Styrofoam bits in the bilge

Yikes! I took the winter cover off my TomCat 24 to discover styrofoam bits in the bilge. It's difficult to see but it seems the flotation placed amidships in the bilge has been attacked by a small rodent, chewing the plastic covering to get at the styrofoam. The bits that I could reach filled the better half of a bucket. Anyone ever have a similar experience? Since the plastic covering has been chewed apart, should I remove all the styrofoam? Unsure how I would get at it, not being a small rodent myself. Click on any image for an enlarged view.

Indian Summer Cruise 2014

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It was already September when we finally got away for 10 days and headed for Toronto Islands, our cruising destination when all other plans fail. The Islands are an excellent destination in their own right, only 25 miles from our slip in Frenchman's Bay east of Toronto.

The view of the Toronto skyline from the mooring wall at Hanlan's Point. Flashback: The Captain watched the CN Tower being built from Toronto Island Marina where he kept his first sailboat, Austra, a Folkboat bright from the water up.

Fearless raccoons attempted to board At Last! but were foiled by much banging and yelling by the crew.

Minks are a common sight, having arrived in Toronto Islands about four years ago, apparently attracted by the muskrat population—which no longer is significant!

Happiness is having Baluchon aboard. It was named Cheese of the Year at the Canada Cheese Awards we founded earlier this year. Click here for photos of our visit to the award-winning Fromagerie FX Pichet.

We spent a few days on the mooring wall on Centre Island, always a busy place on weekends. The TomCat is barely visible, with the red kayak bow a tell-tale.

As usual, we ate well, from rib eye to scallops to the salmon on a cedar plank in the photo.

One of our favourite stops is tiny Harbour City Yacht Club, tucked away among the liveaboards in Toronto Island Marina.

There are only four slips at HCYC. We like the one tucked in close by the trees.

Here's the view at dawn from HCYC.

During our final week, the Admiral commuted to the city on the Toronto Island Marina tender. Someone has to bring in the bucks!

The night before we started our cruise, when we were moving aboard and in need of a take-out dinner, we made a beeline for fabulous Jasper Fish & Chips where this explanation is posted on the wall. Sexist, we know.

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Cruising little but eating well

What with travel to British Columbia and Quebec on cheese business, it seems we have hardly left the dock this season. But we're eating well as witnessed by . . .

. . . Country Blue made by The Farm House Natural Cheeses in B.C., with Sandhill Cabernet Merlot, our favourite west-coast red . . .

. . . grilled lobster tails . . .

. . . grilled scallops . . .

. . . eggs sunny side up on caraway rye dressed with Village Cheese Smokehouse Cheddar, also from B.C.

Click on any image in TomCat Tales for an enlarged view.

Sail right to the door of County Cheese

Our most excellent lunch after docking at the County Cheese Company in Waupoos: Marvelous Magie de Ganaraska (right) and Voyageur, a strong blue with a unique hint of sweetness. Click on any image in TomCat Tales for an enlarged view.

If you sailed to Iles de la Madeleine in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, you could visit Fromagerie du Pied-de-Vent. On the west coast, you could call at Salt Spring Island in the Strait of Georgia and visit Salt Spring Island Cheese. But you’d have to hike or cab to get to the cheese in either case.

In Ontario, you can step off the boat and in less than one minute be inside the County Cheese Company to taste and purchase artisan cheese. Which is what we did while cruising around Prince Edward County.

One-month-old County Cheese Company is based in Waupoos Marina just down the road from County Cider Company and Waupoos Estate Winery.

John Thomson of KendalVale Cheese and now also the County Cheese Company at Waupoos Marina in Prince Edward County.

A Canadian filmmaker turned cheese entrepreneur, John Thomson, opened a retail store adjacent to the Blue Moose Café in the marina on the Civic Holiday weekend. By the spring of 2013, Thomson plans to be producing sheep’s milk cheese in the Old Waupoos Canning Factory building on the marina property.

Thomson isn’t exactly a newcomer to cheese. He started KendalVale Cheese about a year ago. He transports Ontario sheep’s milk to Quebec where it’s turned into fine cheese at La Moutonnière, an established award-winning fromagerie operated by Lucille Giroux and Alastair Mackenzie in the village of Sainte-Hélène-de-Chester.

The KendalVale cheeses—Magie de Ganaraska, Commanda, Voyageur and Champlain—have quickly become favorites with cheese lovers in Ontario and chefs such as Jamie Kennedy. Thomson has set up his own distribution system and also represents the award-winning cheeses of La Moutonnière such as Bleu de La Moutonnière, Fleurs des Monts and Sein d’Hélène.

The County Cheese Company shares a building with Blue Moose Café steps from the docks at Waupoos Marina. County Cheese will operate the café during the fall, winter and spring.

By boat or other means, Waupoos is about to become a must-stop on any visit to Prince Edward County.

Black River Cheese Company, which has been producing cheddar in the County since 1901, is a short distance from Waupoos. There is a small dock at the rear of the plant on Black River but approaching weather forced us to abandon plans to try reaching the dock with At Last! It's certainly on the itinerary for the next cruise to Prince Edward County.

Footnote: Alas, John Thomson's dream came to nought as he failed to organize sufficient investors to being cheese production; thus, Black River Cheese remains the only operating cheesemaker in the County.

Double take at Meyer’s Pier

Twins Janeen and Jen—or is it Jen and Janeen—help make Meyer's Pier Marina a swell place to stay on a cruise of Bay of Quinte. Click on any image in TomCat Tales for an enlarged view and slide show.

As we pulled into Meyer’s Pier Marina in Belleville last week for a pump-out and ice, we could see that the dock attendants were easy to spot: They all wore bright yellow shirts. Very helpful.

The Captain asked the young woman who took our lines with a cheery smile for her name. “Janeen” came the reply. Another young woman came up to help with the pump-out. When the Captain asked for her name, she replied “Jen.” The Captain looked up, recognized her and said, “Didn’t you just say your name was Janeen?” He looked back and forth from one to the other. “Wait a sec, are you twins?” Yes, they were. And very helpful.

When we came back a week later for fuel and to hunker down for the approaching storm front, we did another double-take. Down the dock from us was another catamaran with the brand name TomCat, albeit a sailing cat. She looked like a fast, comfortable cruising boat, a bit beamier and longer than our TomCat 24. With the help of Google, we learned it was a TomCat 9.7 built in Canada: http://www.tomcatboats.com/

Once we docked, we realized there was still another TomCat in the marina, this one a tiny perfect houseboat called Tom-Kat.

We have to rank Meyer’s Pier right up there with Fraser Park Marina in Trenton in terms of friendly, helpful service. Meyer’s Pier also sells ice at the fuel dock/pump out station, has clean washrooms and showers, and is a short walk from Boathouse Restaurant and The Beer Store, and only about 15 minutes to the nearest store for re-provisioning, a price-friendly Giant Tiger. A short cab ride will bring you to Kalay’s Seafood Restaurant and l’Auberge de France.

But—and here comes the BUT—the overnight dockage fee is $1.60, the most expensive we encountered on this cruise, yet the WiFi is totally useless. Slower than even an old dial-up connection, and we’re just across the fairway from the marina office. We quickly gave up on the WiFi and tethered to the Internet with our iPhone when needed.

In the 21st century, if you’re going to charge a top rate for dockage, you must provide at least adequate WiFi.

After Labour Day, the marina is open 9:00 to 5:00 but it's closed Tuesday and Wednesday until Thanksgiving weekend. The adjacent Pier BBQ & Patio is already closed for the season. Meyer’s Pier is the most expensive marina we have encountered on this cruise, so good thing the service was exemplary.

Ice $3.10 (cubes or blocks) Pump-out $18.60 Gasoline fuel $1.50 Slips $1.60 per foot WiFi free but terminally slow!!! Laundry $1.25 wash/dry

The least expensive is Tip of the Bay Marina in Picton Harbour:

Ice $2.50 (cubes or blocks) Pump-out $14.60 Picton Harbour Marina (adjacent to Tip of the Bay) Gasoline fuel $1.45 Picton Harbour Marina Slip $1.25 per foot WiFi not available No laundry but there is a Laundromat about a 10-minute walk.

Courteous marina staff like Sarah on the fuel dock, and Matt, missing from photos, make Meyer's Pier one the friendliest marinas on the Bay of Quinte. But the WiFi service sucks.

Red sky in morning . . .

. . . sailors take warning.

Yesterday morning in the anchorage at Witlow Point, there was an ominous red look to the sky. Sure enough, today it was honking 30 knots, gusting 50, with record-setting rain.

Fortunately, we decided to hunker down in a harbour, tied to a dock; thus, we were safe and sound in Meyer's Pier Marina in Belleville when the storm front came through. As we post this in the evening, it's a flat calm, but with the cool of autumn in the night air.

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Blessed be mud bottoms

After being challenged by weeds at all our previous anchorages in the Bay of Quinte, it was a delight to have the anchor set on the first attempt at Witlow Point in Hay Bay—thanks to a nice muddy bottom.

In a few anchorages, we had to make two or three tries before the anchor stuck. That’s because, firstly, Bay of Quinte is known to be weedy—and this is a bad year for weeds everywhere on Lake Ontario. Secondly, our main anchor is a Fortress, a Danforth-style fluke anchor, which doesn’t have much of a reputation for setting in weeds.

The good news is that the Admiral, who’s at the helm when the Captain is on the foredeck looking after anchoring, says she’s tired of making repeated attempts to get the Fortress to stick. Thus, she’s okayed a budget for the purchase of a plow anchor before the next boating season. Plows, such as the classic CQR or the newer Bruce or Delta, are known to set well in weeds.

Here’s what a Fortress looks like:

Here’s a CQR:

Here’s a Bruce (a claw anchor that we used with much success when the Captain lived in California and owned a Flicka sailboat):

The clincher for upgrading anchors came when we entered the anchorage at Witlow Point and had the hook down—easy peasy—on the first try. "That's how it should be every time," proclaimed the Admirable.