Preparing for the trip

Captain Jerry has been making the final preparations to North Star, our 32 foot Cape Island down east trawler. We are anxious to leave our landlubber lives behind and begin our long awaited journey around the Great Circle. Join us as we travel 10, 000 kilometers: through the historic Trent Severn Waterway; the pristine waters of Georgian Bay; the North Channel of lake Huron; and hop from beach to beach on lake Michigan. We will visit Chicago and begin our trek along the rivers: Illinois; upper Mississippi; Ohio; Cumberland: Tennessee; Tenn-Tom Waterway and the Black Warrior. We will have transited through 68 locks at this juncture. We have chosen the inner route from Mobile Alabama to Tarpon Springs Florida and the shorter Ocheechobee Waterway to reach the East coast of Florida. We will skip over to the Bahamas to wait out the winter before heading North on the Atlantic Inter Coastal Waterway.
The 10 years of researching and planning are finally at an end and we invite you to come along on our adventure.























Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Oh! Canada!

Oswego Lighthouse
We are anchored in Hay Bay off Long Reach (N44 07.6 and W77 0.8) close to our final destination.
Lake Ontario at it's best
We locked through at first lock and set off from Oswego at 7:30 this morning to cross Lake Ontario.  The lake was flat as a pancake with not a ripple on it.  I have never seen it so tame. Just when I was marveling at this phenomena, the fog rolled in and stayed with us for the next 45 miles. It was thick as soup so we spent the day looking at grey until we reached the upper gap at Bath.  I would much rather have fog than wind.  We have radar and I used my Marine Traffic program to look for ships.  We had to follow a compass bearing all day, what a chore.  When I was at the wheel we were going around in circles, fog is so disorienting. Needless to say, the Captain did most of the steering.
We were swarmed by thousands of flies and mosquito type insects. They were everywhere and on everything.
We cleared customs at Prynier's Cove which involved a phone call that lasted all of 5 minutes. We then got back on the boat and continued to Hay Bay for the night.  We could have made it to Napanee but I seem to want to prolong the trip.  I don't want it to end and this is the last chance we have to anchor.  I love the peace and quiet and the scenery. I liked partying and meeting people but I also need the solitude and peace.
Swarmed bu bugs on Lake Ontario
We are going to Napanee for the next few nights where we will have friends and family visit.  We will then spend a few days in Belleville and then go back to Baycrest to have the boat hauled out of the water for the year. We should be around for the next month and then drive back to Newfoundland for the summer.
I can't believe it's over, it seems we just left.



Bath Ontario at the Upper Gap

Ram Island on Hay Bay
Lake Ontario flat as a pancake
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Location: Ontario, Canada

1 comment:

  1. RandyMay 18, 2012 at 8:11 PM

    Congratulations! Have fun on the rock. Hope to meet up with you again in the fall.

    ReplyDelete

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