Here is a link to a spreadsheet in XLS format which has many of the details of our cruise. This was brought up-to-date after we arrived home. It contains all the locations where we stopped, mileage between stops, hours underway, etc. It may be helpful to anyone planning a cruise along the waters we traveled. 2011 Cruise spreadsheet-final

We arrived home on Saturday, October 15, 2011. We were delayed for four days at Savannah due to high winds and rain, then made good time after departing the Isle of Hope Marina on Tuesday, October 11th.

Here’s the itinerary since arriving in Oriental, North Carolina, on September 30th.

We stayed in Oriental, ICW mile180.8, an extra day until October 2nd, 2011, waiting for higher-than-comfortable wind to lay down on Bogue Sound which runs about 25 miles from Beaufort/Morehead City to Swansboro. After departing on October 2nd we stopped for fuel at Jarretts Bay Boat Works on the way to Morehead City, then continued on through Bogue Sound (the wind was decent) to Mile Hammock Bay at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, where we anchored for the night.

The next day we were underway by 0650 and after almost 10 hours underway (45 minutes or so waiting for various bridges to open) we had gone down Cape Fear River and were tied to the free dock at the Provision Company at Southport, North Carolina. Remind us never to stop there again – the food is very poor – we can’t figure out why anyone comes from any distance to eat there!

On October 4th we departed at 0710 and anchored for the night in the Wacama River anchorage at ICW mile 375, just off the Wacama River.

Over the next several daysWe stopped for the night at Graham Creek (north of Charleston) at mile 439, then at the Seabrook anchorage at Fenwick Island at mile 512, and on the night of October 7th at the Isle of Hope Marina just east of Savannah, Georgia, at mile 584. Druing the day on the 7th we read repeated weather forecasts, all predicting stormy weather for the next several days and boats were discussing what they were going to do while the storm passed. Since we had stopped at the marina in order to get fuel and spend the night, we arranged to stay several more days while the storm passed. By the end of the next day (October 8th) the marina was totally full and had boats tied to the fuel dock (a spot normally kept open for boats needing to get fuel). For the next three days we had high winds and torrential rain (one boat clocked some gusts at 55 mph).

By October 10th the wind and rain had subsided, and the forecast was decent for the next day, so on Tuesday, the 11th of October we departed at 0920 (had to wait for the tidal current to subside a bit) and started laying tracks to get home as soon as we could. We anchored that night in the North River at mile 652, then on October 12th we crossed into Florida and a few hours later anchored at South Amelia River at mile 725.8.

October 13th took us through St. Augustine and then because there are no good anchorages for a number of miles we stopped for the night at the newly opened marina at Marineland. What a nice facility it is! We’ve gone by there by boat and car for a number of years and always wondered why no one had opened a marina in the nicely protected basin just off the ICW. Well, this August someone did, and it is a great, if remote, facility. Just across the road is the dolphin research center which reopened 4-5 years ago after being abandoned for a few years. The Georgia Aquarium is involved in the education center, and kayak tours of the surrounding area are operating out of the marina. Right across route A1A is a series of beautiful beaches. Nice place to stop!

Statistics for the trip at this point:
676hours 15 minutes underway; 3848.5 nautical miles/4422.2 statute miles

We departed Marineland Marina as soon as we could see the surface of the water on October 14th at 0700 and cruised the longest distance we made on any day of our trip: 89.9 statute miles in 12 hours and 30 minutes. We anchored after sunset just south of the NASA Causeway Bridge south of Titusville, Florida, at mile 885.

On Friday, October 15, 2011 we were underway at a leisurely 0810 and at 1210 we were back in our slip at Manatee Cove Marina at Patrick Air Force Base.

Trip: 702H45M     4013.6NM/4611.9SM based on the onboard GPS.
Total engine hours: 730
Fuel consumed (approximately): 1100 gallons

These past six months have been great and the cruise was fantastic.

September 23, 2011 Baltimore. We met Jennifer for dinner and enjoyed hearing of her experiences teaching in the Baltimore City school system. She’s teaching geometry to 10th & 11th graders through a program that encouraged college grads from other disciplines to enter the teaching profession and provided concentrated training throughout the summer to prepare them for jobs in inner-city schools. She says it is more difficult than being a Division Officer on a Navy ship!

We departed Baltimore at 0655 on September 24th and headed straight down Chesapeake Bay after transiting the Baltimore channel to the Bay Bridge north of Annapolis. We arrived in Solomons and took a mooring at Zahniser’s Marina at 1825, before sunset.

We had contemplated traveling all the way to Hampton, Virginia (just north of Norfolk) in one day so that the next morning Judy could get to a pharmacy to have some photos taken for a visa (more about that later), but it is a long trip and if the tidal current isn’t just right, we’d get there after dark (something we prefer not to do). So we cut the distance in half and made it a two day trip. On the 25th of September (Sunday) we cast off the mooring at 0815 and anchored in Jackson Creek off the Piankatank River at 1705 for a day of 8 hours and 50 minutes. On Monday the 26th we were underway at 0805 and were at the Hampton Public Dock at 1515. Judy immediately went in search of a place that could take some passport-type photos for the visa she needs, but the best she could find was a small drug store where she could print some photos from pictures we had taken earlier. There wasn’t time to get to a post office, so that was delayed for another stop.

One of the reasons we’re hurrying back to Florida is that Judy was given the opportunity to travel to Tanzania, Africa, as part of a team teaching an instructor course for the American Heart Association. She is required to get a visa plus some immunizations prior to her departure on October 22nd, so the visa application had to get sent to the Tanzanian embassy in Washington, DC, as soon as possible, and passport-type photos were required to accompany the application.

HUGE dredge working on the channel at Norfolk

On Tuesday the 27th we departed Hampton at 0715 heading for the Dismal Swamp Canal. This leg took us past the U.S. Navy base at Norfolk with it’s long rows of every type of warship imaginable, then through the commercial areas with their container ships and loading facilities, through downtown Norfolk and the USS Wisconsin display, and finally through the industrial areas south of Norfolk in the area of Chesapeake, Virginia.

Entering lock at Deep Creek, Dismal Swamp Canal

Mileage from the lock

After the Gilmerton Bridge we departed the “standard” ICW and headed toward the Dismal Swamp Canal and the “secondary” ICW route into Albermarle Sound. We had only a short wait for the lock at Deep Creek, and after locking through stopped at a small dock for a short time to get a few grocery items and look for a post office where Judy’s visa application could be mailed. The post office was 4-5 miles away, too far to walk, so we continued on through the 22 mile stretch of the canal between locks to South Mills bridge where we missed the 1600 opening by 15 minutes. We tied up to the bridge’s approach wall for the night, and found a post office about two blocks away where Judy placed her visa application in the outgoing mail drop!

Waiting from bridge at South Mills

South Mills Lock entry into the Pasquotank River

The next morning (Wednesday, Sept 28th) we went through the South Mills bridge and lock and were in the Pasquotank River heading for Elizabeth City and Albermarle Sound by 0905. The river current was favorable all the way past Elizabeth City (about 20 miles from the South Mills Lock) and into Albermarle Sound. Weather was good with light wind from the south, so we continued through the sound and into the Alligator River. Shortly after passing through the Alligator River bridge, about 4 miles from the mouth of the river, the wind speed started to increase slightly, the waves started showing a few white-caps, and clouds started building in the west. After checking several weather sources and radar images online it was apparent that we were in for some thunderstorms and heavy rain, and NOAA started broadcasting severe weather alerts for the area to the north of us. As we approached the part of the river that turns west, the rain started and we decided we would not turn to the west and head toward some of the storms, but would find a place to anchor on the western shore which would provide some protection from the westerly winds and the rain which began to rapidly increase. Judy prepared the anchor to deploy without her assistance and we closed up the topside steering area to provide protection from the wind and rain. We used the GPS and radar to guide us into a good anchorage just south of the ICW, and lowered the anchor with the bow pointing into the wind. We watched the radar and GPS for 30 minutes or so as the wind and rain continued and then gradually subsided. In another half an hour all was quiet and the storms had passed out of the area. We had a quiet dinner and everything was calm for the rest of the night.

Our travel for the next two days (Thursday and Friday) was dictated by Judy’s need to complete a Webinar presented by her Legal Nurse Consulting organization in Orlando (and which she had worked on during the summer).  We originally had planned to travel as far as the Pungo River the next day and anchor near a marina in Bellhaven which had a WiFi that we could pay for so that Judy could be assured of a good internet connection. That would have resulted in one short cruising day on Thursday and staying anchored near the WiFi for the day on Friday.

On Thursday, September 29th, we suddenly realized that we could get as far as Oriental, North Carolina in one long day and find an available WiFi there, so at 0850 we got underway from the Alligator River and arrived in Oriental, anchoring in Smith Creek at 1920 just as twilight faded. The next morning, Friday, we moved two miles to the Oriental Marina which had assured Judy that their WiFi was working well where we spent the remainder of the day and Judy completed the Webinar. As we were eating dinner that evening at the restaurant associated with the marina we became aware of a major change in the weather forecast which was for wind up to 25 mph from the northwest the following day for the area west of Beaufort, North Carolina, where we would need to travel. It is a stretch of water without much protection, and any wind in excess of 15 mph can create rough conditions. Temperatures were also forecast to drop into the 60s during the day. Consequently, we decided to stay another day in Oriental and the easiest place to stay was to remain at the Oriental Marina. We have walked to the only grocery store to buy fresh fruit and a few other items and now beef stew is simmering in the crockpot filling the boat with mouth-watering aroma!

Tomorrow the wind is forecast to subside a bit, so we’ll depart Oriental and hope to get to Mile Hammock Bay at Camp LeJeune Marine Corps base past Swansboro, North Carolina. We’ll stop for about 140 gallons of fuel on the way before we get to Beaufort/Morehead City.

Fast and brief. We stayed a night on the south wall at Champlain Canal lock #9 on September 12th, two nights at the yacht basin in Fort Edward (where I changed the engine oil and filters), then another two nights (due to weather) in Mechanicville at the free town dock (with electricity).

We departed Mechanicville on September 17, 2011, and haven’t stopped for more than one night since.

Kingston, New York at the Kingston Municipal Marina on September 17th after exiting the Champlain Canal and passing through the Federal Lock at Troy.

Haverstraw Bay on the night of September 18th.

Great Kills (Staten Island) New York on September 19th where we had dinner with a good friend, Kevin.

Atlantic City, New Jersey, on September 20th where we were lucky enough to get a spot on the dock at Gardner’s Basin after a 13 hour, 86 nautical mile day!

Cape May, New Jersey, at the anchorage, on September 21st.

We refueled on Thursday morning then departed Cape May on September 22nd and made it all the way into the Chesapeake where we anchored for the night in Veasey Cove on the Bohemia River just a few miles from the western end of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal. Delaware Bay was as peaceful as it gets, and we saw the tall ship Danmark following and then passing us on its way up the bay heading to Philadelphia (we assume).

This morning we departed Veasey Cove and caught a fair tide down the upper Chesapeake to Baltimore where we’re going to have dinner with Jennifer tonight (it’s raining cats and dogs).

Tomorrow we’ll head to Solomons and the next day to Norfolk. The weather is predicted to be good for those two legs – all except the 90% chance of rain both days.

After two nights at Button Bay waiting for word about the Champlain Canal and when all the locks would be open, we departed on Sunday, September 11, 2011 heading south after learning that lock C-12 at Whitehall (the northern most lock at the south end of Lake Champlain) had opened for transit. Locks C-4 through C-1 (at the south end of the canal) remain closed. As the Notice To Mariners (NOTAMS) states it:

Mariners are advised that the Champlain Canal from Lock C-1 (Waterford) to Lock C-4 (Schagticoke/Hempstreet Park) remains closed due to high water levels until further notice.

The forecast included winds from the south gusting to 20 mph and with our full exposure to southerly winds in Button Bay, we wanted to find a place to anchor further south that would provide some protection. We identified a potential anchorage at Five Mile Point, but couldn’t find any information about that location; nonetheless, we decided to give it a try after concluding that there weren’t any other possible anchorages that provided protection from southerly winds. We left Button Bay at 1030, and at 1340 the anchor was down in about 9 feet of water just north of Five Mile Point on the west (New York) side of Lake Champlain. The wind subsided, never reaching 20 mph, and we spent a quiet night there.

This morning we departed Five Mile Point at 0735 in order to get the 30 miles to the start of the Champlain Canal around noon. Since the canal has some low bridges, we lowered the mast while underway and it now sits in a “crutch” on the back deck; with the mast down our “air draft” is a little less than 15 1/2 feet, so we will be able to clear all of the fixed bridges on the Champlain Canal. By 1200 we had exited lock C-12 at Whitehall and were in the Champlain Canal heading south. We stopped for the day at 1515 on the south west side of lock C-9, a nice, quiet spot in a park-like setting. We are the only boat on the long wall.

Weather tomorrow is forecast to be windy with the temperature in the high 70s. We have to do a little engine work to trouble-shoot an overheating issue that came up today, and then we’ll move a little further south to lock C-7 and Fort Edward. A friend from Fort Edward, Fred Wehner (who has been helping a lot of boaters get through this area with all the flooding), drove up to see us tonight and to report that there should be plenty of room for us at the Fort Edward Yacht Basin.

Cruising to date: 477H50M – 2973.2 SM

Judy arrived from Kansas after a long, frustrating day flying from Wichita to Boston via Dallas, only to find that Colgan Air (a contract airline for USAir and Continental) “couldn’t find a crew” to fly from Boston Logan to Plattsburg on the evening of September 5th. Due to Colgan’s poor reputation for flights in and out of Plattsburgh (we learned too late) she didn’t want to take a chance that the first flight the next morning would have a crew and certainly didn’t want to spend the night in the airport (after being told that USAir would not put her up in a hotel for the night). She rented a car from Hertz for a one-way dropoff in Plattsburgh and drove about 240 miles through the beautiful mountains of New Hampshire and Vermont heading northwest in rain and fog most of the way, took the ferry across Lake Champlain at Gordon Landing, and arrived (in rain) at the Plattsburgh Boat Basin about 0100 on the 6th! It was a terrible experience for her and a lesson for both of us: don’t ever trust Colgan Air!

Since we had a rental car for the remainder of the day on Wednesday we did some major reprovisioning at Hannaford’s (a great supermarket chain, BTW) and got Sanderling ready to depart the marina the next day.

We departed the Plattsburgh Boat Basin on Wednesday, September 7th and after pumping out the holding tanks arrived at Shelburne Shipyard about 1425 that same day. We had arranged with the shipyard to install a new shaft saver when we were at the yard several weeks earlier, and at 0745 on Thursday (September 8th) morning John came aboard with a new shaft saver and had it installed in short order. We then topped off the water tanks, took on 100 gallons of fuel, and departed at 1105 heading south on the lake.

We stopped for the day a few hours later at Mile Bay where we wanted to visit the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum (http://www.lcmm.org/). We took a mooring belonging to the Basin Harbor Club (a resort fronting on the next small bay to the south) http://www.basinharbor.com/. After getting the boat secured, we lowered the dinghy and tied to the small dock where the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum has some of its boats, walked up the hill to the museum to ask how to get to the Basin Harbor Club’s dock master’s office, then walked a mile or so to the office, paid our $20.00 for the night’s use of the mooring, and went back to Sanderling for the rest of the day.

On Friday, September 9th, we went ashore again, this time to visit the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum. What a great place to learn about the history of Lake Champlain, the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. The exhibits start with the history of the area with a major emphasis on the contact of cultures in 1609 and Samuel de Champlain “The Father of New France,” a French navigator, cartographer, draughtsman, soldier, explorer, geographer, ethnologist, diplomat, and chronicler. He founded New France and Quebec City on July 3, 1608. There is an exhibit of the 1902 ice yacht Storm King and a collection of dugout and bark canoes, kayaks, rowing skiffs and other small watercraft; the story of the Revolutionary War in the Champlain Valley; an exhibit featuring steamboats, lighthouses, early powerboats, engines and outboard motors; a nautical archeology center where work is underway to preserve artifacts and the 300 shipwrecks in Lake Champlain; a blacksmith shop; an active youth boatbuilding and outdoor education program; and an exhibit of photographs taken by local amateur and professional photographers. One of the things we learned that impressed both of us is that Benedict Arnold wasn’t just a traitor; he played a major role fighting for the revolutionaries in the war on Lake Champlain. After touring the LCMM we had a late lunch at the Red Mill Restaurant (part of the Basin Harbor Club) and then headed back to Sanderling.

(Pictures to follow)

We departed Mile Bay and the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum at 1505, September 9th. The NOAA weather forecast from Burlington, Vermont, predicted winds from the west gusting to 25 mph early the next morning and Mile Bay and our mooring were fully exposed to wind from any direction except the south and east. A very congenial fellow at the 1776 gunboat replica of Philadelphia II suggested several bays on the western shore of the lake, but when we checked them they were either too small and deep, or provided little protection. We ended up in the bay we had originally identified as a good spot, Button Bay, just south of Mile Bay on the eastern shore and fully protected from any northerly winds. As it turned out, the 25 mph gusts did not materialize (consistent with non-NOAA forecasts).

The lower locks and the northern-most lock of the Champlain Canal remain closed today due to high water (the lake level is still three feet above “normal”), so we’re going to stay here in Button Bay for at least another day. No rain is forecast until next week, so perhaps the lake level will lower a bit and the canal can reopen to traffic. We’d like to get heading south, but for the time being we are unable to leave Lake Champlain. Not a bad place to be, but it’s starting to get chilly up here in the north.

Wind is blowing 15-20 from the south today, almost as much as when we were anchored at Nichols Point last week. The marina, despite the breakwater which extends to the southern side, and Sanderling are rockin’ and rollin’ almost as much as our anchorage when we had 25-30 mph winds! At least I can get off the boat by walking along the docks that are rolling and pitching – sea legs are definitely required.

I’ve just uploaded to our Picasa web site a few photos I took of a catamaran that was damaged when tropical storm Irene passed over Vermont a few days ago. Our blog dated August 29th has some information about how we spent TS Irene at anchor. The photos were taken August 31st the day after we arrived at the marina.

Here’s the link to the photos of the catamaran: http://tinyurl.com/3kb6lmx
The photos are the last 8 photos on the page (other photos are a mix from our current cruise).

The catamaran is a 42 foot Venezia with a beam of around 24 feet. She was on a mooring at the Plattsburgh Boat Basin when Irene blew through. People I talked with who witnessed the event said that a total of four boats (all sail) broke their mooring pendants and were blown onto the breakwater which protects the marina and the mooring field. Unfortunately, the breakwater does not provide wind protection from the north, and that is where the strongest winds came from during Irene’s passing. I understand that the owner’s pendant broke during the height of the storm, as occurred with two of the other boats that went adrift; on the 4th boat, the marina’s pendant parted. A fifth boat pulled it’s mooring (1500+ pound blocks of concrete) through the mooring field (carefully avoiding other moored boats) before the owner, who was aboard, cut the line and motored into a slip on the south side of the marina. A crew of marina personnel (there was a hurricane party taking place during the storm) went out in a small boat during the storm, pulled the floundering boats from the breakwater and got them into the marina.

The cat is still sitting where she was placed when removed from the water, and I haven’t noticed any activity regarding removal of equipment or repairs.

The water level on Lake Champlain at Plattsburg has risen about 1.5 feet since Irene; all of that extra water is creating havoc throughout the region. There was little damage to boats in the marina itself, and minimal damage to the marina. Marina employees have been working the past couple of days to lengthen the chains holding each dock section in place; many sections were listing as a result of chain that was too short to permit the dock to float level at the surface with the increased water height.

Judy is currently in Kansas for her mother’s 90th birthday and I’m here in Plattsburgh taking care of the cats and Sanderling. We’ll start heading south after Judy returns early next week; hopefully the Champlain Canal will be open to the Hudson River by then.

 When we departed Plattsburgh we went into a very well protected anchorage in Hibbard Bay (north side of The Gut) on Saturday about noon and worked to get the anchor set well in all the weeds. After two attempts and waiting several hours for it to work its way into the mud below the weeds, we felt it was well set. The 50 MPH gusts we experienced during Irene’s passing proved us correct.

Here’s a photo of the sunset on Saturday night before Irene’s arrival:

By midnight last night the barometer had started to climb (reached a low of 28.9 inches from the high at 0700 yesterday morning of 29.5) and the base-line winds were dropping to about 20 (from a high of 27/28 during the peak). These figures are all based on our own barometers and wind gauge, so may not coincide with NOAA figures.

This is how the handheld GPS looked after Tropical Storm Irene had passed. Notice how the “blob” creates an arc. This was scribed as the wind shifted from the NE to the N and finally to the NW as TS Irene passed by to the east of us. The arc is created almost exactly 150 feet from the location of the anchor!

This morning the sky is clear and the sun is shining. Three of the four other boats in the bay have already left; only a single small sailboat remains.

We’ll stay here for the remainder of the day and tonight, then tomorrow (August 30th) we’ll move to a marina at Plattsburgh where we have a reservation for a week while Judy flies to Kansas for her mother’s 90th birthday.

On Tuesday the 30th we weighed anchor and moved to the Plattsburgh Boat Basin where Sanderling, the cats, and Bob will stay for a week. Here’s a photo of the anchor chain and weeds/grass as we raised anchor preparing to depart. It’s not an easy task getting rid of all the vegetation which gets wrapped around and interwoven in the chain.

Next post: a 42 foot catamaran is damaged in the storm and is removed to dry land for repairs.

We returned to the USA on Saturday, August 20th and anchored that night. On Sunday we cruised to Shelburne’s Shipyard on the Vermont side of the lake just south of Burlington. This morning the yard fixed the problem that had been causing the noise under the hull; turned out to be a Spurs line cutter part that had come loose and fallen off. Had to remove the remaining parts of the Spurs and won’t be able to replace them until we have the boat hauled again next spring. Also discovered another problem and Shelburne’s is ordering the necessary part and will replace it before we leave the lake in a couple of weeks. In the process they realigned the engine and shaft.

All is going well. Tonight we’re anchored in a small bay (along with a dozen other boats – mostly sail) in a small bay south of Shelburne Shipyard.

On Tuesday, August 23rd, we cruised a short distance north to Burlington to the temporary dock at the Boathouse Marina, went ashore for a short time to buy a few groceries and had lunch at the restaurant at the marina. We then departed and headed north past Plattsburgh to anchor in a small bay at Nichols Point on the Vermont side of the lake. We were planning on cruising southeast to Plattsburgh on Wednesday, the 24th where we had hoped to meet some relatives for a couple of days of cruising, but high winds on the lake (gusting to 30 MPH) forced us to turn around after about 30 minutes and return to the anchorage. The forecast for Thursday isn’t any better; in fact, it may be worse with winds forecast to be gusting to 35 MPH. So our plans are on hold right now while we’re sitting at anchor in this small bay along with 6-7 other boats, most of which came in this morning after we had already been out and turned around. 

By Thursday night the winds are forecast to die down, so hopefully we will be able to meet up in Plattsburgh on Friday morning and still have a day of cruising this beautiful area.

Here are a few pictures from our time in the anchorage, showing:

This is the track laid down by our handheld GPS during the high winds from the south while we were in the anchorage. North is up. The lower “blob” shows how we moved back and forth, side to side, in the wind with 100 feet of scope out; when the winds were forecast to increase, we added an additional 50 feet of chain and our position moved 50 feet to the north, shown by the upper “blob.” This photo was taken on the morning of the 25th of August.

Compare these tracks to the tracks on the same GPS when we were treated to tropical storm Irene’s winds (in the next blog post).

This beautiful double rainbow showed up evening of the 25th. It stretched from this location in the water, to directly alongside Sanderling on the other end of the rainbow. (We didn’t even find a golden anchor.)

A short time later, we had this beautiful sunset, sailboat and all:

On the 26th we crossed the lake to Plattsburgh where we met Caroline and Melissa at the town dock, after getting the holding tanks pumped out at the Plattsburgh Boat Basin. We crossed the lake, heading by the anchorage where we’d just spent the past several days, thru “The Gut” and then the draw bridge on the eastern side of The Gut, to St. Albans Bay where we spent the rest of the afternoon and evening talking and catching up on our families. Judy and I spent some time going over the charts looking for “hurricane holes” where we could wait out whatever Hurricane Irene was going to throw at us.

On the 27th, with Irene looming large on the horizon for the Lake Champlain valley and amid warnings from NOAA to prepare for near hurricane force winds, we motored back to Plattsburgh and said goodbye to Caroline and Melissa (they were driving to Chicago), and headed out to find a place that we felt would be safe from Irene’s wrath.

We chose to motor back to The Gut and stay in a small area, Hibbard Bay, on its north side during Irene’s passing. Turns out it was a good decision.

See our next post for more details on dealing with Irene.

After departing Montreal at 0955 on August 12, 2011, we headed downstream on the St. Lawrence River and anchored for the night off the main river channel at Contrecoeur – a nice, protected spot. About midway to Contrecoeur our Canadian SD data card for our Garmin chartplotter stopped loading the Canadian charts, so we relied on our navigation laptop and paper charts to guide us around the buoys and into the channel where we were anchoring. Nothing brought the Garmin Canadian charts back to life; something similar had happened several times in the past, but we were always able to get the charts to display after restarting the chartplotter. Fortunately, once we get down the Richelieu Canal north of Lake Champlain the pre-loaded charts will kick in again and we won’t have to rely on the SD card charts.

We departed the anchorage on August 13th and a couple of hours later were tied to a temporary dock at Marina de Sorel in Sorel-Tracey, near where the Richelieu Canal meets the St. Lawrence River. As we approached Sorel there were a number of large freighters anchored in the river, apparently waiting for pilots to come aboard to help them proceed upstream from Sorel. Since we’ve been in the marina, there have been freighters coming and going from the anchorages every day. We moved to our “permanent” transient dock about 1145 after Judy had picked up our rental car and the dock cleared of boats that were due to depart. Later in the day a beautiful 1933 power boat 65 feet in length came in and took the space in front of us; the boat was the Dolphin built here in Sorel and beautifully maintained.

We rented a car in Sorel and spent Sunday (August 14th) in Quebec City. It’s a beautiful place to visit, and we’ll definitely have to come back to spend more time and see more of the sights. Basically we took two walking tours (around the Old City and through the Citadel) and walked by ourselves just to enjoy the ambience of the old city. The old city was very crowded with tourists. Restaurants were packed in the lower city (along the river), as well as just to the west of the city wall along a row of restaurants outside of the wall. Despite a forecast including 70% chance of rain, the temperature stayed in the mid-70s and the rain didn’t materialize until our drive back to Sorel.

We decided to stay an extra day at the marina to do some laundry, turn in the rental car, buy more spider spray, and wait for sunny weather on Tuesday (August 16th) to start the trip south on the Richelieu. Spider spray? Have I mentioned that with all the docks we’ve been “moored” to this summer the boat is accumulating spiders faster than we can kill them! We’ve found that washing the boat doesn’t really remove them (perhaps they hide somewhere out of the way of the wash), but spider spray does a good job of killing them. So, we needed more spray and Judy found some at the Canadian Tire store (really more like a Home Depot than a tire store) here in Sorel when she drove to turn in the rental car this morning.

Totals for cruise: 420H20M – 2627.0SM

We departed Bellevue at 0730 in order to allow most of the day for the passage through the St. Lawrence Seaway locks. We had been told that pleasure boats may have to wait up to 3-4 hours at each lock, and there was no option but to get to Montreal at the end of the 37 mile day!

As it turned out, the passage through the first lock was delayed only by freighters passing through, one directly in front of us and others heading upstream which we passed before and after entering the first lock. The Great Lakes freighter John D. Leitch turned into the canal leading to the first lock just before us (coming down river) and had to slow considerably to permit to upbound freighters to pass in the straight stretches of the canal. After the John D. Leitch started to enter the lock, we tied up at the pleasure boat dock, bought our $25.00 pass for the first lock, and waited until the John D. Leitch cleared the lock going downstream and another freighter cleared heading upstream.

By 1420 we were at the second lock and by 1610 we had completed the day’s trip to the Port d’Escale Marina in Montreal. The last several miles were against the 6 MPH current on the St. Lawrence River after it had cascaded down the rapids we bypassed on the Seaway. Since we make only 7.3 MPH under the best of circumstances, we were making only 1.4 MPH over the ground heading to the marina. About 1/4 mile before the quay where the marina is located, we passed through the current and entered still water, then turned into the basin and into the marina. The staff spoke passable English (70% of the population in Montreal speaks French) and directed us to the dock where we would be located for the next few days; another young hand was on the dock to help us with our lines.

Now we’re sightseeing in Montreal, and a beautiful city it is. The first full day (August 9, 2011) we took the Metro to the Botanical Garden, and today we walked through the old city visiting the Archeological Museum, the Notre Dame Bassilica, and the Notre Dame chapel and a few other spots along the way. Tomorrow we’re heading back out toward the Botanical Garden to visit the Olympic Stadium (1972) and Biosphere and inclined tower. A Canadian friend and his family are arriving by boat tomorrow and we’re planning on dinner out with them tomorrow night before we depart on Friday heading to Sorell.