TERI ANN: Midland, Ontario

7/22/14

Today we were going on the Big Chute. When you want to go through a lock you wait along the lock wall in the section that is painted blue. Last night we moved the boat over to the blue line. We were with 3 other boats, and we all lined up in the order that we arrived. We were #3 in line. In the morning when the action would start at 9am we expected to sit back & watch the first 2 boats go on the carriage. At 9am the lock operator started giving everyone instructions over the loudspeaker. To our surprise he wanted boat #3, our boat, to enter the carriage first. We scrambled to get moving & entered the carriage. The first 2 boats were shocked that they weren't called first. Al put marks on the rub rail so the carriage operator knew where to place the slings to hold us in place. We also told him that our rudder sticks down lower than the keel & prop. He was able to adjust the slings to keep the rudder from hitting the bottom of the carriage. It was a really fun ride. It's like riding a slow roller coaster on your own boat. At the other end we were given the ok to start up & move out of the carriage. It felt odd because we had the sensation that we weren't down all the way in the water, but we moved out without difficulty.

We went through lock 45, the last lock in the system. When leaving the last lock, we couldn't believe how narrow & winding the channel was. It couldn't be more than 20 feet wide. We then entered Georgian Bay. We went to Midland, Ontario. We wanted to stay in a marina right in the downtown area, but the marinas were full. We ended up at Wye Heritage Marina, which is a giant marina, but a bit far from town. We decided to get some fuel here, because there aren't many places in Georgian Bay that have diesel. We got 400 liters of fuel, which is about 105 gallons. Diesel in Canada is $5.23 a gallon.

Not sure yet what we'll do tomorrow.

Moving to enter the carriage