Chapter 68: Lake Ontario and the Trent-Severn

Log 68
Lake Ontario, and the Trent-Severn

5:35 AM
Monday, July 24, 2000
Lock wall—lock #6
Trent-Severn Waterway
Frankford, Ontario

Day 85

Well the state of New York is behind us, and so is one of the Great Lakes. We just seem to be ticking these things off one at a time. I figured out that we have put over 4000 miles on the bottom of this boat.
Yesterday was an almost perfect day to cross Lake Ontario. Or any lake for that matter. We untied the lines at about 6:15, and by 6:30 we were at the mouth of the lake. The sun had just come over the only cloud we could see, and it was going to be a beautiful morning, and day.
The waves were probably about 2 feet when we first hit the lake. On top of that there was a slight chop, and it took me a couple of minutes to work with the trim of the boat, and the speed to make it as smooth as possible. The perfect combination seemed to be 1650 RPM (about 18mph), and a medium trim, which made the nose of the boat stick up a little to make the chop less of an issue. With that all done, I hit the autopilot and we were locked in on the other side, with 61 miles to go. If you look on the map, we crossed from Oswego, NY to Brighton, Ontario.
For the early part of the crossing the swells were more of an issue. They really didn’t bother us, but they were there. Jeanie noticed that the timing of the swells was just perfect with our speed because we would just get over one, and then lay in the bottom of another. Whatever the case the further we went the smoother it got, and by the time we were about 80% there, there was only a light chop, and we had picked up out RPM to about 1750.
The total crossing took exactly 4 hours. By the time we were on the other side the sun was high overhead, and it was getting nice and warm. We had left the bimini top down, so it was actually hot when we slowed down.
The next thing we had to find after the crossing was a small boat channel called the Murray Canal. It was nestled in a small cove, and is about 8 miles long, and would connect us to a small lake, and the town of Trenton. With some good chart work by Terry we found it no problem, and before you knew it we were there. From that point it was pretty straight forward as we moved through the canal, which included paying them a toll for using it. This was an interesting procedure. When they open the first bridge on the canal, as you are moving through it, they stick this long pole out to your boat, and they expect you to put $4 in it. I’m not sure what they would do if you just waved, and said’ “Thanks, we’ll catch you next time”, but I didn’t want to find out. By the way, I think this is also about the point where the girls started to speak Canadian. I don’t know how the Canadians really speak, but the girls seem to have it figured out. No matter what the question, or the answer, you just say, “Yaa…u betcha” (I think they’ve seen “Fargo” to many times)

Once in Trenton, we stopped at a marina, and got fuel (68 cents @ liter..You figure it out) and a pump out of the holding tank. This is also the place where you clear Canadian Customs. This was not a big deal, except when they ask me how much liquor we had on board. I was going to tell them, but I didn’t want them laugh, then come and board the boat to see for sure, so I said 2 cases of beer, some gin, and some rum. “How much rum and how much gin” they asked. “Oh…a small bottle each” was my reply, and that seemed to do it. (I figure if they do board the boat later, I’ll tell them that my wife had gone shopping, and I’m flabbergasted at how much she had bought)
We started the Trent-Severn at 1:30. It is just like the Erie Canal. Narrow waterways, and lots of locks. (In fact, it is a little early for this, but you could make a comparison of what we have seen so far to the Illinois River. The water is not as clean, but the scenery is very similar) these locks are much smaller than what we have been used to. They are only about 150 feet long, and 45 feet wide. Kind of interesting getting Headquarters in and out of them. I hope it doesn’t get very windy while we do this, or there could be trouble.
The guidebook says that at the top of lock #6 is a good place to stop for a while, or for the night, and they were right. We made it here about 3:30, and decided with what lay ahead, this was the best place to stop, so we did. After tying up Terry and I headed into town to get a fishing license. We now were going to be in Canada for a few days so we decided a license would be in order. The lockmaster said the hardware store would sell us a license, and they closed at 5, but when we made the 15-minute walk, and found the store, there was a closed sign in the window. As we were trying to figure out if we had any other options people started coming out of the hardware store door. It was obvious they were leaving for the day, and had just closed. Terry (smart thinker that he is) hollered across the street, “Hey…you wouldn’t think about selling a couple of out of towners a fishing license would ya?” They all looked at one another, and said, “sure, come on in” (You got to love these Canadians).
So fishing license in hand ($35 each, for 1 week…I sure hope we catch some fish) we head back to the boat. By the time we got back Deb had made friends with everyone at the lock, and we were set for the night. Jeanie and Deb had also been straightening up a little, and we were starting to talk about what sounded good for dinner. Good time for a cocktail.
With cocktail hour winding down, I washed the dinghy, while Terry and the girls started to prepare for dinner (some kind of a chicken dish where the chicken floats in a butter sauce…I think Terry called it curry chicken…great stuff). In between the cooking and the cleaning we threw the lines in the water to see if anything was there. Nope!
After dinner we had a special treat. Ice cream. The girls had bought some while we were fueling up in Trenton, and it was great. (4 different kinds) Terry went back out to try the fishing, the girls were watching something on TV, and I took a shower, and went to bed.
A GREAT DAY.

I’ll keep you posted…

BK