Manjack Cay

Bill and Leslie are The Keepers of Manjack Cay, and hosts to all gentle sailfolk that care to anchor there. Fortunately for them, there have been no aggresive invaders. Fortunatley for us, they are there! We sailed from Green Turtle Cay to Manjack Cay and anchored in the bay where they built their home 16 years ago, you can see their palm-lined beach in one of the photograph below. It was such a calm day on the water that we sailed with our cruising chute, and after we anchored, Bill and Leslie came out to say that since the water surface was as smooth as glass, they were going out on their motor-boat to view the creeks in behind their home and would we like to join them? So we piled in and in no time were in the small, shallow creek and could see right through to the bottom without even a ripple from the wind. They showed us some Hawksbill turtles and a lone Eagle Ray what unusual creatures!

We were invited to take some coconuts, our new favourite staple, use their cleared pathways to get to the ocean beach on the other side of the cay, what lovely people! They are photagaphed above, with their solar-powered golf cart and in front of their extensive vegetable garden. The other photos are of other Bahamian locals: curly-tailed lizards and Hibiscus flowers.

Bill brought a visiting freind out to our boat, both of them wooden boat builders. They arrived in visiting Bahamian fashion: at cocktail hour with drinks at the ready! I was just finishing making hummus and fresh , hot pita bread, so it was a perfect arrival! We talked into the evening, yakking endlessly about (what else?) wooden boats! We shared the story of our ocean crossing from Beaufort and were awarded near-hero status for having survived (someday I'll be brave enough the share the real story with you!) and got to know some great people. Getting to know different sorts of sailors is always a rewarding, and handy thing. You learn a lot about which cays are worth visiting, which passes are best left alone and which ones aren't as bad as they are made out to be. And I get to share recipes!

So, Bill, as requested, the recipe for the pita bread in a little lower down on the side-bar. And if Leslie is successful at making sourdough starter, I would like that recipe! (email me at michelle.lambton@gmail.com , thanks! We'll certainly see you agian!

Beach, beach, beach!

Howdya like my Christmas present? At a Christmas eve gathering aboard a Warram Catamaran named Peace (hosted by Annie and Neville), I had chance to admire a conch shell that had its very tip sawn off to make a trumpet of it. I had heard some horns blowing at sunset around the anchorage and was wondering what it might be. Jim told me that the skipper of the boat he helped move from Cornwall to Cape Breton had a conch and blew it at sunset every darned night! Now I thought the owner of this particular conch was a wee bit sauced when he offered me one, and honestly didn't expect him to remember (sorry, Al!) but on Christmas morning, there he was pulling alongside Chelonidae with a red "Santa Sack" in hand. What a lovely gift! So I've been practicing wherever we are a creating a ruckus!
So here's something funny! For the first time ever, one of us forgot to bring the painter (the rope attached to the dingy) up after getting back onto the boat! Ha ha ha ! It started to float out on the tide pretty quickly, meanwhile superJim stripped to the skin (he's always looking for the chance!), dove in and retreived it. What fun!
Many of you had asked what our whole plan was for cruising...you know, when are we coming back? and all that. We're still considering the possibilites, but it looks like we'll be heading back north for the summer. We want to do more coastal-hopping than what we did on our trip down, so planning is underway. But you never know!

Merry Christmas to all!

Well! You can't even begin to guess what we've been up to! A whole lot o' nuthin'! Strolling, beach-bumming, coconut husking (that was actually the most work we've done in a few days!) and lazing about. I'm getting a tan for Christmas!
We're now anchored in White Sound, Green Turtle Cay. Chelonidae is lating for green turlte...cool, huh? We're finally seeing the real Abacos! The pictures of town here are all of New Plymouth, pretty wee thing. Yesterday we went to a service at theEpicsopal church. Nice people! The service seemed so familiar to me; the songs, topic of sermon, delivery of said sermon, the whole shebang...reminded me of my very early Christian days in Calgary. Then the reverend introduced himself as being from Medicine Hat, Alberta, the same part of town that bred all the preachers along the "Bible Belt" of Alberta. Ahah! It was a very pleasant experience.
The beach shown above is where we do our bumming, picnicking and annoyance of the home-owners who get to erect little beach shelters for private consumption. The beaches are all public below the high water line, but we like the idea of shade, so we tend to park in the private areas. The sand is of course beautiful and soft. The swimming is pretty exciting at ebb tide, but we're not dare-devils, so we paddle around at slack water. In the photo's background, you can see breaking water over some reefs. Reefs are only fun in perfectly calm water. James has bought some fishing gear, so I can't wait for him to go out to the reefs and catch me a fish. Yellow Tail Snapper, anyone?
Anyhow, we have all our Christamas trippings and trapping and up, saved some candy canes from last year (delightfully ...um...chewy. Yes, Chewy!) and bought some LED Christmas lights for added cheer-factor! The winter days here are really short, sunset at 5:30, so the more cheer the better! If there are no friends to keep us busy during the evenings, we tend to turn in really early. 8, 8:30! I'm embarrassed. But not tonight! A nice lady has invited the whole anchorage over to her place, a 46' Warram Catamaran, for Christmas eve cheer. Her name is Ann, a salty dog indeed! She single-handed at least two long distance passages, including the same route as we just did from Beaufort, and from Rhode Island to Ireland. And tomorrow, Christmas Day, there is a pot-luck for the whole community. Whee!
So wherever you are, we do hope you have a Merry Christmas! Enjoy yourself, your loved ones (for us it will be love from afar...we miss eveyone!) and Christ our Lord.

The Big Hop

So! The Big Blue Wet Thing. This is mostly what we saw. Sometimes it was dark. Sometimes it was more windy. Sometimes there was a nauseating current. But above all, it was life- changing. We both learned what we are made of, and that we both feel strong and brave. We took eight days to get to Marsh Harbour, Great Abaco Island, Bahamas. We stood watches, lengthening and shorting as the need for the other to sleep became evident.
I have Jim's permission to tell you all that I was not the sea-sick one! As we were exiting the channel from Beaufort, Jim raised the sails. Just as I was noticing a pod of dolphins diving under our ship's sides, sending us off, Jim actually barfed right on them. A Hahahahah! (Yes, we can laugh about it now!)
His acute, and my not-so-dramatic seasickness lasted for about three days, then we got better. driving was good for relieving the bouncy-ness.
Then we were here!
We pulled in to a marina for the first time, just to get a rest and not have to concentrate on anchoring and all that jazz. It was 9am, so we fuelled and watered the boat, then organized some laundry, try to call home, but got all screwed up (due to sleep deprivation) and gave up when the phone line suddenly went dead. We actually arrived three days ago.
Then we went for our first walk in eight days, saw the beautiful palm trees, bougainvaillia, mangroves and different birdies. Marsh Harbour is not exactly a tourist-town, so the town is not "beautiful", although it is a great place to end an ocean passage. Re-provisioning and repairs are easy, and there are lots of other sailors to glean information from on cruising the Abacos.
The Goombay music is lively, rum is cheap and there are pretty girls everywhere. But being shy of all these things, we haven't found out for ourselves yet, just hear the racket across the marina. Thank god we got off that dock, although it was nice having the facilities, and went to anchor in the harbour basin.
Next post, hopefully I'll have some shots of the beautiful beaches and such.
By the way, wirless is indeed hard to come by, especially for free, so there will be prolonged silences from me. Please feel free to hit the "comment" button at the end of each post and drop us a line. All can read the comments and you can comment on someone elses comment...what fun!
The Bahama Mama, signing out.

Bahamas!!!!!

Tah Dah! We made it!
We set out from Beaufort, NC to Marsh Harbour, Great Abaco Island. As my dad put it, we were barfing one day and sun-tanning the next! But after eight days, it was "LAND HO!" and we entered turqouise waters and saw our first palm trees. It took a few days to find wireless that works, the power is frequently interrupted. So, I will be publishing much shorter posts to get as much out to you as possible before the power (and wireless) goes down. Look at the belies in the top picture! We both look pregnant! (although niether of us is...I've learned to verbalize these things)

Beaufort, NC

Just a quick note to say we made it. So we made it!
I think we're finally below the latitude at which there is little risk of frost, snow and chronic depression, so we could happily wait for our fair weather window to make the hop across the pond without freezing to death. We have run into our friends Caroline et Jocelyn, and have made a few more, so we're having a good time. More later when I get some pictures of the wild ponies that live on the island along our beam!

Hello from sunny, although a tad chilly, Ocracoke, North Carolina!
After leaving Annapolis, we sailed down the rest of the Chesapeake Bay. We enjoyed a few lovely, tiny anchorages, most of them tree-lined, some grassed, but all sorrounded by homes.
You could see that developers have made a killing on what used to be pristine fish and gaming land. Still beautiful, but a little crowded.
The first picture is of the Naval Dockyards in Norfolk, Va., an aircraft carrier. That morning saw us pass some remarkable naval sights: really huge ships, some old ones being restored, just mile after mile of industry and military. Next shot is taken after "being released" from a swing-bridge. We were first in line to wait an hour for the bridge to open, hence we lead the charge out. This is what we saw when we looked behind. It sure didn't take long for the power-boats to pass the sail boats! Next is all I could shoot of our 6-dophin-escort. Quite remarkable to have these 8 footers playing alongside the bow! They were breaching and playing, but our boat doesn't go fast enough to create the size of bow-wave these critters really like to "surf" in, so it didn't last very long. The last shot is of a pelican. I wish I could have photographed them in flight, for they are the funniest birds ever! Their huge bills make them look prehistoric and weighty.
As we press on to Beaufort, the weather seems to hold above freezing, I'm glad to have our duvet! We shared an American thanksgiving with some other cruisers, Sue & Corky aboard "Surprise". They were given two Brant geese off Hatteras, and invited us to join them. These are sea-geese, and you could taste the sea in their meat! Corky wrapped them in bacon and barbequed them to perfection, it was quite unusual, but delicious!
More when we reach Beaufort!

Chesapeake Bay

The Chesapeake has been a lovely experience. At this time of year, that is after the boater's summer season, the anchorages are mostly empty and there is plenty of room in the channels. We have been anchoring in some beautiful small creeks, surrounded by fall colours and seabirds. Getting off the boat for a stroll is difficult when we're nowhere near a dingy-dock, as most towns don't seem to provide them, but I'm pleased to say Annapolis has provided one dingy dock at the end of each street that ends at the water...way to go Annapolis! We actually got kicked off a public beach in another town off the Hudson River, apparently you're not allowed to "launch or debark" from a beach...fine! we said. We'll go. hmph.

The above photos are of Annapolis, the first is , of course, taken while we were leaving the town at sunrise. The autumn leaves were found at the park in behind our anchrage in a place called Spa Creek. Nice dingy dock at the park, too. The last is one funky, fiesty wee light house off the bay outside Annapolis.

We're presently anchored in a town called Hampton, Virginia. Nice spot, but then again, it is very late in the season and likely too busy to be believed in the on-season. So I won't have many pics to post yet, not until the sunrise hits everything just right.

Women On Board

Our friend, Douglas Coupar, was visiting us on board the other night. He, as are a few of you, is a big fan of this blog, and had a few questions for me. The first one had to do with a two wek period in which I did not post a story. He apparently was talking to another mutual friend about this strange disapearance, and it crossed their minds that we had, well, you know! Died!
I replied, alive as could be, that sometimes I can't access any wireless service and must wait. So there will be times when we're in an anchorage and cannot stay in touch via blog or email! Especially when we get into our intended destination in the Bahamas; we'll be a little ways out from civilization.
The other question had to do with the nature of living aboard. He is quite aware, as is James, that most couples who start out on these voyages don't return in their happily married state. The fact is that this is not an easy lifestyle. As ex-cruising sailorette Rose Gauthier put it, "It a lot of work!" Her voice laid much emphasis this as if it's enough to kill you! It almost is!
Now this brings me to my topic. How do women survive this "live-aboard" crap, anyway? As all who know me realize, I'm a big fan of deductive psychology, so let's plunge right into the icy waters of what makes a woman tick. Ready, Doug? James? Andy? All right, fellas...let's GO-O-O!
Like so many women, I enjoy relationships with other people. I like talking to them, getting to know them and really discussing things. Our relationships tend to more face-to-face. Take that away, and it takes a wee while, but I do start to get a little lonely and bored. So I start to look for other interests. I try not to stay lonely bored. Now men, on the other hand, tackle their relationships with other people differently, mostly. They enjoy working on a project together in side-by-side companionship. They tend to like doing stuff. they're more active. Task-oriented. They don't do chick-stuff like relating, shopping, and I must put an "etc." here, because I'm not really sure what else chicks like to do do...
Now, on our boat, (did I mention she is 36' long? Nottalotta room!), there is me, and there is James. And there is all that work. All the shippy things like stowing (and I mean properly!), lashing, hoisting, steering, being careful of halyards, sheets and other assorted not-to-become-flotsam, plotting, taking bearings, trip-planning, watch changes, ventilating, keeping warm, keeping cool, keeping dry, keeping up good spirits and being companionable. You would think I would have a hard time becoming bored! But this stuff is so new to me, also foreign to my creative-hemisphere brain, I do have a hard time with it.
If this sounds like there is more for Jim to sink hs teeth into than me, you'd be correct.
In the previous post, I mentioned some "settling in" issues I was experiencing. With that in mind, you could call living aboard a recipe for relationship disaster. I can see why most full time cruising couples don't make it! They split up, come back dispondent, change partners. Doug told me about one couple who live separately: she lives on land and has extended visits with him while he lives on board 8 months a year, and lives with her the other four. Sounds like a lot of expensive air travel! Finally, there are the majority of cruisers who maintain a family home and both live there during non-boating season.
As for us, we both intend on giving this much more time and working the bugs out. I have some things that stave-off boredom: my knitting when I can find some yarn (that's only been twice) I have my guitar on board, I have written a couple of magazine articles and writing this blog has been a great outlet for me. And I enjoy the creative task of living without a fridge, it permits me to experiment with recipe requirements for using shelf-stable foods and to not produce left-overs, (some day, if you're good, I'll tell you about the days we roast and demolish an entire chicken!). And Jim has All That Work! So things just might work out for us. Besides, he's awfully cute and, well! He's awfully cute!!!
A few people have made forays into the topic of cruising couples getting along all the time, but I've never heard anyone come right out and say that first of all, you're stuck with the spouse you start out with: if they're not up to the task of cruising, then either quit cruising or quit them!
I guess that sounds a bit harsh, but what are your options? Secondly, in order to give cruising your best shot, I've had to realize I must balance All That Work with some Michelle-y stuff, like walking, shopping for groceries and seeking a library alone. Meeting and talking with others. Emailing all of you guys, if I have your address. If not, slip me line!
So, Doug, there you have it: my take on how life is right now and how I'm learning to be a live-aboard cruiser and a woman. And, horrifically, all women are different, so they'll have to find their own specific answers. For now, things are working out. Most of the time!

Leaving NYC

These pictures belong with the post titled "Annapolis, Maryland! Land of the All-You-Can_eat Crab".

Maryland, Land of All-You-Can-Eat crab...

We made it to Annapolis! On the mythical Chesapeake bay! And got taken out for two dozen Crabs! That was it! Two dozen steamed, garliced crabdies, two pitchers of Yingling Lager and the three of us got those crabs as hammered as we got ourselves! So exciting! I guess crab is the big thing on the Chesapeake, where there are Crab Shacks all over. Our host, a single hander named Phil, had scoped out this joint the previous night, and the big blonde waitress welcomed him like long lost family, very homey place. Delicious crag, but next time we'll also order some rolls, or salad, or something that won't leave us with "crab-morning-breath". Isn't that nice?!

Yet, once again, my laptop just won't "go on line", so I have no pikkies for you all at this point, will post when I can.
We pulled out of NYC on a cool, hazey day. Sailed past the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Went through a field of freighters at anchor, huge black hulks just...sitting there! Then down Raritan Bay for Sandy Hook, intending on anchoring for the night, then continuing on to Atlantic City, O, Joy! But the wind really piped up and we needed shelter from a strong south wind. As we sailed down the coast of Sandy Hook, we saw a bay on the chart that looked OK, so we headed for it,. As we pulled around the corner, however, we saw that our depth-sounder was trying to tell us it was too shallow. About then, we saw a sailboat lying on its side on the beach, so after a strong case of the heebie-jeebies, we and made for a walled basin, further on at the bottom of the bay. It dawned on me right then, that the nature of our travelling was different now that we were in open ocean, no longer canals and rivers. We have to pay strong attention to the weather forcast on VHF, and must stay put during bad weather.
So after lying at anchor ourselves for two days at this place, Atlantic Heights, we had a weather window that showed it would be better to abort our previous plans to come in to Atlantic City and to make a straight shot right through to Cape May at the Delaware Bay, which we did. It was a 30 hour sail amd my first overnight passage.
We could see the lighted casinos on the edge of Atlantic city in the distance for 8 hours! I was the one to pass it, at sunrise. The open, bounding mane on one side, Soddom and Gomarrah on the other!
Cape May was absolutely packed with sport boats! We came in on my watch, and my tactic for collision avoidance was to go straight and let these big, uber-speedy boats pass us, which they did in large numbers. And close! So we don't really like the water around Cape May, and didn't get a chance to see the old town, too bad as it is highly acclaimed. Our lesson learned is this: Stay away from sportsmen's hot spots on weekends!
The long trip up the Delaware was neat, we saw a dolphin a few feet from our port side, leaping and playing. That made up for all the jack-asses at Cape May!
My learning curve had taken a nasty bend during all of this; not being able to see the towns we were passing through when the weather was rough or the anchorage just too far out, getting everthing wrong when ...well, when doing just about anything on deck! I was feeling menopausal, empty-nested and empty headed. I hadn't been off the boat for seven days! Yarg!
When we finally did get off the boat at Chesapeake City, my eyeballs were spangled with trying to see any kind of distance! I was tottering about like a tipsy miss! My mood didn't improve until we anchored, debarked and went strolling the fine streets of Annapolis.
So for the moment, we are well, the weather is absolutely be-ooo-tiful! Deep blue skies, deeper blue water, calm wind which is great for all the non-sailing we're doing.
The boat handled well during all this, sails remained intact, planks still holding, no leaks.
Our next destination is Elizabeth City on The Dismal Swamp. Cool, huh?

NYC, Day 3

Day 2 saw us do a few hard-core touristy things, including climbing the Empire State Building. Seriously, we took a 15 second (yes, 15 second) elevator ride to the 80th floor, then one almost as long to the 86th floor observatory and wowee! It's really true, if you haven't seen NY from there, you haven't seen it at all! Another shot of central Park(different every five minutes) and one of me seen at the Castle at Central Park. On day three, we saw the Metropolitan museum of Art, wonderful!

The Big Apple, Day One

These shots are proof that we made it this far! And still on a shoe-string budget!

We are presently moored at the 79th Street Boat Basin, a grand affair built in 1937 for the World's fair. We are a mere half hour walk to Broadway! How unusual to be this close to so much humanity and stil come home to our cozy wee nest, dinner on the table.

The first picture is taken from Nyack at 20 miles, sky scrapers just coming into view. The top right is yet another farmer's market, on Broadway, if you please. More corn, Mr. Hammerstein? Then comes the 79th St. Basin, the Geo. Washington Bridge, James, Caroline & Jocelyn just before Time Square. Then the Reservoir at Central Park.

Jim says the Big Apple is much cleaner and more calm than he remembers as a boy visiting NYC. Even among the 10 mil that live here, we didn't really feel the "crush" of humanity that can plague a big city.

We basically walked around on night 1, saw many beautiful buildings, almost all apartments. Day 2 had us picnicking in Central Park, then to the Guggenheim Art Gallery. The park is stellar and the Gallery is very interesting. The building was covered with a scaffold, so we couldn't really see this unusually shaped, spiral wrapped beauty. The main show was Richard Prince, not really my cup of tea, but glad we finally saw it.

The Beautiful (no, Really!) Hudson Valley

We are presently anchored off the town of Nyack, New York, see top left picture, just 20 miles upstream from The Big Apple. We have been travelling slowly and comfortably at around 19-20 miles a day. The weather has been just incredible! Sunday night, we were anchored off some lonely stretch of the Hudson River, having dinner up on deck after dark, wearing just our scivies! The temperature was 80F and the sunset was an argument between good, pink twilight and bad, evil clouds of thuderous tumult. We lived!
Some of the real estate along this river is pretty spectacular, rivalling Newport, Rhode Island and its "Millionair's Row" Some beautiful castles, wide open river, interesting boat traffic. The Hudson Valley itself is just plain beautiful. The trees are starting to turn, making for lovely hillsides and rock faces. Lotsa tug/barge traffic! One tug even had a "Toodle" pipe, lovely church-organ sound.
As for the boat, we put the mast up at Castleton, NY, and took her for a spin the next day. She sailed well with just the main up, the day after, Jim finished installing an inner stay, so we then flew a jib. Not nearly enough wind, so we abandoned that, but the rigging sure looks great!
From Cape Vincent to Waterford we were able to tie off on free (love that word!) public docks. From there on in we've been anchoring in good muddy bottom. Betcha didn't know that having a muddy bottom could be good, huh?
Will put up some pikkies when I bring the laptop ashore next, until then, tah-rah!

Waterford, New York, Southbound on the Hudson River.

We have just finished the first two legs of the NY Canal System; the Oswego & the Erie. After a two day stop, we will start down the Hudson River, named after the same Henry Hudson that accidentally dicovered that pesky bay that prevented him from ever reaching India...did you know the poor guy was mutinied and set adrift in the Hudson's Bay?

Anyhow, Waterford is quite pretty. Most of the buildings are in good shape, as opposed to some of the poorer towns we saw on the way down. The severe flooding that damaged the NY Canal system two springs ago must have nailed their poor coffins shut. Some towns were dead on their feet and that flood knocked right down. We chatted with one lockkeeper about how his lockstation fared. He lost his lockhouse and much of the dam. Work had been underway to rebuild the dam, on Lock#10, one abuttment was almost done when the water swept the it and one other away. Alond the way, you could see which locks were still being rebuilt after the flood and which one were untouched. The unharmed ones were all freshly painted and looking great. The damaged ones looked as though they were putting off repainting until all the work was done. There was still a lot of work to go!

Anyhow, we're starting to meet more people now. Along the way, we met but did'nt get to know other boaters because they were in such a hurry to get south. We, however, are taking our time and visiting the areas we are in. Now that we are in a common rest and fuelling up stop for boaters, they too are taking advantage of the two free days dockage, so they have time to shmooze. Most are seasonal boaters who still have houses, cars and mortagages to get back to. Others are out for the two or three years sabbatical from work. Still others have gone no further than their two week vacation will take them. We've met only a few other couple who are out there permanently, like us.

Life has been very relaxing and quiet. As soon as I feel tired of that and need some fun, I figure I'll crawl out from under this rock and start being more friendly toward other boaters. I think I've depressurized from owning and operating a very busy cafe and am getting ready to start focussing on what I'm doing!

Farmer's Markets Across the Borders!

Whoopie! Food at last!

Although you can't see the vegetable stalls in this shot, the farmers market in Kingston was really quite nice! This year's harvest didn't reap too many new things, but it's alwayy great to see old friends; we joyed a cucumber and tomato salad, curried lentils and Cous Cous that night!

This next shot is of the Farmer's Market in Oswego, New York. Intelligently, it goes from 5-9pm Thursday evenings. They, too, featured live music, quite a few veg stall and specialty goods like bakery items and honey. The only thing we missed was a charcuterie or butcher. We bought some late season corn, and it was so good, we were able to go back for more. We stayed until the band almost finished, they played everything from Johnny Cash to Prince!

This is the interior of our wee boaty! The first view is the galley, note the ample cupboard space! All hand made by my talented hubby! The next one down is the settee, complete with a solid teak table. That metal thing halfway up the wall is a cabin heater. The last is a shot taken from the very forward end of our double berth, you can see our open-shelf lockers and hanging locker, which is completely crammed with my stuff. I was thinking I would have to leave my beautiful guitar behind, but managed to find a home for it. We have cargo-nets hanging below some bookshelves in the berth area, so it mostly lives there.

The whole boat is just big enough for two to live aboard, warm when it needs to be, cool likewise. Jim & I tended to spend much of our time together anyhow, hard to imagine we could could spend EVEN MORE time together, but we do. We spend about 25% of our time actually moving the boat, so one will helm and the other relaxes, reads, knits, keeps an eye on the chart to prepare for our next landing.

I find the whole experience to be enjoyable so far, and certainly no hardship! I think I'm going to like cruising for a while yet!

Trancendent Gypsy Socks

This one project has been with me since April of this year. I bought some lovely sock yarn at my local yarn shop, "Winter Eclipse" is a variegated mauve-purple-grey-midnightblue affair that does indeed look a little winter-eclipse-y. I cast on toe#1 back in the cold snowy spring in kemptville, got around to turning the heel on a warm evening in June, started the ankle the week before moving on board the boat. I finally had time to finish Sock One and am a quarter of the way up Sock Two. These socks will be a birthday present for my older daughter, who must continue to trudge the Canadian Snows. At least she'll do it in comfy warm socks, (and hopefully some kind of shoe!) And now I understand what earlier yarn-prophetesses mean by the phrase "Every stitch is crafted with love", it really is true. This is the second pair of socks I have knit for either of my kids, and the previous pair gave me reason to think about my children and pray for them, send them warm thoughts, good zen-like-karma, you know...hope they turn out all right! I'll be a little sad when this project ends, but am looking forward to the next: a shawl. But you don't know who it's for!

Our first intenational border

Wow! That was easy! Come in, tie off trot up to Customs & Immigration, pass the passport & ship's registration and voila! The nice people told us to have a nice visit, which we shall!
We are across lake Ontario, in the town of Cape Vincent. There are references to the War of 1812, beautiful old mansions, quiet streets and huge trees everywhere! It's almost too boring to write about! I am left wondering...what is the local cuisine like?
Well! I don't know about now, but I suppose the local fare included quite a bit of game-fish. The boat is tied off at the public dock behind the Seth Green Lab Vessel's berth at the Cape Vincent Fishery Museum, Auarium and research station. Mr. Green was apparently quite the angler and was the first person to hatch wee fishies in his own backyard, check out Sports Illustrated, Oct. 1864! (I can only hope it's not the swimsuit edition!) Although the town's tourist/sport-fishing background has quite diminished now, there are signs of leisure America all over; nice private boat docks, worn out buildings that have yet to scratch off the "Angling Supplies" sign off the derelict front doors.
It's a nice place to visit by boat, there is a lovely public washroom and shower facility just off the public dock and the first two nights are free! Tomorrow, the weather conditions should be right to make a safe trip to outr next port, Sacket's Harbour, apparently just as sleepy as Cape Vincent!

The Learning Curve...

Ever look at a new mother with her first baby in arms? See how natural they look? Even if you yourself are a mother, you know that she is experiencing all kinds of new things, problems, getting organized. Still, she looks like she knows what she's doing!

It is the same with us! I suppose we had quite a few distractions when packing up the house, the kid and the car, all going in different directions, and only now are we getting a feel for our new lifestyle. But here we are , enjoying our new "baby", getting to know her and each other, both live and very much up close.

The nice part of living this way is setting your own pace. The troublesome part is that the needs of the baby come first. Jim has lived aboard for two summers now; I have not. He knows her; I do not. This shall come with time and practice.

Anyhow, we have enjoyed some spectacular scenery along the way, and met up with some great people.

Day One saw us entertained in the bustling burgh of Burrit's Rapids by the Boesveld borough! (Z'at enough B's for you?). We walked from the river course, where we actually threw the anchor down in 7 feet of water, to their home. We could hear them. We could practically smell them! But we had to ask another neigbour, Thank you Morrisons! where they were. They were at yet another neighbour's house, making merry! We jioned right in and had a great time. Burrit's is a lovely place to tour through, no matter how briefly.

The next day, we stopped in Kilmarnock for the evening. Knowing we would be here, we lovingly chatted up Doud and Catherine Moir, Citizens of Kilmarnock, beforehand, and secured a shower. Afterwards we had them on board for a glass of wine and heard the story of their beautiful home on the Rideau Canal system. It seems they were looking to perhaps downsize their home after their son, Chris, had left home. They had been looking rather non-commitally, when Doug came across a fellow mowing the lawn on this beautiful property. Apparently, this was the fellow's mother's house, and after dicovering Doug's surname, invited him to come for a look sometime, but not today, as his mother was unwell. It took about a year before the Moirs did look into it, but since then , the matron had passed away. To make a short story, the house ended up being built originally by Doug's greatx3Grandfather, John Moir! They promptly bought the place and are presently rebuilding sections of it. We got a close-up of the bath, and wowie! Has Catherine got good taste or what! The whole house had such a simple, relaxed atmosphere, but had so many lovely surprises, like a reading area with two tasteful plaid sofas with a fireside settee that featured a red leather couch! The view of the bay we later anchored in was quite lovely.

The following morning, we took the 10 minute walk to kilmarnock Orchard. I traded my last copy of my new cookbook 13 Dessert Recipes, from the Yellow Canoe for some apples. We chatted with owner Myriam Belot for a while and discovered what a really busy lady she is! Besides Applefest, which I belive takes place Sept 16, there is "Let's get Creative"; a day full of local chefs, strutting their culinary stuff, wielding apple-corers and juicers to bring new ideas to the dining table. What a neat place, close by on Kilmarnock Road.

The next night we were in Smiths Falls, where I needed to cash in my old licence plate at the DMV. I realized that a friend of mine, Nancy Mantle, and her husband Dave, worked right next door, so we stopped in to see them. They accepted a dinner invitation, and we feasted on a curry dinner. Nancy requested the recipes for the Cashew & Date Couscous and the curried lentil dahl, so I'll put them on the side-bar for the blog post. They have just bought a wee daysailer and have already taken a trip down the Rideau to Ottawa, way to go! The morning after, we ran into Nick, from Ayling's Boatyard in Merrickville. We had him over for a quick pint, and he smartly told us that he is about to launch his sailboat! (both of us thought you look far better in a boat, as opposed to only working on a boat, Nick!) Happy cruising you all!

And then we all alone! No more friends! We tailed some kayakers who were on the same route as us, so we bid them hello whenever we could. Tried not to run them over! We anchored out in some beautiful places at the top of the system, Mortin's Bay on Whitefish Lake, Hudson Bay on the Big Rideau.

Then we came into Kingston, where we met up with my mum, and are waiting to get together with Jim's kids for a farewell dinner. Then it is off to upperNew York State & the Oswego Canal. Enjoy the snaps!