July 10 – Tuesday
Well, we are in Canada.
We left the wall before 07:00 so we could be waiting for the first locking. Among the boats in that first lock load were 4 rather small sail boats that carried folks from several southern states and together, they were enroute on the Great Loop. That is a connection of waterways that includes the east coast ICW, the Hudson R., New York Canals, Great Lakes and than some other rivers / canals that lead to the Mississippi and back down to the Gulf of Mexico and Florida. There were no boats in the group that were over 25’ and most were powered by small outboard motors. One of the boats is “Pogopelli” crewed by Bob & Trish Endicott from Oneida, TN and they also have a blog – www.pogopelli.blogspot.com – we haven’t taken a look yet but I bet it is interesting.
Everything NOAA had been promising arrived right on schedule so we pointed FLIGHT north and turned her loose on Lake Ontario. The conditions were absolutely PERFECT! Gentle swells for the first hour or so, reminded us we were on a large body of water and then nearly flat water the rest of the trip. As soon as we cleared the jetties we punched “AUTO” and sat back to enjoy the ride. The most annoying thing about the crossing was the tiny flies that came aboard and decided to stay. After the boats that locked through with us peeled off east (Thousand Islands) or west (Trent–Severn Waterway) we didn’t see another boat (or land) for 3 or 4 hours, except Safe Return who was traveling in company with us to Kingston, ON.
One of the boats that left us was Renaissance and we said goodbye to our friends Kathy & Gregg while locking down – they are going to spend some time in the Thousand Islands before entering the Rideau. We will miss their good company. Maybe they will return south by way of the Chesapeake and we can bring them home for a bit to show our friends the “TEXANS” we found floating around.