Bolsover, ON, CA
Best stop so far in two weeks. Sunset Cove Marina is a little hole in the wall marina about half-way between Fenelon Falls and Orillia. As you’ll read below, the full day was not a relaxed day, as it was a little over 40 miles with seven locks. We decided that we were not in any hurry and so we stopped. The marina owners, Alan and Lisa, met us at the dock which was unique in its own right. Alan motioned for us to tuck into a tight corner of the small dock, sandwiched in between two other boats, in 1.5 feet of water under our keel. Thanks to no current and no wind, we made it look like we’d done it a million times before. OK - I was confident as it looked like a breeze to me - but Ann was on the bow of the boat gasping at every turn. Alan told us later that one of the regulars saw us put the boat in there and was amazed. Ann was amazed as well …no problem.
The marina was quiet, had a great ambience, lots of shade, nice views and was everything we needed for a quick afternoon reprieve from the previous day we had.
This day was always going to get our attention and it lived up to expectations. Leaving Fenelon Falls, we still had to deal with more wind and current but, thanks again to another helpful boater, we were able to pull off from the lock without any trouble. The first few miles were pretty normal but then you enter the notorious Trent Canal off of Lake Balsam. It’s about 5 miles of very narrow, very shallow canal that is essentially one-way for a boat our size. There would have been no room to pass if another boat was coming the other way. Boats over 40 feet are required to make a radio call on entry so if any boats are coming the other direction, they can respond and you can tie up until they are out of the canal. There are two locks on the canal, including the Kirkfield Lift Lock, which is the same as the Peterborough lift lock. Besides the extremely narrow width of the canal, our depth alarm went off a million times, because the canal was also filled with grass which made the sonar think the bottom was closer to the the keel than it actually was. Very annoying and a little stress inducing, still having memories of having dinged a prop last summer in shallow waters.
