6/20,21 Severn Falls to Orillia, ON

6/20,21 Severn Falls to Mariposa Marina at Orillia, ON

The day dawned bright, clear and calm – a perfect day to pass through a couple of locks, some narrow waterways and to our waiting slip at Mariposa where we planned to hunker down because of another storm coming through. (Will these ever stop???)

Notice the green marker in the middle of the waterway encouraging us to stay to the right side of it or risk contributing to the local economy while we fix our boat.

Our first glimpse of our next lock was pretty intimidating as we prepared to enter one of the taller locks on the Trent-Severn waterway. 47' Swift Rapids Lock.

Entering the Swift Rapids lock.

Rafting up with the other boats

Everyone leaving at the top

A cute little home on the water

This part of the waterway this whole day was narrow and shallow but well marked. Note Jim’s intense concentration as we passed a wall you could almost touch.

This is the first time we've ever encountered a sunken island. We hope they don't have a marina down there!

This swinging bridge is almost open

At our next lock, the 20' Couchiching lock, they packed us in like sardines. We even had a jet skier hanging onto one of our fenders. A total of 6 boats and a jet ski.

Can you see the attendant riding the doors as they close?

A beaver home along the waterway

When we called ahead to get a slip for the next 2 nights, the manager at Mariposa Landing, near Orillia, ON said she had a covered slip for us and she felt we could probably fit just fine. What she didn’t tell us until we started backing in is that we might need some bear grease to get in. Our boat is 15.5’ wide. Their slip was 16.0’ wide. Phew!

We fit - - sort of

The space in front of our slip was almost not wide enough for us to turn. The  boat actually stretched from the bank to the entrance of the slip. We had to slide our bow through a willow tree in order to get in. 

After we tied up, we took the 3 mile bike trail into Orillia. It wound through a swamp, Aspen Tree forests and even a lovely little beach that had lots of people enjoying the sunshine. 

Orillia had lots of these cute sailboat sculptures.
Each one had a different, hand painted sail. 

We locked up the bikes at the town port and walked into town.

As luck would have it, they were having a street fair as part of their “Christmas in June” celebration.

We got to the fair at 3:45. 

They closed at 4:00. 

Bummer. 

Boats decorated as part of Orillia's Christmas in June celebration.

Here are some pictures of our marina where we stayed in our first covered slip.

Notice how close we are to the other side.