After two nights at Loyalist Cove Marina at the end of the three month Summer Cruise (we still hadn’t been home yet), we head out again on the first day of September. We have booked a slip for the last month of the season at the Gananoque Municipal Marina, in the Thousand Islands, where we will leave the boat and go back to Toronto. Then, after getting our landlubber legs back, we will revisit our old cruising waters in a couple of short visits back to True North III, and Stephen will host his buddies for a weekend, too.
On Friday, September 1, we wake up to a cold morning. Very cold – it’s 6 degrees C, and feels more like 3. As during the rest of the summer, the weather has gone mad. But it is bright and clear, and we make the trip to Gananoque (38 miles) in good calm weather, and have a mini-cruise of some of the islands before we tie up at the marina.
It’s cold overnight again, but on Saturday we can wash and clean the boat, have a dinghy ride, a pilates class for M, and dinner in town. Tomorrow we will get back to Toronto – by train, since our car has been parked back at home since June 6.
Sunday morning brings rain, rain and rain. Then more rain. We pack and get a taxi to the station for the once a day train to Toronto at 2:30 pm, and at the end of the journey Stuart and Caitlin are there to meet us and drop us off at the apartment, where we will sleep off the boat for the first time in three months.
After nearly a week of getting back into the swing of life on terra firma, Stephen heads back to the boat for a few days to do some work on it, and just in time to get in the dinghy and join old friends from Ivy Lea on their boats rafted together at anchor in Peach Bay. (The Canada Parks island docks that are at all serviceable are still few and far between after the spring flooding.)
Sunday and the weather isn’t getting any warmer, so Stephen gives up and heads back to Toronto early.
The following week sees the annual Grenadier Island Golf Tournament weekend with S, Ron, Graham and Bruce – our sixth year playing in this charity event held at a 100 year old private golf club on Grenadier Island (only one of three courses in Canada that are accessible only by boat). Ron and I head down on the Wednesday, in weather which is incredibly fine – in fact, the best weather of the summer, with temperatures soaring and skies as blue as a robin’s egg. We open up the boat and head out in the dinghy to scout out possible docks or anchorages we can use the next day. We find we can dock at Aubrey Island the next morning, courtesy of the boaters who are docked there this evening and who say they will keep our spot for us. Nice.
So after an evening of Gin Rummy (cards, not booze), we start True North III up the next morning and leave dock in time to get to the Island at the agreed time of 10:30. Then at lunch time, Stephen gets in the dinghy and goes back to the marina to pick up Bruce and Graham who arrive from Toronto in their vehicle. The it’s swim, eat, walk, and play Euchre.
Friday we leave Aubrey Island and head off to West Grenadier Island, hoping to get a scarce spot on the dock for the weekend, which we do, even if we have to hang off the end of the dock after another boat has moved back to give us room.
Saturday is game day, and we wake to a beautiful misty morning. Ron and S ferry the clubs over to the Golf Club and we have a great day, albeit in astonishing heat. In September!
On Sunday we head back to Gananoque – a two hour trip, which starts off nicely, and then…we hit thick fog for the whole of the second hour. We post a bow watch and the radar proves its worth.
The weather remains splendid for the rest of the month. Stephen joins another three buddies in a two-day visit to Honey Harbour at Dave’s cottage, for cards, swimming and boating…
Nearing the end of the month, Stephen and Michel leave dock for their last outing of the season, in lovely weather, and anchor off Bostwick Island near Aubrey Island. Harold and Debbie in Columba radio us to say they are anchored near by, and we dinghy over for cocktails. The last time we saw them was also at anchor – in Collins Inlet on August 2, in Northern Georgian Bay!
After three nights at anchor, we return to the marina and pack. And pack some more. It is Michel’s birthday (September 26), which calls for a good dinner at Riva, the town’s toney restaurant, and the next morning we are on the road back to the city.
All that remains is to get the boat put away for the winter back at Loyalist Cove Marina in Bath, a three and a half hour trip from Gananoque. So Ron helps me out as crew. Monday October 2, we get to Gan, then Tuesday we take her to Bath. That trip starts off beautifully, but there is a rough ride waiting for us near Kingston, with strong winds whipping up the water. After we dock, Ron heads back to Toronto as Stephen readies the boat for her long winter’s nap. She is to be hauled out first thing next morning.
The season is over. We have put close to 200 hours on the engines (last year saw 136), logged 1,420 miles (last year 1,045), put 2,188 litres of fuel in the tanks (last year, 1,757) and achieved fuel consumption of 11.2 litres per hour (last year 12.9) at an average speed of 7.25 miles per hour, or 6.3 knots (which includes docking and anchoring, etc.). We have used the generator for 88 hours, and the dinghy outboard motor 19 hours.
There have been some tense moments, some discomfort and lots of decision making, but we have met some delightful and interesting people and seen a beautiful Canada we couldn’t see any other way. And so we have had miles of smiles.
And Michel saw a bear.
What a grand summer adventure!
It has been fund dropping in on the adventures with your blog. Thank so much for including me.
The beauty of your photography demonstrates how much there truly is to see in the province.
The other advantage is that places you were in yesterday, look different today. It is the nature of nature.
Congratulations to you and Michelle.