Tuesday, July 30th.

Spent the day at Rimouski.  The fog persisted pretty much all day and it was still pretty cold.  Went shopping for an electric heater (for when we’re on shore power), warm socks and food.  In the afternoon went for a 40 mile bike ride to Saint Flavie and back, which is famous for its driftwood sculptures along the shoreline. 

Had our first roast dinner, from the oven!  One of the few times we had even considered turning the over on, since historically WE would have roasted.    

Monday, July 29th.

11 hours of Foul tides, despite predicted fair tides, Fog, Cold (50F), big lumpy seas, headwinds.  Over and Out!

Ship’s Log: 3012.1nm, Today's log: 62.0nm, Season total: 558.2nm.

Sunday, July 28th.

We had planned to leave for Rimouski today, but with forecast headwinds of 25knots, decided to stay put for the day.  It was a good decision – the whales were out people watching!  We both looked out the galley window and saw a 25 foot Minke whale about 10 feet from the boat.  It dived, and we both rushed into the cockpit and were treated to a view of this magnificent animal diving, surfacing and blowing for about 45 minutes.  We tried to capture it on film but our camera is not up to the task.   

We went ashore and explored the two walks the town offers.  Both were very nice. 

Saturday, July 27th.

We set off early to Tadoussac, hoping to be able to sail with the current even if the winds were light. They were non-existent, so we motored again!  After 4 hours though, the wind picked up so we hoisted sails and beat the rest of the way.  River sailing and the Saguenay in particular because of its high cliffs either side, is pretty predictable.  The wind follows the course of the river, so you’re either on a dead run or it’s on the nose.  In our case it was on the nose, but it was a lively sail for the last couple of hours and the fair tide helped greatly. 

We anchored in the bay again, 48 08.40N 069 42.49W, this time in slightly shallow water – 30ft at LW, 45ft at HW.  Having seen how anchoring is done here, this time it was much easier.  Photo 729…58

Went ashore for a pizza dinner. 

Ship’s Log: 2950.1nm, Today's log: 27.5nm, Season total: 496.2nm.

Friday, July 26th.

We woke up in this gorgeous bay and headed for shore by dinghy.  Our guide book told us there were hiking trails here so we set of on one.  We accidentally chose the toughest – a hike up the cliff to a statue of the Virgin Mary, maybe 800 feet above the water and overlooking the Saguenay River.  It was tough but beautiful.  We returned to the dinghy dock and set off on another shorter hike along the River Eternite.  The tide was now low and, of course, it looked completely different.  We returned to the boat and Ron went fishing in the dinghy – without success.    

Thursday, July 25th

Dennis and Ank came over in the morning and reported that everything was fine with Bodyguard.  They set off to catch the tide to Rimouski, a little further down the St. Lawrence, and a couple of hours later, we set off with the tide up the Saguenay River also known as the Saguenay Fiord.  This is a beautiful river, with 1000’ cliffs rising from each side.  It’s also deep – our chart showed depths of 890’ in places, which totally confused our echo sounder.  We saw a lot of beluga whales on the way, and when we arrived we were greeted by a seal. 

We picked up a mooring in Baie d’Eternite, 48 18.07N 07019.59W, which was so peaceful and quiet compared to the past 2 nights!  Oh and it was absolutely beautiful too – by far the most beautiful spot we’ve seen so far this season. 

Ship’s Log: 2922.6nm, Today's log: 31.6nm, Season total: 468.7nm.  

Wednesday, July 24th

We awoke with the wind howling at 20+ knots and gusts to 35 knots.  Our new 35lb spade anchor was holding well so we were very happy with this investment.  Based on the forecast we decided to stay here another day and spent the morning doing jobs on the boat.  We called the Dutch couple on the radio and invited them over for dinner that evening, when the winds were forecast to have diminished. 

It turned out to be a day full of action.  First off, we noticed a sailboat trying to beat into the harbor (against the wind).  Presumably she had engine problems.  Anyway she wasn’t sailing at all well in the 30 knot winds and was making very little progress.  Ron called the marina to report the boat in difficulties and was told that the coastguard had just been dispatched.  So we had a grandstand view of the coastguard taking her in tow and depositing her on a mooring in the harbor. 

By mid afternoon the winds were still howling, but having invited our new friends to dinner we had to brave the dinghy trip to town to get groceries.  We had some spray in our faces, nothing too serious, but it was odd tasting salt for the first time.  (We’ve been in fresh water up until now). 

The winds died down at about 6pm, Dennis and Ank came over at 6:30 and we had a very pleasant evening with them.  Their boat, Bodyguard, was anchored further inshore than ours and they were a little concerned that it would ground at low tide.  They kept their eye on her from our boat and around 9pm, Dennis went over to check things out from his dinghy.  Unfortunately, he was a little late and Bodyguard was already aground.  So they both went back to her to see if anything needed to be done, and Ron followed to see if his help was needed.  (It wasn’t).  Ron returned to Quinita, where Teresa was keeping her eye on a third boat that appeared to be drifting between Quinita and Bodyguard.  It had no navigation lights, or anchor lights, but there were some lights on in the cabin.  Ron went over in the dinghy to see if they needed help.  A man and woman appeared and said they were anchored there.  They weren’t – they had an anchor out but we’re quite sure from the way they were drifting it wasn’t touching the seabed.  So we told them they needed to be further away from us, since we had 200ft of anchor rode.  They agreed to move and “re-anchor”.  A while later, they drifted back towards us, and when hailed, the woman came out and stated that her captain told her the anchor was properly set and there was no problem.  They drifted to within a few feet of us and agreed to move again.  This time they actually started their engine and moved off out of sight, still with no lights on.  We think drink may have been involved!  The boat had an apt name – Surprise!

By 12:30, we saw that Bodyguard has almost re-floated, and Surprise was nowhere to be seen, so we went to bed. 

Tuesday, July 23rd

Happy birthday Rome!

The tides dictated that we wake up at 5am and set off at 5:30am which we did.  Once again the winds failed us and we motored with some very helpful tides to Tadoussac, 48 08.71N 069 44.17W.  At one point we were doing 10 knots over the ground with a boat speed through the water of 4 knots – a tidal assist of 6 knots making it worthwhile getting up so early.  We did try sailing twice, but the winds only lasted 15 minutes on both occasions.  This is getting too regular an occurrence!

We’ve been using paper tidal stream calculations to plan our trips.  The electronic charts we have (Navionics), also have tidal stream information, but they’re hopelessly inaccurate.  At one point, the electronic prediction was for a foul tide of 3 knots, but the paper charts, (and what we were seeing on the ground), was for 4 knots of fair tide.  Go figure. 

On the way we saw some black porpoises and later some white ones, about 10+ feet long, much closer to the boat.  We believe the white ones were Beluga whales.  Our guide book says that we’re not allowed to go looking for whales, but since we just happened to be there when the whales turned up we reckon we’re within the law. 

We arrived at the bay where we had planned to anchor, and which is recommended by our guide book.  We were at spring tides and had a tidal range 18ft.  In addition, the sea bottom was very steep so just a short distance off the beach the water was very deep.  And there were moorings in all the best spots to anchor.  We couldn’t find a suitable spot, so we left for the next bay up the river, Anse à la Barque, only a mile away.  This was even worse, the bottom shoaled just as quickly, there was much less room and the only spot that would have worked was too close to the single mooring buoy in the cove.  The cove also had uncharted rocks which we just getting covered as we arrived.  So we returned to Tadoussac, and dropped the anchor in 70 feet of water (at high tide).  This may not sound like a lot, but believe me it is.  We laid out just over 200 feet of rode (rope), a scope of 3:1. We would have like to have more rode, but then there was a danger of swinging into the beach or other boats.  Not an easy anchoring location.  At low tide the anchor would be in 52 feet, a scope of 4:1. 

We went ashore for a quick walk around the town, and met a Dutch couple who were anchored next to us. 

The weather has definitely taken a turn to the colder – high 50s Fahrenheit.  We had dinner and went to bed early to read, where we were nice and cozy. 

Ship’s Log: 2891.0nm, Today's log: 27.7nm, Season total: 437.1nm.

Monday, July 22nd

We awoke at 5:30, and the mooring lines were fine.  We had planned to leave for Cap a l’Aigle anyway at around 6am to catch the fair tide, so we left a little earlier than planned.  Once again we had no wind, so motored all the way.  It was cold in the morning – around 58F.  We arrived at Cap a l’Aigle, 47 39.79N 070 05.77W, at 9am.  Fair tides do wonders for travel times!  We settled into our berth and went for a bike ride to Malbaie and Point au Pic - it’s hilly here.  Point au Pic is a very quaint town with several gites, auberges and restaurants and we had a very nice lunch here.  On the way back, the tide was coming back in over the flats, and we stopped to watch the kite surfers displaying their skills in the shallow waters. 

Ship’s Log: 2863.3nm, Today's log: 12.1nm, Season total: 409.4nm.

Sunday, July 21st.

The forecast was for NW 10 – 15 knots – a perfect beam reach today.  The winds gave us some trouble getting off the dock since they were pushing the boat right onto it.  We got out of the harbor, hosted sails and they died away.  So another day of motoring to Isle aux Coudres, 47 25.12N 070 24.55W.  We had planned to anchor here, but saw some moorings and picked one up instead.  The tides were running very strongly at the time and Teresa made an excellent job of positioning the boat for Ron to pick it up.  Having moored, it was pretty weird – the ships log showed we were travelling at 3.5 knots.  Of course this was the water rushing past the boat which was stationary, however it really felt like the boat was moving pretty well through the water and looking behind, we were leaving a wake!  On the way we passed two ski areas – Mont St. Anne and le Massif so we have some new ideas for the winter. 

We’re now in slightly salty water from the Atlantic and its way colder than the St. Lawrence waters we’ve been swimming in.  The air temperature was also significantly colder today at 62F – a far cry from the upper 90s we were seeing a few days ago.  Perhaps this is due to the colder water we’re now in, in which case we may be in for a much cooler rest of the summer.  We’ll let you know!

At around 5pm, the tide changed, but the wind didn’t!  So we found ourselves being pushed onto the mooring buoy by the wind against a weak tide.  This resulted in our mooring lines getting wrapped around the buoy, which took 15 minutes to fix.  Ron pointed out that the next tide change, (at around midnight), wouldn’t cause the same problem, ‘cause the wind would no longer be against the tide.  Teresa wasn’t convinced however, so we set the alarm for midnight to check the mooring.  At 11:30pm we were woken by the mooring buoy banging against the hull.  Sure enough the tide had changed as had the wind direction, so we were still wind against tide!!  We sorted out the wrapped lines, then had to run the engines in astern to prevent the same thing happening again.  We stood ½ hour watches – and Teresa took the first watch.  By about 1pm, it was time for Ron’s watch, and he declared that the tide was strong enough to overcome the wind and went back to bed, having set the alarm for 5:30am to check the next tide change.   With hindsight, it would have been easier if we had anchored!

Ship’s Log: 2851.2nm, Today's log: 30.2nm, Season total: 397.3nm.

Saturday, July 20th.

We left at 8am as planned and had a nice sail past Isle d’Orleans where we had a great view of Montmorency Falls.  The timing of the currents worked out pretty well as we turned around the tip of the island and started to tack to Havre de Berthier-surMer, 46 56.01N 070 44.13W.  The winds obviously thought that we’d had too easy a time of it, so they freshened and gave us a lumpy 20 knot wind over tide accompanied by several heavy showers to  finish the day.  This, of course, in the narrowest part of the channel with shallows and rocks abound.  We made it in good time to enter the harbor before low water and Ron made his first VHF radio call in French to get a berth allocation.  Fortunately, the response was simple – le Quai de Service - the Service dock.  We located the dock and debated which side of it to use.  We chose the inner side where all the other boats were.  We had been warned that Quinita would dry out here at low tide, and it was interesting to watch the tide recede leaving Quinita about 10 feet from the grass that was now exposed.  We also realized that we had made a lucky decision in choosing which side of the dock to use.  At low water, we could see massive steel piles on the other side holding the docks in place.  When we entered they would have been just below the surface and would have made a nasty mess had we hit one.  We went for a bike ride around the very pretty town, and were drenched again by another heavy shower. 

Ship’s Log: 2821.0nm, Today's log: 29.5nm, Season total: 367.1nm.

Friday, July 19th.

We had planned to leave today, but with forecast winds of 45 knots, we decided we hadn’t seen enough of Quebec  City yet.  It was raining hard and we waited a while, then decided to set off for Les Chutes de Montmorency – a waterfall with a bigger drop than Niagara, although not, of course, as wide.  We had a thorough soaking on the way, and arrived in sunshine.  The falls were spectacular with a footbridge across, so we could see the falls from many angles.  We had lunch on the porch of a beautiful old house overlooking flower gardens.  We set off back to the city having mostly dried out, and were rewarded with another soaking.  Back of the boat, we did some shopping, passage planning and ate on board.  The passage planning was getting more interesting.  Our destination for tomorrow (Havre de Berthier-sur-Mer), can only be entered 1.5 hours either side of low tide.  In addition, we wanted to sail around lsle d’Orleans, and plan our arrival at the end of the island, (when we turned back down the other side), for the change of current.  We think it will all work if we leave Quebec at 8am tomorrow! 

Thursday, July 18th.

We decided to cycle to the tourist information center, and found a route that avoided Rue de Montagne.  Unfortunately, the route we found had an even longer, steeper hill!  We replenished our fuel tanks with Crepes, and set off cycling on a bike path up the river towards Pont de Quebec, about 10 miles away, against a headwind of course.  The bridge was huge, 50 meters high, and it took us a while to find the bike path across it.  We did, and then cycled back down river on the other side to the ferry at Levis, which took us back to the Old City.  A very enjoyable ride with beautiful scenery and a tailwind to finish.  We dined in the city again at Café Bistro du Cap, 67 Rue du Sault-au-Matelo.  This was even better than last nights meal.  

Wednesday, July 17th.

We had received some documents via email that needed to be printed and signed, so we set off in search for the local Staples, called “Bureau en Gros” in Quebec.  The bike ride led us along a very nice bike path, and then through a more industrial area.  It’s interesting to see different parts of Quebec City.  We returned to the boat, and finished up our admin tasks.  Once again it was a hot, hot day.  We rode our bikes into the old city to find a post office which was on Rue-de Montagne.  After a very steep climb up the “Montagne”, we discovered how the Rue got it’s name.  Since we were now pretty high up, we explored the old city on foot and climbed the 310 steps on the boardwalk to the famous Plains of Abraham.  We returned to the boat for a well deserved cool shower.  Since we were so close to the Old City, we had to go out to dinner.  After a quick google, and a short walk we ended up at Café St. Malo, 75 Rue St. Paul, where we had an excellent and reasonably priced dinner.  The Pot au Feu (seafood stew) and Lapin (Rabbit), were delicious – ah, French food!   

Tuesday, July 16th.

This was that first day we had to take account of tidal currents – from here downriver they are significant.  The currents dictated that we leave Portneuf around 12:30 in order to have fair currents to Quebec.  So we went for another bike ride in the morning and stopped under the shade of some trees for some impromptu yoga.  Very nice doing yoga outdoors on the waterfront.  We left on schedule at 12:30 and hoped our tidal calculations were correct.  It was another very hot windless day, so we motored most of the way, helped by the current, so it looks like our calculations were OK.  The marina here, 46 49.13N 071 12.36W, is protected from the tides by a lock, so we locked through and tied up around 7pm, where we had magnificent views of the Old City.  After a long hot day, we decided to eat dinner on the boat and were treated to a spectacular sunset.  Behind the marina is a long concrete building and between 9:30 and 11pm, the city projects film onto the walls accompanied by some excellent quality sound, seemingly in perfect stereo, at least from our vantage point.  We watched the show from the boat.

Ship’s Log: 2791.5nm, Today's log: 22.8nm, Season total: 337.6nm.  

Monday, July 15th.

We are now sailing into tidal areas, so Ron got to play with his new tidal atlas.  No foul tides on this leg, but the Richelieu rapids have currents of up to 7 knots.  Our planned departure time happened to avoid these, so we were quite happy.  We set off about 9:30, and sailed for about 30 minutes before the little wind we had disappeared.  Motoring for the next 3 hours was not much fun.  It was still hot, hot, hot and the props kept getting clogged with weeds, so we had to de-weed them every half hour or so.  (The ships log was also catching weed, so our log reading today was a little low.)   Just after midday, the winds returned and we sailed until 3pm.  Our speed through the water was pretty slow – 1-3 knots, but with the current we were making 4-6 knots over the ground.  We finished the day with a very nice 10 knot breeze which gave us 5-6 knots through the water and 10+ knots over the ground.  Why couldn’t we have had this all day?

We docked at Portneuf, 46 40.96N 071 52.69W, and went for a bike ride around the town.  It’s small but very nice and some of the houses have beautiful views over the river.  The tidal range here today was 10 feet and we definitely had evidence that we were in a tidal area when we tried to push our bikes up the ramp from the docks at low water. 

We were wondering about the name of this town – Port 9, until someone mentioned that neuf also means “new”, so it turns out we’re in Newport!

Ship’s Log: 2768.7nm, Today's log: 17.2nm, Season total: 314.8nm.

Sunday, July 14th

We spent the day exploring Trois Rivieres and visited a convent, the church where Ted and Liz were married a few years ago, and a rather nice eatery for lunch.  We felt it would be rude not to have an ice-cream afterwards and so we did.  We returned to the boat, and had a refreshing swim from the beach.  The weather certainly has changed over the past few days – hardly a cloud in the sky and hot, hot, hot.  Ted and Liz departed by taxi for their bus back to Montreal. 

Saturday, July 13th.

The forecast consisted of just 2 words – “winds light”.  We set off and started sailing.  The winds were indeed light – 3 – 5 knots, but we were making progress, assisted by a 2 knot fair current.  After a while we couldn’t get the boat moving well and discovered we had cobwebs aloft and weeds below.  We were sailing to windward and were relying on the masthead wind-vane to indicate the wind direction – until we discovered that it was loaded with cobwebs and giving false information.  We also discovered that we were dragging a large amount of weed from the props and rudders.  We usually lift the engines when sailing, but since we were in very light winds and in shipping lanes we had decided to leave them down, ready for use in an emergency.  Having discovered the weeds, however, we lifted them and cleared the weeds, and got the boat sailing again.  After 3 hours, the winds were down the 2 knots and our ETA at Trois Rivieres was 4am.  So we motored the rest of the way on a blistering hot day.  At one point, Teresa and Liz were on the trampoline trying to find some breeze.  A large freighter passed by and Ron attempted to motor into its wake to reduce the rolling motion, which he did.  However, the waves of the wake were big and the bows dipped into them, giving Teresa and Liz a thorough soaking.  They probably enjoyed it.  (Note from Teresa:  Ron tried to murder Teresa and Liz by drowning – he hasn’t figured out yet that Teresa doesn’t have a life insurance policy). 

We arrived at Trois Rivieres, 46 21.28N 72 31.15W.  The current had been very useful – the charted distance that we had covered was 31.9 miles, however we had only sailed 24.7 miles through the water - 7.2 miles of current assist.  We went for a swim on the beach, took a taxi into town which was buzzing with live bands, disco bars and restaurants.  Liz used to live nearby when she was growing up and was amazed at the difference.  We had a delicious meal, and returned to the boat for a very peaceful nights sleep. 

Ship’s Log: 1751.5nm, Today's log: 24.7nm, Season total: 297.6nm.

Friday, July 12th.

We had an easy day, cycling around Sorel and provisioning the boat.  It was hot, but pleasant cycling.  We were expecting Ted and Liz to join us at 5-ish, and by 3:30 we were back on the boat almost ready to receive them.  Teresa did some laundry and Ron filled the water tanks.  Usually, we test a sample of water before filling the tank, but didn’t on this occasion – shame on Ron.  He paid the price though – after filling the tanks he filled the drinking water bottles and discovered that the water was yellow.  It turned out that the water on the docks was good, but we were on the end of a long dock and the pipes didn’t get flushed very often.   So, instead of being ahead of schedule, for once, the tanks had to be drained, the water pipes flushed, (for 40 minutes!), and the tanks refilled.  Ron was still in the middle of this when Teresa returned, with Ted and Liz. 

We settled our guests in, Ron went for a shower and the Gins and Tonic came out.  We dined on the boat.

Thursday, July 11th.

We met our new mast raising friends – Norman and Ben – and agreed that we would raise our mast first, since they were “first timers”.  Despite a strong wind blowing directly onto the dock, everything went well and we appreciated having some extra hand to help.  (Teresa was the crane operator – watch for the next update of her resume).  We were surprised however when Norman and Ben decided to move on and step their masts at Longeuil, their home port, where they could wait for the winds to die down. 

The main benefit of this marina was their crane, but the marina itself was a bit rinky-dink.  So we cycled to the next marina – Marina Sorel (Parc Nautique de Sorel), 46 03.03N 73 05.56W, which was much nicer looking and had the advantage of WIFI and arranged to move the boat there.  We moved into our new berth and set about installing the boom, sails and rigging.  We dined on steak and red wine and went to bed happy. 

Wednesday, July 10th

The wind was blowing strongly from the south when we woke up and was forecast to continue all day.  The good news is that this would help us travelling north.  Even though we don’t have the mast up and cannot use sails, a following wind will increase boat speed.  The bad news is that entering the last 3 locks with a strong following wind would not be the chosen method.  It wasn’t as bad as it could have been however, and we transited the last 3 locks without problem.  We crossed Lac Chambly, and started the final leg of the Richelieu.  At mile 32, - 45 33.86N 73 12.10W - there is a bridge that has a very narrow passage.  We still had our following wind, but here there was a 3 knot current as well.  Again - far from ideal.  Instinct says slow the boat down when going through, but that doesn’t work because the rudders need to be travelling through the water in order to steer the boat.  So we slowed down on the approach, then motored faster through the gap to ensure we had steerage.  We ended up going through the gap at 7.3 Knots!    We made it to Sorel (via 1 more lock) without incident, and docked at Marina Sorel (Parc Nautique Federal) 46 02.89N 73 06.38W.  This marina has a self-service crane for stepping masts, and we noticed a couple of guys on a trimaran, with their masts down.  So we had a little discussion and agreed that we would help each other tomorrow raising our masts. 

Ship’s Log: 2726.8nm, Today's log: 29.0nm, Season total: 272.9nm.

Tuesday, July 9th.

We started the day with an hour’s long phone call to Verizon to figure out our best phone options whilst in Canada.  It turns out that all our options for connecting to the internet using the phone are very expensive in Canada, so blogging may have to wait until we have WIFI during the next couple of months.  We set off and cleared Canadian customs, then had a very hot day motoring to Chambly, 45 26.78N 073 17.01W.  This trip included 4 swing bridges and 6 locks on the Chambly canal, all of which we were familiar with, having passed this way last year.  We tied up just above the 1,2,3 right in the town centre.  There are no shower facilities here, but we had sun showers.  However, they were way too hot for these temps, so Ron took one and re-filled it with cold water.  In the event, we took a mixture of hot and cold showers in swim suits in the cockpit.  Very refreshing.  Chambly has a lot of restaurants, so we took a walk and ate ashore in Les Grillardss des Forts – delicious.

Ship’s Log: 2697.3nm, Today's log: 25.5nm, Season total: 243.4nm.

Monday, July 8th.

We planned to have the mast lowered today in readiness for the trip down the Richelieu to Sorel and the St. Lawrence.  So we awoke early, moved onto a dock and removed the sails.  Teresa then headed for the landromat, and Ron continued removing the boom, disconnecting electrics and securing halyards from the mast.  By 1pm, we were both finished, had lunch and arranged for the mast to be lowered at 2:30.  The mast came down without issue and we were soon back on the dock, cleaning the boat and insulating the fridge.  By 7:30 we were ready to set off on bikes to provision for the upcoming days. 

Sunday, July 7th.

Since there just happened to be a Vermont Brewers brewery in St. Albans, we felt obliged to visit.  In fact, their opening hours to the public, were Wednesday and Thursday nights, and Sunday morning.  So we skipped church and went beer  tasting on Sunday morning instead.  They had some very nice beers, but it was weird drinking at that time.  We collected another stamp in our Beer Passports and returned back to the boat. 

As is happened, there was a triathlon going on that morning. – cycling, running and kayaking.  We arrived back to the bay in time to see the kayaks starting/ finishing their race.  St. Albans bay has a very nice park along the waterfront and it was filled with spectators and picnickers.  Unfortunately the water had a lot of weed and was not nice for swimming.

We set off, once again hoping for a nice sail, but the winds died again and the heavens opened once again.  So we motored in pouring rain to Rouses Point where we picked up a mooring at Gaines marina. 

Ship’s Log: 2671.8nm, Today's log: 23.8nm, Season total: 217.9nm.

Saturday, July 6th

Today we cut the cord to Burlington and set sail for St. Albans.  The winds were fair for the first couple of hours, but then died and we ended up motoring most of the way.  We passed through the Gut, 44 45.60N 73 18.18W, which was shallow and very weedy.  The boat got slower and slower and we discovered the props were fouled with weeds.  The bridge at the far end opens on the hour and half hour and we were trying to make the next opening.  So we motored on one engine in turn while lifting the other and clearing the weed by hand.  Not fun.  We just made the bridge, but the boat behind us must have wondered why we were only doing 2.5 knots!  On the way through e were told off for having our mainsail up – apparently not allowed although there was no mention of this in our guide book.  We cleared the props once again and set off for St. Albans Bay.  Last year, when the water levels were about 8 feet lower, we came in here and sailed through a thick carpet of algae.  Not so this year.  The chart showed a public dock at the end of St Albans bay.  As we approached where it was supposed to be, we saw a sign about 50 yards from shore, proclaiming that it was Dock “G”.  Just beyond were a couple of kids standing on the water!  So either they were related to you-know-who, or the dock was completely submerged.  We later found the latter to be true. 

We anchored a few hundred yards away from the dock, 44 48.49N 073 08.55W, unloaded our bikes and went for a ride into St. Albans.  Oh yes, I almost forgot, Teresa found some time to dome some trampoline Yoga!

Ship’s Log: 2648.0nm, Today's log: 27.3nm, Season total: 194.1nm.

Friday, July 5th.

The weather was looking good this morning, with a gentle breeze, so we went for a sail.  Even though Mary, Rick and Laura had all been on the boat before, none of them had ever seen the sails hoisted.  It was a perfect sailing day and we had a very pleasant trip.  We returned to anchor and drop Rick and Laura off.  Mary, Teresa and Ron rode the “Cycle the City” route, stopped at Splash on the waterfront in Burlington for lunch, and returned to the beach where we said farewell to Mary.  We had left most of our wet clothes hanging on the boat to dry during our ride and, of course, the boat had a rain shower while we were cycling so everything was wet again.  (We missed the shower though!). 

Ship’s Log: 2620.7nm, Today's log: 13.6nm, Season total: 166.8nm.

Thursday, July 4th

Rick arrived in the morning and parked his car in Burlington.  Ron went ashore to pick him up and brought him back to the boat in time for breakfast.  (The ladies were kindly waiting for us before starting to eat).  We then went for a great bike ride along the Colchester Point Causeway, crossed on the Bike Ferry and cycled to South Hero.  We stopped at a store for lunch and it poured down for about an hour.  So we had to have ice-creams until the rain stopped.  Actually, it had almost stopped, when we set off, but fooled us, because after about 15 minutes when we were in the open, it started again.  Oh well, it was warm rain.  We were pretty wet for the return bike ferry trip, but by the time we got back to the boat we were only damp.  It was hot now so we all took refreshing swims from the boat.  Ron & Rick then went off in the dinghy to catch dinner, but came back empty handed just as appetizers were being served.  We had hoped to visit the Vermont Symphony Orchestra in nearby Shelburne for an outdoor concert and picnic, but the weather still threatened rain so we called it off.  Instead, we had hamburgers and beer again. 

Wednesday,July 3rd

Raining again!  Putzed around on the boat.  Ron went ashore to fill his growler with Zero Gravity Beer.  Brought home some Summer Gruit – a very nice summer beer. 

Over the past few weeks, we had noticed a guy running a sailboat offering sailing trips.  We had been impressed to see him sailing on and off the dock without using the engine.  Then, a week or so ago we met a friend of Ron’s from Vermont Adaptive Ski and Sports – Gidon.  It turns out that Gidon was the guy sailing on and off the dock!  Since we would be leaving Burlington soon, we invited him over for a beer and he joined us in the afternoon. 

Laura and Mary coincidentally arrived together at around 5pm just after the rain stopped.    Unfortunately, Rick got tied up at work and couldn’t make it.  We settled our guests into the boat, had hamburgers and beer for dinner and watched a great firework display put on by the City of Burlington.  

Tuesday, July 2nd

Woke up to another gloomy, overcast day.  Our solar panels are not having much of a chance to charge our batteries, so we opted to go onto the dock at Burlington Boat house for a few hours and charge them up.  We also took the opportunity of making a couple of bike trips to Price Chopper to replenish our supplies. 

Returned to an anchorage at North Beach, where we hope to receive our guests and watch fireworks tomorrow night. 

Monday, July 1st

Woke up and were surprised to see a lot of boats anchored at North Beach, where we had anchored previously and where we were planning to anchor for July 3^rd/4^th.  We guessed, (incorrectly as it turned out), that they were claiming their spots to watch the July 3^rd fireworks.  So we up-anchored and re-anchored at North Beach to claim our spot.  We think, (hope), that we’ve got a pretty nice spot to watch the fireworks, so all we need now is some nice weather. 

Today, July 1^st, is Canada day, so we raised a few Canadian flags in honour of their day.  First, of course, is the Canadian flag, followed by the provincial flags that we have either visited or plan to visit – Quebec, Ontario, PEI, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. 

We cleaned and polished the boat in readiness for July 3^rd/4^th.  Then the rain started again so we “clocked out”, adjourned into the boat, where Teresa produced another marvelous concoction from leftovers – (we forgot to go shopping). 

Sunday, June 30th

It rained most of the night and the day dawned pretty dismally – no rain, but heavy cloud cover and a wet cockpit.  After a while the skies cleared, we dried off the cockpit and started to feel like venturing out.  We went ashore and rode the “Bike the City” route around Burlington.  Had a late lunch ashore in the Skinny Pancake, and just as we finished it started raining again.  So we dashed back to Quinita and managed to arrive without getting wet.  It turned out to be a false alarm however – the rain didn’t appear, the skies brightened and we left the mooring, refueled with gas and dropped anchor south of the breakwater for a change.  We went for a swim, Ron dived on the anchor and was pleased to see it firmly buried.  Later we dinghied ashore for a meal at the “Shanty” – it was OK but nothing special.  We watched the last of a nice sunset, then noticed some ominous, dark clouds so returned to Quinita, just before the next batch of rain. 

Saturday, June 29th

We moved our car back to Jay today.   Since the wedding last weekend, it has been in a parking lot in Burlington, however, next week we’ll start our trip north to the St. Lawrence, Quebec City, Saguenay River, Gaspe Peninsula and Prince Edward Island. So we rented a car, drove both to Jay and drove the rental car back.  About half an hour before we got back to Burlington the heavens opened and it hissed down.  We got back to the dinghy, which was full of water, during a slight reprieve from the rain.  Ron emptied the dinghy and Teresa transferred the laundry we had done while at home to contractor bags, in case the rain started again.  We got back to Quinita with only a showering of rain.  Ron returned to the dock, and drove the rental car back.  On the way back, (by bike), the heavens opened again and Ron got thoroughly soaked.  Fortunately, it was warm rain, and by the time he got back to Quinita, Teresa has a delicious turkey stir fry waiting.