I
had no worries.
So, the boat got all slinged up, and then up and over we
went. The machinery makes a “clickety-clackety”
sound as the whole platform is pulled by thick cables on rails over the top of
this hill and then eased down over 50 vertical feet down the other side of the
hill. It is really cool!
Then, the platform goes into the water and the boat
floats. The back end of the platform is
lowered and the slings are released, and you are told to start your engine and
have a nice day. Then you motor out of
the slings and you are on your way once again.
It all takes about 7 minutes.
From the Big Shute to the final lock at Port Severn, it is
only 8 miles. We made that in no time at
all, tied to the wall, and called it a day.
Actually, we called it “a canal.”
The next morning, we left through the Port Severn lock which
is the smallest of the locks and headed over to the town of Midland on Georgian
Bay. The exit from the lock was
legendary. As soon as the doors open,
you are confronted with the roaring water from the adjacent dam that obviously
creates lots of current. You have to get
in this current. Then you have to get
under a bridge. Yes, it is well marked,
but the marks are a mere 10’ apart.
Abreojos has a 12’6” beam. One of
the green buoys was dancing in the current.
So, when we went through this row of reds and greens, the buoys were literally
bouncing off both sides of the boat. And
that “dancing” green sounded like a snare drum on the side of the boat. I did not even bother to look at the depth
sounder. Brenda tells me there was
barely 5 feet of water under the boat.
After getting through that, however, and after my testicles dropped out
of the back of my throat (Brenda had to slap me between the shoulders a couple
times), the water got deep again, and it was an easy run down to Midland.
Our journey through the Trent-Severn Waterway was worth it,
but it is not one I would consider doing again.
In fact, if given the choice to reach northern Lake Huron and the St.
Mary’s River via Lake Erie or via the Trent Severn Waterway, I would take Lake
Erie. Given the height restrictions of
the western part of the Erie Canal, one might be required to take the south
shore of Lake Ontario to the Welland Canal and then up to Buffalo, I suspect
this would be a very enjoyable trip.
Even though the people we met were great, for the most part, it is hot,
humid and more “buggy” than the ICW in South Carolina and Georgia combined. It is very expensive, very crowded, and the
scenery is way over rated. It was
supposed to be a short-cut to get to Lake Superior. Given the speed at which you can travel on
the Trent and the limited hours of operation during the high boating season,
however, it would have been faster and less trying to simply go the Lake Erie
route. I’m glad I had a chance to do it,
but, as I said, given the choice, I would not do it again. Some may disagree, and that’s fine.
