Monday, August 4, 2008

7th Update Gillespie's Great Loop Adventure



After a weekend at Bobcaygon, we continued across the Trent Severn to the Peterbrough Lock. The first stop was at the Buckhorn Lock where we visited the Curve Lake Indian Reservation. Attached are some photos along the way.


After leaving Buckhorn Locks we continued on to Lovesick Lock, where we spent the night. This lock is only accessible by boat and is very remote. It is the prettiest lock on the Trent and also has good fishing. We got some exceptional pictures.



After a beautiful sunrise, we left Lovesick on route to Petersboro. We came across an island with only a church on it and lots of very pretty homes.


We continued through 2 or 3 more locks and when we left Lakefield Locks we veered off the channel slightly and KISSED a canadian rock. Those rocks are unforgiving. Until then, we had done a good job all across the North Channel, Georgian Bay, and the Trent... watching charts, following challenging channels, and confirming positions on our GPS.

Our boat went over the top of the rock and lifted up on the right side. We knew we messed up our propeller and/or the shaft and this could be a big problem. Since one side continued to work, we proceeded through 7 more locks, including the big lift lock at Peterborough. It was a slow and somewhat stressful trip, while I searched for a marina that could help us. We finally found a diver that could meet us at the Peterborough Marina in 2 days.. Bill did a great job in handing the boat and getting us through the locks with minimal issues.

We were happy when we arrived at Peterborough and confirmed our appointment with the diver. We also found out that there were 2 other boats who had done the same thing and he would be meeting with them on Wednesday also. We hoped that it would only be the props since we had 2 spares on board.

Peterborough was the largest city that we arrived in since entering Canada. There were lots of stores and even malls. We stayed in the center of town next to a park where concerts and firework occurred on Wednesday and Saturday nights.


Wednesday morning our diver arrived with a crew and in a van. He had a setup which videoed and recorded his findings and we were able to watch his findings and hear his thoughts in real time. Luckily we only had prop damage. He checked out our bottom and the shafts and everything was fine. He told us the design and construction of our vessel helped minimize the damage. Two hours later he had replaced the props and we were able to continue on our way. We took the damaged props with us and will have them repaired in New York, close to our old home in Seneca Falls. Below are some pictures of our diver and the trip through 4 more locks.














































































































































































































































































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