Anchored in Sandy Cove overnight and on to Trenton



Tuesday, June 17

Another beautiful morning! We had an early breakfast aboard and then walked up to the main street in Picton, had a second cup of tea and enjoyed the internet access at Miss Lily’s Café.

Miss Lily's Café was a great spot for an early morning check of email



Miss Lily's Café

Couldn't resist having my photo taken in front of a painting
on a local convenience store



When we got back to the boat we saw that John & Sue on Thanks Dad, with their three dog flight, had already left. As we prepared to leave we couldn’t help but appreciate the beauty of being on the water with reflections of boats, trees and homes everywhere. We are so thankful to be able to be traveling by boat on this extended trip.

Picton Harbor

We untied and cruised north along the narrow bay and eventually took a sharp turn to port to follow the waterway. We went under the skyline bridge, saw a couple of swans swimming along shore. The Telescope Narrows were clearly marked with the green and red buoys and the water continued to be very smooth.

Bridge ahead!

By 1 p.m. we were at our destination of Sandy Cove, our first anchorage of the trip. It was a restful afternoon until we turned on the weather radio and heard the forecast of possible thunderstorms. We moved the boat a little to allow for swinging in the wind and decided to ride it out.
We were in about 15 feet of water and John put out 100+ feet of chain. One big thunderstorm came through with high wind gusts, but our new anchor and all that chain held tight and we were just fine. Our boat neighbor back at Champlain Marina, Doug, kept texting us with radar reports from his home in Williston, VT. Nothing like getting a little long distance support! Most of the rain was over by nine we went to bed to the sound of the wind whistling and the water washing against the boat but not too much rocking.

Rainbow over Sandy Cove after the thunderstorm

Captain’s Notes:

Departed: Picton Marina 9:05 a.m.
Engine hours: 4.1 (ran engine during thunderstorm)
Actual hours: 3 hrs, 55 min
Arrived: Sandy Cove, Belleville, Ontario 1 p.m.

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Things finally quieted down around 4 a.m. and we got a couple of hours of uninterrupted sleep after that. When we woke, our boat was right next to our anchor ball so we were still in the same spot. We were the only boat in the bay so we didn’t have to worry about crossing anchor chains with anyone else.

We were entertained by a pair of swans nearby with their four young cygnets. The cob and the hen seemed to be in full feather with their wings fluffed out. When they glided out of sight we saw another swan family coming from the other direction with three young. Later, John heard a loon and one swam by, but it dove under the water a lot so we didn’t get a picture. I am sure we will see many more on our way through Canada.

Swan with cygnets

View of the Trenton bridge from the dock

We pulled up anchor and headed west again toward the town of Trenton, the beginning of the Trent-Severn waterway to Georgian Bay. We stopped at the small Fraser Marina which is in a lovely setting near a memorial park. Some of the boats that had gone ahead of us were there, including “Thanks Dad.” We were glad to see everyone and received a warm welcome.

Captain's Log:

Departed: Sandy Cove 9:35 a.m.
Engine hours: 2.4 hours
Actual hours: 2 hours 10 min
Arrived: Fraser Marina, Trenton, Ontario 1 p.m.

 Thursday, June 19

It was a windy night but bright and sunny morning. We caught up on a few things, cleaned a bit, walked over the bridge to do laundry and bought a few more things at the grocery store.




We bought some Nutella, a Canadian product
with chocolate and ground hazelnuts, and Christopher approves



View of Fraser marina from bridge - Serenity on left

This was the morning for the local farmer’s market nearby. It is early in the season so they didn’t have much in the way of produce, but I did buy some radish sprouts to add to salads. Everyone was very friendly!

I was tempted by the pretty peonies, but opted for the radish sprouts

We went out to lunch at Captain George’s Fish and Chips. In the afternoon we walked up to Mt. Pelion to see the view. It is actually a “drumlet” formed by a glacier centuries ago and it is believed that Samuel de Champlain climbed up to survey the waterway. Now they have stairs with a platform and it did provide quite a vista.

Mt. Pelion view of Trenton - we came in on the waterway at lower left

Fortunately we have a fairly good internet connection here so John could sit in remotely on a Champlain Marina board meeting and I published this new blog page.

Tomorrow we will start the Trent-Severn Waterway!