Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Kingston to Waupoos Ont. Canada


This was a great trip that started out like this….. We woke up at 4am Friday the 14th as expected, About 15 knots out of the south. Our plan was to get to Kingston before late afternoon when the winds would pick up to 35 to40 knots. We left dock and had a very hard time to find the channel out of Fair Haven in the pitch dark even with night vision goggles. After getting out the channel and put sails out and were cruising very nicely I went to bed(sorry to say but I do admit it). I woke up at around 7 to take over for a few hours and man the wind had picked up to between 20 and 25 knots. It was great to see Kasidah going around 6.5 knot with the wind some what behind us we would surf the waves half the time. The swells were over 8 to 10 ft and I always have a hard time looking at them when they are right next to us but it was definitely a fun ride and Kasidah loved it. When we reached some of the shoals and Islands near Canada we started to watch our maps and note all the shoals. At that point I was pointing out different shoals in the distance, which really seemed to be off a little so I asked Jon which island was over to the starboard side of us that had a boat in front of it, as we started looking at it closer Jon said I think the island is moving with the boat……This was our first experience with Extra large barges in tow. The tow (island) was at least a half-mile behind. WOW.
We finally came to the St Lawrence and could see Kingston in front of us. The wind had just started to pick up to 25 then 30 and as we were taking sails down to go into the bay to dock we clocked 38 knots. We called the Confederation basin Marina to let them know we were heading in, and would you know it was the one time we would really like some help docking, they said they had no hands to help dock. Well we went in the basin and Jon said, we have one shot at this lets go, and that was it…we did it…….Kasidah gracefully slammed up against the dock squishing her huge fenders because of the 35 to 40 knots of wind on her port side and that’s were she sat the night. (We love this boat).
Kingston was a wonderful city to visit. It is right on the shoreline of the lake with lots of things to see and do. We had our pooches so did not do much with out them but the city is very dog friendly. The large park right at the edge of the marina has lots of room for them to walk and if you take a stroll into town some of the stores put dog dishes out for them. On Saturday there is a farmers market right in front of City Hall with some unbelievable fresh produce.
We left Kingston on Sunday and headed for Waupoos, which is in the Prince Edward Bay area of Canada. We ended up at the Waupoos Marina which is a place that seems to have gotten lost in time. The people there said that after Labor Day it is just about empty and that the season is pretty much is over. Our thought was the season is in its prime. This place was so quiet and beautiful. We woke to one of the most peaceful nights on the boat and to a wonderful sunrise. On Monday we walked to the Waupoos Winery, which was about 1-½ miles down the main road (the dogs had to stay on the boat). At the winery we had lunch and did some wine tasting than back to the boat.
Tuesday we woke early to start the trip back to the USA. The wind was right on our nose the whole way home which took about 10 hours, which was the same amount of time it took to get up to Kingston. We did end up crossing in the shipping lanes with some huge ships that we really kept a good eye on; Jon tried to contact them to see if our radar reflector worked but they never responded.

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