Belleville ON July 7, 2015

Jim and I were up first, probably about 6:15. I invited myself over for coffee. I had been listening to Fox News on the XM radio. I turned it on at 5:00, although I thought it was 6:00, and that I was actually sleeping in. Jola was up shortly afterwards, and Kerry was awake when I went back to Annie to refill my coffee. She made a cup of tea and the four of us sat out and enjoyed the morning.

My transmission went into gear properly today. Checking it is now on my pre-flight checklist. We followed a Ontario Research ship out of the harbor, and were surprised to find fog.

The fog got really thick so for the first time this voyage I turned on the radar. The air was so wet that you could see clouds of mist streaming by the windows. My hailer has a fog horn built into it. I tried to get it to blow, but was not able to do so. The public address function seemed to work so I will have to investigate this further. Wearing polarized sunglasses cut the glare and improved visibility a bit.

I was not able to reach Jim on the radio, so I called him on the phone to tell him about the fog. He was just leaving the harbor, about 45 minutes after we left. I tried him again on the radio and again no response. He said he could not hear me calling, even though we were only 5 miles apart. We pretty much have determined that Jim's antenna is the problem with his reception, as it is a stubby little thing intended for just coastal cruising. He called shortly later on the radio and said his volume was too low and he just could not hear the transmission. Still, his range is really short and I have been encouraging him to get a better antenna. Sometime one of us could need help and the failure to communicate could be a problem.

My radar worked really well now that I have learned to adjust the gain. Last year I left it on auto and I could not "see" boats near me. Today, I saw a tiny little fishing boat ahead of me. I slowed down and sounded the horn until he came into view less than 50 yards to our side. They waved as we went by.

The skies were clear as we entered the Bay of Quinte. We had a very pleasant journey into the Bay and through the Murray Canal.

As you pass one of two bridges, the bridge tender sticks out a basket for the toll, which is $5.

The weather forecast is not good - rain and thunderstorms, some severe. Winds up to 50 kilometers. While that's only 30 knots, it still sounds frightening. First they were to be southwest, then northeast. We could not find any anchorages that suited both conditions, so we decided to pull into Belleville Ontario, which was what our original schedule called for. Neither of us has anchored our new boats in high winds and this did not seem to be the situation to try it.

Kerry is so good about keeping Annie clean. Here I see her mopping the upper deck as I am returning from registering at the marina office. 

We started walking into town, but it was too far, so we returned. Kerry did laundry and Jola rested her swollen ankle (she fill into the bilge at Hanlan's Point). Jim and I got bikes from the marina and rode into town to see the sights. Dinner is on our own boats tonight, and we are off to Picton tomorrow, for two nights. So far no rain and the winds have diminished a bit, but it is getting very ominous looking now.

I have started growing a beard, my standard little white captain's cruising beard. The princess just said that the captain with the little white beard has to make dinner tonight. Bye!