As the sun rose, we awakened early with butterflies and nerves – not totally knowing what to expect.  We would await at the entrance wall for the 9 o’clock opening.  Some boater consider this truly amazing, others consider it truly crazy – piloting your boat over land.  Why are we doing this?

We have shut off sea-cock valves to our air conditioning and generator, we put blue painter’s tape to mark our “sling” spots, we are ready – our boat is about to be lifted out of the water, carried over land – and dumped back into the water on the other side.

BIG CHUTE MARINE RAILWAY is a unique slip at lock 44 of the Trent-Severn Waterway in Ontario.  It works on an inclined plane to carry boats in individual cradles over a change of height of about 60 feet.  It is the only marine railway of its kind in North America still in use.

    

We met two dock builders on the wall while waiting.  They were headed to work on the lower Gloucester Pool.  They were kind enough to take our picture as we were transferred over the chute.

   

They strapped us in and here we are at the top of the chute – 60 feet in the air.  We were on board and it was quite the ride!

    

Our anxiety level was increased while watching other boats being carried over the day before.  Large boats hanging off both ends of the chute did not give us a secure feeling.

    

As you can see, the entire apparatus rolls on rails from one body of water to the other….

    

The attendants were excellent at slinging our boats and quelling our anxiety.  It wasn’t their first rodeo.

    

And after the momentous ride down the rails, we were splashed and on our way….

    

…and why, again, are we doing this?