Happily Wherever After

08/31/2026

Once we finish the Trent Severn, we'll have completed 117 locks in 2 months!!! Locks aren't tough, but they do get tiring, getting in and out of them can be stressful. What's your experience with locks?

08/30/2026

NEW cruising video, with the BEST dolphin footage so far! Our 17th cruise on the Great Loop brought us into our 4th state, North Carolina. We move from one rough anchorage to an even worse anchorage - but we enjoy a beautiful cruise in between 😅 Thanks for watching!

After leaving "the worst anchorage on the Great Loop so far," we re...

08/29/2026

Every lockstation is unique and there's always something to look at while you're locking through. At the Trent Lockstation, Lock 5, there's another restored Lockmaster House from the early 1800's. There's also the Frankford Generating Station, in operation since 1913.

The lockstations are extremely well maintained, and often have beautiful landscaping as well.

08/29/2026

The Batawa Lockstation manages the 4th lock on the Trent-Severn. This one has a lift of 18 feet - only two-thirds of the last one! This lock chamber wasn't quite as intimidating to enter.

The house pictured is the Batawa Lockmaster House. It's one of only three restored lockmaster houses on the Trent-Severn Waterway!

08/29/2026

The first 6 locks on the Trent-Severn are all within ~5 miles of each other, so we locked through these in fairly quick succession.

Glen Miller is the third lockstation, and it lifted us up 27 feet! Glen Miller is the largest single lock in the southern portion of the Trent-Severn, and it's the biggest single lift after Swift Rapids (Lock 43).

08/29/2026

We approached Lock 2 shortly after shoving off from Lock 1's wall. The second lock is located at Sydeny Lockstation - directly below Canada’s busiest highway!

You can see when we approach the lock the water in the chamber is at its lowest level. That means we'll be locking up!

08/27/2026

We began the Trent-Severn Waterway! But we didn't make it very far. After locking through the first lockstation at Trenton, we docked on the wall for two nights.

The lockstation hours on the Trent-Severn are from 9 AM to 5:30 PM (or 6:30 PM on Fridays & Saturdays). When planning where to stay within a canalway, we take these hours into consideration. If we arrive to a lock early enough, we typically try to lock through and stay on the other side, if there's room. That way we can get going and be ready at the next lock by 9 AM the following morning!

Great Loop Cruising Stats:
📅 114 days on the Loop
🛥️ 60 Cruising Days
🔌 119 days since shore power
⚓ 80 nights at anchor (70%)
🧭 17 nights at free docks (15%)
🪢 17 nights at Parks Canada docks ($25.47/night**)
📏 2,212.4 miles traveled from Florida
🔒 75 locks transited
🇺🇲 10 states visited
🇨🇦 2 provinces visited
**Mooring Pass cost divided by nights used so far.

08/27/2026

We had a warm welcome to the Trent River and its bridges! As we approached the Canadian Pacific Railway Bridge, a train began crossing the river. The conductor must have noticed our excitement because they gave us a couple blows of the horn!

It's a tough call for me in moments like this - do I film or do I stop and take photos? The Loop has been full of difficult decisions just like this.

08/27/2026

It was finally our turn to take our Loop boat under the iconic "Gateway to the Trent-Severn Waterway" sign in Quinte West. This will be our 7th, and final, historic canalway in Canada this summer!

✔️ Chambly Canal National Historic Site
✔️ Carillon Canal National Historic Site
✔️ Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue Canal National Historic Site
✔️ Saint-Ours Canal National Historic Site
✔️ Lachine Canal National Historic Site
✔️ Rideau Canal National Historic Site
🛥️ Trent-Severn Waterway National Historic Site

Our Parks Canada mooring pass has been serving us well, so far it's come out to under $30/night!

08/26/2026

We got an early start from our anchorage in Clayton, NY and had Swamp Puppy docked at Kingston Marina by 10:15 AM. We filled up our water tank and purchased 100 gallons of diesel (ouch). They were incredibly kind and allowed us to tie up for an hour to make a quick trip to the nearby grocery, so we were able to fully reprovision as well.

By the time we got going again it was well after noon, but we cruised another ~30 miles to an anchorage halfway between Kingston and Trenton - the start of the Trent-Severn Waterway. And more locks!