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. 

Friday June 28th

Thank you Brett, for your contributions as guest blogger.  Unfortunately we’re back to Ron with his far less poetic renditions. 

It poured down all night long and most of the morning.  So we developed a dose of lazyitus, and read in bed until about 10am.  We have a phone app that monitors whether the anchor’s dragging, (My Anchor Watch Pro), which is pretty good.  However GPS is not an exact science and sometimes, for example last night, we get false alarms.  So Ron dived on the anchor just out of curiosity.  Brrr, it seemed a lot colder today than yesterday.  Anyway, the anchor was deeply buried which is just how it should be.  Treated ourselves to Ham ‘n Eggs for brunch, the rain stopped and the sun came out.  We decided to go into the Burlington dock to replenish water, recharge the batteries etc.  The wind was blowing hard though, and Ron made a pretty poor job of docking the boat.  No damage but the dockhands had a workout.  We went for a short bike ride while the sun was still shining, and then returned to North Beach to anchor. 

Our friends Laura and Rick came in to Burlington for the evening, so we dinghied in to the beach and walked back to Burlington to meet up with them.  We went for another short bike ride and then for a delicious and very good value Nepalese meal.  Yum.  We walked back along the bike path having forgotten a flashlight.  No worries, the fireflies showed us the way.  A beautiful walk.  Suddenly, Ron spotted a larger white object moving along the edge of the path about 4 feet away.  Just in time the word “Skunk” popped into his head and he walked to the other side of the path, where Teresa had already taken refuge.  Phew, a close shave.  We got back to the beach, jumped into the dinghy and rowed back to Quinita.  Just as we arrived, it started raining.  Wow, twice lucky in one night. 

Thursday June 27th

I opened my eyes Thursday morning to bright sunshine coming in the porthole of our berth. That was a good sign, as was the gentle breeze. The previous evening Ron and I had put up the snap-on and velcro fastened mosquito net he and Teresa had fashioned to enclose the cockpit, so the cabin doors had been open all night to the cool lake winds. It was a beautiful morning in Converse Bay. After breakfast Ron hauled the anchor and Teresa motored out of the bay to the middle of the lake where Ron unfurled the "screecher" sail, which he thought was our best bet given the wind conditions for our sail up the lake to Burlington. 

We found some nice wind and got the boat speed up to over 6 knots for a while. It was sunny and in the 80s, a classic summer day. I got in a lot of time at the helm, and Ron provided a steady stream of tips and advice, and I feel like I improved a bit over the previous day, though I'm sure the favorable wind conditions helped. At the very least I learned a lot of sailing terms in theory, if not yet in practice! Teresa put out a toothsome lunch in the salon and Ron and I switched off at the helm while the other person ate inside.

As serendipity would have it, the winds did die almost completely for a half hour or so, a couple of miles south of Burlington, just when the day was really heating up and we were really starting to feel the sun. Since we were at a dead stop, we took advantage of the lull for a delightful swim break, way out in the middle of the lake, easily a mile from either shore, in about 150 feet of water. There were no other boats around and it was just magical to be floating on your back out there in the sunshine and cool, clear, water. Soon afterward the wind picked up again and we resumed our journey northward feeling quite refreshed.

Eventually the tallest church steeple in downtown Burlington was visible in the distance, and the rest of the city soon swung into view. After we lowered the sails and motored up close to the harbor entrance I relinquished the helm to the real sailors and sat up on the bow with Robyn to enjoy the view as we came in to the mooring area. Our wonderful jaunt on Quinita with Ron and Teresa was coming to an end. They brought us to the dock on the dinghy about 4 p.m. and we said goodbye. After a few days of sailing on a beautiful lake with our good friends, the prospect of a four hour car ride down the interstate to Massachusetts seemed so anti-climatic and prosaic!

Ron here.  Thanks Brett!  Teresa and I were surprised to see this boat on our way back to our anchorage: 

Ship’s Log: 2607.1nm, Today's log: 11.5nm, Season total: 153.2nm.