Rimouski

Yeaaaa!!!!! Perfect sailing day. Hull speed plus sailing most of the day with 15-20 on the starboard quarter and surfing conditions.

We sailed through Beluga and Pilot whales again and had seals checking us out for most of the day. We have two pictures to post, but they look awful compared to what we have experienced here. The whales are so close you can hear them blow. But, our picture taking is not as fast as they are. On the tour boat, they explained the big jumps you see is during mating season in southern waters. Here, they are just feeding to fatten up after a winter of starving in the Caribbean. The Beluga's stay here year round, but they do not jump like the sperm whales do.

Speaking of Beluga whales, I need to say something here. Any of our Canadian followers, just ignore my rant. Most of you know me and know I do this from time to time, or maybe too much. Americans are always being accused of overfishing and therefore we are restricted in Canadian waters. But we found out that overfishing is what caused the slaughter of 2000 Beluga whales. The locals thought the Beluga was eating too much of the feed for their salmon, so they were offered $15 for every Beluga tail they turned in. After killing the whales, they figured out they had overfished the waters. Now they are saying the Beluga's are endangered and under 1000 in the St. Lawrence. They showed us where they mate and give birth to their offspring in this little cove in the Saguenay River. There are postings about distances to keep and how the contamination of the river is slowly killing off the Beluga population, so don't through any trash in the water. Then, here we are waiting in the back of the boat for everyone to board and leave the park. We see toilet paper, and everything else that gets flushed, coming out from under the boat. This is 60km upriver from the St. Lawrence. The Tadoussac Marina did not even have a pumpout. We would see boats leave the dock, circle around the harbor and come back. Gee let me guess what they were doing. Disgusting and disappointing.

Ok, done now. Great day.

Pilot Whale

Beluga Whale

Last night we had a wonderful lobster dinner at Tadoussac Hotel. The lobster was so..... yummy!

The last two days have been quite chilly! Tuesday the high was only 58° and Wednesday the high was 63°. The nights are cold, extra blankets and alot of cuddling!

We woke up this morning we had dense fog with the sun trying to poke through. The weather was forcasted for sunny skies mid 70's. So we decided at the last minute to take a tour boat up the Saguenay River.
We started the tour with the fog uplifting into the breathtaking view of the mountains. As the fog lifted, you experienced the fresh air, stunning rugged cliffs and breathtaking scenery. It's truly amazing how the Saguenay River was formed thru the legacy of the ice ages.
We had an hour stop over at National Park Fjord-du-Saguency. We hiked up the cliff, which was absouluting stunning beauty. The wonders of nature, priceless!

Blue skies breaking through the fog!

Roy and I at the bow of the cruise ship.

The second highest mountain on Saguenay River.

The Virgin Mary. Funny story how this statue came to be. A man fell through the ice and prayed to the Virgin Mary that if he survived he would do something grand in her name. He was able to climb out and did nothing for her. A few years later he became deathly ill and again prayed to her saying he would uphold his promise. He survived and was able to raise enough money to have this 30' statue made in Quebec. It is pine with a layer of lead over it for the weather. Then it fell off the boat while transferring it to the spot, she finished the trip being dragged behind the boat. Then they could not get the statue up the cliff, so they had to cut her into pieces and carry each piece up. She is still standing securely, chained to the mountain top. The man lived a long healthy life.

Stunning view of the cliff!

Entrance of Parc du Fjord-du-Saguenay.

Spectular View from the cliff!

Roy hanging on!

Great view of the anchored sailboats!

The cliff we climbed!

Arrived in Tadoussac

We left Quebec on Saturday morning aournd 10:30. This is 2 hours before high tide. One guide warns you have to go 72 miles but I found an anchorage at ActiveCaptain.com (from this day forward I am going to reference it as AC). The anchorage is only 42 miles away, but it is in the south channel, called the Old Sailing Ship Route. The channel is not marked, so you need to watch your charts for any shoals, but it is pretty open. We had 15-20 knots from dead astern and were surfing the largest waves I have seen on the St. Lawrance, 7-8 knots of boat speed. I was talking to my father about how we may even makie it an 86 mile day to another anchorage. We figured the Ebb tide would give us another 2-3 knots in some areas. An hour later, we were hammerred with multiple thunderstorms with wind gusts up to 50 knots. We sailed double reefed into our 46 mile anchorage with a steady 35 knots of breeze from the NW. The anchorage was quiet and great holding with up to 2 knots of current. Overnight, the wind turned to the NE at 25 knots and was hitting us from the beam. Hard to get used to the boat laying to the current and not even a 25 knot wind can turn you. Very uncomfortable anchorage. I gave it a 2 star in AC. I read a whole book while staying awake for the anchor watch, but should have chosen a different book. This one ends with a wooden schooner bashing apart on the rocks.

Next morning was an early start with the wind still blowing 25 knots out of the NE. Single reef and going to windward we made good ground against the flood tide. 2 hours later, it shut off. We had to motor sail a total of 15 of of the 35 miles today. Sailing at 6 knots through the Traverse Saint-Roch, we hit 10 knots SOG. We spent the night at Cap-a-l'Aigle. the women couldn't speak English and would not respond on the VHF to my bastardized version of the marina name. But, everyone at the dock was friendly and helpfull.

We motor sail at 4 knots. With the generator running, we don't draw any power from our batteries. We have officially used 5 gallons of gas in the past 2 months.

The next day brought another light air day to Tadoussac. We left an hour before high tide and had to motor sail for another 15 miles of the 35 mile day. We had enough wind to sail at 4-5 knots most of the day and enjoyed being surrounded by Beluga whales. We saw hundreds. As we ghosted into the bay channel, we had pitot whales surfacing all around us. We would here them blow and look to see them diving. Great experience.

If you ever come here, the Tadoussac Marina does not take reservations. We had 15 boats motor past us and had no slips when we arrived. They let us raft to a resident boat and gave us a slip in the morning. Most of those boats motored past us the day before. I guess the art of sailing is dead in the St. Lawrence. We hit the Saguenay River at the exact time required to avoid currents. Being in such a hurry, they would have had to motor against the rivers current.

Me in Front of Gremm

Gremm creation, a non-profit organization. It was founded in 1985, it is dedicated to scientific research on the marine mammals of the St. Lawerence and education for conservation of the marine environment.

Marina with the beach.

Marina

Tadoussac Hotel

Notre-Dame de Quebec Brasilica-Catherdral

Fairmount Le Chateau Frontenac

Old Quebec

Me with Roy being silly!

The Parliament

The Parliament with the Fountain

Duane and Lynn at The Parliament with the Fountain

We arrived in Quebec last Tuesday. We ended up staying in Levi in a marina across from Quebec city. The ferry ran every 1/2 hour during the day and every hour in the evening. We we're told the walk to the ferry was about 15 mins, walking at a good pace it was a good 30 mins. So we got a good workout every day. They did have bikes but they never had enough bikes for Duane, Roy and I at the same time.

We took a tour of the city and country side. We experienced the European charm of the first settlement in North America. We visited The Latin Quarter, Plains of Abraham, Ramparts, world famous Château Frontenac, National assembly, Barilica City Hall, Place-Royale, Montmorency falls and Island of Orleans. We also visited Albert Gilles Copper Art. Artist Albert quotes Gilles decorated the homes of Roy & Walt Disney. His work adorns many church's in Canada and the US including Ste-Anne deBeupre Basilica. We learned that only the Pope can designate a church a Basilica.

Lynn came up on Thursday night and saw some of Quebec City on Friday before Duane and her departed back to Syracuse. It was great to have Duane's help, company and entertainment aboard. He will be sadly missed. Duane and Lynn may join us at the Newport Boat show in September then sail to Block Island for the weekend with us.

Starting at Portnuef we really got to experience the tide coming into the marina. It was so interesting to see your boat raise like it's in a bathtub filling up. It filled up quickly at high tide and would go down just as quick at low tide.

Leaving Montreal

We left Montreal for the 165 mile leg to Quebec. It took 5 days. The first day was light wind on the nose. If not for the current, we never would have made the 20 miles. Strange feeling working windward and having windway versus leeway. We still motored the last 3 miles to an anchorage off of Contrecoeur. It was a small village with a quiet cove. Most everyone follows the no wake rule, otherwise this would have been a bumpy anchorage. We left the next morning with the promise of 15 knots from the SW. It never materialized. We ghosted out into the channel and then motorsailed for 15 miles. We were heading to an achorage noted in Activecaptain.com. It was in a small canal just past Sorel. There must have been 500 powerboats buzzing through there. Total disrepect for anyone who had a camp and a boat tied up. The water was 20-30 feet right up to shore, so we motored the 3 miles through to look for another spot. At the end of the canal, we found where they were all going. There is a little cove, basically a deep spot in the marsh. You have to motor over mud to get in and there were hundreds of power boats in there. All rafted up and partying. I guess that is their version of the piss-hole (inside joke). Upon exiting the canal, we saw a sailboat anchored against a NE shoreline. We wound up anchoring in 15' of clay bottom. No protection from the forecasted SW, but it never really came up anyway.

The next morning, brought SW breeze that built to 15-25 knots by afternoon. We sailed 40 miles to a river anchorage in Batiscan. Here we experienced our first motor issue. The wind was blowing heavy and there was 3 knots of ebb current. Being a new anchorage, we decided to drop sail outside the marked channel and motor in. Duane quickly told me that we had very little thrust. I assumed weeds and dove over to find the prop tightly encased in weeds. It took a few dives to clear and then we had improved, but not full thrust. We had drifted 1/4 mile and were slowly working our way back, but we decided to hoist a double reefed sail and sail in. Once in, the motor worked fine again. There is a current limiter in the control and I can only assume the weed wrap made it exceed the current level and it needed to reset. At least it still provided enough power to hold our position and even advance further. From that day on, we would reverse the engine, to clear any weeds, before we dropped sail. There are so many large patches of weeds going downstream, that you can't avoid them all.

The next day brought no wind in the morning. We have 65 miles to Quebec and are now timing our travel to the tides. In the anchorage, was a nice couple from Toronto sailing a Tayana Vancouver. They are heading to Nova Scotia and left around 9:30. We watched them struggle to find wind and stay away from the shoal. A little over an hour later, we could still see them and the wind finally started to come up out of the west. It built to a steady 15, but we left too late to go all the way to Quebec and stopped at Portneuf for the night. Nice, quiet, clean and great river views for only $1.10 per night. We met a Rochester couple sailing out to start a 1 year trial living aboard. They're going to the Carribean on a 41' Bristol.

The next morning brought a 8-10 NW for a final leg to Quebec. We were docked by 3:00. We elected to stay across the river in Levis. Nice marina, but a longer walk to the ferry than expected. For $6 roundtrip you get a ferry ride right to old Montreal. The marina was cheap at $1.30 per night and when you stay 3 nights, you get the 4th night free. Great biking and walking trails with free bikes from the marina. The marina in the city was $2.25 a foot. We like the lower cost, but also prefer a more quiet setting for our daily jogs and walks. Plan to leave Saturday

morning so I can work from the WiFi all week.

Finally, WIFI!

We left Valleyfield on Friday July 7th.  This was a motor boat day all day.  It took about 9 hours to get through the 2 bridges and 2 locks of the Beauharnois Canal.  We fired up the generator leaving the dock and let it run all day.  Our motor speed was about 4 knots and the batteries were recharging while we waited for openings.  When we got to the first lock, we had to wait about 2 hours.  It was down for maintenance and they planned to lock pleasure boats through only once the whole day.  There were seven of us going down, but over 50 coming up to see the hydroplane races.  After the locks we spent a night anchored in front of a small town called Melocheville.  This is only the second time we have stayed at a recommended anchorage, other than the usual well thought out ones.  We were unprotected from anything out if the North.  Not predicted, but a big storm came up and we were within 40 ' of the lee shore being pounded for about an hour.  Luckily we were stuck well.  Sailing to our next anchorage at the start of the Montreal Canal, we saw a large American flagged trawler that did not fare so well.  It looks like he anchored where we originally planed to and was blown into the marsh.  We arrived at the same time as the salvage boat had and 4 hours later, he was pulled free.  I would not want to see that bill.

We had a quiet anchorage and motored all day the next day to get through the bridge and two locks.  Another uneventful day and motored to our marine at Longueuil.  So, we motored for a day, anchored and sailed for a day and then motored for another day.  So far we did not have any problems with our motor.  We were able to keep things fairly charged up with the generator.  But, we did lose a full knot of top end by the time we were heading into Longueuil.  We figured we were probably 60 Ah down on the batteries.  But, we had enough power to get us in against the cross currents.  

Then the fun began.  We found out that the WiFi no longer works at this marina.  We called the other marinas and they were full.  I had calls to make and needed to stay in Montreal.  I did a 6 mile walk the next morning to try and find a cellular data card.  Rogers was the only one who would do a prepaid plan, but the first store was out.  I get all the way back to the boat and I find out you need to be a Canadian resident to use the card.  Never told me that at the store.  Between my friends form Toronto and Montreal, I was bale to get 1.5G of data.  I hope this will last, but may need to jump through hoops to get it to work.  It told a day and half to get this setup.  Seems to me if you are paying for the data, money is money.  Now I know why Verizon does not have any data plans up here.  At least not ones with the gigabytes I need.
So far we have used only 2 gallons of gas!






Duane enjoying his morning coffee at the helm!



Duane relaxed at the helm.



 





















Arrived in Montreal on Sunday @ 3:30pm.  Montreal is situated on a large island and was built around a small mountain called Mount Royal.  No buildings in Montreal can be taller than Mount Royal.
We ventured through Old Montreal which has narrow streets with plenty of cafes, bistros and shops.
On Monday, Roy's friend Fabien, came and picked us up and took us around Old Motreal.  We had a wonderful dinner, at The Keg which was a very nice pub.   He was very generous and lent us a car for the week.
We visited Norte Dame Bisilica. it was the most amazing church I have ever seen\.  The exquisite stained glass windows along with intricate woodwork was just amazing!  Below are some pictures, the pictures do it no justice!

The organ at Norte Dam

Roy and I in front of City Hall






Fabien and Maude invited us over for a fun filled night, including a wonderful dinner and great company!

Me, Roy,  Fabien, Maude

 Roy and I got a ride up to Mount Royal from Fabien and hiked back down to Montreal.  We ended up hiking @ 6miles that day.  We ended up taking the ferry back to Longueuil.

View from Mount Royal



View from Mount Royal

.

                                                   Views of Montreal from the ferry.

Haven't Posted!

FYI

We just left Montreal.  We didn't have WiFI at the Marina, Roy had to buy a wifi card so we are limited with mg until Quebec.  We have plenty of pictures and will update our venture early next week in Quebec.
Have a great weekend!

Week of Work

Sunset View of Valleyfield

Fountain in Valleyfield

We had a late start on the 4th to sail across Lake Saint Francois.  After a light air start, it was another perfect day with winds 6-8 knots from behind.  Duane took the helm all day again.  He says he needs to earn his keep.  We chose to sail to Valleyfiled so I could get WiFi for the week.  Arriving there at 5:00, we decided to drop a hook behind Ile aux Chats.  A little tricky getting into and weedy, but it is out of the main flow of traffic. 

We rode the dinghy in for a run Tuesday morning and reserved our slip for the week.  $1.75 per foot and $3 per day for Wifi.  Very nice marina and well protected.  The only thing to keep in mind is the bath house is at one end of the marina.  Near finger pier 1 if you make a reservation.  This is the opposite end of the gas dock. 

We can only stay until 9:00 am Friday due to hydroplane races taking place here over the weekend.  They are actually shutting down this whole end of the bay.  We plan to start through the Beauharnois canal on Friday and with a couple of nights anchorage, arrive in Montreal on Sunday.  Short hops for the Wandering Yumsuch.  No Wifi until Sunday night! 

  

Three Down - Four To Go!





Duane and I



Duane and I at Iroquois Lock



Eisenhower and Snell Locks as the lock closes.


 

Eisenhower and Snell Locks as the doors opened. 


The crew was up early, we all had a bad night. The mosquitoes somehow got into the cabin, buzzing our ears half the night.  This was a first for Yumsuch. 
Our first lock, Iroquois Lock is 12 miles east of Prescott/Ogdensburg is the first lock of the seven Seaway locks was 1/2 a mile away. We arrived at 7:35 and set to go thru at 8:00am.  This was my first experience with locks, the drop range was only 6 inches.  The drop was over before I knew it! 
Then we sailed 30 miles to Eisenhower and Snell locks. The two American locks facilitate travel around the Long Sault Rapids.The drop range 38ft to 42 ft.

We anchored at St.Regis Island for the night.  Thank God for no mosquitoes! 

The crew is up and ready to go Salaberry-de-Valleyfield.  Salaberry-de-Valleyfield is just east of Coteau Landing.

Roy's comments:  Today was a cloudy day, after a rainy night, and we had the usual of 8-10 knots from astern.  Once at the Eisenhower lock, we motored to Snell, 3 miles and then to our anchorage, another 3 miles.  I told the lock master, at the Eisenhower lock, that we only had a 4 knot motoring speed.  He said they would probably lock the powerboats through, at Snell, and get us by ourselves, but they waited for us.  The powerboats jumped on plane to the next lock, big mistake on their part.  It was over 90 with no wind in the locks.  We motored at 4 knots drawing 26 amps from the batteries.  After the two locks, I fired up the generator.  With the increased voltage, we motored at 10 knots and only drew around 13 amps.  It was a good first test.  Once at the anchorage, we did not bother charging up the engine bank.  We figured we would be at marinas from now on.  I need to have WiFi for work.  The sun had come out in the afternoon, so our house bank was fully charged.     

Brockville

Brockville

As you are aware from our last post, we weren't sure if we could stay another night at Brockville.  We waited around until noon before getting word that we could stay; however, we had to move to a different dock. Once we were settled, Roy and I finally got our jog in and Duane ventured into town.


When we returned,  Duane said everything was closed for Canada Day.  Even though businesses were closed, we walked into town  to experience the historical charm Brockville had to offer. The buildings were magnificent and mostly built in the 1800's.  We finished our walk with a visit to Bud's on the Bay for dinner.

That evening, we got to watch the Canada Day fireworks show from the Yumsuch!  We had the perfect dock for the fireworks, so the change was great!

We got up early to provision before we headed out towards  the Iroquois Lock.

It was a 20 mile jump today with winds shifting all around the clock again.  But pretty much a steady 8-10 behind.  We had so much sun power, we even recharged our engine bank from the house today.  We are now anchored just behind Presqu'ile so we are ready for an early start through the Iroquois Lock.  We can see the entrance from here.  ActiveCaptain.com suggested this anchorage and said it was a combination of sand and clay.  We are holding solid, but closer to shore, all we see are rocks.  A couple of powerboats came in and anchored further down the cove.  We'll see how they fare. 

Wind is still blowing around 10, so we are fully charged on everything.  Roy and I had fun kayaking in the swift current coming between the islands.  It was like white water kayaking.