Montreal, Quebec

We left St.Ours very early on July 6 in order to arrive in Montreal at a reasonable hour.  Heading north on the Richelieu River, we were running with the current which was quite strong. The area we were cruising through was attractive and residential until we hit Sorel where it became more industrial. 

At Sorel, we turned onto the St. Lawrence River and were now heading south.  At that point we slowed down considerably because the St. Lawrence was running in the opposite direction.  The river is much larger than the Richelieu with many large ships.  

After a while we moved into a small boat channel going by some pastoral houses and villages.  As we got close to our destination, the Yacht Club of Montreal, the current was running 5 knots against our running speed of 8 knots. So we were really only moving at 2-3 knots!

Fortunately, this did not go on for too long and after we passed an interesting amusement park along the water’s edge, we reached the Yacht Club of Montreal.

The marina is ideally situated near the old city. The views of a nearby bridge and clock tower were stunning.

We were one of only a couple of trawlers in this marina of go fast boats.  Everyone was docked stern in so they could use their swim platforms to get on and off.  The finger piers are short and very narrow and we had to dock bow in in because our dinghy takes up our swim platform.

This marina is otherwise ideal.  It is within walking distance of the old city and many interesting neighborhoods. 

That evening we met our friends, Sarah and Daniel, at the Montreal Jazz Festival where we enjoyed a couple of good performances. 

The next day we used Uber to go to a dentist  (recommended by Sarah) so Jonny could  get a cap that had fallen off glued back on.  Afterwards we returned to the Marche Jean-Talon for a lunch of lobster rolls and to stock up on fresh vegetables, fruit and pasta.  We then made our way to a funky part of town to buy some knitting needles for Lynn’s next project.

That evening, one of Montreal’s signature summer fireworks displays took place and we had ringside seats on Zendo. After a dinner of fresh pasta, we watched an awesome display from our aft deck.  It included a great light show projected onto the clock tower and fabulous fireworks accompanied by an ABBA soundtrack.  Afterwards, all the boats watching (and there were many) signaled their appreciation with a cacophony of honking horns.  It was quite an experience!

Our final day in Montreal included Jonny taking a second extensive bike ride ( sorry, no pictures) and our doing a variety of boat chores including cleaning windows and Stratoglass and yes, more laundry.  We reaped our reward later that day when Sarah and Daniel joined us for Lynn’s first attempt at serving foie gras followed by a delicious dinner at the famous Schwartz’s.  This Montreal fixture serves smoked meat that is better than any NY pastrami or corned beef.  

On the way there we passed a mural of Leonard Cohen, one of Montreal’s favorite sons.

We said goodbye and thank you to Sarah and Daniel, who we will see in South Florida next winter, and headed back to Zendo.

After a wonderful visit in Montreal we look forward to getting “on the road again.”  Everything from here will be new for us and that’s very exciting,

Chambly, Quebec

We finally left Rouses Point after eight nights at Gaines Marina waiting on parts to get our boat repaired. But before taking off on Wednesday, July 5, we had to get a pump-out and do a sea trial to make sure everything, especially our rebuilt injector pump was working as it should.  The sea trial went great and we were on our way.

Within 1.5 miles of Rouses Point, we entered Canadian waters and had to stop for customs.

That, too, went smoothly and after the customs officer asked if we had any firearms (no) and alcohol (yes), Jonny dutifully described in detail all that was in our ship’s store.  The agent raised his eyebrows somewhat and asked how long we would be in Canada.  We told him three months and he said we were OK.  I guess he considered us to be well stocked for the journey (we definitely are)!  Technically, we are over the limit of what the rules say we should have, but thankfully we had an empathetic agent!

Cruising north on the Richelieu River, the landscape is changing and becoming much flatter and more pastoral.  

After we passed the first bridge, the waterway became the Chambly Canal system.  The waterway was not at all busy but it was slow going.  We had to wait for bridges and locks to open.  It was not unusual to wait 15 minutes either hovering around or tying up to a lock wall until they opened. 

The locks on this historic waterway are all hand cranked and during the summer they are operated by college students.  Some of the locks are so close together that the lock tenders drive from one lock to the next to open it for you. They were all very friendly and bilingual!

The day got hotter and hotter and by the time we were almost in Chambly, we were more than ready for quitting time.  There is a heat wave going on across North America and even here in Canada the temperatures were in the high 90’s but it felt like 100 -  even being on the water which is usually cooler!  At about 4 p.m., after going through three locks in quick succession, we arrived at the lock wall in Chambly where we tied up for the night.   In order to have enough power for our air conditioning we had to use two separate electric pedestals.

After recovering from the heat, we weren’t eager to cook, so we walked into the charming town of Chambly and had dinner at a restaurant with an outdoor patio.  Thankfully, we found some shade!

There were a lot of people walking towards the park across from where we were docked and it turned out there was a free concert going on.  So after dinner, we strolled by the park.   People were sitting on blankets and lawn chairs and enjoying a midsummer concert.

 We listened for a little while but having been spoiled by the music at the Montreal Jazz Festival, we ambled back to Zendo to settle in for the evening.  We are grateful to have air conditioning!

Rouses Point, NY part 2

We ended up staying in Rouses Point for eight nights waiting for the injector pump to be rebuilt and mailed back to us.  We made the most of our time there by renting a car so we could explore our surroundings. 

Thanks to Enterprise who picked us up at the marina, we got the car in Plattsburgh and spent the day exploring that part of the world. There is lots of hiking available and we found a very nice and moderately rigorous trail up to Silver Lake.

To recover from that, we found  Valcour Brewery, named after the island we had anchored next to as well as a famous battle in the Revolutionary War.  We followed that up with, what else, but a visit to a winery and hard cider establishment. There we spent a couple of hours sampling the wares and learning about cider making from the owner’s son, a Long Island transplant.  

On Saturday, we drove up to Montreal to attend the fabulous weeklong jazz festival there.  Just over the Canadian border we passed through lots of farmland.

Montreal is supposed to be one of the best jazz festivals in the world.  There was a lot of music to choose from, much of it free.  The bigger names were scheduled in the evenings and those had a fee.  We took advantage of the freebies and saw a couple of especially good performances.  

We stayed there all day and didn’t get back to Zendo until 9 pm that night.  

We headed back to Montreal on Sunday, this time to spend the day with friends Sarah and Daniel who own a condo next door to Andy to which  they escape in the winter.  They very graciously showed us their beautiful city.  We especially appreciated the drive through Mont Real and the lovely neighborhoods there.

 We visited the St. Joseph Oratory at the top of the mountain. It’s a beautiful church that looks very old but was built in the 1920’s. The interior architecture was quite modern and very different than the exterior.  

They drove us through some charming neighborhoods and took us to the Italian market for lunch and of course we had to stock up on some provisions for the boat.  

Montreal is also known for its bagels so we had to stop for some of those as well.  

That evening, Sarah made a delicious dinner and we had a chance to visit with their handsome son, Stefan.

The weather has been very hot; we are experiencing the same heat wave as the rest of the country.  So we spent Monday at the marina doing boat chores and trying to keep cool. Fortunately, the injector pump arrived as scheduled on Tuesday and Jonny and the local yard mechanic spent all afternoon installing it.  

So finally on the 4th of July, we departed Rouses Point after a sea trial and pump out. Rouses Point ended up being quite a lovely village in which to be laid up.  The people were friendly, the rates were low, it had enough amenities for our needs and it was centrally located just south of the Canadian border and between the Adirondacks and Montreal.  

Rouses Point, NY

On the morning of Monday, June 25 Jonny identified that our battery charger was not working, a significant problem for us.  He spent the morning on the phone with a marine electrician we had been working with to identify some product solutions.  After exploring those solutions and calling vendors, he ordered a new battery charger to be sent to the next marina we were planning to stay at.  Originally we were going to anchor out another night, but with our new situation, we had to get to said marina right away.  So we left our anchorage around noon heading to Gaines Marina in Rouses Point, NY.  The day was windy and cool, so much so that we cruised with the stratoglass closed.  The lake was also somewhat choppy but there were beautiful vistas of the Adirondacks in the western sky and we saw more sailboats than usual.

It took us about  four hours to arrive at Gaines Marina in Rouse’s Pont were we tied up into a comfortable slip right behind the sea wall.  The marina has mostly sailboats and it seems like the majority of them are owned by Canadians.

The equipment we ordered arrived the following afternoon (Tuesday) and the local electrician came by to install the new battery charger. Upon closer inspection, he discovered that our problem was really just a burnt lead that Jonny had missed. This was good (though somewhat embarrassing for Jonny) news and the electrician quickly fixed it. We were very happy to save the $1000 for that part!

Since the floor of the cabin was open to the engine, Jonny proceeded to do more maintenance work.  The yard’s mechanic came on board for a consult and identified a leak in one of the fuel pumps. So we ordered a new fuel pump to be delivered the next day.  Georgio managed to find cozy little spaces to rest in his disrupted living space.  

In the meantime, Lynn walked up into “town” to do more laundry,  While waiting for it to be done, she strolled around the streets which are bedecked with US and Canadian flags.  None of the stores were too exciting, with the local Dollar Store being the only one of any interest!  So much for the charm factor of Rouses Point.  There was a pleasant park next to the laundromat though.

On Wednesday, Jonny and the mechanic installed the new fuel pump, but in testing it they discovered an additional leak in our injector pumps - a much bigger issue.  Now, Jonny and the yard manager had to research a shop that could rebuild the injector pump in short order. The local Cummins dealer said it would take 7-10 days.  Fortunately, the yard manager who had spent most of his career in Port Washington, NY knew of a shop on Long Island.  They said they could fix it and turn it around in a couple of days.  All this is occurring as we approach the weekend, Canada Day on July 1 and the July 4 holiday!  So they removed the injector pump and Jonny strapped it onto his bike to ride to the local drug store which was also the local UPS  site in this zero traffic light sized town!

We are now stuck here in Rouses Point for the foreseeable future.  The best case scenario will be that the injector pump is repaired and we receive it and get it reinstalled on July 3.  Worst case is it doesn’t happen until July 5 or later.  In the meantime, we will rent a car and explore the area near Plattsburgh, NY and the Adirondack Mountains. We’ll also drive into Montréal, about an hour’s drive from here where Jonny’s brother Andy has friends, Sarah and Daniel, who have generously offered to show us Montréal.  We’re also excited because the Montreal Jazz Festival is going on and it’s considered to be one of the world’s best!

Valcour Island, NY

The morning of Sunday, June 24 started with Mike Goldfield arriving early bringing special bagels and cream cheese from a popular Montréal baker. Jonny set out a plate of lox and sliced cucumbers and we had ourselves a nice breakfast onboard Zendo.  Mike kindly invited us to his home in Dorset, VT and stay the night, but we thought it best to continue our journey up the lake to Canada.

After saying our goodbyes to Michael, we got ready to leave Burlington, but first we had to stop for fuel and the all important pump-out.  By noon we cruised around the Burlington breakwater passing some rowers in dragonboats and headed north.  

Our destinations are much closer here on Lake Champlain and it only took us two hours to reach Valcour Island.  The cruise was a smooth one with very calm waters but it was a bit chilly!  

We looked at a variety of anchorages but because the wind was coming from the north, we wanted to find one that would provide protection from that direction.  We found what we thought would be a perfect one at Bluff Point South on the southwest shore of Valcour Island.  It was next to a park with dinghy access and lots of good hiking trails.  There were several sailboats already anchored inthe bay and rather than be crowded among them, we found a lovely spot a bit further up and closer to shore.  Since it was misting on and off, we did not take the dinghy to explore the enticing parkland and instead stayed cozy inside and read and worked on the Burlington blog entry (a long one).

After our usual cocktail and nibbles (still enjoying the salami and cheese from the Italian market in Philly), Jonny made a delicious dinner of leftover rotisserie chicken and the wonderful vegetables we got from the farmer’market in Burlington.  We decided to watch one of the movies that Andy had lent us.  In the meantime, all that afternoon and during dinner, more and more sailboats arrived to anchor (at least 25 that we could count).  

We were glad we had anchored further away from the madding crowd.  

However, as it started to get darker it seemed as if we were closer to shore than we felt comfortable with.  Jonny kept peering at the very rocky shoreline and checking our anchor line.  The wind was picking up and although we weren’t dragging, we were concerned that if we did drag being so close to shore would give us insufficient time to react and correct the situation.  So we both put on our heavy raincoats and pulled up anchor to move Zendo out of that part of the cove and further away from the shoreline.  We found a safer spot behind two sailboats in 35 feet of water (a lot for us as we usually seek between 8 and 15 feet of water to anchor in).  We felt much more comfortable in this spot.  By this time it was getting late so we skipped the movie and called it a night and slept much better than if we stayed in our first location!

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