800 Miles

There were whitecaps on Little Traverse Bay. I could see them as I rocked on the porch of the Stafford Bay View Inn. It is on the main drag to and from Petoskey, MI so it is a little noisy, but the grass is green, the English garden is in bloom and the trees (birch, cedar, pine and maple) are old. There was a warm breeze with hints of the cool lake water a few miles to the west.

Charlotte and I had tea with the end of the Japanese tea sweets that resemble ancient multi-colored ice crystals. The bay’s water is deep blue-green and lightens as it approaches the shore; browning in the shoals. A sailboat makes headway — sails sheeted in tight — against the wind blown waves. We walked down to the ever-expanding beach to look for Devonian corals trapped in rounded pebbles.

Once back on the porch my eyelids start to droop. Neck muscles give way and I nod. The road noise turns white except for the occasional Harley-Davidson. We have begun to backtrack the 800 miles Carrie Rose cruised east this year. Lake Huron’s North Channel and Georgian Bay, the Trent-Severn Waterway, the Bay of Quinte to Kingston, ON, and then a short lock up and down in the Rideau Canal finally turning NE into the St. Lawrence River’s Thousand Islands.

To get to our ending point in Alexandria Bay, NY required two months of concentrated motion. To get back to Chicago required a borrowed car, a ride to the Syracuse, NY airport, two commuter jets, one bus and our car for the final 400 miles home from Mackinaw City, MI.

Now it is summer in Chicago and the cicadas are singing in the 90-degree heat. We spent the first day back clearing the garden of weeds and watering the trees. Not bad for three months of neglect. An American kestrel has moved into the neighborhood while we have been gone and there are still some raspberries on the bush . . . amazing!


Say good bye


Stafford's Bay View Inn


Little Traverse Bay sunset


Stocking up on Michigan produce and milk shakes for the ride home


Weeds galore


Kestrel sighting

River Rats

Old man river keeps moving along. Carrie Rose's final resting place (for the winter that is) is Horizon Marine in Alexandria Bay, NY on the St. Lawrence River. We are staying out of the NY canal system. We decided to skip (at least for now) a trip down Lake Ontario's eastern shore after monitoring its endless west winds.

Thanks to Charlotte's cousin Robert and his wife Carol's generosity in lending us a car we will be leaving from the Syracuse airport. It is an expensive flight to Pellston, MI via Detroit. In Pellston we will board a bus to Mackinaw City and our car. I think we will be home on Sat. or Sun.

At the moment we are in slip 18 at The Thousand Island Club. It is on Wellesley Island across from A-Bay. Not much here except an expensive restaurant, tennis, pool, golf and a gym. Too bad I am not a normal person who would use any of the above. I am not complaining, it is a beautiful spot and it has been a great way to end this part of the cruise.

This is an interesting part of the world. Its heyday was the late 1880's to the Depression. The moneyed people back then were on par with our recent crop of billionaires. They built castles on many of the islands. It is a bit fairy tale like cruising past them. That is if I wasn't busy concentrating on what is happening on the river. I have begun to notice that rivers behave differently than the big bodies of water that I am used to. From lake voyagers we are turning into river rats!


Really amazing Real Estate


Wondering why I can't have a castle


The ultimate in boat houses


People love pirates, unless their in Somalia


Our saviors Robert and Carol


Bric-a-brac on Wellesley Island, NY


Carrie Rose at the Thousand Island Yacht Club


Local traffic

A Bit of Everything

Well, today after physically dragging Carrie Rose out of a spot I should not have gone into in the first place (the dingy survived with only a minor scuff), then getting mal-de-mer while refueling on a pier exposed to the St. Lawrence river (I should have tied to the other side), then surfing down the river in a strong following wind only to meet a large (are there any other kind) bulk carrier under the International Bridge in the American Narrows (which by the way is full of strong eddies), then dodging several kamikaze tour boats off Alexandria Bay, NY while calling for a slip assignment to someone who had no idea we were coming (the boss did not tell them) and driving into the wrong marina because I got all the instructions wrong . . . but it is a beautiful marina and they will not charge us (2.50 a foot) because we are storing here for the winter and Jerry's visit while the dough was rising for two tasty pizzas and one loaf of bread, not to mention a bottle of wine and Mozart . . . I suppose that is what cruising is all about. I will venture to say that in eleven nautical miles we did more then most boaters do their whole career. Time to go to bed!

P.S. Charlotte also did two loads of laundry.


Another unsuspecting re-fueler


Not a thousand footer, but close


Which came first?

From Canada to the U.S.A.

Still fresh in their minds


A homage to rock


They have not forgiven us yet


There is a message here somewhere


America beckons


How much can you put on a rock?


The last point before the border


Tucked away in Clayton, NY


Clayton's beautifully perserved downtown


Just one more boat . . .


Clayton's Antique Boat Museum boat shop


Commerce on the St. Lawrence River

Ship's Stores

I have always been a picky eater. It drove my mother nuts. She complained bitterly about the different food preferences of my sister, father and I. It was impressive that with her full time job and other household duties she found the time to cater to our peculiarities. Now at sixty I still find myself picky and to complicate things further I have been a vegetarian for 35 years.

This summer, or was it spring, I altered course to feast on fish caught in the North Channel and prepared on the chunk of Aikens Island’s Canadian Shield. It was a delicious meal shared with eight other well-heeled cruisers. Our contribution was several loaves of boat made bread. I had heartburn for several days afterward but no matter.

Every year Charlotte and I struggle with provisioning Carrie Rose for her summer holiday. Weird things that we would never eat in real life seemed to show up in her stores. This year we determined to be more realistic with our choices. No odd ball canned creations from the various ethic stores we frequent in Chicago. The other issue was one of size or amount. In the past the tendency has been to stock too much as if we might decide to cross an ocean and needed to be prepared least our last port of call did not have a grocery.

So what did we bring: Two bottles of Alberto’s wonderful olive oil (this is another whole story), two bottles of Mario Batali marinara pasta sauce, several tins of salsa, a couple of different soups, two cans of refried beans (still wondering why), pesto (a great seasoning when cooking vegetables), four boxes of different types of pasta, and whole grain (a mistake) and white rice. Of course there is other stuff. Peanut butter, jam, crackers, cereal, granola, cookies, flour, yeast, individual containers of applesauce and pears, vacuum packed tortillas; you get the idea.

We have a small reliable refrigerator/freezer that the solar panels keep running without the use of much fossil fuel. This allows for cheese, eggs, butter, milk, mayo, and more importantly cold wine and beer.

Beer in not much of a concern as Canada has very good taste in this regard. Wine is more the problem, not the opportunity as it is fashionable to say of misfortune these days. For the most part once out of urban areas the wine selection quickly deteriorates into wines with cute names and labels. I try to stock Carrie Rose’s cellar with a better class (I proudly admit to snobbishness) of wine. The impending border crossing complicates this fun task.

Canada has rules in regards to firearms and alcohol. Upon crossing the border these seem to be their only concern. Do not quote me but I think it is two bottles of wine per person. I could look it up but I have given up. There is a lot of myth surrounding it and to back it up everyone has had a different experience with CANPASS.

CANPASS is the border check-in process that needs to be done at the first port of call. I called up, gave our names, and the boat’s name. The polite person on the other end welcomes me back to Canada and asks if we are carrying firearms — the answer is no — and alcohol — the answer is yes. For the last two years I rattled off a precise list and started to do so again when I was stopped by a sweet voice that interjected, “You have ship’s stores, correct?” It took my neurons a second to comprehend and then I said, “Ship’s stores, correct!”

Now after I got back to the boat I started to think of all the extra Tavel rosé; Vouvray, Touraine and Sancerre Sauvignon blanc; and Southern Rhone Grenache and Mourvédre I could have brought, a missed opportunity. Canada’s LCBO (government alcohol store) surprised us this year with a better selection of wine. It may be that they know their market well for as we travelled east into more populated touristy regions the wine got better.

Proof reading the above I realize that if anything I have gotten exceedingly pickier. Well, if age has its perks, and I can’t see that there are many, then picky I shall remain. Maybe next year I will test my luck with a few more bottles of glorious wine to enjoy with our simple peasant fare.


CANPASS


As Charlotte likes to call it, "gruel."


A North Channel Fish Fry


Aikens Islands Rocky Beach

Rideau Tableau

Relaxing after negotiating multiple locks


Pastoral Scene just off the port bow


Totems at the lock


Anchor Bouquet in Mortons Bay


The bridge tender urges us on


Fellow traveler


The Quebec Penitentiary . . . advised not to pick up people found in the canal

Reservations

Carrie Rose is without a home. Though it is not completely true as we have made plans to keep her at Horizon Marine in Alexandria Bay, NY for the winter, but on a day-by-day basis we seek shelter wherever we can find it. Recently it has been on the walls along the locks in the Rideau Canal. A pass to transit and to dock at the locks on the Trent-Severn and Rideau was purchased last winter for approximately six hundred dollars. It has more than paid for itself.

The rub is this does not guarantee us a place. It is first come first serve and no reservation can be made. There are also peculiarities when travelling in the waterways: the locks only operated from 9 to 5, really 9:30 to 4:30, and there is a top and bottom to each lock. Then there is the rhythm. I admit to never figuring it out, thus almost every afternoon leads to a scramble about where to tie up for the night. It always worked out. Sometimes we paid for a marina, sometimes we anchored and mostly we tied to the lock wall whether it was top or bottom. For non-free spirits like me it added to the stress.

We have found it hard to make reservations at Canadian marinas. I am not sure why. Michigan marinas let us do it online, same for Wisconsin. Here online is iffy and calling results in ambiguity.

Carrie Rose left the comforting confines of the Rideau Canal yesterday and cruised to the Gananoque Municipal Marina. Quite a day: 7 locks, a river, a city (Kingston), two chain ferries, three or four island cruise boats and then the congestion of a major cruising destination. I was able to make a reservation for one nights stay after trying for a week and asked to be put on a waiting list for the next night. Waiting lists require one to be pro-active if not pushy.

Marinas are like any other business. Some are run well and others not. Some have all-powerful Harbor Masters and other are run by a bunch of young adults on summer break. Because of this we are never sure if what was promised will be delivered. It stated bluntly that at 9:00AM request to stay must be reported, so at 8:45 I got off my butt and walked to the office. Immediately I could tell the young lady behind the desk was much more intellectually engaged then yesterday’s counterpart.

I announced myself and once recognized was told the plan. Between 11 and 12 we were to move to slip 323 for the night. What if we stayed for two nights more, will I have to get on another waiting list? At that she started searching, clinking on each empty spot to find one open for two more nights. Ah, her friends had left for the islands and will be back Sunday, perfect. I sighed, paid up and went to tell Charlotte that Carrie Rose is not homeless . . . at least for another two days.


Down Time


Morning at the top of Upper Brewer


Voyager Canoes speed out of the lock


All kinds of boats use the canal


Passing through on the way to Kingston, ON


Along the Rideau Canal


Kingston, ON...Not a bad town but needs a new skyline


Chain Ferry 1


Sightseeing boat 1


Chain Ferry 2 (The sign says, Stay Away!)


Sightseeing boat 2


For you muskie lovers


Not beautiful but its home