We departed Barrie, ON about 9:00 am after returning the rent car and having a relaxed breakfast on board Lucky Us. The photo at the right shows a view back toward Barrie as we cruised back out the long bay. The weather was perfect with a clear blue sky, but we also knew that it was supposed to heat up to near 90. We arrived at Krates Marina around 12:15 pm. They had us go first to the fuel dock to
check in, and we got a pump out while
at the dock. They gave us our choice of
three slips and we took off. That is
where the "fun" began. We decided
to try the 1st slip we came to and as we tried to back in we lost control of
the boat, it would not maneuver. It
seemed that we were grounded. We moved
on to the second slip and had the same problem.
So we called the marina and asked for a deeper slip as we tried to back
out into the main lane of the marina.
The drive shaft on the port engine started singing and groaning.
We finally realized, with little maneuverability, that we had weeds
wrapped around the rudders and or shafts.
They gave us another assignment but we decided we had to go out into the
deeper lake and try to get some of the weeds off. We ran the engines forward, stopped, and then put her in
reverse and the second time we did this cycle big clumps of weeds popped to the
surface and floated away. We continued
this a few times and we were finally back to normal.
In the meantime they found an even better spot for us, and we came back into the marina in and
docked effortlessly this time.
We walked about a half mile and had lunch at the Riveredge Restaurant (photo at left). As the name implied, the restaurant was just over a bridge across the Maskinonge River. The river was navigable for several miles up stream, but a low fixed bridge limited traffic to small boats. After lunch, we headed back to Lucky Us where we were faced with the dilemma of going to the pool or taking a nap... We settled on both with the nap being first.
The pool was warm and only a few families were taking advantage of the warm water. We only lounged in the pool for a short time, but we also lounged in the warm sun after drying off. By then we knew that this was going to be a nice place to stay for a weekend off the busy lake. Plus I discovered that our dock was in the "Executive Area" and had the best internet service that I have had in a long while. Whoop!
We also discovered that Lucky was not having nearly as nice time on the boat. Just across the channel they are building several high rise condos, and there was a very loud pile driving operation going on (photo at left). Fortunately, it must have been a union job since they quit for the day promptly at 3:30 pm, and then things looked much better for Lucky. It was a good thing that Lucky had no way of knowing that they would start again the next morning promptly at 7:00 am.
For dinner we walked past the river to another small restaurant where I had a delightful meal of thick (1 inch) roast beef with potatoes and steamed vegetables. The photo at the right shows another view of the river as we passed over the same bridge. We were to walk over this bridge often over the next few days as we searched out more places to eat.
The day ended with a colorful sunset over the marina (photo at left). So far we are really enjoying our stay here, but reality will begin to set in tomorrow when we get back to work on more mundane things like the blog for me, and the Admiral has plans to "neaten" up the salon and the dinette area where things accumulate rather than being properly put away after use.
Also, the prediction is for increasing chances of rain beginning after Noon. A front is coming through that will also result in a wind shift to the northwest at 14 to 15 mph.
The marina is a busy place for service with a big travel lift kitty corner cross our parking lot (photo at right). The lift is rated for 50 tons, but when they approach that limit, the boats are long enough to make it "interesting". It is definitely a lot more fun to watch other folk's boat be lifted than your own... We are staying at the Krate Marina, but we had wondered since we have seen the name also spelled with a "C". It turns out that the marina had been owned by the Crate family for several generations, but they recently sold the marina. They evidently wanted the name changed, but I guess that they settled on the simple spelling change as acceptable.
The rains started about Noon with widely scattered showers that we could see moving in off of Lake Simcoe. The rains were gentle, but they gradually became more frequent. Surely this called for a nap since the pool was ruled out due to occasional lightening. Lucky was probably delighted since the pile driver finally quit early due to the lightening. The photo at the left shows a pretty sunset after the last of the rain moved through. In spite of this peaceful looking scene, the winds had picked up into the 15 to 18 mph range. On Lucky Us the wind seemed stronger than that as it was being funneled up the Maskinonge River where we are docked at the marina.
Under the general category of bizarre is this very heavily customize pickup truck. It started out as a 2 ton pickup truck with dual wheels in the rear, but somehow they added another axle as well as a hydraulic, wrecker style lift-tow bar. It must be more of a show truck than an actual functioning wrecker, but who knows??? Anyway, the Cadillac emblem is the "final touch". Also, I would hate to spoil it for the owner, but "Rattler" is spelled with two "t"s.
Day 127 was also a Saturday so family activities were going on all around the marina. The lower floor of this building houses the bathrooms and laundry while the top floor is a private residence. The building also provided a wind break for picnics and BBQ on the grills. The pool is only about 100 feet out of view on the left. So people were coming and going between the two activities. It was probably an endless cycle with the kids continually on a cycle of eating and then working up an appetite again.
As you can see in the photo at the left, the Admiral was a happy person as she warmed up in the sun after a brisk dip in the pool. The pool had cooled off after the clouds, wind and rain. I swam a little, but I was also happy to sit in the warm sun out of the brisk wind.
We are considered to be in Keswick, but Keswick is included in the town of Georgina. Either way the population in 2011 was about 26k for Keswick and 44k for the larger area of Georgina Town. According to the locals, the population is growing rapidly. A branch of the main freeway from Barrie to Toronto was recently completed to the southern edge of Keswick. Now, the daily commuters have a new waterfront real estate market open to them. We took a cab ride for some shopping early last evening. The cab driver was quick to tell us that his house had increased in value by over 60% in just a couple of years, and in the next breath he was telling us that he could not afford to move because the real estate prices had gone up so much. Catch 22 anyone?
There are 5 little strip shopping centers within just over a half mile to the north of the marina. A typical one is shown in the photo at the right with a restaurant on either side, and after lunch, the Admiral walked over to a nail salon in this center, and the rest is history. All of the centers have at least one restaurant. The food choices vary widely, but all but two of the restaurants specialize in take out. Today (Day 128) we went to the "Halibut Queen" twice as we slowly learned to navigate its rather complex menu. The second time we had grilled whitefish with a garden salad, and it was delicious as well as healthy.
We decided to stay an extra day because the northwest wind is still kicking up white caps on the lake. We could easily handle these waves, but we decided that we would wait another day and have a much more enjoyable trip north to rejoin the Trent-Severn Waterway. We went to C. J. Barley's Tavern for lunch. I had the fish 'n chips with sweet potato fries instead of regular fries (
aka chips).
Lucky had plenty of walking as I am ending the day with 5.24 miles on my Fit Bit, and except for the mile round trip to lunch, she was along on most of that plus the Admiral took her on several walks. Lucky went to bed at about 9:00 pm and has that "don't you dare" look as she is really hunkered down. I went to the pool but did not swim as the dry air blowing across the pool had really cooled it off. It was warm enough out of the wind to enjoy the sun, and since I had the whole pool area to myself, I did soak up some sun while enjoying the peace and quiet.
The weather forecast for tomorrow looks pretty good so at the moment we are planning to leave here tomorrow...
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