Week 1 in August

We've now logged 576 miles since leaving Erie, and 304 just this past week.  Our progress should continue to improve now that the St Lawrence River, river locks and fixed bridges are behind us.  Since traversing Lake Ontario last week we've passed through several beautiful areas in the St Lawrence river.  There was even a peninsula named Presqu 'ile at the entrance to the Murray Canal.  Felt like we were home for a minute there.  It was shallow water but a very pretty place to see as we motored along.  The canal took us to the Bay of Quinte and the north channel.  This is where you would find all those islands.  They refer to them as the Thousand Islands, but there are reportedly more than 1800, most with names on the charts, and many more without.  Amazing, that's all I can say.  

This past week has been a long one. The scenery is great but the controlled passageways are frustrating. The river is narrow and often too shallow outside the bouys. We've also had an east wind for the last three days which would not have allowed us to sail anyway. Hour ofter hour of motoring is not what we expected. There were 7 more locks in the St Lawrence River between the Thousand Islands and Montreal. Due to heavy commercial traffic we were left in a waiting que at every single one, sometimes as long as 3 hours, waiting for the locks to clear and permit pleasure craft to enter. It took us 3 days to make it through the 7 locks. In addition there were a few lift bridges and the operators there seem to ignore sail boats, or maybe just American sailboats we're not sure. At one bridge we were overtaken by a freighter, no problem. We moved over and gave him room. We observed all the the proper behaviors. But just as his stern cleared the bridge (with us less than 100' behind) the bridge came down leaving us on the outside looking in. I cannot write the words that came out of my mouth at that moment. In fact I had to leave the helm and go down below until the bridge reopened... 1 ½ hours later. You can imagine what I was thinking, eh?

We're trying to put some big miles in each day right now to catch up for the time lost due to the late departure day. Leaving a month later will make a big difference when we finally reach the east coast. We DO NOT want to see snow or any other form of precipitation associated with that season :) The sooner we start logging course headings closer to 180 degrees the better!  We had an overnght in Kingston ON, then Prescott and Cornwall.  On Thursday we finally made it through the last 2 locks on this river. Yeah!  Now we can move at our own pace and not have to wait for anyone else.

We've found some nice coves to anchor in at night, saving the budget a little.  The boat and all those upgrades we made have been working very well.  The solar panels are providing enough energy to restore the house batteries each day. The refrigeration is adequate.  The dry goods are still dry and the water tanks wet. Just the way we like them.  After three nights in the wilderness we decided it was time for a landing.  We need to refuel and restock so here we are in Quebec City. After the Welland Canal and the St Lawrence River locks (15) we thought we had seen it all and had put that part of the trip behind us. . Well, let me tell you. Here's the OMG part.
The entrance to the Quebec City marina is protected by a lift bridge and a leveling lock due to the high and low tides here.  And then there is the current (5.5 knots) and the prevailing wind ( 0-15 knots) to deal with as you approach.   We radioed into the marina to request entrance and they said "your number is 27, wait to hear your number called on the radio and then proceed into the lock”. The waiting basin was similar in size to the area just outside our yacht club at home (GO PIYC!) Imagine 15-20 boats milling around in a small area with wind and current and bow thrusters, etc. This was a sardine can. There were 13 boats inside the lock when it finally closed and we were rafted together from bow to stern to port to starboard. We got the call to enter and pull in...between boats already tied on each side of the lock. We rafted to port and that left maybe 5 feet to the starboard boat. We were smack dab in the middle of the cluster. It was a very exciting situation. And there were pedestrian spectators all around this lock on the sidewalks watching. Talk about pressure at the helm. When we made it through there and into a slip, we stayed wound up for at least an hour. That was an OMG for sure.
The city is beautiful. There are alot of lights on after dark and we had front row seats to the Aurora Borealis.  This is the name of the 3D adventure played on the side of a building right next to the marina basin.  It plays every night all year round and it was the most incredible thing we ever saw.  The sound and the pictures and the images and the colors were breathtaking.  It is a story of the history of Quebec put to music.  There were images from each of the Wars, the inventions that occured throughout the world, etc.  We didn't see the end as it runs until midnight.   Well, it's off to the market. Talk with you all again soon.  Send us some email too. We still want and need to hear about what's happening in your world, too.