Today we motored from Hastings through Rice Lake and up the Atonabee River and through 1 lock arriving in Little Lake in Peterborough shortly after 2 pm. The lock master called the Peterborough Marina for us to tell them we were coming. I gotta say, the Parks Canada lock staff have all been, without exception, the friendliest, most helpful people we have ever dealt with! They can't do enough for you. And, so far, none of them have charged us the $36 fee for spending the night at a lock tie up wall. Not that there are any facilities aside from indoor washrooms at these locations, but $36 is better in our pocket vs. the government's!

But, this isn't the free part I was referring to in the title of today's blog entry. As we're heading to the city marina Sam gets told by the gas dock attendant to go back out into the bay while he attends to a power boat. I decide to try and radio the marina on our newly installed remote VHF radio microphone, only to find that it will only turn the radio on and off....no channel control! microphone or speaker working! (Remember a couple of blog entries ago when I said if I didn't know better I thought someone was telling us not to go on this trip)

Anyway, here comes the good part.....I call the marina on the portable VHF and talk to previously mentioned snarky gas dock attendant. (Boy Scout back up always be prepared plan kicks in again with spare radio) He directs me to the wall due to the size of our mast hanging over both ends of our boat. He asks me if I can control my boat! To which I answer "don't worry about that" We proceed down the channel to the wall and make the turn to come up along side of it and the boat stops. I try forward and reverse with no reaction and the thought of "damn, transmission is gone" flashes through my mind!

Only after looking at dock kid's face does it dawn on me.....we're stuck on the bottom! He tells me to power through as the outlet of a storm sewer must have dropped some debris on the bottom. So, like a sap I do it and get myself even further into the muck and then truly stuck! After countless tries to pull the boat out via lines to nearby docks, and the assistance of a very nice couple trying to tow us off with their twin diesel trawler, it is apparent Haida Legend may have found her final resting spot. With no mast up we can't kedge it off the bottom (for you non-sailors,that's when you take a line from the top of the mast out away from the boat and pull it sideways, raising the keel off the bottom as the boat rolls to one side and allowing it to be pulled into deeper water)

At this point the marina manager comes to us with the plan to have the lock master at the downstream lock put an additional log in the dam to raise the water level. Really?! Anyway, he sets this up and an hour later the boat is floating enough to get it off the bottom. I reverse out and retrace our route in and back the boat into a slip avoiding a tight turn, overhanging bowsprit on another boat and a sizeable log in the water. To which I get the comment....nice driving from the manager. (Tell your dock kid)

So, to make up for all this "inconvenience" we are offered free mooring in a slip for as long we we want to stay. With this in mind maybe we've ended our search for our retirement location and we can keep our boat here. Picture our boat on a body of water the size of Grenadier Pond! So, if you're looking for free mooring....... Just sayin!