Distance

Day to day, season to season the distance we cruise each day changes. On the Great Lakes, especially Lake Michigan, it is common to cover fifty miles of open lake per day. The least we have traveled is around twenty, the most being over one hundred nautical miles. It can make for a long day at 10 mph, and depending on the weather conditions a long and trying day.

The last few years cruising in Lake Huron’s North Channel and Georgian Bay the distance has shrunk. Instead of marinas, we mainly anchor, and the various bays and coves are seldom more than five miles apart. It is a joy to wake up in the morning and not have to rush. While it is always better to get on the water early, even when the destination is close, it is acceptable to chill out and smell the roses in certain circumstances.

This year Carrie Rose is on the Rideau Waterway in Ontario and the distances have shrunk even more. So far, I would say the average is fewer than five. The locks are particularly close together here in the southern section.

Our mission statement for this year, formulated in the depths of the winter, was to take our time and not rush through the Rideau. From what we read and from the advice of numerous cruisers the lower section is the most scenic, so we have been moving at a snails pace. We have spent several days at each lock and will make some side trips that we might not otherwise take.

Tied to Newbor0 Lock #36 is the farthest Carrie Rose has been from her previous mooring #16 at the mouth of Montrose Harbor in Chicago. This will be her third year absent from what seemed like home for most of my life. If I had to guess, I would say we are approximately 1500 miles from home. And with distance comes new experiences.

One in particular springs to mind. I have never been a water person. I mean I enjoy being in a contrivance but to jump into the water for fun takes a lot of coaching on Charlotte’s part. I like my water warm and salty with waves, or even better, since I am fantasizing now, the 113-degree flowing mineral water of a Japanese bath is perfect for me. Yesterday though everyone was going swimming and I had just bought a new swimsuit, so I was lured into the water.

Before Charlotte and I ventured to the dock with a local woman, we mentioned that the ever present fish seem to enjoy human flesh. Put our feet in the water and a school will appear, and start to harvest the dead skin on the soles of our feet. It seems harmless enough. Then her husband explained that the little buggers will go for your nipples and he went on to explain a somewhat gruesome example. A friend of theirs was chased out of the water by an aggressive attack and left bloodied with fish hanging from his appendages.

As it is with these stories, many times they go in one ear and out the other. I mean how many urban myths have been debunked. So, I walked lazily to the waters edge and as per usual took an inordinate amount of time to fling myself into the water. It was a shock but felt good on this hot sticky day. The only problem was I had forgotten a floatation device, something that is necessary due to my ineptitude in aqua. I swam to the wooden steps and started to ascend when a piercing pain went through my left chest.

Was this the angina pain I treated in many patient? Had all these year of a low fat vegetarian diet failed me? I will not say I panicked; there was little time to have done so as my legs responded and catapulted me onto the dock. I am sure there is a biblical allegory to this. The unbeliever is brought to faith by their experience.
I am a true believer now. The Canadian North harbors its own type of piranha. Be they sunfish, crappie, bass, or pike I neither know nor care.

Back at the boat, I related the nipple-biting event to the soothsayer and he started to explain that the bass could get to 12 pounds and the musky even bigger. I vowed never to set foot in the water again until we retraced our path back to the more equatorial but safer waters that lie a thousand mile distant off the coast of northern Illinois.