The Adventures of Monk's Vineyard - The Great Loop and Beyond: August 16, Day 64

WOW, what a day we had. Started out a bit slow with trying to pry the Hanson’s out of bed, but we finally got Linda on her bike and then walked up to have a great breakfast at Zats.

Gerry tried out the WiFi booster (EnGenius) and pronounced it a winner.

We left Port of Orillia at noon and arrived at Lost Channel about 5:00 p.m. The first part was a bit slow, but then we started seeing lots of little islands and beautiful little cottages and boat houses. The canal was narrow in spots with lots of rocks on either side, but it sure was pretty.
Gerry, Steve, & Karen went for a swim when we arrived at a very quaint anchorage with a couple of loons off of a small island and Linda sweltered in the heat. Linda decided to start her broccoli salad and the rest of the gang went for a dinghy ride. Found some neat cottages for sale and the most awesome boat house ever – full of antique boats and new replicas. Jimmy Mullins would be in awe.

We had grilled steaks with pepper corn sauce, baked potatoes, and Linda’s famous broccoli salad for dinner. Sure hit the spot.

Then, the day took a turn for the ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE!!!! This really neat looking old wooden boat came cruising by and we thought that it might be the person that owned the above mentioned “neatest boat house ever”. Karen ran down to the back of the boat and asked him. He responded in the positive, came along side and offered to give us a tour of his boats and the boat house. He even offered to take us over in this classic antique he was driving. I think he said it was built in 1922 and it was powered with an old (1936) Mini-Cooper marinized engine. It was so shiny and pretty, most of us were afraid to get in, but not Karen – she flew in while the rest of us made a more graceful and appropriate entry.

Things just got better. The guy (Peter Breen) gave us the tour of the boat house, the cottage, and his work shop. WOW!!!! The boat house (and his son’s apartment) is more like a museum and better than most. Just full of antique nautical items and the boats – WOW!!!! We just couldn’t believe that we were being exposed to such incredible things of beauty. Not only were the boats gorgeous, the mechanicals of the vessels were incredible. It turns out that this is really Peter’s business (http://www.breenboats.com/boat_cashInjection.html) He restores antiques and builds replicas. He only works on VERY HIGH END stuff and he loves what he does. His son is only 20 years old and builds furniture, collects beer bottle caps, and restores antique canoes. There were several that were hanging from the ceiling. We were totally in awe of everything that we saw (and still are).

And then things got REALLY INCREDIBLE!!!!!!!! He brought us back in one of his replica boats. It was a 28 foot model “CASH INJECTION” that would cost about $300K, powered by a 497 cubic in fuel injected Mercruiser that had been balanced, blueprinted, powder coated, and had power to the max. The upholstery and workmanship on this boat were fantastic. All of the parts and pieces for the boats are built by his company (a silver and brass Indian head bow ornament is his trademark). The ride back only took a few minutes, but we went all the way to the Swift Rapids lock and back at about 80 MPH. Gerry rode in front and was covered with bug juice (but did not complain one bit). Steve rode with Peter and picked up a few boat handling tips. Linda and Karen rode in the back with about a 20 ft. rooster tail on each side and giggled the whole way. What a trip!!!!!!!

After he dropped us off, we had a nightcap on the fly bridge, listened to Peruvian Flute music and called the Burbidges just to make sure that they knew that we were having more fun than they were. As usual, Gerry went off to bed and the rest of the gang stayed up, ate fudge, and told lies to each other.

Tomorrow, we do the BIG CHUTE. It will be hard to beat today’s adventures.