6/26 Lake Simcoe

We awoke to another beautiful morning.  The day was in the 80's and bright and sunny.  We had two more locks to go through to enter Lake Simcoe.  We could see Lock 40 with binoculars from our position in the Lock 39 lock wall.  We waited until 8:30 to move up to the next lock because the locks begin to open at 9.  The farm between the locks is pictured below.

When we entered Lock 41, we paid for our mooring for the night before.  The system here is quite good.  The lock master asked if I wanted to pay cash or credit.  He bought the hand held credit machine lock side and we did our transaction without me ever leaving the boat.  How convenient!

Then we headed out on Lake Simcoe. Lake Simcoe is named for Sir John Simcoe who was the first Lieutenant Governor of Upper Canada.  In 1793, he abolish slavery. Lake Simcoe is a large freshwater lake.  It is 20 miles long and 16 miles wide.  It is the largest lake on the Trent Severn Waterway.  We headed to the north along the east shore to McPhee Bay. 

We headed into Marina Del Rey to have the work done on the head tomorrow.  What a fabulous place!  This marina is not visible from the bay.  Once you identify the markers you go through a small channel and surprise, there is a very large marina.

Marina Del Rey has mostly covered slips and maybe 40 uncovered slips.  The docks have wide areas of grass behind them.  The patrons have set up tables, chairs, umbrellas and grills along their boats.  They get parking at their boat too.   Many of the slip owners live in Toronto and come up here for vacations and on weekends.  It is very family friendly with a play area for children and a basketball court. 

I took advantage of the pool.  Tomorrow,  I will use the laundry while the head gets fixed.

We grilled hot dogs on the fly bridge tonight.  Beans and franks and fresh air, nothing is better.

Lat 44 degrees 34.60 North
Long 79 degrees 19.37 West