Jul 13, 2014 | Flotsam
Today a friend dropped by
and offered to take us to the supermarket for some much needed supplies
then a quick stop to her boat club farther up the lake.
Provisions all stashed away,
the three of us headed out to the ‘sandbanks’
a small area of Lake Saint-Louis where the water is shallow
and the bottom soft sand.
…on days such as this with negligible winds,
this is where boats come to anchor…
…some of them real characters…
…some to join other boat friends…
…we swam, we cleaned the boat hull, we dined…
I have to say that of all the clubs we have visited,
this one gets the R.E.D. prize for the most friendly and welcoming.
Greeted by the harbour master,
visited by the bosun,
someone even stopped by to ask if we needed a supply of dry ice.
We were invited to join the club members on the balcony,
dined on our friend’s delicious shrimp tapas,
grilled some trout filets
and enjoyed the club’s salads…
(my mouth is watering just thinking of those shrimp)
…we closed our evening sipping a scotch in our cockpit…
…watching the rise of the full moon…
Jul 11, 2014 | Flotsam
This was a day of waiting…
We had some good sailing
but because the winds were light we decided to motor the channel
between Valleyfield and Beauharnois.
Today’s journey took us under two bridges…
…the first was Pont Laroque…
…and the next Pont Saint-Louis de Gonzague…
Each time we had to wait for the bridge master to first stop traffic
then the bridge would be raised so we could pass.
Each took no more than 15 minutes of wait time.
…made us feel kind of special that our little R.E.D.
could stop traffic on a highway
if only for a few minutes.
By 1300 hr we reached the channel that would take us to the next two locks,
tied up at the pleasure craft dock
and waited…
and waited…
next lockage 1530 hrs.
Making the best of the situation we enjoyed lunch
and poured ourselves a glass of wine
for a quiet little boat picnic.
Commercial vessels always have priority in the seaway locks
so we had to wait until this one had passed through both.
…I couldn’t fit this 222 metre vessel into one shot.
…then it was our turn in the concrete tomb,
yet again the only boat…
In the end from docking to leaving the two locks took us four hours.
Still very light winds we continued on under motor
to try to reach our destination by early evening.
Topped up the gas tank
$35 was the cost in gas from Kingston – not bad!
Really loving those prevailing winds!
The bosun at the reciprocol club where I had reserved a spot for the night
directed us to an empty slip,
We got R.E.D. and us prepared for bed…
There were actually three young bosun,
one questioning that there was a free dock available.
This information will be important for you to know later.
Just after crawling into our berth for the night we heard:
‘Hello in there, this is our dock’
A sailboat with four passengers had come in late and wanted their place back.
Someone somewhere hadn’t communicated where we should have been placed for the night.
After a good deal of scrambling we managed to unhook power,
untie the lines,
pull out and find our way in the dark to the visitors’ dock.
More than a little upset at the time,
we were very pleased with ourselves.
We had planned on trying some night outings
and now have one successful manoeuvre completed.
How’s that for making lemonade?
Jul 10, 2014 | Flotsam
Close to one month now…
Another great day of sailing even though the winds were light
we made excellent time because of those prevailing winds at our back…
…a few more BFB’s to stear clear of…
…you know when provisions are getting low
when lunch is a peanut and jam sandwich,
half a granola bar
and a glass of wine…
Do we care?
No, not in the least.
It was delicious!
What made this day extra special was what we encountered at the end.
A course mate of ours has been keeping up to date with our blog
and contacted us, inviting us to stop for visit.
GPS coordinates logged into our chart plotter
we reached this dock by early afternoon…
With some help we secured R.E.D. for the night.
The rest of our day was pure pleasure.
Welcoming and generous hosts,
fabulous food,
a superb evening spent getting to know each other,
sharing travel and boat adventures.
Francois and I wish you both fair winds on your next adventure.
(Azores to the Algarve – so very jealous but in a good way)
We look forward to our next encounter….
Remember the squirrel – live in the moment….
