Buckhorn to Bobcaygeon, Canada

Day 22

Travel Time: ~  2  hours

NM today: 14

NM total: 542

Locks today: 0

Locks total: 58

We started the day refreshed by making use of the lovely shower facilities at the yacht club – better than most with very hot water and new-looking décor.  Sea Moss was in a boat garage for the night - a nice feature considering the amount of rain that fell yesterday.  We kept nice and dry, and best of all, we didn’t get attacked by an army of bugs.  All things considered this was a nice place to stay though a little pricey as they charge $70 + tax regardless of boat length.  We’ll have to spend a few nights anchoring out to make up the difference.  We have been paying $31.50 at the lock walls with no electric.

Docking at the yacht club was an interesting experience.  The new girl on the job seemed rather clueless.  She didn’t know if they had slips, didn’t know if the slips had electric, gave us awfully vague directions to the slip (whereby we sailed off into progressively more shallow waters and had to turn around and make our way back), and gave us equally vague directions on how to get into town – all we knew was to look for the blue pickup truck for sale and turn right.  She gave us a golf-cart ride from the boat back to the office to check in but when we got there ‘no one was home’ at the office. 

We walked back towards the boat when I realized we didn’t have the wifi password – most critical, so I went back and found the same girl who told us we didn’t need to check in since the owner knew we were there.  Ha-ha!  I don’t think they give free stays away to everyone who stops by.  We told her we needed wifi password, so she said, “Okay, go on in.”  We checked in and went back to our boat and only then did I realize that they had not told us where to find the washroom.

 I found a man who obviously worked at the marina, asked him about washroom locations, and got a very gruff answer of “Over there, over there, over there” as he pointed to 3 different buildings.  The first he pointed to was closest to our boat and one I had already walked up to prior to approaching him that had a big Private sign on the door.  When I mentioned the privacy sign, he said, “Well of course it says private, we don’t want people coming in off the street!”  Well, this place was so remote from downtown which in and of itself was so puny that most people pass on through, I can’t see who they think might use these restrooms – a bear maybe?! 

We slept in until 8:00 because we knew we had a short traveling day today to Bobcaygeon with no locks along the way.  I had hoped to do some reading as we crossed the lakes, but instead I ended up being an extra set of eyes to help the captain locate the markers that can be very hard to see. 

Cottages on lake - can you see the marker in the picture?

We planned on going through the lock at Bobcaygeon to dock at the top of the lock, but as we approached the lock, we were greeted by Rock Me Baby who told us that they were docked below the lock because that is where the electric is located, so we quickly made a change of plans and squeezed in to the slot in front of them on the wall.  It was the boat equivalent of parallel parking as there was a boat in front and theirs in the stern.  We got a couple of lines over to Annie and Bill on shore and then walked our boat into the space.

Coming into Bobcaygeon - stores on left; park on right

Docked at lock wall - 2nd in line

The first order of business in Bobcaygeon was laundry.  We had collected two bags full.  Rock Me Baby had the same agenda.  Bill from Rock Me Baby said they were out of underwear and were ready to “go commando” or “freewheeling” if they didn’t hit the laundromat.  As he said that was just a little too much information!

Before heading off we decided, just for the heck of it, to try to connect to the open internet from the library which is a rather short distance from the lock.  We were able to connect, so we really lucked out with this location on the wall - electric and wifi, wow!  After a quick check of the phone for email etc, we got our stuff together - laundry, coins, detergent, etc and headed off to find the laundromat. As we walked through town, we saw some interesting sights along the way.

Made a new friend standing in front of one of the shops

'Just for the Halibut' restaurant

I was hungry and thirsty and decided that ice cream was just what I needed.  We stopped into the local Kawartha ice cream shop.  I got a strawberry/raspberry frozen yogurt.  Clark said he wanted his treat after dinner, not before, so we decided we would come back again later for his treat.

Ice cream – so many choices!

We hit the local Foodland to pick up some supplies – bread, olive oil, … No zucchini in sight.  I may have to give up looking!

After we got back to the boat, I had two chores to tackle.  The refrigerator had built up a ton of frost already, so I had to defrost the fridge.  The other obvious chore was putting away the groceries and the laundry.  While putting away laundry,  I took the opportunity to pull out all the clothes in my cupboard and reorganize them as both Clark’s and mine were a sloppy mess.

Meanwhile Clark was spending some time chatting with Bill from Rock Me Baby and out shooting some pictures of the area.  The cottage shown below is a little piece of Canadian history dating back to the 1920s when these houses were built to provide shelter for the lockmasters. The one below stood at lock #20 for 60 years and was the last to be taken out of service. After being in storage for 15 years, a decision was made in the 1980s to preserve this piece of history.  Volunteers reproduced missing pieces and repaired damaged portions.  Cedar shingles on the building were auctioned off as a way to make money for the restoration.  Isn't it adorable?!

Historic, Preserved Lockmaster’s Watch House

Clark strolled around the lock area and found the bird below, which is a typical sight at a lock where the fish abound.

Guard dog – no I mean bird

We had a nice dinner on board and then strolled up to town to browse the stores which were still open after 8:00.  Amazing!  All the other towns have been shut down by 5:00 or 6:00 at latest.  Clark got his ice cream; tonight’s flavor was cookies ‘n cream.   When we got back to the boat, we closed all windows with large-mesh screens as a defense against a bug invasion.  I jumped onto my computer to record today’s expenses and work on my blog.  

Clark jumped on his work computer, which they are not paying him to do, to work on documentation for the work he did before leaving on this trip.  He also worked on this the whole time we were in the laundromat taking full advantage of their free wifi-while-you-wash setup. At least he didn't complain that doing laundry is boring which is what he told me last time we went together to get the wash done.  I finally got to do some reading on my Kindle while waiting for the wash to do its thing.  Yay!!