From Ottawa to Grafton

 Just a little strange - sink outside the restrooms?  hmmm!



Having dinner at Babe's Bar and Grill



Wednesday, September 14 – We stayed on the free wall one more day in Ottawa – rafted up with everyone. It was a bit rainy and we needed some provisions so it wasn't hard to convince the Captain. We walked to the store with Don and Linda of Awes Spray. The store gave us a ride back. Pretty smart. With a ride back - we all probably bought twice as much as

Rollin' down the river

Henry Island Anchorage

we would have if we had to carry it back. Later in the day, Dockers Inn, Salty Paws, Last Dance and Black Tickle came by. Only Black Tickle stopped for a tie up. I think the others anchored out just a little down from us. We had a spontaneous gathering on NautiNell with everyone until it was time for dinner. Great time visiting with everyone. That's what it is all about!

On Thursday we left out early – really for no reason. We had to spend over 1 1/2 hours at the lock while they locked through a barge. We had grown to a group of at least 10 now. There were two more barges coming down behind us. It was a little tiring. Oh well, part of the adventure…..
We made it to upper Henry Island for a great anchorage. There were six of us Loopers. The carp were jumping everywhere! There had to be 1000s of them! What a sight! I tried to get pictures but they were too quick. Other than their splashes, it was a peaceful anchorage. – We appreciated it too, because anchorages seem to be few and far between. The water is really down!

Friday morning we decided that if we were going to make it to Grafton by Sunday to meet up with Sweet Pea we had better book it! After all, they were referring to us as "pokey"! That would never do! LOL!
Several Loopers stopped at the Illinois Valley Yacht Club in Peoria. We had an easy time locking through the wicket dam at Peoria once they finished locking through a barge. There really wasn't much between there and Tall Timbers Marina in Havana. That would mean another 30+ miles! We kept plugging along watching the jumping fish, the flocks of white pelicans and beautiful eagles. What a sight!

We decided to stop at Tall Timbers Marina. Now, I mentioned the water was down; well they were telling people that if they drafted 4 feet or more to just pass them by. We draft 3 1/2 so we figured we could make it. We went in first – through an entrance that is about 30 feet wide. Sheeh! Rocks on both sides! We made it! We found Salty Paws there and another Looper – Last Chance. Finally some of the other Loopers made it there too. Including Awe Spray whose beam is 23 ½ feet. He was a little nervous going through that 30 foot entrance! Also, when he made it to the slip – he was on bottom. At least it's a soft bottom……..! OokPik wasn't too sure about trying it. He drafts 4 foot. However, will a little encouragement, he went for it. Of course, it may have been because he really didn't have much choice. Again there were NO good anchorages out there! We all made it in safe and sound. Once we were settled in, we headed to town for dinner. The town is Havana – but we didn't see Castro. Ha! We did find "Babes" – a little bar and grill. They were having prime rib as their special so we decided to check it out. We had a ball! The place was a little crazy so we all fit right in.

We left out fellow Loopers behind a little on Saturday. We really wanted to make Grafton on Sunday. So we put the petal to the metal, so to speak. We knew we'd see them down the river somewhere. Little did we know that we would have to keep going another 90 miles to a good place to stop! It was a long day, but it was nice. There were pelicans everywhere! And just a "few" barges. We locked through the LeGrange Lock by ourselves. They didn't even require us to tie up. We just floated in the middle of the lock. Talk about an easy lock through! Finally after a 90 mile trek we stopped to anchor at Willow Island where we caught up with Last Dance and Dovekie. We were only 30 miles from Grafton so we knew we would have an easy day on Sunday.

On Sunday about noon, we come rolling in to Grafton Harbor. There were a bunch of Loopers! Some we had never met and some we hadn't seen for weeks! We were really surprised to see Jeremiah there. We hadn't seen them since Campbellford! Of course, Sweet Pea was there to greet us too. We hadn't seen them since we left Peterborough! There must have been at least 15 Looper boats. Even Southern Belle was there. We had met them when we were still at Smith Point Marina before we had ever started the trip. What a group! Of course we had a huge "reunion/happy hour". We talked for hours and laughed till we hurt! Hopefully, OokPik and the others will join us tomorrow.

Till next time!

Admiral "C"