Back in Familiar Territory

 Anchorage at Beaurivage

 After I last wrote we had three more cruising days to get back into the Thousand Islands: from the Chrysler Park Marina to Prescott , from Prescott to Brockville (a short haul) and then the final push from Brockville to the Beaurivage anchorage not far from Gananoque (or "Gan" as they say).

I find it amusing when I remember all of us sitting at anchor at the Chrysler Park Marina and agreeing that "it's not far to Prescott" - our expectation being that we would arrive in the early afternoon. We kept forgetting that "not far" becomes "kinda far" when you meet a 3 knot current and your speed dips to less than 4 knots. We forgot that we were still in "slogging up the river" territory.

From Prescott to Brockville was a lovely unexpected cruising day. We turned off the motor and current or not, sailed all day - and at acceptable speeds - often at as much as 5 knots. (See how our definition of "speed" had changed?)

Warren was waiting for the moment when we sailed under the Ivy Lea bridge when we be truly back in the islands and out of the current. True enough, it was very nice to be "back".

Slogging Back Up the River / Man Overboard (not Bob!)

Sea Change and Sandcastle in the Port D'Escale Marina in Old Montreal. As the weekend wore on, the marina filled up and became a hot bed of activity. What with the music all around, concerts/parties (somewhere unseen), the streets above thick with people, the partying on docks and boats, I felt that when we went to bed (after watching the Saturday night fireworks), it was like we were trying to sleep in the middle of the CNE!

 Still - a great location and a unique experience.

Along with Karen and Warren we went for lunch at Montreal Poutine. 

It was the first time that any of us tried Poutine. It was pretty tasty.

We left Montreal on Sunday morning and flew down the river with the current carrying us - 10 minutes to cover the distance we had struggled up on Friday afternoon. Monday night we stayed in Dorval - at the Royal St. Lawrence Yacht Club - where we had stayed earlier. The cruising Monday hadn't been so bad - about 4 knots as an average but today was a real grind. It took us all day to get from Dorval to Valleyfield - a distance we covered in half a day 2 weeks earlier. As before, we had two locks and two bridges to get through and under - but we also had a 2 knot current against us and wind that gusted to 20 knots directly on our nose. We spent much of the day traveling at less than 4 knots - sometimes our speed fell below 3!

 Crew from the boats rafted to us came aboard to help push off.

On Sunday and Monday, we transited 2 locks each day on the Canadian side. In these locks, boats are asked to raft up even though the locks may not be full - I'm not sure why. Largest boats go inside on the wall - sailboats rafted to sailboats and power boats rafted to power boats. In the locks we've gone through, we've been the largest sailboat. On Monday, Sandcastle rafted to us and then a third smaller boat was on the outside - which meant that it was our fenders (and boat) potentially grinding against the wall. However, crew from the other boats came onto Sea Change to help push off - so really there was no problem except for some excitement in the second lock ----

See the guy at the far end, a few minutes later he was in the water.

In the 2 locks we went through on Monday morning, a very nice couple (Pierre Mark and his wife)  from the boat rafted on the outside came aboard to help Bob, Warren, Karen and I fend off and manage the lines. We all had our boat hooks to help us push off. It was much easier than the day before as the boat didn't seem to be pushed against the wall so much. However, at one point, Pierre Mark was pushing hard against the wall and the boat hook slid down the wall  and he slid down with it - right into the water between the wall and our boat. He disappeared under the water for a few seconds, reappeared and then pouf - his inflatable life jacket puffed out - the first time we had seen one of those life jackets "in action". All the while, we made sure to keep our boat out from the wall to give Pierre Mark a safe space. He swam to the back of our boat and handed up his boat hook (he still had it!). The dinghy hanging from davits on the back of our boat blocked his way to get to the step on our transom so he swam over to his own boat to climb aboard.  His wife was on board standing beside me and seemed remarkably cool about the whole episode.  Regardless those were a scary few moments for all of us!

Here we are on Wednesday - I'm looking from our boat to the 4 boats rafted to us - it was way too many. 

On Wednesday, we had four boats rafted to us - the outside boat in our raft of 5 boats was instructed to keep the engine on and we were to call for him to go forward or reverse so as to keep first our bow off the wall, and then the stern. (We were on the inside next to the wall again.) Going into the second lock, in a series of 2 locks, you are supposed to maintain the same order but the 2 outside boats told the lock master that they felt there were too many boats all rafted together in our case - so  they went to another place on the wall and we ended up with just 2 attached to us - much less stressful for the captain and much easier to manage.

Wednesday was a long long day. We started out at 7 in the morning and we finally anchored in the dark at about 10 p.m. just inside the breakwater at the Chrysler Park Marina. Earlier in the day we were doing so well that we decided to keep going and get the almost last 2 locks done (one easy one left farther on). We arrived at the locks at 3 in the afternoon and waited until 5 to get in as 2 freighters were going through. This time there were 15 boats waiting to go through the lock. (Going down river, there were far fewer boats transiting the locks.) What with all the slow process of rafting up and then breaking up the rafts and moving out, it took us three hours to get through the 2 locks meaning that we emerged at 8 pm to cruise the remaining miles against stiff current and winds on our nose (again).  Looking back we are glad to have gone those extra miles - slow as it was.

At dinner tonight with the Goodyears tonight we all agreed - we'd never do this return trip again. If we were to go down the St. Lawrence again - we'd just keep going - to the Saguenay and beyond. Going down the river with the current is one thing - but coming back has been a hard slow grind.

Quebec City, Starting Upriver & Tough Day Getting to Montreal!

Port of Quebec Marina - the old city beyond.

When I've had access to the Web, there's been no time to write. When I've had time to write, I've had no access. It's not so much fun blogging when you get so far behind.

So - a week ago Thursday - we cruised into Quebec City - right to the marina that sits near the old city and where the tidal difference is more than we've yet encountered. To illustrate how the rise and fall of tides increases as you move down the river to the Atlantic: at Trois Rivieres the difference was one foot, here at Portneuf the difference was 9 feet, and at Quebec City it was 15 feet and can be as much as 19. The solution for the Port of Quebec marina is to have boats enter through a lock so as be able to control the flow of water in and out of the harbour and maintain an acceptable depth. To get into the harbour you go into an entrance basin where you wait for the green light signalling that you can enter the lock, Once into the lock, you tie up to a floating dock. Water is added or taken out of the lock to match the water level in the inner harbour - and the dock that you are tied to floats up or down accordingly. When we locked through, there were 6 boats in our lock - almost a full load. We were told to call the marina for our dock assignment after we left the lock. As I saw later - they have a number of staff waiting in the office until the lock opens and docks are assigned - who then go running to meet and assist in-coming boats as they dock (all 6 of us) - very nice!

The facilities at the marina are excellent - Internet access, clean showers, very good security, helpful staff and a great location! When I heard about the lock it sounded like a very big deal - and I thought that the whole Quebec water experience would be somewhat challenging but once again - it was one step at a time with no one part being very difficult. One problem we encountered though, was getting from the dock onto the boat at low tide. Even though the water level in the harbour is controlled, it still goes down with low tide - just not as much - so at times the distance between the dock and the deck of our boat was considerable and very hard to "scale". To solve the problem Bob went to nearby marine shop, and bought a "fender step" - you tie it to the toe rail and it acts as a step sitting on the side of the boat. It made getting on and off the boat a breeze for us - and for our guests.

Our visit to Quebec City was planned as an ICW/Bahamas Bunch reunion - a get together of friends we made and traveled with on parts of our trip south and back. Barb and Ken (Plumpuppet) drove up from Montgomery Vermont; Karen and Graeme (Sweet Chariot) drove in from Ottawa; France and Donald (Alto), who live in Quebec City invited us all for dinner at their home and joined us on Sunday afternoon for a walk and lunch. Barb and Ken stayed with us; Karen and Graeme stayed on Sandcastle.

We had pot luck lunches on both boats, explored the city together, ate at a good French restaurant on Friday night and then had another great meal at France and Donald's Saturday night. While the women caught up with each others' lives, the men talked boats, boats, boats and we all talked about the winter of 08/09 when we went south.

The wall mural at Place Royale, Quebec City - can you find Warren, Bob and Ken?

Karen, France, Warren, Laura, Barb, Donald, Ken; sitting: Graeme and Bob

Our stay coincided with a summer festival in Quebec City. There seemed to be entertainment everywhere. Most notably - right at the harbour where we were staying there was an hour long video presentation (with music) shown from 10 to 11 in the evening and projected across a long row of silos as well the face of a large building standing near them.  We had a side view of the show from our boats but not the complete panorama so after dinner on Friday night, we all walked back to the area directly in front of the silos and sat to watch the show. It was an amazing concept - very impressive.

Throughout the 3 days we spent together, there was a fair bit of laughter over name confusion. (Karen said I must put this in the blog.) For some reason I kept calling Karen, Laura and couldn't seem to stop. Bob teased me about it - Karen said she would answer to either name. Then Barb started calling Karen and Laura, Carole. Embarrassment gave way to laughter. Finally, Bob privately kept referring to Graeme as Blair and the biggest laugh came Saturday night at Donald and Frances' home where - in front of all who sat around the table - Bob started ribbing "Blair". When I said "Bob - his name is Graeme" the whole table broke up - except for Donald and France who hadn't been in on all the name mix-ups for the last 2 days. When we tried to explain to them, Donald  very seriously asked - "but why 'Blair'?" - why indeed - where that came from not even Bob knows.

France leads us on a walk through the old city.

  Our time in Quebec City was full of laughter and fun. We had a wonderful time reuniting with our sailing friends and we were sorry to have to say good-bye.

Monday morning we left for Portneuf - our cruising speed would be slower than before since now we were traveling upriver; however, we did as much as 6.5 knots in some places and never went below 5 - much faster than expected. The following day we didn't leave Portneuf until 2:30 in the afternoon. We were waiting for the rising tide to offset the strong river current in the Richelieu Rapids.  All went well - we were slower than the day before - and would move slower yet in the days to come. As the tidal effect decreases upriver, we'll get little help fighting the prevailing current. That night we anchored in the mouth of the Bastican River - a little shallow - just one foot plus below our keel - but a good spot none the less.

On Wednesday we up anchored at 6:30 to head for Trois Rivieres. Now we were truly bucking current. It felt as though we were churning through molasses. We covered the 20 miles from the Bastican River to Trois Rivieres in about 5 hours - an average of 4 knots per hour. This time, rather than go into the marina, we anchored in the west arm of the St. Maurice River. We had arrived by noon so were able to sit and watch the goings on around us: the people on the sandy beach nearby, groups of sea cadets rowing around in whalers, small and bigger boats passing by. Bob and I lowered the swim platform and went for a dip in the water. In the late afternoon a storm blew through and after that all was quiet.

We had taken two days to travel from Portneuf to Trois Rivieres - a distance we covered in one day going the other way. At this slower speed, we preferred to travel these 2 shorter days rather than grind it out from dawn til dusk.

 Anchorage in the St. Maurice River, Trois Rivieres

Thursday turned into a big travel day: we left at 6:00 a.m. and didn't drop anchor until 6 that evening. It was a perfect sailing day: clear skies and enough wind so that we could put out a sail to help us along. (Throughout this trip, we have been motoring or motor sailing as turning off the engine is not an option when you are following marked channels along a river.) With the favourable wind pushing our speed to as high as 5 knots (sounds funny doesn't it?), we were able to go farther than planned, bypassing the lovely anchorage in the Sorel Islands and anchoring instead in a pretty channel across from the village of Contrecoeur

From Contrecoeur we had only 24 miles to Montreal. We left at 6:30 expecting to arrive by noon. How naive we were! There was very little wind and generally the first part of the day was slow - our speed didn't go above 4 knots - but the big slowdown came when we as we were nearing Montreal and passing the docks and commercial shipping area on the outskirts of the city - for 6 nautical miles the current was 3 knots against us with a sometimes hearty wind on our nose. Our speed fell below 3 knots.

Close to our destination marina in Old Montreal, we ducked into the marina at Longueil to get diesel and a pump out and to wait for Karen and Warren. They are on a smaller boat and were slowed even more by the current than we were. In order to get to the marina in Old Montreal, we would have to buck a current that can go to 6 knots. That's a major problem for slow boats like ours - so we wanted to set out together so as to confer as we ground our way along.

It was quite the experience. At times we were traveling at just over one knot. Now that's slow! All our reference sources had advised to keep close to the docks on the one side so as to avoid the worst of the current. That wasn't working for us. Bob noticed that the commercial boats who travel back and forth everyday hugged the other side of the river - so we commenced to move across. In spots the progress was only marginally better - in others our speed climbed to 2 and 3 knots. That speed was looking very good to us now. We churned our way along and then at the second green marker upriver, we turned toward the docks on the starboard side (Karen says to put the marker numbers in so I'll look them up and add them to the blog later).  Bob was using his usual intuitive and creative problem solving approach - going against all advice and figuring out a better way.

We were just ahead of the big clock tower on the point; here we hugged the dock wall and then the breakwater in front of the Port of Quebec Marina (not our destination) and finally we followed the wall around the corner of the clock tower. Now our speed climbed to a consistent 2.5 and 3 knots. Finally we rounded the corner where we picked up a favourable 2 knot current and then "sped" downriver toward the Port d'Escale marina where we would be staying.

The clock tower - as we came upriver, we  passed under the bridge.
When we reached the wall shown in the picture we had rounded the corner - out of the downriver current and we were "home free".

We looked back - Sandcastle was far behind. We called and Warren told us that his knot metre was showing 00: they had effectively ground to a halt. Bob advised turning and going across the current as we had done and then pointing the boat toward the first green marker. Warren said that as he turned the boat had begun to move again. We told them we would dock, grab our handheld VHF, walk back to the clock tower wall, and then call them.

From the wall we could see Sandcastle struggling down the river but making progress. Since we could see where the worst of the current was - and also since we had just found a way through, Bob was able to advise on turning and target points. Finally Sandcastle rounded the corner and headed towards our marina. I'd lost track of time but when we greeted Sandcastle at the dock, Karen said that we had left the gas dock at Longueuil about 3 and since now it was 5 - it has taken us about an hour and Sandcastle, 2 hours to get down river to the marina. I don't know the distance but it couldn't be more than 2 nautical miles. This is a wonderful spot - a great location but it's unlikely that either boat will attempt to run this gauntlet again!

Sandcastle as seen from the Clock Tower wall - almost there!

 Port D'Escale Marina  in Old Montreal

We've Arrived!

 The best part of anchoring: peaceful surroundings and after a swim - a glass of wine and a book.

Tuesday, July 13th

In Old Montreal, the marina that we had hoped to go into was booked up, so we settled for docking in Dorval. The marina there was huge - the docks themselves were great but the washrooms and showers a long walk and not air conditioned to boot. We opted to have our "post docking in a sweltering harbour" shower on the boat. While Warren and Karen entertained family, we took the water taxi/shuttle across the river to Montreal - spent a while walking among the Sunday summer crowds on Rue Saint Paul and Place Jacques Cartier and then had dinner at Steak Frites. It's a bring your own wine restaurant so we bought a bottle at a nearby Depannier and sat down to a dinner which included those wonderful Montreal frites.

Anchored at Les Isles aux Sables

We've been hankering after an anchoring experience like those we experienced going south. Early Monday afternoon we moved off the main channel and ventured into the archipelago east of Sorel to find a spot mentioned in one of our guides. Bob checked the chart to ensure there would be enough water: authors of our guidebooks sometimes describe spots with doubtful suitability for deep draft boats like ours; however, this spot near Ilse aux Sables was great and we were able to spend a peaceful afternoon and evening sitting between wooded islands - the occasional small cottage sitting among the trees.

We've been leaving everyday about 7:00 so as to travel in the cooler part of the day and to get to our next stop with time to spare for chores or recreation (or some of each). As we cruise downriver, the current is pushing us along so that at low engine RPMs we move at around 7 nm per hour. The farther downriver we go, the more significant the current effect. On our way back up river, we'll be fighting current plus prevailing winds and until we get past Brockville - the time we've taken to travel from place to place down river could be doubled on our way back.

After spending the night in Trois Rivieres, we left this morning at 7:50 a.m. That was the time that the group agreed matched recommendations in all of our various sources. Why so much focus on departure time? Coming up - the dreaded Richelieu Rapids - dreaded by us anyway. We will be going fast fast: our boat speed combined with current speed will have us flying along through a channel too narrow for two of the big ships to share. We're hoping we don't find one beside us while we're going through - even though - I would think one big - a freighter let's say - and one small - that would be us should fit. In any case, we'd prefer not to have to share!

Thursday, July 15th

The rapids were no problem - it was a windless day and the surface of the water was almost smooth although you could see and feel the pull of small whirlpools as we went along. We didn't pass any boats at all in the narrow part so really - as per usual - much anxious anticipation about not much at all - but then research and planning spurred on by a little anxiety do help ensure successful passages.

The Marina at Portneuf

 Church at Pontneuf

Just after the "rapids" we stopped at Portneuf for the night. Then this morning we waited until just before 11:00 a.m. so as to ride the current to Quebec City. We're here - we're finally here!

The R.St. L.Y.C - A Nice Place to Stay

 Two boats rafted to ours in both locks. It wasn't that there were a lot of boats - it seems that that's just the way it's done.

To get from Valleyfield to Dorval on Friday, we traveled along the Beauharnois Canal where we waited for two lift bridges to let us through and then transited two locks. We only had 20 miles to travel but the waiting added time - 15 minutes here, 30 minutes there - so that although we left at 7:15 in the morning we didn't arrive at the Royal St. Lawrence Yacht Club in Dorval until 1:30 p.m. Add to that the time we spent going in circles in the water just outside the club while we waited for the worst of a thunder storm / squall to subside.

The high temparatures and humidity had it's usual result and a severe thunderstorm was predicted for the early afternoon. Well we didn't quite make it into the dock. The worst of it didn't last long but when the wind picked up to 35 nm and the rain obscured everything while we were weaving our way through a narrow marked channel, Bob decided to circle a red/green buoy where he knew we would have enough water. The big fear - other than being hit by lightening which, incidentally was very near - was going aground. That would have been really unfortunate in such high winds to say the least. The short of the story is that both boats "weathered" two squalls that came through - one after the other - and made it into a nice long dock at the club where we have stayed for the last two nights.

 The club is very nice with great facilities. Today while the Goodyears went to a family reunion, Bob and I did our chores and then went for a swim in the pool here. Dinner on their "terrace" overlooking the grounds was very nice too!



It was cooler for a while after the storm and we were so glad of that that we didn't mind the day of heavy rain that followed. Today was lovely but the temperature is climbing again and there's not a puff of wind tonight.

Tomorrow we have another bridge and the last two locks to go under and through - and then we'll be in Montreal for a night.

Dripping Hot in Quebec

 Freighter Coming! (Sandcastle in foreground)

On Monday we left Trident and motor-sailed along the Canadian Middle Channel through the Thousand Islands - a day of pretty sights. Mid-afternoon, we decided to by-pass Brockville and stop for the night further east at Prescott. Now we would be visiting the home of the Prescott Coast Guard - the source of navigation and safety information heard all over Lake Ontario and the home base for those who respond to Pan Pan and May Day calls heard over the VHF. We had begun to check our guidebook info on this historic town so were doubly disappointed when Bob called and found the marina was full. Oops! In searching for alternatives, we called the Ogdensburg Municipal Marina. Ogdensburg, NY is across the river from Prescott so still not much further to go.  They had two spots on "the wall" - well that was better than no place at all and to safeguard against another disappointment, Karen called Chrysler Park Marina to secure spots for the following night.

Once tied up at the rather small marina in Ogdensburg (for small power boats mostly), we went for a walk to find groceries but the two stores listed in the Ports book were gone - perhaps because of a Walmart in the area (too far away for us to get to). We settled for buying eggs and milk at a gas station convenience store and then walked back to the library which thankfully was close to the boat and air conditioned as well! (The temperature in town had reached 92 degrees F.) Bob left me at the library happily putting up my first blog post and uploading pictures while he returned to the boat to put together our dinner of stir-fried veggies and left over pasta.

On Tuesday, we went through the Iroquois Lock (Canadian)- the first of 7 locks for this trip. Bob phoned to find times when pleasure craft would be allowed through and we then we stepped up our speed to make the 9:00 a.m. opening. If we had missed that, the next opening wasn't until 1:00 p.m. Our lock-through was pretty much a non-event - we dropped only a few inches - but we got into the idea of looking for the provided tie up place and also looking for signal lights telling us: don't enter, lock filling/dumping and come on in! Mind you the routine at the two American locks we would be passing through on Wednesday would be quite different.

We arrived at Chrysler Park Marina just before lunch on Tuesday, phoned to check back into Canada, had a bite to eat and then took the shuttle from the marina to Upper Canada Village. Now there is a charming place - and since the heat had kept the crowds away, it seemed less touristy and had an authentic "town out of the past" feel. At the store there, we bought bread baked on-site and made with flour produced at the town mill. Talk about heavy bread! So as not to have to carry it with us, we left it with the broom maker while we finished touring and picked it up later. The heat made us glad to get back and sit in the marina's small above ground pool and then eat a light dinner at the patio cafe.

Chrysler Park Marina is situated in a huge provincial park and is fairly isolated. Rides are available to Morrisburg - the nearest town - and another place I'd like to check out. Perhaps on the way back? We'll see.

Today we went through two American locks - the Eisenhower and Snell. At the first lock we were asked to tie up at a very small dock (Sandcastle rafted to us) and wait for about 90 minutes. There was a freighter coming up behind us that had priority - as all such boats do! The drop was approximately 40+ feet in each lock. All went well - no problems in attaching lines and securing the boat for the descent.

At about 2:00 p.m., we reached the spot Warren and Bob had chosen to anchor - just off a little town half in the state of New York and half in Quebec. There was a stiff current there so when Bob and I went in the water off the back of the boat we held tight to a line fixed to the boat. I felt as though I was on a fast ride as the cool water rushed by and pulled me back. It was so nice to sit back in our gently rocking boat and read in the sunshine - that is until later in the afternoon when the locals appeared in many many seadoos and small motor boats. We seem to be anchored in the coming out and going in path and all afternoon they buzzed by us. We managed to ignore the continual hum and slap of water as they passed but the day was ruined by a couple of young men on a seadoos bent on harassing us. They buzzed close by and raised a wave that went over the top of our boat and into our open hatches spreading water in the cockpit and cabin. From us they headed toward Sandcastle and did the same. Not so nice. Bob and Warren both called authorities - actually twice as there was a repeat later. Well enough about that!

All that action in the water is the current rushing past Bob. He's basically staying in the same place. The second time in the water, Bob put on a life jacket for added safety.

Today we are in Valleyfield Quebec at a marina. It's still hot but they do have a pool here which helps some. I'm hoping for a change in the weather - a little wind would be nice - to cool us off as we can't really sail a whole lot. Right now we're following the marked channels down the river. Today we went across Lake St. Francis - a lake created by flooding to create the Seaway. Towns were moved and farms, flooded. There was a deep channel through the middle of the lake but veer off the marked channel and you're in very shallow water - exactly as it was in many places when we were traveling along the Intracoastal Waterway.

Tomorrow night we'll be at the Royal St. Lawrence Yacht Club in Dorval. We're hoping that it lives up to it's name!

On Our Way to Quebec City

 Sunday, July 4th: Kingston

 Sea Change and Sandcastle on the wall at Cobourg Marina

I've tried several times to get blogging with no luck. I haven't had much time or Web access and more to the point, there hasn't been much "adventure" - yet - and I'm finding it hard to write something interesting about a part of the route that's old hat for us.

Last Tuesday morning after a couple of hours of final preparations, we left our dock at the club and sailed to Whitby were we met up with Karen and Warren on their sailboat Sandcastle. We first met Karen and Warren in the Bahamas and traveled with them along with other boats for part of our trip home on the Intracoastal Waterway. Sandcastle will be our sailing partner for our cruise to Quebec City. Once there, we'll be having a bit of a Bahamas renunion with three other couples that we also met on our cruise south. They are all sailors but they'll be driving from their home cities to join us.

On our first two days of sailing first to Whitby and then to Cobourg, we were pushed east by bitterly cold stiff winds coming out of the west. The winds also brought an uncomfortable following sea which I always find difficult at the beginning of a cruise when I don't yet have my "sea legs". Those cold days were not a lot of fun but when we got to Belleville, it was starting to warm up. From there on the winds moderated and we began to feel more in the "holiday" frame of mind. By the time we got to Kingston we were totally back into our on the water routine, the sun was out and after a rollicking fast sail for the last part of the cruise, we found ourselves sitting at the Kingston Yacht club below Queens University and within walking distance to the heart of things in downtown Kingston.

Bob, Eileen, John, Karen and Warren

We've been sailing less a week but we've done a fair bit of socializing. In Whitby, my cousin Bob and his wife Mary drove from Pickering to have dinner with us and then in Belleville, it so happened that John and Eileen Woolsey were on Somewhere In Time at Meyers Marina where we stopped and they kindly invited all four of us onboard for dinner.

As we were sailing towards Kingston, a couple that Karen and Warren know well from the Bahamas trip heard Warren on the VHF and called him. During the call another sailor broke in, he and his wife also know Karen and Warren from their trip south. Both couples were on their boats and staying at Collins Bay Marina - a short drive to Kingston. The next day the two couples drove to meet us and we all walked over to the Kingston's famous all day breakfast place, Morrison's for a late breakfast. (Those Bahamas travelers are eveywhere!)

Bahamas Sailors Breakfast in Kingston

Warren has been having trouble with their GPS and to give him time to sort everything out, we decided to stay a second night in Kingston. This also gave us the opportunity to have Sean and Michelle drive from Toronto for a night on the boat. (We had already discussed the possiblity with them.) They arrived late Saturday afternoon and we immediately set out for dinner and after that a walk around town and the university.  The campus was beautifully quiet - no students - just the lovely old stone buildings with lots of big trees and green spaces.

Michelle and Sean are on their way back to Toronto today and along with Sandcastle, we're making the short run up the Bateau Channel to the Trident Yacht Club. The club has a picturesque peaceful setting and the hilltop barbecue area looks out toward the Thousand Islands. We'll do some laundry there, and confer with Karen and Warren on how far we go tomorrow.