LOVESICK LAKE

Another night without internet (other than the slow phone connection), but it’s worth it, considering where we are anchored out. We passed lock #30 into Lovesick Lake and it was clear we didn’t want to stay at the lock. It is the weekend, the weather is great, and the Canada Day Holiday is still going on in many people’s mind, so the lock was a circus. We are getting into the area known for rental houseboats, with not all the people who rent them being excellent boat-handlers, and the mix of large, slow boats with fast runabouts and jet-skis is just not our cup of tea. After the lock we found a quiet place to anchor behind a small, wooded island so we are here, by ourselves enjoying a peaceful evening.

This is the first time we have anchored in quite a while and it is nice to be able to jump off the back of the boat, clean the waterline and bottom, and make sure everything is OK down there. It’s not the warmest water, but I was working in it for about 45 minutes, without a wet suit, and didn’t get chilled. Reminded me of the days when I was a commercial diver - only, this time, I was working on my own boat!

Earlier in the day, we left the serene and peaceful lock #24 and waited an hour at lock #25 for them to adjust flows in the dams on the river. Later, we tied up to the wall at Lakefield (lock #26) and walked around town for an hour or so. It is a very nice little town, with many stores/bakeries/meat markets/hardware store/(ice cream shops) to get what you need and they happened to have a jazz festival going on this weekend. We marked this down as a place to stay on our return at the end of summer.

The further we got into our travels today, the more crowded it became (the weekend, remember?) and the locks were very busy. It was clear that the lock attendants had had a busy day, and they weren’t as friendly or helpful as they might have been. We’ll keep going tomorrow, expecting the worst, since we hate to just sit and not make any progress toward Georgian Bay. It would make sense to lay low on a nice weekend, just to keep out of the melee, but we really don’t want to loose too much time.

We had a great dinner of barbecued garlic pork loin and potato salad along with a nice Zinfandel (California), and will enjoy the sunset, if we can stay awake until 10 PM…