Thurs, Fri Aug 3-4 Chaffey Lock 37 to Morton Bay Anchorage
We got moving slowly today because we were comfortable mooring to the wall and watching the boats come and go. That turned out to be a mistake. As we were readying to leave the wall, the lock hands said that the traffic at Jones Fall, (4 locks in a row) was heavy and there was a 3 hour wait. We decided to leave and drive slowly in an attempt to not get there too soon, but also to get in line for the lock down. We drove slowly, 4-5 mph, arrived 1 1/2 hours later and still found a line of boats on the blue line and a 1 1/2 hour wait. We shoulder moored off Short Vacation and waited patiently. Eventually, the lock master double downed, meaning he had 2 groups lock down, one right after another. We were in the second group and only had one other boat with us in the lock. The locks were filled within inches of the top in order to lock us down safely and 75 minutes later we were eventually on our way. We headed to Morton Bay to anchor for the night, only 45 minutes travel time. As soon as we were anchored, Tom had our dingy down and we were swimming off the swim platform - the water was 78 degrees, the sun was shining and we felt like it was summer time!!! John and Pam rode their dingy over, we went for a short cruise and then back in the water; A refreshing end of the day.
The next day was a leisurely one. About noon we took a 5 mile dinghy ride to the small town of Seeley Bay. Not much there, but a hardware store, grocery, pub and of course an ice cream store. The black raspberry thunder and the bear claw ice cream was another great discovery. The dingy did not cooperate on the way back so we idled all the way home to the boat. The remainder of the day involved reading, swimming, a few raindrops and a cat nap; the perfect way to enjoy an anchorage.
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| Even busy lock tenders have to take a break between cranking open and closing locks. |
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| When we arrive at Jones Falls Lock. A number of boats await us. There is enough room for one of us so Short Vacation pulls up the the Blue Line lock waiting wall and ties up first. |
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| We then come along side and shoulder up to them (we call it rafting in the States) and wait. It will be about 1 hour wait and then the lock tenders decide who fits with who for going into the lock. |
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| We were to big to go in with Short Vacation so they locked in ahead of us with bunches of smaller boats. We ended up going in about 20 minutes after they exited this lock because this lock leads into a turning basin then a flight of 3 more locks. They use the water from our lock to fill the lock below us. You can actually see the water level go down and then come back up. |
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| Going down the flight of 3 locks, Short Vacation is down below the locks waiting for us. 
Entering Morton's Bay thru a narrow rock filled opening that
thankfully is well marked
 
The bay opened up and we proceeded further up to Flood's Island
 on it 
I was swimming off the back of the boat when I noticed this head
coming my way so I swam over and introduced myself. His name
was Ron and he had built his house on the cove. Nice guy with good
conversation. Thanked him for letting use his cove and he said no
problem. I think I noticed a twinkle in his eye as he swam away
he turned back and said we never even mentioned Donald by name. Referring to our
President. I think he knew about something else we would find out about
soon enough.
I think this was Ron's Surprise. The bottoms here
are mud with a heavy covering of plants. This what
comes up when you pull your anchor up in the morning.
Mud covered by a heavy plant covering. How to
get this off?
You have a good farm girl on board as crew who
knows how to pitch hay, of course. Really you have
to work on the clump of weeds with a boat hook and
slowly pull it off. Took us 45 minutes before the anchor
was clear.
We weren't the only one with this plant issue.
John on Short Vacation also had plenty of salad
to deal with
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