CLUB ISLAND

As expected, it was a relaxed day today. It started out with thick fog which lasted until almost noon. We busied ourselves with boat-chores, Elaine inside and me outside, trying to keep the boat livable and presentable.

Our morning view

Luckily for Elaine, the spiders have stayed outside, but do they ever make a mess. Not only with their web-making, but they leave dark spots all over the boat. It’s only been a couple of days since I thoroughly washed down the boat, but I had to go at it again today to clean it up. Unfortunately, I didn’t have a hose, and with the fog, our solar panel wasn’t putting out the usual amperage to allow me to use the wash-down pump, and we were docked at a noise-free National Park dock which does not allow generators to be run, so I had to use a bucket to get the water I needed to clean the boat. That was okay, though, since we weren’t going anywhere until the fog lifted anyway.

Speaking of solar panels, we are learning about electrical power management at higher latitudes. I installed the solar panel in Florida when we were getting the boat ready for the Bahamas, and for the two years she was in Florida and the Bahamas, we had abundant power to keep our house bank of batteries fully charged all of the time. We could leave the boat for days at a time, even at anchor, and still had power to keep everything frozen in the freezer and all the beer cold. We could use the fans/lights/stereo as much as we wanted at night and the batteries would charge right up in the morning. We have learned, however, that being at a higher latitude, especially in the late summer/early fall, the angle of the sun hitting the panels means they are not as efficient as they were in the Bahamas. If we have a couple of cloudy and/or rainy days in a row, we can’t keep up with our normal demand and have to supplement with either the generator or shore power at a marina. This has been a learning experience for us, but I think we now have it figured out.

Incredible "cottages" along the river

So, once the fog lifted today we continued down the St. Lawrence River (born & raised in the West, it still seems odd to me to be heading East when going downriver) looking for an anchorage near the Boldt Castle, which we plan on visiting tomorrow.

Who else, but St. Lawrence?

The first anchorage we tried was very protected from the wind, although a bit shallow at 4-5 feet. This means that the weeds grow abundantly in the clear water, and we were not able to get the anchor to set with all of the weeds. We had a back-up plan, and went around another island to find a deeper spot. It ended up being a good anchoring bottom, but very exposed to the wind. That was okay, though, since it was a pretty warm day and the wind felt good. It just meant I had to mount the barbecue in a more protected area in order to cook the chicken for dinner.

We went through all of our documents and protocols for border crossing this evening, since we will be in the US tomorrow. When we entered Canada, I checked in by phone, and they gave me a “report number” which I am supposed to reference as I check out (by phone). For entry into the US, we have registered with the Small Vessel Reporting System (SVRS). This was done before cruising to the Bahamas last year, and it allowed us to check in with US Customs by phone upon entry. Before we left the US, I confirmed that it was still valid, so we should be good to check in with Customs and Border Patrol by phone when we cross the border tomorrow. We’ll see… Somehow I think it is a bit optimistic that we can get through all that bureaucratic red tape simply with a couple of phone calls. As usual, we have a back-up plan - our first stop in the morning is at Heart Island which is the setting for Boldt Castle, a major tourist draw for both the US and Canada. Hence, there is a Customs and Border Patrol office to handle the Canadian tourists. If the SVRS doesn’t work, we’ll check in with CBP on the island…

Our last Canadian sunset