Port Credit June 30, 2015

The day started with the promise of partly sunny skies. But as time has marched on it has gotten cloudier and colder. I have gone from shorts and a t-shirt to jeans, sweater and sweatshirt. Tomorrow promises to be better.

Port Credit is a lovely little town. Very cosmopolitan, like a little Toronto. Lots of ethnic people and interesting mixes of ethnicity. Overall the people are very handsome. Visit www.portcredit.com to see more of the city. We have seen many very expensive cars so there must be some money here too.

We have made a couple trips to the marine store today. I got some reusable plastic ties and Kerry got a cute little dish strainer to hold our just washed dishes. It drains directly into the sink. Jim bought a swivel for his anchor because he noticed his chain twisting when he pulled his anchor up. Anne gave me one as a birthday present last year.

Jim installing his anchor swivel, seen on the right side of the deck

He also got a little doo-dad that makes a cleat in a dock between the boards when there is not one there to tie off. I used mine at Port Dalhousie and he saw the advantage to having one.

The big project today was Jim sealing his cockpit drain. The guard over the scupper leaked, so water bypassed the drain hose and went directly into the bilge. Will it work? Will my hatch leak again? Where is the rain when we need it? Jim also bought a fishing license for Ontario which cost about $65 Canadian. He hesitated about buying one at first. Jola "encouraged" him to get one and I told him to picture me eating fish and him not. So he finally did get it.

I put my new bumper into service. The older one is retired for now. I sat on it and squeezed it flat for storage until I get back home.

Jola and Kerry made 4 little pizzas for lunch and they were delicious. We had chicken and alfredo sauce and pepperoni and tomato sauce. We used our oven for the first time today. It worked great. Later, we both spent a fair amount of time using metal cleaner and polish on it to get it really shiny. I had the cleaner out for another project and all of a sudden we were cleaning the oven.

Dinner was Italian, at Papa Giuseppe's. We had the special which was shrimp and scallops in pasta and other sauces. It was really good. We have eaten out 2 days in a row, so we are ready to stay in for a while.

We walked down the channel walk after dinner. We looked at all the debris floating in the water and imagined what we could use if we were on the show Naked and Afraid. There was a hose, some water bottles and various flip flops and sandals that would be very useful. Then we spotted a flag on a teak pole floating in the water. It looked like something we should  try to salvage. But how? Kerry saw a long pole with a two sided hook that was to be used to snag someone who fell in the water. We could use it. But there was a wrought iron fence in the way and the hook would not fit through it. I did not know how to get it.

Then Kerry proved she was as smart as a New Caldonia crow. She suggested that I turn the pole around and use the skinny end to snag the flag. It worked! I felt like the French poodle. Below is a picture of Kerry, the flag we retrieved, and the pole used for the salvage.

Canada Day is tomorrow. Their is a parade at 10:00 and festivities all day. There is a big "Paint the Town Red" promotion going on, plus fireworks and many other activities. The weather is forecast to be good too, even as fog moved in at the end of the day. Should be a fun day.

Port Credit June 29, 2015

It was so nice to see sun coming through our round window port when we awoke this morning - yea! It has been a long 2 days of cold and rain. Jim came over for coffee while the mates slept in. They didn't sleep too long as Annie set sail at 7:50 for Port Credit. The chart plotter shows our course across Lake Ontario.

We arrived at 10:50, so the 25 mile trip took us 3 hours with an average speed of 8.5 knots. The seas were flat and for the first time we did not hit any bugs! The break wall to the harbor is an old sunken freighter. They do that a lot in Canada.

We bought fuel when we arrived and got a pumpout. Fuel is by the liter in Canada and we took 182 liters, or about 47 gallons. I don't think he completely filled the tank cause my consumption was only 2.5 gallons per hour. My yardstick told me I should have needed about 60 gallons.

Port Credit is a lovely port and we are in a nice marina. Kerry hit the laundry as soon as we arrived. She and Jola are sharing the one washer and dryer and knocking off multiple loads.

Jim and I visited the marine store as soon as we could. I decided to replace my fender as a new 15" one $41 Canadian and a repair kit was $28. I'll try to borrow a repair kit at home for the damaged 17" bumper. I also bought some chain and rode for my spare anchor.

The next order of business was to get out Captain Tolley's Creeping Crack Cure and seal up all the screw holes and fittings around the front hatch. The seal around the deck also looks suspicious. So, if I still have a leak I will use some white plastic tape to cover the area between the hatch and the deck.

I was really happy to see that the patch Jim and I made to my holding tank seems to be successful. The red light warning me that the tank was nearly full came on today for the first time. Previously the tanks would leak in the bilge when it got full. Today, no leak and the warning light came on. That pumpout was really timely!

Jim is unable to plug in here. They only have 2 docks with 50 amp power and he did not want one of them. He can use 2 30 amp plugs with his adapter, but they only have one 30 amp plug per dock, so none are available. He is going to plug his portable battery charger into Annie and keep his batteries up that way. He will run his boat on the inverter while here.

The only excitement so far today was when Kerry stepped on a Tide soap laundry pod on Annie's floor and shot soap all over. Don't ask how that happened. So far the internet is working well. I hope I can catch up with picture posting this evening. Now its sunny and warm, and we are going exploring.

Cocktails were on Annie. We enjoyed some spicy almonds that Anne gave me for Father's Day, plus chips, trail mix and salmon. Dinner was fish and chips at an Irish Pub called The Brogue Inn. It was very good. Tomorrow night we will be doing Italian.

We decided to stay another night here. There seemed to be no reason to leave in the middle of the Canada Day celebration, so we will stay for fireworks and all the other festivities taking place on Wednesday. We had 4 days planned for Toronto so now it will just be three.

Port Dalhousie June 28, 2015

I popped out of bed hoping to see a better weather day ahead. Instead I saw the same gray skies, the flags standing at attention and a fine mist hitting the windows. The mist now has been replaced by a hard, steady rain. What a miserable weather pattern. Certainly not what I had in mind when I planned this trip. We are supposed to get a brief bit of sunny weather tomorrow afternoon. The winds are forecast to be moderate so we should be able to make a break from here. We really hope we can go out today, as it would be a shame to not even get to town while we have been here 3 nights.

Liberty and Annie at Port Dalhousie

Jim and I decided to take turns making reservations so we split the Canadian minutes used on our plans. He will call Bronte and I will call Port Credit. We are both excited about visiting the huge marine store at Port Credit. I want to get a dingy patch kit to put over my bicycle patches, which so far are holding. But if the kit is expensive I will have to think about just replacing the bumper instead.

It's a bit later in the afternoon now. The rain has stopped, finally. We are so fortunate we moved our trip down the Welland to Friday. I really don't think we would have made it Saturday. With the rain and cold and and the 10 hour day we would have been so fatigued. Hypothermia could have been an issue, not to mention the wet decks being dangerous. We made a good decision!

The wind is really strong. Jim was sitting on Annie and saw how much pressure his Canadian courtesy flag was putting on his wifi antenna, so he climbed up on the cabin top in the rain to remove it. Photo Op!

We did get a nice walk downtown. Kerry found a tea shop that was going out of business. They had a few tea pots left but nothing she liked. She did buy napkins for .20 and some fancy napkin rings. She justifies her purchases with the thought that everything is 20% off!  Have I created a monster?

There was a cute little tug in the harbor parking lot. We didn't tell Annie because the tug was made of steel, and you know how they can rust . . .

We met a fellow walking his dog who commented on my Ohio State coat. He had watched the playoffs and remarked about the amazing Cardale Jones story. We taught him the OH-IO cheer.

We were not able to get confirmed dockage at Bronte, so we made change #45 to our schedule and will stay in Port Credit for the next two nights. That's a great place so spending two nights there will be no problem. This marina, however, has seen better days. The main dock is closed, a victim of ice damage it appears. The office is not open today, the wifi is suspect, and maintenance appears to be lacking. The bathrooms and showers are neat and clean though, so it could be worse.

The marina is home to a pair of swans who came by to beg food. They were very successful.

Jola invited us over to share their last bottle of Liberty wine. Debbie, their daughter had given them a case of wine that had their boat transom logo "Liberty" as the label. She had some nice appetizers for us. Later they came to Annie and we had pasta and Waldorf salad, with jug wine, of course! We watched a bit of television that proved the New Caldonia Crow is smarter than a French Poodle dog. I was cheering for the dog, the the bird really kicked butt.

Port Dalhousie June 27, 2015

It wasn't raining when I arose. The forecast is for gale winds starting at 3:00 PM, and inches of rain. It did start raining about 10:30 AM and has not stopped. The forecast is not good for tomorrow either, so it looks like we will be here tonight and tomorrow night for sure. Hopefully we can split Monday for Bronte, which would be what we planned originally.

We did get some good financial news today. First, I was able to talk the marina manager into not charging us last night since we got in so late, and we agreed to stay for 2 additional nights. Second, I discovered everything is on sale here. If you pay in cash the merchants treat the American dollar on par with the Canadian. But if you charge it, the exchange rate is 81%. Capital One emails me every time there is an international charge on my account. So I learned that the $240 Welland Transit only cost $194.98 in American money. Yea! So diesel, instead of being $1.30 per liter ($5.20 per gallon) will actually be about $4.21 per gallon - much better!

Kerry made us a nice chicken salad for lunch. She really enjoys having time to prepare food that is tasty and loves to work on the presentation as well.

Today is Jola's birthday. Kerry invited her and Jim over for a Birthday Tea. She has the menus planned as clam chowder, shrimp on lemon rounds, and other savory delights. Speaking of tea, can you believe Kerry forgot her tea pot? We visit each Goodwill and thrift shop now, searching for the perfect pot.

Our forward hatch is still leaking over Kerry's pillow. My screw tightening did not work. More needs to be done, but I'll have to wait for dry weather. I am going to try my Captain Tolley's Creeping Crack Cure next to seal wound fittings and screws. Nothing is obvious about where the leak is occurring. Otherwise, every thing on Annie is working well. We have discovered that taping a garbage bag to the ceiling under the hatch is more effective than catching the drips with a bowl on the mattress.

The internet here is too slow to load pictures. Actually I am lucky to have it at all. Jim's wifi extender can pick up the weak marina wifi and I am using his network on my boat. I have some nice pictures to post  both for yesterday and today, but will have to do it another time. Look back later if you want to see them.

Port Dalhousie June 26, 2015

Knowing it was going to be a big day, I was up at 5:20 in anticipation of our 7:00 departure for the Welland waiting area. Checking the weather was the first priority. "Gale warning in effect", was the first thing I heard. Oh No! Fortunately it was for Saturday. Winds NE at 15 today, 20 tonight  and 35 tomorrow. I was so glad we moved our trip up one day!

We left for the Colborne City Docks a little early, and arrived there at 7:00. We shared the Welland with some big friends.

You never know how long the wait will be. I bought my pass, ($240 this time, compared to $200 in 2011) Seaway Welland said it would be 10:00 or 11:00 before we could leave. It turned out to be 1:45. What a long wait.

Don adjusting his 4x4 canal fender

One of the things I did when I was up so early was to sharpen my knives. A safety precaution is to have a sharp knife handy when handling the Welland ropes, so that they can be cut should they become caught. Fortunately they were not needed.

Jim got turned around in the first lock! The wind caught his bow and all of a sudden he was coming back at us as we were entering. It was really funny. Some good boat handling on his part saved the fiberglass. The eyes of the lock hands got really big during his maneuver. As he went by I shouted, “Jimbo, Lake Ontario is the other way!”

It turned out to be the longest trip through the Welland for us. We did not clear the last lock until 9:45 PM. We arrived at Port Dalhousie in the dark at 10:15, exhausted and in need of a big rum and tonic. Several times in the trip we had to wait for freighters to pass. We really had no problems in the transit. James was a big help and we were so glad he was there. Jim and I rafted in the locks so all 5 of us were available to assist the boat on the wall. Since Annie is better suited for locking by design, I took the port locks which meant I had five on the wall, while Jim just had two (The first lock is just a leveling lock, and boats do not tie up). Following are some random shots from our transit.

We used our spotlight for the first time last night. It has a remote control so Kerry stood on the foredeck as we entered the marina and tried to light our way for us. It really worked well and we were quite glad we had it. The weather held for us and we were able to dock with almost no wind which was a relief. We all agreed none of like motoring at night, but the lights of Toronto on the horizon were pretty spectacular. The total trip was 26.9 miles. 

The following pictures of the Welland Transit were provided by James Dudt and his family - thanks!

Port Colborne, Ontario June 25, 2015

It's early as I write this. The Princess and Duchess suggested a schedule change last night that made a lot of sense. The strong east winds and seas predicted yesterday for today have been canceled. It looks to be good traveling today and tomorrow. Saturday is forecast to be rainy and cold. We had planned to go through the Welland on Saturday. Instead, we are going to go to Port Colborne today and through the Welland tomorrow with the good weather. This will also put us one day ahead of schedule.

Annie's course across lake Erie from Erie to Port Colborne

One funny story from yesterday. We arrived at the anchorage and Jim turns on his mighty wi-fi antenna to pick up an unsecured network. He finds a really strong one. I turn on my computer and see his Liberty wi-fi network and ask if I can connect to it. Sure he says, but he is having some trouble actually getting on the internet. I can't connect to the internet on his wi-fi either. So, I ask what network he is connected to. I said it's not Chromecast 5774 is it? Well, it was. Chromecast 5774 is my TV! It doesn't go anywhere, but just lets you cast your computer screen to the TV. So, he was connected to my TV and I was connected to him, a perfect circle - with no internet access!

The trip to Port Colborne was very pleasant. Again, almost no wind and very small waves. I thought that if we had Excalibur we would still have motored the entire way down the lake. We pulled up anchor at 7:00 and arrived at Port Colborne at 2:00. It was a 56.9 mile trip with an average speed of 8.6 knots. There were no weeds on the anchor when it came up, just some mud that we washed off as it came up. I had my machete ready to whack some weeds, but I will have to wait until later.

Smooth waters on Lake Erie

Jim could be having a little trouble with radio reception. He seems to be having trouble receiving transmissions over 5 miles away. We are trying to determine if this is an issue. 

I am a lucky captain. As we were steaming along I heard a squeal from Kerry in the main salon. She just shouted out, "I love our boat!" It did not take her long to get in full power boat cruise mode, as shown below.

The staff at Sugaloaf Marina were most accommodating, and offered us a shuttle to town. We went to the bike shop where I bought a tube patch kit for my bumper and to the grocery. We had dinner at the marina restaurant where we were joined by a friend of Jim's who he works with, named James. James family lives here in Canada and he is riding with us through the Welland. After dinner I dug out my canal fenders and patched my bumper. I wondered if it would hold air. We will see.