Episode 55 - Sea Clef rides Big Chute and GOES GOLD!!!

In today’s video, we cover the final portion of our Great Loop Adventure! Our final journey takes place across two separate days of travel.

During this journey we would go from Orillia to Severn Falls, and the next day we would continue on to Penetanguishene. Across this two day journey we would navigate the Couchiching Lock, the Swift Rapids Lock, Big Chute, and finally Severn Lock, before arriving home!

On our first day, we depart Orillia around 7:30 am, and arrive into Severn Falls around 4:40 pm that afternoon after traveling 37.6 nautical miles. This netted us an average speed of 4.1 knots. We traversed two locks today including, Couchiching, Swift Rapids and finally the infamous trip across the Big Chute Marine Railway, which lifts our boat up and over the road, down a hill, and back into the water on the other side of the road!

After exiting the north end of Lake Couchiching, our first navigational obstacle is the Railway Swing Bridge just before Lock 42. This bridge has a bit of a reputation for lack of communication and ambiguity. While we did have to wait over an hour for it to swing, we had to wait for two trains to go by, and he did a quick opening for us before a third train was to arrive. It is not managed by the Trent Severn Waterway, and is an old, slow moving swing bridge. Much has been said about it within Active Captain, but I’d suggest arriving and being prepared to wait for a busy train schedule.

Our second and final leg of our Great Loop was just 13.3 nautical miles, taking us from the top side of the Severn Lock 45, down the lock, through a swing bridge and on to Georgian Bay for a short trip across to Penetanguishene, our home port. This second day would be short, so we did not depart until 1:00 pm, arriving just before 3:00 pm and averaging 7 knots in speed.

It was sad, but exciting arriving back to our home port.

Stay tuned for our next series which will cover our travels throughout the Bahamas!

Music from #Uppbeat