We left the wall at Talbot and continued on in the ditch. This is our spot for the night.

Honestly, I have seen irrigation ditches in Pueblo that were bigger. There wasn't room to pass a big boat, so we're awfully grateful that we didn't need to. Here are a couple pictures of the canal. It's 6 feet deep too.

When we got through the canal, and across the Canal Lake - where we hit the bottom several times, we got to enjoy Lake Simcoe, which is just before Orillia. Lots of big cruiser boats, tons of jet skis and fishing boats. So many people were out enjoying this amazing 82 degree water. They claim it can be a treacherous lake, but today it was just beautiful.

I guess I didn't read enough about this area. I don't recall looking forward to visiting Orillia. Not sure why. This is a great little town. We needed fuel, so when we left the wall at Talbot, heading this way, I made arrangements to stop/stay here and fuel up, pump out, and get ready for Georgian Bay. I can't believe we are only 3 more locks from Georgian Bay. This is something that we've been dreaming about for so long, and now we are all the way to the great lakes (more or less). Wow.

We ended up getting the fuel dock .....again. Ugh. In this case though, it is a crazy busy fuel dock, so the smell was pretty obnoxious. The bonus? The dinghy wasn't trapped behind us, so we could drop it in the water and scoot wherever we wanted to go. Also.... there is a family (they mate for life) of Mute Swans (google them) that lived right by the docks.

I could watch them all day. They spend their time teaching their little family all about surviving near all these boats. That was a great feature of the stop.

There was a music festival in town too. I tried to get tickets, but were not able. We tried to dinghy up to it too, but no luck their either. I wish I had known, and could have bought tickets. When I googled it, they likened this area to Nashville, as a place where up and coming artists come and show us how good they are. The stop was pretty uneventful, but lunch at the Studabakers restaurant was great, and groceries were a short walk away. There was a series of these adorable little boats, with beautiful sails. This was my favorite.

The sunset is hidden by the dock behind us, but the side of the sunset was still pretty. Here are a few more pics.

Next stop? Anchoring in a little bay so we can enjoy the Big Chute Railroad. We are both pretty darned excited for this 'lock'.