Weekend Sailing - Anchorages Near Kingston

April 27^th was move aboard date this year. Collins Bay Marina was pretty empty for the first month. Very few boats were in the water on B dock until June.  Although we didn’t take our first weekend sailing until May 18^th as Jay was away at the beginning of May, we head out sailing almost every weekend in the summer and anchor for the weekend. In May popular anchorages are almost empty. These same anchorages in July and August are packed.  Here are some of our weekend anchorages from our early summer weekends and a few notes about them.

In late May we anchored off Beaurivage Island, one of the islands in the St. Lawrence Islands National Park. This anchorage is at the west end of Wanderers Channel, which winds its way through the Admiralty Islands group. Tour boats from Gananoque use Wanderers Channel as it is very pretty, making the anchorage a bit bouncy by times as they pass, but it is a nice anchorage. If the wind picks up from the southwest, you need to be wary as the shelter is mediocre. You can enter this anchorage north of Bostwick Island or south of Beaurivage Island, but you must pay attention to the charts and pick your way in among the rocks. One of our favourite things to do in here is dinghy around Bostwick Island to Half Moon Bay and the small open air chapel. It is very pretty and very peaceful. 

We followed this trip with a weekend at Prinyers Cove, on Prince Edward County, about 17 NM west of Collins Bay. This is a very protected cove with good holding. However, it is getting difficult to anchor as there are so many mooring balls in the cove. If you arrive early in the day or are there early in the season it is less crowded.  We have since heard that the authorities are asking cottagers to remove mooring balls as it is getting out of hand.

In June we also popped across to Kerr Bay on Amherst Island. This large bay is sheltered from prevailing southwest winds and is a short 6 NM from Collins Bay.  Although the bottom can be weedy, it is good for swimming and can hold lots of boats. We anchored in there with the tall ship, St Lawrence II, several times this summer.

Crisis! Our Air Conditioner Is Broken!

Yes, we have air conditioning on our boat.  You could think that this means we're totally spoiled, and you could start rolling your eyes as soon as I complain about having problems with air conditioning.  And you'd be right.

But, on a boat when it's humid, there is actually a very practical reason for having air conditioning beyond our own comfort.  When you live on a boat humidity is always a problem.  Being in a marine environment, adding on the moisture produced by people just living and cooking is enough of a challenge.  On humid days, the small, mostly sealed environment on a boat seems to compound the humidity.  And what does humidity lead to?  Mildew.

Keeping mildew at bay is a constant challenge on board.  Living in Canada, it isn't nearly as severe a problem as it is in the tropics, but it is something that can creep up on you.  And once an area is infected, as much as you clean, it seems to come back twice as rapidly.  So, the air conditioning actually helps keeps the boat in good shape.

But, late last season, we noticed that our air conditioner was not working as well as it should have been.  This spring, I didn't have the time to look into it, so the boat went in the water without it being fixed.  Now, the weather has been getting warmer, and the humidity increasing, so it was time to tackle the problem.

First step was to double-check that it isn't working.  The system on our boat is essentially a heat pump that uses sea water.  Sure enough, when we started it up, the water flow through the system was not nearly as much as it should have been.  That suggested two things - either a problem with the pump or a plugged line.

I decided to check the pump first.  There are only a couple of screws holding the face of the pump on, so it took this off to see if there was any problem with the pump.  Everything looked fine, so I put it back together again.

Next step is to investigate a possible plugged line.  This possibility kind of worried me, since if there were some weeds or debris that somehow got through the filter and into the heat exchanger, this could be difficult to fix.  But a quick test showed that the problem was in the line before the pump.  I drained the system of water, then watched what happened when I opened the water valve to refil the system.  The water in the filter (which is transparent) was entering very slowly.  So the plugged line was fortunately in a more accessible place.

There should be a hose connecting these two parts.

That only left a couple of options, so it was pretty easy at that point to track down the location of the problem.  I took off the line going into the filter, and sure enough, it was fully plugged with weeds that had been drawn into the system.  Unfortunately, I had to cut off the line to remove it, so I needed a replacement.  A quick trip to the hardware store, and a new water line was installed.  I replaced the previous solid line with a transparent water hose, so now it's very easy to keep an eye on the problem and clean the line before it clogs again.

And, yes, I agree.  I feel very spoiled having air conditioning on a boat.

Beaurivage Island and Wanderers Channel

Another boating season is underway, and last weekend we made our first trip of the season out of our marina.  The weather has been fluctuating somewhat, since we're still so early in the season.  There has been a fair amount of rain and cold temperatures, which have kept us sitting at the dock.  But the long weekend was shaping up to have some great weather, so it was time to head out.

Last summer was our first in the area, and we were somewhat limited in our free time, so we only able to explore a few areas fairly close to Kingston.  But in that time, we did find some favourite anchorages within a short distance.  One of those is Beaurivage.

Beaurivage is one of the first members of the Thousand Island chain that we hit from Kingston.  We are very fortunate to be sitting at the start of the Thousand Islands, an incredibly scenic area of the lake, right where Lake Ontario empties in the St Lawrence.  It only takes us about three hours to reach this anchorage.

On Saturday, we were lucky to be joined by three friends from Ottawa.  We started the day by meeting them in Gananoque, where they left their car.  We drove out to meet them, brought them back to Kingston, and set out mid-morning.  Unfortunately, the wind wasn't cooperating.  In fact, it was non-existant.  So the trip was a motor trip instead of a sail, but even when we are forced to burn some fuel, this is still a great trip.

From our berth in Collins Bay, we passed by the city of Kingston, and pulled into Deadman's Bay, under the cannons of Fort Henry.  We anchored for a couple of hours for lunch, then continued on. 

The Bateau Channel runs between the mainland and Howe Island.  Passing between the land masses is more scenic than the main channel, with only small boats using this passage.  At the end of Howe Island, suddenly you are in the midst of the small islands of the Thousand Island, with the first little taste of why this is such a popular cruising ground.  Beaurivage Island is right in front of you when you come out of this channel, with the anchorage around the back side of the Island.

But before anchoring, first we continued on the Gananoque to drop off our friends, so we took the Wanderers Channel.  This picks its way between many of the small islands in the area.  When we first arrived here, we stuck to the larger channels, until we realized that even the large tour boats were passing through this area.

We've made this passage quite a few times now, but the first few times were quite uncomfortable.  In places, you're passing midway between the islands, with about a boat length on each side.  You can see the rocky ledges coming off the shore of the Islands, but by sticking to the middle of the channel, there is plenty of depth.  Very different from Prince Edward Island, where every land mass has a protruding sand bar, and it's almost impossible to get anywhere close to shore.

On the other hand, running aground in PEI is a soft landing.  Here, it is solid rock.

This area really gives a great taste of the Thousand Islands.  The islands here are fairly small, no more than a few hundred feet in length.  Most of the islands are home to cottages.  These cottages are, almost without exception, quite nice.  On some of the smaller islands, it seems the cottage covers the entire available space.

After dropping off our friends, we went back to Beaurivage.  This is a very popular anchorage, and you often have to pick your way between boats to find a spot.  However, this early in the season, there were only a couple of other boats.

Our intention was to stay here for night then move on to another spot.  But, as so happens here, we spent Sunday lying around and reading, having a very relaxing day.  On Monday, we pulled up anchor, and as the winds still hadn't reappeared, motored our way back to Collins Bay.

Farewell to Obsession 305

This weekend, we finally said farewell to an old friend.  After being on the market for two years,

Obsession 305 found a new owner.

Selling a sailboat is rarely a short process.  Unless you are either lucky, or are willing to sell for well below market value, you cannot bank on a quick sale.  There is a ilmited market for sailboats, particularly in Atlantic Canada.  We knew this when we decided to make the decision two years ago to upgrade to My Obsession, but it's still a relief to finally have a sale.

For the past two seasons, we've still been taking care of our old boat, mainly by making sure she was stored indoors for the winter.  That meant bringing it out and towing it to our yard for the summer. 

Since it was stored in an old barn, and then kept outdoors for the summer, it would tend to collect some dust and dirt.  So each fall, we would give her a cleaning, make sure that the batteries were charged up, then haul it about 15 km back into storage.

About three weeks ago we had a call from our broker that there was someone interested, and they wanted to see the boat.  She was still in winter storage, so he came over from Newfoundland to see Obsession 305. 

Obviously he liked what he saw, since he sent us an offer a couple of days later.  We quickly came to an agreement.  A few days later, the marine survey was conducted, and there were no problems. 

When it was evident that the deal was going through, I flew home from Kingston.  We had the boat taken out of winter storage, and we lifted the mast on top of the boat and secured it for transport.  The next day, the new owner arrived from Newfoundland, hooked up to the trailer, and they were off.

We had a few years of great sailing memories on Obsession 305.  She was a great boat for us, and a perfect boat to introduce us to the cruising lifestlye.  We put many miles under her keel, touring around the Maritimes, vising many familiar places in an entirely new way.  It was with Obsession 305 that we built memories of traversing St Peters Canal, which I had crossed so many times growing up.  It was how we first passed under the Confederation Bridge, instead of driving over it.  It was how we explored the coastline of PEI, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick at an entirely different pace than touring by car.  Obsession 305 brought us to may towns and villages, which we explored on foot.  It was with Obsession 305 that we decided to make sailing such an integral part of our life, and figured out what boat we needed.

Although it was a lot of great memories heading down the road, after waiting for two years, it was still a relief to see her go.  We're very happy with My Obsession, which has greatly expanded our range and ability to stay aboard.  Obsession 305 was how we figured out what we wanted in a boat, which we found in My Obsession.

We just hope that her new owner builds more great memories with Obsession 305.

Back On Board

The weather is warming up, all the ice is gone, and My Obsession is back in the water.

And we’re back on board for the season.

Over the past few days, we’ve shifted our life once again, out of the condo we had rented for the winter, and back on board our own boat.  Leading up to the boat going into the water was a busy time, although it seems to get a bit easier each year.  Before the boat goes in the water, there is a full inspection, particularly around the through-hulls.  Also, the bottom of the boat has to be prepared.  Last year’s paint job held up very well over the summer, so this year was just a touch-up in the places that most needed attention.  Next year will probably be a full paint job again.

On Thursday, the crane arrived at the marina to lift us into the water.  After he set up and got the straps on, My Obsession took a short flight and was lowered into the water.  First task is a quick inspection to make sure that there is no water leaking in (everything was fine) and then some quick preparation.  The marina where we stored the boat is a few miles from our home marina, so the plan was to leave immediately to head to our slip in Collins Bay.  It’s still pretty cool out on the water, so first we took the time to put on the full enclosure, making the trip a bit warmer. 

Starting the engine for the first time in the spring is always a bit of a nervous time, since things can go wrong over the winter.  However, everything worked out fine and the engine turned over on the first try.  Once the enclosure was set up, I took the first boat trip of the season – an hour long motor to Collins Bay.

Now comes the time-consuming part.  Moving onto the boat always takes longer than planned, mostly with sorting through everything we own.  Of course, winter clothing is no longer needed (at least I hope it isn’t), so that goes into storage.  And all of the summer clothing we had put away has to come back out again and moved onto the boat.  All of the boat equipment, which had been put into storage bins for the winter, has to come out again and be moved onto the boat.  The full-sized fridge and freezer that we had for the winter has to be emptied out and pared down to fit inside our mini-sized on-board fridge.  Sails, safety equipment, and our dingy had to be transported down to the boat.  The boat stands had to be picked up and put into storage for the winter. 

All told, from Thursday evening through Sunday afternoon was non-stop packing, unpacking, sorting, moving, stowing, inspecting, cleaning, installing, fixing, and inflating.  Many thanks to our friend Alison who spent a couple of days helping us get ready and moved.

But, now we’re settled in, and looking forward to another year of exploring Kingston, the Thousand Islands, and Lake Ontario.