Brockville ON July 25, 2015

We always visit the local farmer's market with the same result. Today is a farm market day in Brockville, and after Kerry finished her laundry off we went. The same result is that we never but any food. Today we bought a fish, it was already cleaned, and varnished too. It is a carved fish. We do buy other things too, like hand painted martini glasses, or wood birds. Here is today's "catch". It's a large mouth bass. The second picture shows the carver, Gary Campbell. Kerry will find a nice place in Annie for our yet unnamed fish.

One good thing is that she gave herself a money saving pedi/manicure while waiting for the laundry to finish.

Another relaxing day in Brockville. I cleaned the water strainers on the engine and air conditioners, and added some coolant to the engine. The steering system was full of hydraulic fluid. It is forecast to rain late this afternoon, so we will bike to the grocery soon.

I failed to mention that yesterday was "National Free the Worms Day" in Brockville. We took our remaining night crawlers and gave them their freedom under some big shrubs. They made it through the fishing part of the voyage. I could still do some fishing with lures. Strangely though, I almost like fishing better when I did not have to worry about catching anything! It would be different if my friend from Florida, Warren, was here. He is a great fisherman, but even more important, is that he does not mind cleaning or cooking fish. The world needs more Warrens!

I am all excited about the news that Braxton Miller has moved to wide receiver for the Buckeyes. He is such a great runner and will be very tough after making a catch. I also saw that the Buckeyes now have the number one rated recruiting class for 2016. O-H  I-O! I recently learned I have tickets for the OSU - Penn State game. Go Bucks! 

Our new fish now has a name! Kerry's mental juices started to flow as the rum and tonics started to flow. Are you ready? Our new fish is Sebastian! Get it - Sea bass tian. She is the clever one! OK. If you think that is bad, and you know Jim, call him and ask him to give you his moose call. 

We had cocktails with Jim and Jola. We stayed on the boat and had soup for dinner. They dressed and went out. Look at this couple dressed to the nines. Now Kerry just said we have to dress when we go out to dinner . . . really?

Tomorrow we head back toward Alexandria Bay, and ultimately, Vermilion. We will anchor tomorrow night, visit Alexandria Bay on Monday, anchor on Tuesday, and go to Clayton on Wednesday. 

Brockville ON July 24, 2015

We did decide to stay an additional night in Brockville. Its pleasant here and a great place to chill. Kerry and Jola are still planning a pedi/manicure day. We took a nice bike ride along the Brock Trail which runs through the town for about 5km. It's a beautiful, sunny day. Here is Kerry on the trail in front of the entrance to Brockville Harbor.

The BYC appears to be a very active club. Sailing camp was in full swing.

I learned that it is possible to dock on the wall coming into the harbor, instead of at a dock. The advantage would be that you could step off the boat right into a park, kind of like Hanlan's Point in Toronto. The big disadvantage is that people are walking right next to your boat. We put up Annie's sun screens to give us a bit more privacy.

You can see that I also put out my red fenders in case anyone tries to dock next to me. The wind is usually strong in the afternoons and the likelihood that they would blow into us is really high. Normally I am "not allowed" to use them because Kerry wants to keep them looking nice :-), so its just on special occasions they get used

I still can't get over the exchange rate here. Our $30.50 lunch yesterday was only charged at $20.49 in US. Wow! Kerry and Jola went shopping this afternoon. Every time she bought something I got an email from Capital One saying an international purchase had been made on my account. My phone got hot! 

I didn't understand why she bought something at the Beer Store. We have plenty of American Beer on board. Then she came walking home carrying a six pack of Stella, our favorite beer. We were having Don's Fish and Chips on Annie's upper deck tonight, and she and Jola surprised their captains with good beer for the occasion. Don's is a local place with a reputation for the best fish and chips. It was really delicious. Afterwards Kerry fed the ducks. 

Jim and I spent the afternoon doing little projects. I cleaned up the area on our swim platform that use to house rusty dingy davits when Annie was in Florida, scrubbed the waterline and a few other little things. Jim installed a bracket to hold his life ring more securely than the Velcro he originally used. It was a very pleasant, low key day.

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.

Grenadier Island behind Shanty Island July 22, 2015

Sometimes it is more fun fishing when you don’t catch anything.

On our houseboat we caught several largemouth bass here so I was hoping for a repeat. I was fishing by 7:00. One pole had a worm with a bobber, one pole I was using for casting. I did not catch anything on the bobber pole. I experimented with several lures, catching a tiny perch once. Then I put on a jerk bait, which is something you let the line go slack with, then jerk on it. On the second cast I caught a 24” fish, the same kind as yesterday. This one had swallowed the entire treble hook, and it had a bunch of teeth. I figured I would have to cut the hook out so I might as well try to fillet the fish. I conked it on the head with a hammer, then started to work. First thing was to put on a protective glove to avoid stabbing myself with my fillet knife. Immediately it got caught in the other treble hook. I took it off and of course could not get the hook out of it. The fact that there was a big fish hanging on the other hook did not help. So I cut the fish head off and let the fish head and glove dangle from the pole in the water. It looked like the fish was looking at me.

If you know me you know I don’t like cleaning fish. Jim was no help. He refused to row over and get it for Jola. (Of course I would have expected him to clean it!) She was willing to cook it after all. I filleted one side. There was a lot of meat on it. But I had cut through some bones so they were there too. And then I remembered the skin had to come off. I did a fair job of that. I was not very successful trying to get the bone strip out. After a quick assessment of where I was in this task, I dumped the entire fish overboard. Then I had to deal with the hook and glove. I finally had to cut the strands of cloth attached to the hook to get the glove off. Then I had to really work with pliers to get the hook out of the fish head. I did, but bent it a bit. I quit fishing then for fear I would catch another. Kerry says the boat looks like Katrina just hit.

I did get a picture of this one. Warren, what is it? 

Now that it is a bit later, I regret throwing the fish away. I should have persevered. It was a nice fish and it is a shame that it is dead for no purpose. I have at the moment lost my enthusiasm for fishing.

We left Pine Island at 10:15 and arrived at Grenadier Island an hour later. We passed one possible anchorage to go to one that had a little dock we could row too. But when we arrived there it was not as pretty as the first, so we doubled back to the first anchorage behind Shanty Island. We passed some interesting little island homes on the way. 

Anchoring was easy today. Fewer weeds make a difference. We had to move once when we swung too close to Liberty. Liberty had to move when their anchor drug and they got to close to us. Busy afternoon! I had thought about going for a swim, but it got cloudy and much cooler in the afternoon. Did you ever think you would see a big RV on a little island? I didn't.

I have not had to manually pull the chain out of our locker since we added the anchor swivel. In the past the chain would fall over itself and the windlass would not pull it out. The captain had to do it. That seems strange to me. I thought the windlass was defective, but later learned that it is made to "slip" if it feels much resistance pulling the chain out of the locker, for whatever reason.

View from Annie of Shanty Island

Enjoying a martini for old time's sake. 

Pine Island ON July 21, 2015

Jim and Jola planned to row to Annie at 7:30 for coffee and cookies. At 7:29 it started to rain which probably saved them a wet ride back, as we canceled the trip. I kept fishing without too much success. I caught a little bluegill and proudly held it up for Jim. One pole had a worm and bobber and I was casting lures with the other. It was a lure that caught the bluegill. I tried a number of different lures with no success. Then I remembered that I had bought a worm harness for walleye fishing. I put a worm on it and made a cast. Zap! I caught a huge (for me) fish. I don’t know what it was. It had a big head and teeth and looked really fit. I got my Canadian fishing rules book, but it did not have any pictures. Kerry wanted me to throw it back and since I had no idea what it was I thought that seemed like a reasonable idea. I used pliers to remove the hook. Before I could hold it up it slipped out of my hand and was gone. I did get a picture of it in the net. It may have been a musky. I think Jola was sorry I let it go as she said we could have eaten for three days on it.

Up anchor time was set for 10:00. NOAA warmed of a thunderstorm coming down the St. Lawrence so we postponed ½ hour, then another as it was raining hard until 11:00. We headed for Pine Island. The trip was pretty uneventful. I made one wrong turn but Jim called and alerted me. The trip was 5.5 miles and we arrived at noon. I had trouble identifying the anchorage using my Gamin chart, but pulled out my phone’s chart which made it obvious. It also correctly identified the depth contours in the harbor. Jim’s anchor caught the first time. It took us three times. And each of the two times when we pulled the anchor up to reset it was full of weeds, huge balls of weeds. It took a long time to hack and clean it off before we could try again. Jim suggested we anchor in a little deeper water which should have fewer weeds. It worked – finally. Yea!

Jola invited us over for strata for lunch. Jim rowed over to pick us up. It was pretty windy for him, but we made it both ways. With no real seat, Jim had fashioned a seat of cushions and bumpers. Half way to Annie it came apart and he found himself sitting in a nice little pool of water from the recent rain. We rowed ourselves back to Annie sitting on bumpers. Then Kerry remembered that I had made a 2x4 bumper for use against poles. It turned out to be the right length for a seat, and even has rubber ends which should keep it for sliding off. Good job Kerry! Of course Jim looked at me and said “You had that all the time?”

The new seat and the old seat on the Debbie K.

I was really surprised to see my solar panels charging at over 19 amps amps. Wow! I did not believe they could do that. They really make a huge plus for energy management while anchored.

I normally run the generator for 30-45 minutes in the morning. When the batteries are in the low 70's the charge rate is really high, and they charge up in the low 80 percent really quickly. Running the engine while moving to a new anchorage and the solar panels complete the energy restocking.

 High charge rate from generator

We invited Jim and Jola over for a grilled hot Italian sausage dinner. It is fun to grill on the boat. The ribs last night were delicious. I need to remember to cook the sausage in two batches. Last time I cooked all 5 at one time and there were flames shooting out everywhere from the grease hitting the fire - scared me. It was a really out of control situation for a while. Kerry has a pecan pie for dessert and plans to surprise Jim with it.

The anchorage here is beautiful. We are in view of one of the Thousand Island bridges. The Karpinskis really like it too. Unfortunately there is no phone of Internet here. The winds in the islands start light in the morning, pick up to 12-15 knots in the afternoon, then go light again at night. This pattern  has been very consistent, which gives us peace of mind when anchored. If the anchor holds in the windy afternoon we can feel confident that we won’t drift away at night.

Enjoying a good book sitting in the sun on my seat cushion, which I am fortunate to have!

My strategy for cooking the sausages worked. The grease flames were at a manageable level. We ate inside as the wind made it cool on the upper deck. Jim’s special desert was a pecan pie. We have enough left for a piece today. That would not have happened if Kip was with us. Jim picked out some fishing lures he wants to try tomorrow before he rowed back. It was really beautiful as night settled in.

We could see mosquitoes by the dozens swarming around our screens. We laughed at them because they could not get to us tasty people, even held our hands by the screen to tease them. Well, they had the last laugh. When we went to bed they somehow got in and at least 2 dozen filled our cabin. And our electronic fly swatter choose that moment to quit working. Damn! We had to squish them the old fashioned way, smashing them on the walls with tissues. We finally got them all, stuffed tissues and bags around the door edges, and went to bed, I think, un-bit. Tomorrow we are off to Grenadier Island, just a short hop from here.  

Ninette Island July 20, 2015

Today started with coffee and little powered donuts on Liberty. It was a travel day and we needed to be out by 11:00. Jola, Kerry and I biked to the grocery for milk and other items for our 3 days of anchoring. After stocking up on ice and securing the bikes we cast off, headed for somewhere in the Navy group of islands.

We passed Sugar Island and saw that our favorite anchorage was empty. But before we could turn and get in there another power boat putted in and took the spot. Darn! We just missed it. So, we motored on to Ninette Island and anchored there at noon. It was a 6.5 mile trip. It’s a somewhat big anchorage surrounded by islands.  We picked a more remote corner to drop the hook. Or so we thought. Turns out there is a back door to this anchorage and we were near it. We got a few powerboat wakes throughout the afternoon, but nothing bad. We are able to get phone and internet service from Verizon on an inconsistent basis.

Up until 4:00 it has been a relatively routine day. I did not know if I should write about me catching my flag with two treble fish hooks, Jim forgetting to turn the volume up on his VHF radio, or my getting a call from the Park Service because I had transposed some numbers on my credit card. Not much to choose from. I told Jim I need more material.

Well, then it got more exciting. It is windy today, about 15 knots I would guess. The spot we choose is open to the wind unfortunately. I would have moved but the anchor dug in the first time and it is holding great. My folding stadium type cushion chair blew off the deck while I was getting sun tan lotion. I did not see it until it was 20 yards from Annie, and moving away fast. I told Kerry I was going in after it, but thought better about it, and didn’t. I never would have been able to swim back against the wind carrying a cushion.

Kerry and I are standing at the transom of Annie watching the cushion blow away. I thought about pulling anchor and trying to get it with Annie, but decided against it. Jim is anchored downwind of us so I tried to call him to catch it but there was no phone signal. Just then a pontoon boat was going by about 40 yards away. I hailed them and they agreed to chase my cushion for me. Yea! They returned it to Annie via a boat hook and I gave them some cold beer as a reward the same way. Jim was just watching what was going on. I am not sure he had any idea of the problem.

This is a very special seat cushion. When we were shopping for it, West Marine had blue ones on sale for $50. But, on Excalibur the Princess said everything had to be black or white. So, this is a $100 black one!

Seat cushion being returned by very helpful Canadians! Who is that old, bearded guy?

The wind is calming down nicely now. We plan to grill ribs and I may try my hand at fishing again. I bought each of us 18 night crawlers yesterday. I have fed a couple to the fish already. Jola really wants to cook us a fish dinner so I hope we can be successful. Tomorrow we plan to anchor at Pine Island where I caught some really big bass when we had our houseboat charter.

The ribs were delicious. Liberty can be seen anchored downwind. 

Gananoque ON July 19, 2015

It is an absolutely perfect day in Gananoque. Low 80's temperature, blue sky, 12 knot breeze blowing through the boat - just what you dream of in the winter.

The most interesting thing to talk about today is Sky, our neighbor's dog. Sky is an American Lab (I think) on the sailboat next to us. I gave Sky a Milk Bone biscuit yesterday and we became great friends. He has managed to beg a couple more from me. What's neat is that Sky is trained to do his business on the bow of the boat. This picture provides evidence of that. And, even better, Jola tells me that when he raises his leg it goes right off the boat into the sea. That is one trained dog!

I agreed to have coffee with Jim at 7:00 but overslept. First time that has happened. We did meet up a bit later. Jim stopped over to consult on my hatch leak. He does not feel it is the hatch/deck seam leaking so I applied more of Captain Tolley around the suspect parts. Marianna Orro is in the North Channel and asked about the Captain. Apparently they have some need for it too. We have talked about cruising Lake Michigan with them next year.

Kerry had her mind made up that we were cleaning the rear cockpit of our boat, and so at 9:00 we were scrubbing away. It took longer than expected, but all the bugs are gone. I applied a special wax made by Woody Wax to the non-skid on the boat. It is supposed to seal the non-skid and help keep it cleaner. We shall see. Annie is shining in the afternoon sun.

We took a nice bike ride along the Gananoque River and then shopped downtown for a while. Then it was showers and laundry. laundry is $3 for wash and $3 for dry. We thought it would be cheaper in town but it was $3.25 a load there. 

This is an interesting two weeks in the Thousand Islands. The Cruising Guide called this the Invasion of the French Navy. In Quebec, the trades all shut down these next two weeks, and everyone goes on holiday. Many other business have adopted the practice too. So, many boaters migrate to the Thousand Islands during this time. It can get really crowded. Yesterday this marina was packed, with many French speakers. In trips past they have "snooted" us pretty good, but most have been quite friendly so far.

Over cocktails on Liberty we came up with a plan for our remaining time in the TI. We will spend 3 nights anchoring, then go to Brockville for 2 nights, then two more anchor nights, Alexandria Bay, anchor, then Clayton a day earlier than planned. We hope this will insure we get a dock at Clayton as most places will not reserve a dock on the Antique Boat Show Weekend. Along the way to or from Brockville we will stop at Singer Castle.