Time to hit the river!

After crossing the lake, I woke up feeling like a truck had run me over.  Every inch hurt.  It’s amazing to think we were sailing on the same tack for nearly 9 hours, and I like to think that both passages were quite an accomplishment for us, but I can’t say it was my favourite part of the trip.  A passage obligé.  

In the morning, we took the time to get the energy levels back up, and after lunch, we were ready to get going.  We were planning to leave Cape Vincent and anchor off Picton Island near Grindstone.  Shortly after passing Carleton Island, the sky was getting a bit dark and we could see that right where we were heading, it was pretty nasty. So after checking old faithful (AccuWeather), we started playing hide and seek with the storm.  Not easy in all the waves, a bit stressful, and once again our Captain steered us with a steady hand.  I was distracting the boys in the rain; they started asking a bunch of “why” questions, so we ended up having a great conversation on all the wonderful things the brain accomplishes without us really paying attention to it.  After the strong winds, good heavy downpours, and many turn arounds, the gap finally opened up between the weather cells and the sky cleared for us. We made it safely out of the area, kept on past Grindstone.  

After the rain, the boys wanted to get dry and warm and spent some time inside.  Liam is becoming an ace on the LeapPad!

We passed Clayton and made note that we need to come back here next year to visit the Antique boat museum.  We passed Alexandria Bay and Boldt castle, and headed back to Canada through Rockport by the American side of the 1000 island narrows (actually the shipping channel – so impressive to see the lakers go by in such a narrow passage). We saw the usual Ospreys but also spotted some falcons. We also saw Fair Jeanne, a tall ship that lives in Ottawa and spends the winter in the Rideau locks after they close.

After calling in to customs, we made it just in time before sunset to anchor off Grenadier Island. Beautiful big sky, filled with stars – this is always one of my favourite spots. One of our power boat neighbours at anchor was DJ for the night, with a laser light show projected in the forest.  Not sure the loons appreciated. But I did hear them once the music died down.