Day 282 - June 23, 2013: The Big Chute to Honey Harbor on the Georgian Bay

We awoke and were second in line for The Big Chute railway lift. This gave us a chance to learn more about how it works and reduced our anxiety (but not our excitement).

The boat ahead of us moving into the carriage

Lifted up by the slings

Underway up over the road

Then it was our turn, and I expect that this will make the highlight reel in our documentary!

Entering

In the sling

Over the top and about to start down

Anne holding on with some apprehension

Near the bottom and almost back into the water

After passing through lock 45, we celebrated having NO more locks to deal with on this trip. Not that they weren't interesting, historical, and challenging, but we have passed through 51 locks in the last 17 days, and 147 locks in total on this Great Loop trip. It is time for a break.

Today starts another new chapter in our trip, The Georgian Bay, which is a part of Lake Huron and located entirely in Ontario. Many loopers list this area as some of the best cruising on the loop. It is 120 miles long and 50 miles wide and was formed by glaciers as a part of the Canadian Shield. There are tens of thousands of islands here, but most are on the east side and known as "Thirty Thousand Islands." Cruising here requires full attention to charts, location of buoys, and depths at all times. Moving just a few feet off a marked channel here can tear up the boat bottom on the rocks and severely damage running gear. Clearly, we plan to be especially alert.

After leaving Port Severn, our route started by taking the small boat channel known as "Potato Cut," named after an opening near Potato Island which has two 90-degree turns separated by a narrow rocky channel.

Typical view ahead

Mounds of granite

Edge of a narrow channel revealing interesting pink granite

Then we worked our way into Honey Harbour and stayed at the South Bay Cove Marina, one of the nicest we have seen on the entire trip. We sought shelter since rain is forecast for the night.