Brockville ON July 23, 2015

Today we head for Brockville. It appears to be 15 miles East. We have never gone this far down the St. Lawrence so it should be really interesting. We'll pass Singer Castle on the way, and pass through the Brockville Narrows where we could get up close and personal to a freighter. We plan to pull anchor at 9:00

Jim sent me a real nice picture of Annie at Pine Island. It was a nice surprise to start the day.

Julian wrote and said he though the fish was a Muskie, a  cousin of Northern Pike. I watched a You Tube video of how to clean a Muskie and I believe he is correct. The video made it look easy to clean one, naturally. It did point out that the tail section of the fish has no bones in it, so it was a real easy fillet. Wish I had know that then. But, we had no internet at Pine Island. 

I have not mentioned it yet, but the water in the Thousand Islands is so clear and beautiful. Its easy to see 8-10' down, and we have even been able to see our anchor at times. It's too bad we can't bring some back to Lake Erie. 

Jim said that he will likely speed back home once we get into Lake Erie. I told him that's what I thought he would do, and that I had discussed it with two people before we even left Vermilion. He seemed surprised at that. Buffalo is the natural point on this cruise for him to split if he wanted to get home early, which I figured he would do. Actually, I am really proud of him and Jola for doing this cruise. It was a big commitment for them. They have never cruised this long, and they are making out very well and having a very good time. He will take the south shore home, and we will take the Canadian shore. We love the Canadian ports on Lake Erie. Kerry's sister, Marty, will be with us then.

We left Grenadier island at 9:00 after a dingy switch, performed well by Kerry and Jim. Jim wanted to exercise his diesel on this trip so Annie got to tow the Debbie K. The anchor had almost no weeds when we pulled it up which was a real pleasant surprise for a change.

Going up the St. Lawrence we were right on the border all the way. Kerry took the opportunity with the good cell connection to talk to several people including Marty and Anne. We followed the main shipping channel so it was an easy navigation day.

The trip to Brockville took just a little over 2 hours and covered 16 miles. We were helped by a strong current that pushed us along at 10.5 knots in some places. It will be much slower on the return trip. I noticed this warning on my chart which seems to make good sense. I had never seen it before. 

I was able to talk with Jim when we were 9 miles apart, so his new antenna has really improved his reception. He was happy to know that too. Along the way we passed Singer Castle, built by the Singer Sewing Machine family. We may stop for a tour on the way back.

It is beautiful in Brockville. Perfect weather also adds to the charm. The marina is nice, clean and convenient to downtown. Security is lacking though, as you can see this shady fellow reaching through the combination locked gate to open it from the inside.

We did Chinese for lunch, at the New York Restaurant of all places. It was very good and the portions were huge. We each brought 1/2 of our dinners home for another meal. There were at least 3 Chinese restaurants in their downtown. Jola insisted that Jim visit the LCBO to buy rum and wine. He had been resisting because the price of alcohol in Canada is very high, and he hoped to buy it in the US. When Jola said don't come back to the boat without rum and wine, he knew his time had run out. Kerry and I bought a new electric fly swatter. We are ready for the mosquitoes now!

There was a huge sailboat race going on from the BYC with at least 40-50 boats participating. We watched a lot of it and on some tacks the boats came really close to the shore. It is challenging to sail upwind in a unfavorable current of 2 knots, although it is quite fast downwind! Since the marina docks are just feet from the public sidewalk we both put our sun screens on the windows for a little extra privacy. The Princess and Duchess have decreed that they want to stay another day here. They are having fun and may do a pedi/manicure outing. 

We bought fuel today, the first time since Kingston. I only needed 27.6 gallons, which worked out to 2.2 gallons per hour, which includes running the generator daily. Of course our average speed in the Islands is lower than in the open lake, and also we spent a lot of time idling the engine while we anchor and later clean seaweed off our anchor. We have traveled 468 miles to date. This is as far east as we will go so all miles from now on will be bringing us closer to home. We estimated 1000 miles for the entire trip, which looks to be pretty close. 

I had a disagreement with the fuel attendant in converting gallons to liters. He said it was 4.5 liters per gallon. I disagreed. Any man who has stood at a American Standard urinal knows that is is 3.8 liters or 1 gallon per flush! For the record, Google says the exact amount is 3.785.

Kerry having a discussion with the young lady fuel dock attendant.