July 11, 2014 Trenton Marina, Trenton Quebec

Had a beautiful day motoring to the Trenton Marina, weather was perfect maybe a little cool 70 degrees, sweatshirt and shorts will do while we are on the water, warmer on land when we got into the marina at 4pm, short day, left Picton Marina at 10 am with Fairwinds and John B.  Met John B.-Don and Katherine late Wed. night before we went to bed, they were tied up on the wall a few boats back.  John from Nuclear Fishin said you got to go see that boat, it's smaller than yours and they're doing the loop in it, so we did, great couple started in Chesapeake somewhere and have come this far.  She is Canadian and has to come back to Canada in a few months, something to do with insurance.  So they are going as far as they can.  They followed us today from Picton to Trent and I think we'll probably start thru the locks together tomorrow too. Just were tying up in the slip when Al and Patti from Fairwinds came by and said Happy Hour, so we pulled out our chairs on the lawn behind the boats and had happy hour watching Curt clean off the bottom of the dingy, not to many barnacles on the bottom of the dinghy this time.  We need to fold it up and put on top of the boat going thru the locks here on the Trent Severen Waterway because the locks are tight and because they charge for the length of the dinghy in addition to our boat which is supposedly $4.50 per foot.  We will pay as we go if we decide to tie up to the locks, hope to anchor out and go into some towns on the waterway, sounds like some neat places.  Called Sal and Ina, friends from Marathon this winter, they came to visit us tonight also.  Good to see them also.  Had a concert in the park tonight which we took our chairs over to listen, had the rest of happy hour there and then got the famous Tomasato Pizza which was good too, only after Tiger ice cream which is orange dreamsicle tasting ice cream with black licorice, definitely a do again thing, ice cream is the famous Karthara Ice Cream.  Yumm.  Full moon tonight, can't wait to find a dark place to anchor this week while the full moon is happening.

July 10, 2014 Thursday

We're off for Canada.  No phone calls for two weeks or until back on the U.S.
Woke up at 2 am this morning with the wind blowing and our boat rocking like crazy banging up against the concrete wall.  Finally started to settle down at 6 am, thinking the weather man was wrong again we stayed in bed, caught a little more sleep until Don and Connie in the trawler in front of us were getting ready to head out.  We got and looked out the window, alot of the boats had already left so we made coffee, and took off. Lots of rolling going out the inlet, typical, wind didn't seem to be blowing but the waves were rolling straight out of the northwest with some wind, we were only able to do 3.9 to 4.6 knots with the waves making us pound on the bow at times.  Curt kept saying "it will settle down the farther out we get", and it did after we started to get into the 400 ft deep water about 5 miles away from Oswego.  Lots of fishing boats and trawlers still going by us as we were crossing Lake Ontario.  Finally 30 miles away from Ontario we could see the two smoke stacks which was the inlet to go into taking us down the waterway to Picton.  The towers and stones below them got bigger and bigger.  Waves settled down even more and wind changing around to the east, southeast.  Started to get 5.6 kts which really decreased our crossing time down 2 hours or more.  Nice.  Clouds started popping up but no storms.  Thank God.  Thank you to those who were praying for our safe passage.  Met John B the 25 ft O"day, they were looking for a place to get gas, Curt told them to follow us to Picton if they ran out of gas we would give them some, so they followed us, finally a boat smaller than us traveling about the same speed.  Made it to Picton around 8pm, tied up to the gas dock, Fairwinds happened to be right there, visited with them and made supper, walked around town.  Found a quilt shop, but 10:30pm, closed :(  Went back to the boat, nice quiet peaceful spot, great night sleeping weather, cool,calm.  Fishermen on the dock were catching big Walleye and large mouth bass.

July 9, 2014 Wednesday on the wall between Lock 7 and 8 Oswego, New York

Woke up to a beautiful cool morning, cool but partly cloudy.  Had a windy front come thru during the night, thought we would have to get up and shut the windows.  Found a coffee shop  Tim Horton's up the hill from our boat, apparently the Canadian equivalent  of Starbucks in the U.S.  Good Vanilla Coffee for me.  Talk of the coffee shop was the High winds/Tornado that went thru a few miles behind us.  Apparently many trees came down, power out in half of Oswego and the big news was the Drive In Movie theater got taken out along with some roofs in Minetto and trees down by the water.  Minetto city dock is where we were a couple of days ago, hesitantly came here to tie on to the wall and wait for good weather to do the 45 plus mile crossing of Lake Ontario, well know for storms popping up and bad wind causing large wave action.  So happy we came here, divine guidance?  Met two other couples on trawlers at Minetto,they had been there for two days before we got there.  They were kind enough to help us tie up and invite us to Happy Hour.  One couple Allan and Patty just retired 1 month ago and having been living on their trawler in Norfolk for 11 years, they are heading to Georgian Bay to hang out for a while.  The other couple Don and Connie have been cruising in the local area and are heading up the St. Lawrence River.  Just realized yest. that we need to get ready food wise and alcohol wise to come into Canada.  There are limits on each so glad I didn't shop for fresh fruits and vegetables.  Was concentrating on crossing in a good weather window and getting enough gas.  Wasn't thinking about what we can bring into Canada.  Supposed to have storms this afternoon but tomorrow better.  Weather changes by the hour here, difficult to trust the forecast.

July 8, 2014

We are currently parked by the wall between Lock 7 and 8 at Oswego Canal, New York waiting for weather window to cross the 40 plus miles of Lake Ontario to Trenton, Canada and across the Trent Severn Waterway.  We not be available by phone till back in the U.S. in approx. 1-2 weeks, so no postings unless I can find a free Wifi in Canada.  You can email and I will pick up and answer as wifi is available.  Hoping tomorrow or Thursday will be the good weather window.

July 7, 2014

July 6

July 5, 2014