Three weeks ago on August 17th we arrived back in our home port, Wiarton.We crossed our wake . Ajourney started on August 15, 2011.And a great adventure it has been.As you know we took last winter off, leaving the boat in Lunnenberg, Nova Scotia.We resumed our journey the beginning of June.From there to Rimouski, Quebec took about 6 weeks. The next 4 weeks were really put on fast forward doing three overnighters [over 24 hour stints]. I will try to summerize and highlight this part.
Still working with currents on the mighty St. Lawrence. We were on a mission to arrive before the ebb tide affected us crossing the river to Tadoussac, a town at the mouth of the Saguenay River.Except for fog until the last hour we had the current in our favour.So amazing to see the fog lift and enjoy the beautiful scenery. The mouth of the Saguenay is one of the world's best places to watch whales. Because of the cold deep waters the whales spend a lot of time here feeding on krill [plentiful here].We saw Beluga[white] whales also a Fin whale and a Pilot whale, seals and porpoises. After our stay at the marina we headed for Cap L'Aigle seeing more Belugas on our way out.It was good motoring again with the current.At this marina we met Curtis who single-handed had come all the way from Duluth, Minnesota.We were able to give him some charts we didn't need any more since he was heading down river.
Quebec City here we come. With high winds and rain off and on we did deal with surprising high waves for the river. We were thankful the rain held off while we were looking for our entrance into our marina. We were excited to meet with Malcolm and Cindy and family here. They too had had a lot of wind on their drive from Ottawa. After meeting up and sharing dinner at the marina restaurant the weekend was planned.4 of the girls slept on board.Sat. we explored this romantic historical city. What fun to share this with Mal. and Cindy family. One of the highlights was touring the museum that was commemorating the 'Filles du Roi' [daughters of the King].Many can trace their heritage back to these young women arriving in New France in the 1670s to help populate the colony. Sunday was also special worshipping with the L'Eglise Reformee du Quebec in Quebec city.Monday was birthday time for Anna and I. After a lovely breakfast together we had to say our goodbyes. Since Quebec city still has a 15-19 foot tide varience a lock controls the water levels in the marina. While going thru the lock we on Adriana 1 received another send off from our family.
From Quebec City it was up the river to Port Neuf, from there thru the Richelieu rapids[nice current]to Sable Is. We anchored here in a nice little channel. With a big day ahead we had an early start. We headed for the Montreal part of the seaway and the locks there. We ended up doing 4 locks. We thought we would only be doing 3 but then the lock master let us pleasure boaters lock in behind a big freighter. This allowed us thru but made the move slower and by the time we were thru and motoring on to an anchorage it was getting late and dark. We were thankful that John, captain on a sailboat[that rafted along side of us thru the locks] told us where to find a good spot.It was good to get to this anchorage at St. Francis Lake] safe and sound after a 18 hour day. 2 more locks the next day and we were on our way to Ontario waters and Chrysler Park Marina near Iroquois and Upper Canada Village.Arriving here around 5p.m.soon to be greeted by our friend ,Janet McKay[secretary with RCR real estate since 1975]. She shares a family cottage near here. So good to see her. The next a.m. it was out for breakfast with Janet. She also took us to the grocery store and showed us her cottage on the St. Lawrence. That evening our other son from Ottawa, David and 2 of his girls arrived. Tomorrow we hope to finish the rest of the story and photos. good bye for now.
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