Crossing Lake Ontario to Picton, Ontario

Sunday, June 15

We were up at the crack of dawn, at least John was, and Serenity pushed off at 6:00 am to cross Lake Ontario. Lots of fishing boats were leaving at the same time so they must also know that it is going to be a good day…or it’s Father’s Day and they have all been given a pass. When we first hit the open lake it was a little rough with lots of rocking and rolling. Outside temp was 46 and inside the cabin it was a cool 62 -  just a bit chilly. As we hung onto whatever we could find we looked at each other as if to say, “Four more hours of this?!”

For some reason a prayer that my mother liked came to my mind. She always had a card on her dresser with the words, “Oh Lord, be good to me. The sea is so wide and my boat is so small.” It was comforting to remember that and feel that we were being watched over.

Thanks Dad passes us - also a Mainship - looks a lot like us!

After about an hour or two, the water smoothed out and it really was a good passage with no waves on smooth gently rolling water. We could handle this! We were traveling at about 6.2 knots and it didn’t take Thanks Dad long to catch up and eventually pass us at their quicker speed of 8 knots. At least there was another boat out there for a while until we watched it fade into a tiny dot.

The crossing took five hours, plus another hour and a half to get into the Bay of Quinte. From there it was two and a half hours to Picton, Ontario, our destination. We are at Tip of the Bay Marina, and it really is the very end of a long bay.

John phoned Canada customs at the marina office. I had to stay on board until we were cleared. We had been told that regulations state that a boat must fly a yellow quarantine flag until it goes through customs and then exchange that for the Canadian flag. We didn’t have a yellow flag, so John put up a yellow rubber glove – same color, different shape.

John taking down the yellow glove and putting up Canadian flag

 

Sailing vessel St. Lawrence used by the Canada Naval Academy

In the evening we walked up the hill and into the town of Picton. The one main street has lots of little shops and restaurants. We found a little diner and stopped to have a bite, but almost everything else was closed. Back at the boat we were asleep by 9:30 – didn’t realize we were so tired.

Captain’s Log:

Depart: Oswego Marina, Oswego, NY, 6:00 a.m.
Engine hours: 9 hrs. 20 min
Clock time 9 hrs 15 min
Arrive: Tip of the Bay Marina, Picton, Ontario 3:20 p.m.
Winds less than 5 knots – initially a little choppy, 1-2 ft waves or less, but smooth by 10 a.m.
Nice trip except for port engine oil coming out of dipstick tube at 2700 RPM
(John says that this is why you do engine checks along the way!)

Monday, June 16

Nice morning. Several boats left to continue their trip. John fixed an oil leak when he realized that the breather hose from the crank case ventilation had been crimped during the recent engine work. He did some other maintenance which took all morning. After lunch we walked back into town, went to the library to check email messages, and wandered around town.

Storefront - maybe I should get a tee shirt like this

Bay view

Steel hill boat looks hand crafted - Rosebud - notice the R on the smokestack
 

Note re blog: you probably already know this, but I just figured it out. If you double click on a photo you will see a larger version and all the other photos on the day's blog are available at the bottom. I am still learning this program. We are publishing tonight sitting on a bench outside Miss Lily's Café which is closed this evening. We were there earlier in the day so John got the password. He is always thinking ahead - good Captain skill!