Upon arrival in Gananoque, we called to check in to Canada for approximately 60 days with a simple phone call, exchange of passport and boat documentation number, etc. Easy process with a telephone right at the marina. They issue a number which you write down and display on the boat side window. Weaving our way through the Thousand Islands.
We washed all the green poop from the mayflies, and the mayflies, off the boat on Friday and just settled in to our new marina. Maybe cleaning salt off the boat is easier...once it is washed off it doesn't come back until you travel again! Here is another futile attempt to clean them off without the slime. Didn't work either, just a good scrubbing with a brush works....
Saturday we walked to the grocery store and a classic car show downtown before coming back to the boat for the races. Summer is starting!
The story from the other side of the border.
Quite an operation to launch all the race boats for the different classes and heats.
All hydroplane photos are right off the back of our boat, we had a front row seat, albeit noisy. We were glad to have ear plugs!
After the races on Saturday, we launched the dinghy and went exploring in the Thousand Islands. We wish the weather would have been forecasted a bit better for the next few days because anchoring out here and doing more dinghy exploring would have been fun. This is an absolutely wonderful boating area. There are actually 1864 islands and the definition of an island it that it has to be above water 365 days a year and have at least one tree on it. So there are some pretty small islands!
Sunday morning Jeff and Ann Timmons, the Harbor Hosts from Hill Island rode over on their Harley to make sure we were well taken care of. We travelled with them on the Mississippi back in the Fall of 2015 as they were doing their Loop. It was so nice of them to come over to see us and to make all the kind offers of transportation, a slip, etc. Thanks for being such gracious Harbor Hosts Jeff and Ann! It was a bit difficult visiting with them aboard when all the noise from the racers started however...
The hydroplane races had four classes from a 2.5L engine size which did about 90MPH or so up to the Grand Prix class sporting 1500+HP and a 180mph straightaway speed. It was pretty incredible to watch. In the first run of the GP class one of the boats caught fire. No injuries but the cowling over the engine was burned off. I think they burn methanol or something based on the odor as they flew by. The 350CID class was cool with the ole rumble of a small block Chevy hopped up with open headers, etc.
A couple video clips
and from Julie's inside vantage point (still loud!!!):
Monday turned cold and rainy, in fact it started raining just after the hydro races were completed on Sunday. We got a nice walk in to go to the grocery store between rain showers. Winds are gusting to 22 knots or so...cold. So we signed up another day and will get moving toward Kingston ON Tuesday.
Tuesday we left for Kingston without having contacted the marina. They did call us back as we were travelling toward them, only to inform us they only had "no services" slips available for $1.60 a foot. No water, electric, gates and short finger piers. Not a good use of funds. The other marina in town was through a bridge that we would have to wait 1 hour and 45 minutes to open. A marina in Portsmouth was too far to walk back to Kingston, and had a penitentiary right next to it
so we decided to press on and find an anchorage.
On the way we passed between these islands, probably a 200 yard wide area, and it was 300 feet deep between them!
We found a wonderful spot on the peninsula near Picton, Prinyer's Cove, which was well protected from the SW winds. There were lots of moorings (most still empty as it is early in the season here) but we found a nice spot in 22 feet of water to drop the hook. We opened the engine hatch to allow the engine room heat to heat up the salon a bit as it was only in the 50s outside. Rich K was right, we should have stayed farther south! Thanks for the call too Rich. And to all our friends, we are retired so please call any time as we will answer unless in a lock, docking or negotiating a tough area. Oh, and please respect Looper midnight (about 9 PM). We have no work schedule!
Yes, we ran the generator later to cook and heat too but we normally don't run it when underway as the inverter runs most everything we need. And it was the quietest anchorage we have had in a long while. Very nice evening.
Wednesday we set out for Trenton and the Port Trent Marina in the rain. The rain stopped and the clouds were reflecting in the water.
What a great stop. Wonderful marina. Only a couple years old, floating docks, free laundry (including detergent), snack bar on site, boater's lounge and a city with many stores and shops nearby. One of the nicest marinas we have stayed at during our entire going on three years. Ranks up there with River Dunes, Ortega Landing, Longboat Key Club Moorings (although no pool). But other than that, every aspect of the facility is on par with these other resort marinas. Make this one of your stops for sure if you are travelling this way.
As we were eating lunch on Thursday, two Looper boats pulled in. John and Sheena (Next Act) and Michael and Tammi (Ned Pepper) who are just going Gold here at Trenton!! They will both be heading up the Trent Severn too. I guess we are officially in the migration now.
Next up is the Trent Severn Waterway, 240 miles and 44 locks. We are targeting about 25 days to do this section, about 2 times the number of travel days. Remember, our average day is about 45 miles and with all the locks we figure about half of that. Not a direct route as you can see below...
We may not be posting much as internet availability will be somewhat limited in the next few weeks, but we will post as we are able....thanks for following.
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