We are Home!

We crossed Lake Ontario from Wapoos, Ontario to Sodus Bay on Saturday 8/22 and after a good nights sleep we packed up our mountain of laundry and headed home to deal with our mountain of mail.  Since we did not have wi-fi or good cell coverage in the 1000 Islands, but did continue to take pictures, we plan to do one more Blog page from home that outlines the last leg of our trip.

St Lawrence Seaway

Sat Aug 11: Although we slogged into Vieux Montreal with the current slowing us down to almost 2 knots, when we left, it was like a slingshot... doing 12 knots coming out with the current. We approached our first commercial lock (St Lambert) at 10 am to find out that a big ship was stuck in the lock because the lift for the bridge was not working. Techs were on their way. By noon they fixed the problem, let the ship out & let us in. Same system at all 5 Canadian Seaway locks; tie up at a waiting dock, use credit card to buy $25 ticket, call the lock master to tell him you are there, & then wait.  When given the green light, motor in against a 30 foot wall and pause to catch the bow & stern lines they throw down to you. Then it is moving up the line with 1 hand while pushing the boat away from the wall with the other. It is quite a ride! We only made it through 2 locks and ducked into a marina in Lachine just in time. Quite a storm!
Sun Aug 12: 2 more Canadian Seaway locks & into Creg Quay marina for the night.
Mon Aug 13:  For you 1000 Island boaters... Who listen to the weather forecast "From Kingston to Cornwall" .. We stayed in Marina 200 in Cornwall ane re-provisioned at the "No Frills Grocery". And they mean "No frills!"
Tues Aug 14: went through 2 American Seaway locks. A little different. They only take exact cash... $60 and that gets you through both locks. So we are hovering... Waiting for someone to throw ropes and a voice yells " Wrap your midship line around Ballard #1 , tie it off and hang on. The Ballard rises and takes the boat with it. Actually, a very smooth ride. After the last Seaway lock(Canadian once again),  and waiting on 2 lift bridges, We finally made it to a shipyard called Iroquoy Marine.. The first place we could find to put up our mast. The owner let us borrow his car to drive into town for water, liquor, & wine. Nice guy.
Wed Aug 15: they did a great job putting our mast back up and then we spent the day working (rewire, tune, put sails back on, and take apart the mast supports.
Thurs Aug 16: after passing Prescott, & Borckville, we met up with the Dwyers on Adelaide Island. Too shallow for us to dock, so we through the hook & it's cocktails on the island & dinner on the Dwyers boat. Very nice!

Pics & text of Richeliu River, Chambly Canal, & entering Montreal

"The mate was a mighty sailing lass..."

Mon Aug 6:  We left Lake Champlain and headed for the St Lawrence.  We were told that no plants could enter Canada from the US.  Grace was not about to surrender Betsy or her herbs.  Pictured is Betsy incognito hiding from les Gendarmes.  An international border incident was narrowly averted.

Chambly Canal

One of the many bridges (lift & swing).

Unlike the US canals, Canadian canal workers handed you clean, dry lines as you came in.

However, these locks were very small. Picture our boat and one more power boat sharing the space in this lock.

The last 3 locks were right together.  This was the last one overlooking Chambly.

All the Chambly locks are hand operated.

Tues & Wed Aug 7 & 8:  Mt. St. Hillaire from Marina du Phare in Beloeil.  Run by a freindly couple.  She was fluent in English, he was not.

Vieux (Old) Beloeil.  Small town with a lot of great restaurants (menus in French).  With the help of the bilingual waitresses we were able to enjoy two of them.  Monteraleans drive here to eat and it's easy to see why.  The food is "magnifique"!

St Ours, the last lock before entering the St Lawrence and home to Grace's new best friend, Sebastian, one of the Canadian Park guys.  He  confirmed her river route and told her hundreds of sailboats make this trip every year.

Had to overnight at the St Ours lock because water levels in all marinas around Sorel (where the Richeliu River meets the St. Lawrence) were too low for us to get in. So we started early and made a 10 hour trip from here to Montreal.

Our first encounter with a Seaway ship.  Surprisingly, his wake was smaller than a lot of the powerboats.

Approaching Montreal traveling upriver.  Our first encounter with the current.  Could only make 4.5-5 knots most of the day.  The last 2 miles 2.5-3 knots max.  Luckily, the only other place we should encounter this is the bridge at Cornwall.

Aug. 9 & 10: Spending 2 nights in the Lachine Canal dock waiting for the weather to get better. Should be entering the seaway canals tomorrow with our mast still down as we continue to search for a marina with deep enough water that will step our mast.  Even the French ducks "cop a tude".

A Few Last Pics of Lake Champlain

Burlington Community Sailing Center...the little guys.

Point Bay Marina, where we hope our engine problems have been solved.

One last Burlington sunset before we move on.

Look close. That's Colin on the left, hard at work. He hates to have his picture taken.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Leaving Burlington...onward to the north end of Lake Champlain.

Rouses Point:The Northern most town in on Lake Champlain (in New York) before crossing over to Canada.

Pretty on the northern shoreline, isn't it.

So do you think the people in Rouses Point have a sense of humor?

Ahh...the best laid plans....

So, today was to be the start of our new canal adventure.  Just a couple of miles of open water to get there.  I woke up and thought, "Wow, it's really breezy."  Fired up the computer and saw this forecast:  SOUTH WIND 15 TO 25  KNOTS THIS MORNING, INCREASING TO 25 TO 35 KNOTS THIS AFTERNOON WITH HIGHER GUSTS.  SHOWERS AND THUNDERSTORMS LIKELY.  SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH FOR TODAY AND TONIGHT.  Now I don't have a wind instrument with the mast down, but I could tell that at least the first part of that forecast was correct.  "Yes Mr. Davis, we'd love to have you stay another night."  Tomorrow looks much more serene.  It was nice to be able to take it easy after busting our humps yesterday.
Spent over an hour finding a sweet cell spot (the locals say the crappy cell coverage has to do with the proximity to Canada).  Called Verizon and changed over to the Canada calling plan and asked about using the I-Phone.  They said if you use data when you're locked into a CanTel  tower, the charge is $5 Canadian per megabyte.  They do offer 100 megabytes for $25, but you need to turn the data off on your phone when you aren't using it, or you'll suck that up in no time.  Then to sign up I had to remove the SIMM card from the phone (who knew it had one?) and give them the number printed on the card to activate the plan.  You folks with unlimited calling and text might have a different deal, but I'd call Verizon and ask,  I'm just sayin.

Are we really doing this again?

Spent a total of six hours between yesterday and today preparing for unstepping.  Gaines is very professional and unlike the other places employs a cast of thousands (well, used five guys) to accomplish the process.
Went back to the dock and sweated another five gallons sitting in the no wind 93 degree air.  Discovered we were out of bottled water.  Trudged up the walk with our canvas bag dreading the mile walk to the store in this heat  Ran into the marina owner on the way.  "Doing some shopping?  Take my truck."  Whatta guy.

On the road again...

Fri, Aug 3:  Picked up our mast braces from Community Sailing Center, kissed the boy goodbye, and headed north for Rouses Point.  Gaines Marina says they can unstep the mast tomorrow.  Nice following wind, but we motor sailed with the main to give the engine a workout.  It performed beautifully.  This will be my last reference to the engine as I don't want to jinx it.  Arrived 4 PM and figured we better get started.  Removed the sails and headed into town for dinner.  Unfortunately, Rouses Point can't seem to support a real sit down restaurant.  Ended up having sandwiches and salad at the local deli, which were surprisingly very good.

Another boating season, another engine theory...

Thur, Aug 2:  Mechanic showed about 10:30.  Very nice guy.  I showed him the Tartan fix and he zeroed in on the diesel vent line.  He found two low spots in the line and said he wanted to route the hose lower than Tartan's suggested route.  When he disconnected the line, two cups of diesel flowed out of it.  "That could be a real issue."  He rerouted the vent line, checked the rest of the system and discovered the smaller fuel line from the tank to the engine.  "Hmm.... I think this line might be part of the problem too."  After checking the Volvo spec it was indeed smaller than spec minimum diameter.  So....he undid the fix the guy at Toronto did last year. 
Gassed up before we left.  All day long there had been a lineup at this gas dock reminiscent of Gordon's at Gan.  When we pulled up we saw why.  Non ethanol gas and offroad diesel for $3.67 a gallon.  Filled her up and motored back to Burlington without as much as a hiccup, but we all know what evil lurks..
Had one last dinner with Colin at the Farm House Restaurant.  Excellent food all from local farms.

We're off to see the wizard....

Wed, Aug 1:  Headed to Point Bay Marina. Nice place except a little exposed to South winds.  "Mechanic will be there sometime after 8 tomorrow morning.
Around cocktail hour some folks strolled by and stopped to chat.  "Just getting our boat fix."  Turns out they live in Tuscon half the year and have a catamaran in the Carribean they live on the other half.  It started to rain so we invited them on board and we ended up having cocktails and apps with them.  They gave us their card (I guess I need to break down and have some made) and said to let them know if we're ever thinking of visiting the Carib again.

Vermontreal (part deux)

So another French guy pulls up in his dinghy.  He says, " Do you know that your boat name in French means.."She said no?"  At which point Grace pops her head into the cockpit.  "Mon Dieu!  I did not expect to see a female on board!"