Preparing for the trip

Captain Jerry has been making the final preparations to North Star, our 32 foot Cape Island down east trawler. We are anxious to leave our landlubber lives behind and begin our long awaited journey around the Great Circle. Join us as we travel 10, 000 kilometers: through the historic Trent Severn Waterway; the pristine waters of Georgian Bay; the North Channel of lake Huron; and hop from beach to beach on lake Michigan. We will visit Chicago and begin our trek along the rivers: Illinois; upper Mississippi; Ohio; Cumberland: Tennessee; Tenn-Tom Waterway and the Black Warrior. We will have transited through 68 locks at this juncture. We have chosen the inner route from Mobile Alabama to Tarpon Springs Florida and the shorter Ocheechobee Waterway to reach the East coast of Florida. We will skip over to the Bahamas to wait out the winter before heading North on the Atlantic Inter Coastal Waterway.
The 10 years of researching and planning are finally at an end and we invite you to come along on our adventure.























Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Mitchell Lake

We had a nice easy day on the water yesterday.  We left Coboconk after brunch and anchored at Indian Point on Balsam Lake to do a bit of fishing. The Captain says there are no fish there. He knows because he cast his line three times and they did not bite. Balsam Lake is so clean we could see the bottom and there was no weeds.
We left and tied up at the concrete wall as you enter the canal from Balsam Lake and there was lots of fish there.  Mostly small large mouth bass but Jerry caught 2 that were good for a small lunch snack.
We continued to Mitchell Lake where we anchored for the night (N44 34.105' and W078 57.585'). The lake is small weedy and we had no luck with fish.  It was still a peaceful and enjoyable evening.
Today we will transit 6 locks and cross lake Simcoe if the weather holds.  They are calling for possible thunder storms but only a 10 knot wind. We are tied up at the Kirkfield lock, in front of the large Kawartha Voyageur, waiting to start our trek down the locks.
We have not paid for one night's accommodation since we began coming up the Trent Severn Waterways.  There are so many free docks, concrete walls that are operated by Oceans and Fisheries and numerous anchorage possibilities that a person can transit the system on a very modest budget. Let me comment on the downside of not going to marinas and paying $1.50 up per foot. We have to be very frugal with water because we never know where we will be able to top up our water tank. We clean dishes in very little water or since the lakes and canals are clean we sometimes do the dishes standing on the swim platform.  My Mom will probably be sick at the thought. Happy Birthday Mom you begin your 93rd year today! We also bathe in the water which will be a challenge as the weather cools.  The water is currently at 75 degrees which is nice and refreshing. An other slight inconvenience is not using lights at night but only candles.  This is not bad except that you can't read.  We also do not watch TV or watch movies but we will get batteries for our radio so we can stay a little in touch with the world around us.  We recharge our laptops and cellphone while travelling using the inverter that runs on boat batteries.
All in all the inconveniences are minor if they mean that you can be travelling on the water relaxing and enjoying yourself.
Jerry fishing at Indian Point

The Canal leading to Kirkfield Lock

Mitchell Lake Anchorage

The Canal was cut right through the rock
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