Pricey ribs and schlock wine in Portland

Just outside Portland, we cruise by Tower Island where the owners have built a small house to mirror the island's name.

7 June 2009, 1000 hours, Portland

On our last night in Smiths Falls, we sleep in. The boat is so still we can hardly tell we’re afloat.

The Captain catches up on work email as he aims to do every third day.

The Admiral bumps into the office manager, Karen. She is embarrassed to admit that the credit card charge for the second night did not go through properly. That charge has been cancelled and we don’t have to pay. What a nice gesture!

By mid-day, with two express cruisers, above, we depart for Portland about three hours away. It is the first rainy day for us. But as we arrive Len’s Cove Marina in Portland, the sun appears. There is WiFi, showers and laundry facilities here, and a full-service marina with a marine store.

The Admiral is hungry so, right away, we head to the Galley Restaurant which is located next to the marina—all owned by the same Horsfall family for at least two generations.

At the Galley, we both have the honey garlic ribs with potatoes and veggies. It isn’t the fall-of-the-bones type of ribs but still good. The house red, on the other hand, is schlock. We share a pecan pie with vanilla ice cream. All the pies are baked by ladies of the village.

We’re in the country but these certainly are not country prices: Wine was $6.50 per glass, the ribs, $19, for what really was a half-rack, pie with ice cream, $6. Dockage fees are $1.45, only a nickel less than Confederation Basin in Kingston. By comparison, Westport was an even $1 per foot, but here laundry is only $1.50 per load.


Boathouses at Portland enable the Admiral to sharpen her photographic skills. The Captain, meanwhile, could have cropped the photo better.