Our Trusty Mascot

Annie the  Halloween Witch

No one was sure how Annie
would fare on the boat, 
so we thought we'd let you
see how she is doing!

She is a great boat dog
-she is still good at letting
us know if anyone is
coming on the boat!

Annie loves her new
friend Brian. -dosn't love waiting
all day to get off the
boat  to go potty!

Happy Birthday Lady Liberty

We left Haverstraw New Jersey on the Hudson River heading for NYC to stop at a marina right across from the Statue of Liberty for a perfect view of all the fireworks for her 125 birthday, but when we heard the weather report of the impending storm, we went right past, and headed out to sea and into the first inlet about 30 miles.

  

Where's the Dock?

It was a good move because the 40 knot winds and snow and flooding all started that night and lasted a few more days.

We ended up in Brielle New Jersey and had to wait out an extra day becuase of the rain, sleet, snow, wind and flooding!  Here is a photo of our dock - we were kind of stuck on the boat at high tide becuase everything was flooded under water.    We headed out but . . . Talk about cold!    John was wrapped up in his warm clothes, mittens, hat and scarf, and with the bed quilt over all that! Its gets really cold up top driving the boat in the wind when the air temperature is already just below freezing! 

Can't believe our trusty first mate Brian is still with us - when he checks the weather back home in California he just shakes his head and wonders why he signed up for this crazy adventure with us!

Cruising down the Hudson River

Hudson River Lighthouse

They have the most interesting lighthouses in New York State! We only went 60 miles today, we had lots of fog, and rain and lots of floating logs in the water to dodge.   We stopped at Haverstraw Marina just 25 miles out of New York City Harbour and really hope we don't wake up to the snow that is forecasted.

Richelieu river and chambly canal

We were excited to get to Montreal but the locks took so long to get through that it was almost dark so we got to the outskirts and tied up to a closed marina.


In the morning we headed to Sorel past Montreal and into the Richelieu river. So many people had told us this was there favorite part of this whole trip and we could see why - It was truly beautiful even though it was cold and the leaves were dropping almost as fast as we were moving.

Dixie had misread the lock openings and about halfway into our leisurely day realized if we didn't arrive to the first lock at St. Ors by noon that we couldn't go through the Chambly canal for 2 more days. So captain jack sped up and Dixie called and convinced the lock master to stay open an extra 15 minutes and we made it. We got to Chambly and had a wonderful afternoon and evening with one of the best meals of our trip. Bright and early we entered into the first Chambly lock and four hours later we were through all nine of them. We coudnt stop on the way and tie up to the picturesque town docks and walk around because we were the only boat going through and the six people it took to run each lock had to physically walk between each lock and open them as we went. During the summer they had a full staff at each lock and would have more than 150 boats each day. We really appreciated how friendly and accommodating they all were, especially since we were the only boat through that day. We would like to go back and explore more because it is truly lovely.

St. Lawrence Seaway and Locks

We left Kingston, blasted by the thousand Islands and got through the first few locks on the St. Lawrence Seaway.

At first it was a little intimidating, especially when we had to wait for 2 hours at each lock for the 300 plus ft commercial cargo ships.  Up to this point we hadn't seen any other  private boats out on the water,  and when we called marinas for dockage we were told everyone was closed for the season.   We were sure glad Brian was with us, as  some of the locks had a 40 foot drop and required a person on each bow and stern line, and  John was busy at the helm keeping things steady.

Whidby to Kingston, Ontario

We started our adventure on LAST CAT with high hopes of racing to Montreal, but alas . . . Mother Nature had a different plan. We got to Prescott our first day, then on to Brighton only to find out the Murray Canal had closed for the season the day before. Meanwhile back on Lake Ontario, a storm brewed up, so we stuck it out in Brighton for 2 days then found someone who opened the locks on the Murray Canal for us so we could go through. (Don't ask us how much that cost!) But . . . we were on our way! 

While in Brighton,  our friend Brian Laidlaw called and wanted to know about the boating adventure he heard we were on. Well, when we told him, he said he would fly out from California.and meet us in Kingston in 3 days. That was great news because we had cold weather and 27 locks and almost as many bridges ahead of us and so we welcomed him aboard. Dixie was happy to relinquish first mate duties to Brian so she concentrating on being the chef and navigator!

Also arriving to join us for the night in Kingston was Debbie Lashley who drove down from Carleton Place,  so  we all had a wonderful afternoon and evening, and  waved goodbye to Debbie  the next morning and set on our journey with  much anticipaton.

Our Journey Begins

Our friend Ed  wanted his boat"Last Cat"  in the Bahamas  and  couldn't  leave work in time to get  it there himself,  and as we  have a hard time turning down an adventure on the water - we volunteered to get it there for him. Little did we know at the time that flooding after Hurricane Irene would keep the Erie Canal closed.                                                                Last Cat is a PDQ 34 Power Cat, and you can see some great photos of it on a Charter Website http://www.cycnorth.com/cat/pdq34.html 

So, instead of just crossing Lake Ontario into the Erie Canal,  our route will take us up the St. Lawrence Seaway,  then past Montreal  into the Richelieu River, then down through the Chambly Canal,  into Lake Champlain and the Champlain Canal before joining up with the Hudson River.  This will add  about 10 days to our trip and  we are starting about a month later than most people advise.  We figure we will be  about 1800 miles in total and   our plan is to arrive by the end of November and then  spend a couple of weeks in the Bahamas before  we head back home to Nova Scotia. So,  we've bundled up our warm clothes,  grabbed our trusty mascot Annie  and  headed out.  This is our first Powerboat adventure and we are keeping our fingers crossed for  warm weather and calm seas.