Monday June 18 is Day 25 and we are at the marina in Malletts Bay, Vermont, with the intention firstly of avoiding a series of thunderstorms, and then perhaps have the attentions of a mechanic for an hour during the stay. The former we had in spades, with the skies opening up around us, torrential rain, and rolling thunder most of the day and well into the night. It felt good to be tied to a dock in such a storm and not be at anchor with all that lighting around.
Storm’s a-comingTwelve hours of waves of rainS works on the plans while the rain pelts down
As we were drying out the next day, Will the mechanic arrived first thing and we sorted a mysterious oil leak – a small oil line to the pressure gauge – and some other small stuff.
Open the hatches again. Will the mechanic looked after the mysterious oil leak
Sunday evening (June 10) and we dine at a funky bistro in St. Jean-sur-Richelieu and enjoy a pleasant walk back to the boat as the evening draws in.
A classic American bar in the French bistroThe railway tracks across the canalNo, they’re not guns……they’re the marker buoys maintained by the Coast Guard by such ships as theseSt Jean-sur-Richelieu: the SE wall
Day 7, Thursday May 31, and we dock at Port de Plaisance Lachine, an exceedingly pretty and pleasing marina, protected and surrounded by parks and inlets. The twin-spired church clock rang charmingly and frequently, but thankfully their the batteries seemed to run out overnight. We stayed for three nights to stock up (and pump out) and have Stephan and Diane over for smoked trout and goats cheese, red onion, capers and lemon, fresh baguette and white wine, all of which saw us through Saturday afternoon.
The Port de Plaisance LachineA hot day in LachineTrue North III in the posh section of the marina where the big boats areWe now fly the Fleur-de-Lys courtesy flagM in her jazzy pants
The morning of Friday May 25 and at our marina master mechanic Dave P finishes the last few details on the boat, enabling us to start up the engines at 10:10.
The planning has been going on all winter
The plan for the 3 month summer voyage consists of several sections: down the St Lawrence river from Loyalist Cove to Montreal to Sorel, then a diversion southwards on the Richelieu River and Chambly Canal. Here we would enter the States and Lake Champlain, moving south perhaps as far as Fort Ticonderoga, anchoring a lot, then back north again to Canada and down the Richelieu and Chambly again to rejoin the St Lawrence at Sorel. That would be about 600 miles to that point.
Heading down river (NE) again, Quebec City is another 120 miles away, where we will pause for a while. If we decide to attempt the trip to Tadoussac and The Saguenay, that will be another 380 miles there and back to Quebec City, including a week in the fjord. Weather and tides will be the deciders here since the waters of the Atlantic come up river as far as Trois Rivieres, affecting navigation greatly.
Then the return from Quebec City to Montreal to the Ottawa River and the Rideau Canal from Ottawa to Kingston. In all, the trip would be 1500 or so miles.
The first step
Since every journey starts with a single step, ours starts on Day One with a 30 mile cruise from Loyalist Cove to the Thousand Islands, where we dock – rather messily, I’m afraid, what with it being the first time this year, and with the wind and all – at McDonald Island, one of the Parks Canada islands. It’s good to be back in these beautiful, familiar waters, and arriving so early in the season, with that late start due to April weather, means the islands are virtually empty, which is good for us.
Our first dockage of the season – McDonald Island (and yes, there used to be a farm – a pig farm – there)The weather is changeable
We move to Gananoque Marina for a stop to provision in town, filling a taxi with food, drink and assorted items.
Gananoque Marina as storm clouds passThe tour boats are out, albeit with very sparse custom
