The Who Knows Where Cruise

Excerpts from the Admiral’s journal:

Sat Sept 12 - Cobourg
Depart Frenchman’s Bay at 0820 for Whitby to refuel and pump-out
The sun is shining, the winds are from the NE
Breakfast on the go - Admiral’s famous bacon/egg/mushroom western sandwich
It’s a bumpy ride - Admiral doesn’t have her sea legs and spends time on the cockpit floor snoozing and avoiding the big bumps
It’s a bit too bumpy to continue so we decide to stop at Cobourg.

Sun Sept 13 - Kingston, Confederation Marina
Calm day on the waters
For the first time, we see an unusually high number of American boaters
At the Adolphous Reach - we are radioed by a Rosborough 24 - “Pecan”
owned by Rich & Tamara Tate of Melbourne Florida, who are travelling with their son James. Rich is part of the CDory forum.

Mon Sep 14 - Wood Isle
Another sunny day. We enjoy a leisurely breakfast of eggs over-easy and see-it-again potatoes as we decide our route for the day.
We refuel at Kingston Marina. Captain discovers that the outboards have a gasoline smell. Concerned, we head to Collins Bay Marina to have it checked out. Great news! Nothing wrong, there may have been too much oil. Cost $37.00 for the appraisal and to take out a little of the oil.
We are given the go-ahead and head towards Camelot Island. Much to our surprise and disappointment the anchorage is full. We circle the Island and every anchorage and Parks Canada dock is filled. We now know, after Labour Day it is still very busy in the Thousand Islands and you have to arrive early to claim your anchorage.
We anchor at Wood Isle which is next to Camelot. We are not alone. We spot a 34 Defever, 42 Grand Banks and two sailboats.
We spot our first wildlife - two muskrats.

Tues Sept 15 - Adelaide Island
We wake up to the sound of our first loon.
Winds are out of the NE 10-15
After a quick breakfast of Kashi crunch cereal with blueberries, we head towards Adelaide Island, our first Parks Canada stop. Cost is .90 cents per foot for dockage. There is a reminder to pay immediately upon arrival.

Wed Sept 16 - Ivy Lea
Winds are out of the NE 15-17
Not sure if heading towards Brockville today.
As we poke our nose out, Captain decides to head upstream to Peck’s Marina at Ivy Lea. Cost $2.00 per foot. The most expensive dockage so far, plus $3.00 per garbage bag. But we do have wi-fi, laundry and a much needed shower.
Time to finally unpack our clothes.

Thurs Sep 17 - Stovin Island
Winds are very light
We head towards Brockville to do some provisioning:
the Farmer’s Market: local tomatoes, garlic, oriental cucumbers, yellow beans, potatoes, zucchini bread loaf, maple chipotle bbq sauce, amaretto honey and a grainy mustard. We buy out the Market as usual.
Tait’s Bakery and Deli for a multi-grain loaf and pumpkin tarts. Metro: St Albert’s cheddar cheese, salad, salmon, lamb chops (cut to order from the store butcher) and beef burgers, milk & juice
The Brockville Municipal Harbour allows free dockage for three hours. It took us that long to provision and have lunch. See-it-again pork roast sandwiches with the fresh multi-grain bread and tomatoes.

Fri Sep 18 - Crysler Park Marina, Morrisburg
We wake up to our first morning rain shower of the trip.
It is a leisurely morning as we plan our day.
Iroquois Lock our first seaway lock on the St Lawrence.
Dinner is Captain’s grilled smoked salmon on a cedar plank. Delicious. Very moist. Served with yellow beans and penne with pesto. Dessert is see-it-again pumpkin tarts.

Sun Sept 20 - Grenadier Island Centre
Winds from SW 5
Depart Crysler at 12:35pm
It’s a sunny day. We pass a very busy Brockville and Stovin Island. Cruisers, big ships, kayakers and runabouts. Very smooth ride to Grenadier Island Centre.

Mon Sep 21 - Grenadier Island
It’s a hot sunny day. No breeze at all.
We have been invited for dinner and to dock on a nearby island for the night.
Dinner of steak, potato and caesar salad. Dessert is a warm apple pie.
What a treat to stay on an island and to meet such hospitable hosts!

Tues Sep 22 - On to Gananoque
Light showers in the morning.
We check into Gan Municipal Marina. Cost is $35.28. Transient slips are quite a walk away from the facilities on the outer docks. You can recognize them by their blue cleats.
The Admiral checks in with the Marina Office and introduces herself to Katherine Kelly, daughter of the people we had dinner with last night. She is running the marina herself today.
After dinner, we do a load of laundry. $2.00 per load/wash (loonies only). 25 minutes for the wash cycle, 45 for dry.
We are bummed out that there is no internet. At check-in Katherine had mentioned that there wasn’t any internet coverage on the docks but in the laundry room. No such luck. We also discover that we left the 10 litres of water back at the Metro, ugh!

Wed Sep 23 - Kingston
Two more loads of laundry before we head out. We discover that the server for the Internet has been down. The Captain heads out to the Metro again to get our water and one more bottle of propane.
Breakfast is quick zucchini loaf and banana as we are doing the laundry.
We depart Gan after a quick lunch. We decide to overnight at Kingston as the winds are from the SW at 10-15 on the nose for the last half hour. Not fun for the Admiral. We have the dock to ourselves except for the summer liveaboards at the end of the dock.

Thurs Sep 24 - Cobourg
Quick morning shower and the Admiral heads out to the local Farmer’s Market.
Admiral buys: Whole Wheat Loaf (Red River Bran) from Wolfe Island, blueberry bran muffins, pecan tarts, zucchini squares, pumpkin marmalade and peaches and cream corn. All local.
Captain is finishing some e-mails and getting the boat ready.
It’s a calm morning and we are undecided how far to go. The weather will determine our distance. As soon as we depart the Murray Canal, we notice that the winds are changing and it is a bit choppy. The Admiral says let’s go for it. So 6 1/2 hours later, we arrive in Cobourg. This is the longest travel day aboard At Last! and for the Admiral.
Fairport Yacht Club has reciprocals with Cobourg Yacht Club but only on the wall. The water levels are too low, so we end up on a slip and a $31.50 charge.
Dinner is a grilled pork shoulder blade steak with BBQ sauce and yam and zucchini.
We have learned to use any marina microwaves (available in Kingston and Crysler Park Marina) for our potatoes and yams.

Fri Sep 25 - Frenchman’s Bay
Early departure at 0800 for Frenchman’s Bay
The winds were 15 NE -waves 3 to 5 feet - surfing conditions with At Last! running at about 20 mph, surfing up to 27 mph
1040 Arrive safely into Frenchman’s Bay
We stay aboard At Last! Don’t want to go home. Let the holiday continue, just a bit longer.