Sunday, July 7, 2000
Starport Landing Marina...
We started the day with Gene's pineapple pancakes, and will again take off to
town so that we can contact family on the cell phone and also send off this
week's log. Pearce sent some of it yesterday morning, but the photos did
not transmit. By the time he had an opportunity to send again, we were in
a dead spot for telephone cells. There is a tower in town, so we will hope
to make contact near it. Sure hope we can work out this communication thing a
little better as we move on.
Monday, June 8, 2002
Here are just a couple of the really great people at Starport Landing...
well, yes, we are still here... and Linda and Sean are two of the many
treating us like royalty. Monday continued to be another 'phone-tag day
between Starport, Silverton and SIBS, but toward evening we hear that agreement
is
reached by all hands and a new windlass motor is supposed to be on the way!
We've met some wonderful new friends here, gotten
their insights into local haunts and have been exploring Orillia and all its
restaurants, restaurants, restaurants... one of them a Railroad Dining Car no
less! Does it look like we are eating our way across Canada?
Tuesday, June 9, 2002
No windlass motor today; maybe tomorrow...
We did housekeeping. Kibon got a thorough bath and is looking as new and shiny
as when we first saw her at the NYBS.
Great News!!! The satellite TV is fixed! Here's how it happened... but, keep
mum, it's a secret. DirecTV is a US company and is not allowed to let its TV
signal cross the border into Canada. They are not even allowed to accept
telephone calls from Canada about their non-allowed service. Somehow,
electromagnetic emissions have to stop themselves in mid-air rather than
penetrate no-mans land. Our satellite TV, which was working fine during an
experimental week on Long Island in the spring, was "put to sleep"
until the beginning of this trip.
DirecTV assured us it would be turned on June
1st. It wasn't, of course. Telephone calls to DirecTV's only number
were stopped by Bell Canada... e-mail went unanswered... frustration???
You bet! Finally, through intervention by our son, Jon, in New York,
and a DirecTV Service guy in Calif., who knew what he was doing, and
several three-way conversations:
BINGO... it works. (But don't tell, please. These rays
just don't cross the border, you know).
Wednesday, July 11, 2003
So we took the day off, borrowed the car and
drove about 50 kilometers to Midland, Ont., on Georgian Bay, where Marj
and Gene will be getting off. Their friend Myrtha and Ants (pronounced
Onts) live in a beautiful new house overlooking Midland harbour. We toured
Midland and neighboring Pentanguishene where we had lunch at Arthur's, and
scouted out marinas for the time when, and if, we ever arrive by
boat.
Myrtha is Swiss and Ants is Estonian -- both true
Canadians now -- and wonderful hosts. Thanks for a great day, guys.
 Thursday, July 11, 2003
Starport Landing Marina, Orillia... yes, we are still here. And the new windlass
motor has finally arrived!!!
It's a long story... when the windlass broke
down (for the second time) in Lake Ontario -- see Leg 2 for details -- and
all concerned (Silverton, SIBS, etc.) were informed, the wheels
slowly started grinding. Two intervening holiday weekends, Canada Day here
and Independence Day in the US, also added molasses to the
mixture.
 The great folks here at Starport kept the phone lines
buzzing to the point where a new windlass motor was sent to replace the one that
had been over tightened and thus warped enough to burn itself out. (At least,
this is what we are told...)
Also, it turned out that the cast aluminum
gasket that fits under the deck and seats the motor to the windlass base
was broken in two pieces... not conducive to good seating either. SIBS
is sending another. We're told it will be here tomorrow.
It's beginning to look a lot like we will be leaving tomorrow. Starport Landing has been a wonderful host, but it's time to move
on. We hear that the railroad swing bridge on the canal just north of Lake
Couchiching is stuck in the closed condition... and it is only 14 feet high!
Adversity has joined the crew, but this only makes the days more interesting.
We'll see.
Friday, July 12, 2002
UPS arrived on schedule... no aluminum gasket for the
windlass. Wrong Customs papers... it was returned to SIBS. Chad and Larry worked
out a way to install the windlass without the part, so that crises has finally
passed. Also, while we were waiting around, the tech crew here changed our oil
and realigned the shafts on both engines. They were both about a 1/4 inch out of
line!
The word on the stuck railroad bridge is that it is
still stuck. Marj and Gene, who have been stoic throughout this windlass
misadventure, have finally decided to jump ship. Myrtha and Ants have picked
them up and all are heading to Midland by land. We hope to see them there in a
couple of days if we ever get through the stuck bridge. They were a great crew
and we'll sorely miss them!
Suddenly alone and with an anchor that now works, we
said goodbye to Chris, Ed, Larry. Chad, Joel, hugged Virginia, waved to Mark and
shoved off toward the stuck bridge...
...which, wonder of wonders, turned out to be
not stuck at all... We had crossed Lake Couchiching and entered the
waterway toward Port Severn expecting to pile up with other mis-fortunates
at the bridge; then came around the corner and found it wide open! The
bridge tender was on top waving the boats through! And none too soon...
the moment we passed he started closing it to the nearby sound of a train
approaching. Don't know if he got it open again, but we were through.
 Another Lock, a few more beautiful lakes, some more
miles under the hull and we were ready (and anxious) to try out the anchor.
We'll call it Loon Cove -- it seems to belong to
a solitary Loon who ignores us and keeps working the bottom for his supper
-- or maybe Turtle Cove. There are a couple of them moseying along the
surface zapping fireflies. It's a deep rift in a hillside off the edge of
a small lake that has no name on the chart, but seems the perfect place to
spend the night. Maybe that prize Muskie is hiding under those lilly pads
just waiting for a morning cast...
Back to Log Index page to
Leg
7: Big Chute, Port Severn & the end of T/S
|
Cruisin' The Loop Aboard Kibon