June 10, 2013

After a pleasant night at anchor in beautiful White’s Bay (off of Henderson Bay) in New York at the eastern end of Lake Ontario, we were underway at 0545 with a slight overcast, cool temp of 56F, and virtually no wind. We made our way northwesterly behind some large islands, across the main shipping lanes to the St. Lawrence River, crossed into Canada at 0825 and raised the yellow quarantine flag, and then into Adolphus Reach between Kingston and Picton. We encountered some light rain and drizzle as we proceeded westerly along the reach and turned south into Picton Harbor, but the rain stopped as we tied to the Picton Harbor Marina dock at 1315 after a 59.5SM mile run. We cleared into Canada by calling a toll-free number from the dockmaster’s office and in short order were given our Canadian Customs number which we have to display in the front window – the whole process is so easy – once I’d given the person on the other end of the phone Sanderling’s US documentation number, they had all of our information available and it didn’t need to be repeated. I did have to answer the questions about whether we had any alcohol, cigarettes, or firearms aboard (no to all). At that point we lowered the quarantine flag and hoisted a small Canadian flag in the position of honor on the radar mast.

As we were preparing to walk into town, who should show up but our friend Kenn from Naponee and his son, Corey. They came aboard and we quickly caught up from the last time we saw them in Montreal in 2011. We then drove into Picton in Kenn’s truck for a little shopping and stopped for gelato at a Bean Counter’s and used their free WiFi to download email.

Phone service in Canada is EXPENSIVE even with a Canadian plan on your US phone – we won’t be checking email every hour nor checking weather every couple of hours unless we have free WiFi (which we frequently do as a result of our WiFi radio connected to a router onboard).

June 11, 2013

After breakfast at a local cafe (“the best breakfast in Canada”) and a little more shopping by foot (had to get more OKA cheese with mushrooms at the local cheese shop) we got underway at 1215 for Kenn’s mooring on the north-south stretch of the Bay of Quinte in front of their cottage. Kenn was there to meet us on his jet ski and assisted in taking the mooring by running our mooring line through the ring on the ball. Later that afternoon he transported us to shore on his BIG jet ski so we wouldn’t have to uncover and lower our dinghy. We had a most enjoyable dinner with Kenn, Kim, Corey, Aaron and Katey, talking about their adventures on the Trent-Severn Waterway last summer, and about their upcoming cruise from the Hudson River to Boston, then south to Florida – we hope to see them in December in Florida after we return from our cruise.

Kenn took us back to Sanderling at his mooring and again transported us the 50 yards between their dock and our boat via jet ski. The jet ski experience was new for me, having never been on one before. After getting us back on Sanderling he stopped at their dock to let their border collie Texas hop into the driver’s seat of the jet ski (Kenn sat behind to drive) and they took off at a fast clip heading north and returned a short time later – all of this in temps of about 60 degrees just after sunset! Apparently Texas loves to jet ski!!

We spent another quiet night at Kenn’s mooring, then left this morning (June 12) to head toward Trenton,. The day is sunny, with temp about 72F and very little wind. We’ve anchored in a small bay just a few miles east of Belleville (about 17 miles from Kenn’s mooring), and have reservations for the marina in Trenton for two nights starting tomorrow (Thursday) night.

Day: 17.5SM/15.2NM – 2H40M      Trip: 1676.6NM/1926.5SM – 277H00M