After almost two weeks with spotty to no internet service, we are back in the US and have super WiFi. Yup, back in the US, back in Clayton. It’s a long story.
My last post had us leaving Clayton once we got our starter replaced. We headed down the St. Lawrence River to Brockville, Ontario. The plan was to stay a couple nights and then move on down the St. Lawrence a bit and check out a couple other Canadian towns before working our way back to Kingston. The couple nights were extended when we couldn’t get into Prescott, our next choice and pending storms meant we wanted to be on a dock rather than at anchor. We also extended our stay when we found that Belinda and Jim Wolfe, former DeFever owners were in their RV just a bit up the road from us.
The Brockville Municipal Marina is located on a finger that parallels the St. Lawrence and is a short walking distance from the center of town. It’s a beautiful location and we had a great view of the tankers as they transited north and south. The only downside was weak internet service. We ended up staying a fourth night and having Belinda and Jim over for dinner on the boat. Before they left, Belinda told us about a couple they met when they were doing the loop who have a home on Howe Island, on the Canadian side of the river. She would put us in touch with them and we are so grateful that she did.
From Brockville, we decided to try out a dock at one of the Canadian Park Islands. We found an empty dock at Grenedier West- no power, no water and of course no internet. Not long after getting settled in 3 more boats tied up, filling all the spaces at the short dock. Other boaters rafted together on a nearby island and even more came in and anchored close by. Space was filling up fast. We learned that we were in the midst of Quebec Construction Holiday. It seems most of Quebec takes off the last 2 weeks of July and we were surrounded by French speakers. The next morning, the Parks officials came around to check that park fees had been paid. It just so happened that we were running the generator to charge up the batteries. Unfortunately, Genedier Island is a NO GENERATOR island. Our neighboring boats didn’t mind us running our genny. It’s really very quiet, but the park officials were not keen on it at all. They waited while Tim shut it down. Now our plans to stay at the park were nixed. If we are not connected to power, we have to run the generator 2hours twice a day to keep the batteries topped off. The wind had been blowing and we knew the strong south winds were sticking around. Anchorages were filled with vacationers from Quebec. Marinas were booked solid for the week. Thank goodness for Belinda and the Keelers.
The Keelers, Ruth and Frank, have a winter home on the north east end of Howe island with a dock built for the DeFever 44 they owned for 19 years. We called and they welcomed us. What a sweet couple. They thanked us for being at their dock! They repeatedly told us how much they loved seeing a DeFever on their dock, knowing the dock was being used and telling stories of their years cruising the Bahamas. We originally planned to stay 2 nights at the dock and then anchor in the lee of an island until we head to Kingston. Unfortunately our dinghy motor didn’t cooperate. After spending several hours, messing with it while at anchor and then back at the Keeler’s dock with Frank, we decided it was time to get a new one. We also were given more time to spend with the Keeler’s. Any DeFever owners or other cruisers who are in the 1000 Island area and would like to contact the Keeler’s, let me know and I will put you in touch with them. I think they genuinely enjoy having visitors. Ruth is having some health issues and is not always able to make it down to the dock, but she loves seeing a boat on her dock and loves telling stories about their cruising days.
Tim was able to locate a new 20 horse Yamaha in Clayton, so back we go to the US. We now are proud owners of a working motor. We’ll get chores done today while enjoying internet, then off to Kingston in the morning. Kitty joins us tomorrow evening and we’ll have a day to play in Kingston with her before we head out on the next leg of our journey- the Trent Severn Waterway.
