Quebec City

Thursday June 18, 2015
46 49.177 N
71 12.278 W

We are now close enough to the Gulf of St. Lawrence that tide becomes an issue. It is not much here but builds to 15' feet in Quebec City. We studied the tide tables and decided to heave about 11:00 AM so we could ride the river and tidal current all the way. It must have been a decent plan because we made the 50 NM to QC by 4:30 PM - 50 NM in 5 hours, averaging 10 kts!

More boys and their toys.

We arrived at the Richeleau Rapids just as a large ship was heading up river. It was throwing a large wake as it fought the current. We hit the wake first and the water was turbulent for the next couple of miles. Tide Hiker hit 13 kts which is super light speed for her and surged left and right thru the eddies. So long as we stayed in the channel the water was 60' plus feet deep so it was no big deal. 

Sometime in the afternoon we all heard a bang. I do not like hearing "bangs". Very shortly thereafter both Deidre and I noticed that the stb engine was showing zero revs - but it seemed to be running and no alarms were sounding. I headed to the engine room and looked around and checked the usual gauges and belts - nothing seemed amiss. We have a secondary tach on the engine panel and it was showing the appropriate revs. The stb battery voltage seemed unaffected so I assume the alternator was operating OK. Returning to the wheelhouse I called Don on Cavara - we talked about the symptoms and concluded the issue was possibly related to the tachometer PTO. Nothing we could do underway so we continued on. However I did not want to change the throttle settings as I would not be able to synchronize the two engines without the tach. 

Five miles short of QC the river was constricted again under the XXX bridges. As the river narrowed we sped up and "shot" under the bridges into the QC environs at 13 knots over 150' deep water - as evidenced by the image below.

Holy smokes - 13 knots!!!!

Arriving at QC is pretty spectacular. Its easy to see why the city is so strategic and fought over in history. These days the XXX hotel and XXXX dominate the view over the river. It is such a unique type of architecture - sort of Canadian-Bavarian. 

Because of the tide we needed to pass thru a lock to enter the marina pool. The lock closed just as we arrived so we had to stooge thru a whole cycle and then passed thru the lock into the marina pool. The weather had changed - exactly as forecast - and the wind was blowing at 15-20 knots with stronger gusts. But we were assigned an easy slip and docked without much trouble.

It was about 6:45 before we were settled in so we left late for dinner. A line of storms was forecast to arrive about 10 PM so we found and ate at the closest restaurant we could find. We were seated outside and sure enough the wind was gusting hard as we left the place. Someone was looking after us because the rain did not start until we stepped on the boat. Happy ending except that Deidre's ankle was killing her.

Friday June, 19 2015

Nice sunny day. Mark and Donna have headed into the city. Don came over and we investigated the tachometer problem. We (I held the flashlight!) seem to have identified the cause - the "sender" that is bolted to the engine seems to have frozen up. We broke it reasonably free and spun it with the electric drill and it was reading on the gauges. Then used the Skype phone to call the manufacturer in Michigan and ordered a replacement that will be delivered here Monday. On the assumption it arrives on time we will leave Tuesday.

This afternoon we walked to a local market. Produce here is not inexpensive, but there are some great choices. We seem to be eating our way through French Canada - this afternoon snacks included pate and cheese on baguette bread. Dinner tonight will be a selection of gourmet sausages we purchased at the market. We have a nice looking quiche waiting for tomorrow.

Deidre's ankle is giving her some trouble so we did not walk around much - as tempting as it is. The buildings in the old town are so appealing. Back in the 19th and 20th century the Canadians seem to invent their own style of grand architecture. We also noticed this two years ago in Ottawa.

Chateau Frontenac in the winter - its an amazing building

View from galley window

Saturday June 20, 2015

A wise man once defined cruising as "repairing your boat in exotic locations". I realized I was in an exotic location today when we sat down for lunch and the hamburger was $C18. The Canadian dollar may only $US0.80, but that advantage disappears when the Canadians add 15% sales tax. And this morning after my shower I realized that the shower sump pump had failed and was squirting the used shower water into the bilge. I hate wet bilges. I spent a couple of hours figuring what part had failed and then ordering a replacement to be shipped to a marina a week or so down the river. I wonder if that will work? Meantime, no showers.

Can you see Deidre talking to the Frenchman?

Sunday June 21, 2015 (Father's day)

Donna and Mark headed back to South Carolina this morning. It had been a fun visit. They were very easy to have on board.

I pulled out the shower sump pump. I had a replacement diaphragm pump but need a couple of simple plumbing parts to install it - so that will have to wait till Monday when the local marine store re-opens.

Deidre and I took the bikes to the supermarket. I enjoy shopping in different cultures. Lots of Australian wine on display. This place really feels like a European town - except for all the USA style cars on the road. We do tend to buy more "bad for us food" when we are away.

Dinner on Cavara - Barb is getting pretty good with her new crock pot. We need to get out of this town ASAP! We are enjoying the cheese and pate just too much. My cholesterol must be going thru the roof.

Loaded and ready to ride!

Monday June 22, 2015

The local marine store did not have what I needed to install the new shower pump. Don dug through his bag of plumbing bits and pieces and had exactly what I needed. But as I prepped the pump the piece broke off in the pump - damn. Our new friend (Jean-Marc, two boats up) drove to another store and came up with a workaround. The pump is now installed and I took a shower to celebrate. The locals have been incredibly friendly and are amused at our stumbling French.

After chasing down the supplier in Michigan I eventually got a UPS tracking number for my tachometer part. That immediately revealed that the part as held up in customs because the proper paperwork had not been supplied! A couple of phone calls sorted that out, but its obvious the part will not arrive today. Now what?

It had been a bit of a dull day so Deidre and I rode into town to buy some credit for her local phone (the whole phone this is still a pain in the rear) and a cup off coffee. I was still a bit edgy so I took a ride along a bike trail following the St. Charles River.

Re the phone: We were assigned a number with our SIM card. Well the number must have still been "warm" as we immediately started receiving calls for "Jason" and "Amy". Seems like Jason owes quite a bit of money and we were even getting collection calls. I called ROGERS and had the number changed.

Dinner on Tide Hiker tonight was based around sausages purchased at the local market - there was a hundred varieties to choose from. More cholesterol.

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

The weather has solved the tachometer part problem - gale force winds and rain today. So we will be here when (hopefully) the part arrived. But I am getting quite antsy. Apart from the fact that this place costs $100 a day, its time to move on.

The forecast for Wednesday is better, but not great. A few miles northeast the St Lawrence opens up into an estuary with strong tidal currents. Today the strong winds will be blowing against the tidal current, and that tends to build short sharp waves. No fun.


Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Horrible morning - windy and rain. We decided to stay put. But Deidre and I were a bit stir crazy so headed for the railway station. We wanted to go somewhere - anywhere. There was only one train - the express to Montreal - so we passed and headed to the buses. The 800 went 40 minutes to the XXX falls so we took it. And the rain came down.

I have always like railway stations

Looking over the edge from the suspension bridge

Looking over the falls towards the St Lawrence

Admirable

The falls are a bit higher than Niagara, but obviously not the same volume. After walking over the suspension bridge spanning the falls we wandered into "town" and found a casual cafe for some lunch. Back on the bus we decided to stay on the bus to see where it went. Two and a half hours we were back on the boat with tired bums.

The tachometer part had arrived in our absence. After a cup of coffee Don came over and we installed it. All seemed to go OK, we will know for sure in the AM. After dinner we visited Cavara and played cards - I am teaching them "500". As tradition requires the guys lost miserably.

Batiscan, Quebec

Wednesday, June 17
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Our target FOR MY BIRTHDAY was a small marina near the riverside village called Batiscan. I called them to make a reservation but the person who answered the phone spoke no English so I arranged one of the bilingual guys at the Montreal marina to call them. We had about 80 NM to go and so expected to be there by 4 PM if we left at 7 AM.

We were underway on time and the weather conditions seemed decent. We expected a smooth and rain free day.  Tide Hiker raced thru the initial turbulence where the channel rejoined the main river, but after that she settled down to a bit over 9 knots. This part of the river is rather commercial/industrial so the scenery was interesting but not particularly attractive. There was plenty of shipping but not many private boats. During the morning we did make contact with another trawler from Toronto, heading the same way. Other than that the day was pleasant and uneventful. Mark and Donna seemed to settle in well – Donna did an hour or so of yoga on the deck, Mark snoozed in the sun.

But Deidre, we have right of way!

Wait for the wake, Donna.

Lots of big churches. This one had its own RV park.

It soon became apparent that the marina was half a dozen miles further than I had planned and as a result we would be 45 minutes late. So I planned out the minimum necessary words in French and called them on the radio. Amazingly it sort of worked and we establish a new ETA.

The marina was ½ a mile up a tributary river, and the entrance was a bit shallow, but we “sounded” our way in and all went well. We were met on the dock (there were some bilingual boaters present to help) and we landed successfully. There were some other “boat people” on the dock and so there was lots of “bonjours” and “tresbons’ as we settled in. It was a very pleasant spot.

Barb had loaded up her new crock-pot earlier in the day and invited us over for drinks and birthday dinner. As usual we had a fun time. Don  cooked me a birthday cake. It had been a long day, I was in bed by 10.00 PM. I was looking forward to tomorrow – running the Richelau rapids and arriving in Quebec City.

Postmortem on the dock

Batiscan Marina

Old Port, Montreal

Sunday, June 14, 2015

Only 20 miles and two locks today, and the marina did not want us before 1 PM, so and easy start. In this section of the St. Lawrence (where the Oswego River joins the StL) the shipping channel is essentially a man made canal on the east side of the river proper. Montreal is a pretty industrial town so the closer we got to town the less pretty it became. The canal rejoins the river about 2 miles downriver of old Montreal and our marina, and so we needed to cross the river and head upstream. This is a notorious part of the rive, very swift current and rough water. Tide Hiker has no trouble with the turbulence but really had the work against the current. At one point we saw 1.9 kts progress (over the ground). It took us almost an hour to do the two miles.

There was plenty to look at. On the East side was a giant amusement park. On the west side was initially moored ships but then the fun places - parks, marinas, hotels etc with lots of people milling around. Our marina was located in a huge shipping basin - it looked like it was built in WW2 to withstand heavy bombing. But it had been converted (like Docklands in Melbourne) to residential and entertainment. As we entered the noise from a rock concert was almost overwhelming. We had to wait between "songs" to use the radio. We went straight to the pump-out (phew, we made it!) and then to a slip. As we slipped the boat we must have had 100 + people watching from the parapet above us.

Looking down from the parapet

It was Sunday and Montreal was hopping. Mark and Donna arrived after an hour or so. It was good to see them. They have French sailing friends (their boat is currently in Chile!) also visiting Montreal and shortly they joined us on Tide Hiker for snacks and drinks. Arrangements were made to meet for dinner at a "non-tourist" French restaurant.  Fun!

Monday, June 15, 2015

Weather was cool but not raining. After 30 days of constant cruising in poor weather and thru 40 some locks Tide Hiker was a bit of a mess. We had guests on board and so we just had to clean up some. That took most of the morning. Seems like we have decided to eat our way thru Montreal and the sun was out so Barb and Don headed for the tour bus and we headed out for lunch  with Mark and Donna. I tried the tacos at a French restaurant - interesting.

Lunch

At lunch Mark and Donna to have coffee with friends way out in the 'burbs so we headed for the subway. Then another subway ride to the XXXX market where we stocked up on cheese and bakery and other essentials.

At the market

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Its pouring rain again today!

The Mohawk Marina

Saturday June 13, 2015

It was a beautiful morning - for about an hour or so. By the time Barb and Don picked us up in their dinghy at about 8:30 AM it had clouded over and there was a stiff wind out of the NW. It was a bit of a wet ride in the dinghy until we made it into the old canal that took us into town. After a couple of enquiries (starting in French and ending in English!) we located a breakfast restaurant. We were hoping for “quaint” but settled on clean and modern. Breakfast was excellent.

Underway at about noon. Getting the anchor up was a messy business – lots of grass and sloppy mud, plus the wind and some current (We eventually figured out that the town was on an island and that the “bay” we anchored in was part of the river.) The weather settled down, it did not rain, we actually had some sun. Today we passed thru two lift bridges and 3 locks. The Quebecious do not communicate as well as the Americanos. I will leave my thoughts at that.

We waited maybe an hour for this bridge, no apparent reason.

On the way across lake St. Louis a power boat carrying 4 guys pulled right alongside Tide Hiker and started a conversation that started with “Welcome to Quebec” and recommending a place to buy diesel in an Indian Reservation – “No tax”. I was a bit uncomfortable but played along and off they went. We could now see Montreal in the distance.

My camera has a great tele-photo

We picked an anchorage just before the St. Catherine lock and right next to the channel. The reviews talked about 8-10’ and plenty of room. It was late when we arrived – about 7 PM. Cavara pulled into the anchorage and just about ran aground immediately. We both poked our noses into the pool of water only to run out of depth way too quickly. It was a bust for sure. We had really left ourselves with no alternatives. We called a few marinas but it was after hours. I remembered seeing a small marina 5 miles back so we called them. They answered and said they had room.

Low and behold, it was the very same marina on the Indian Reservation. The same 4 guys were there to take our lines. But it was like the Queen Elizabeth and the Queen Mary mooring at Half Moon Bay.

Kahnawake Marina

Salaberry-de-Valleyfield

Salaberry-de-Valleyfield anchorage

Friday June 12, 2015

It was raining steadily when got up this AM. The rain seemed to ease off as we raised the anchor. Then it returned and has never stopped – all day – light and steady – with the clouds around our ears. It’s raining now at 9 PM as I write these notes.

So there was not much else to do but proceed. We passed thru three locks – all quite efficient and no delay (and all cost $C30 each!) although not much fun in the rain. The current was still on our side and we averaged 8 knots plus most of the day and covered 65 miles. We had selected an anchorage in the bay in front of this small Quebec town. We are now well ahead of schedule and so tomorrow morning (weather permitting) plan to launch a dinghy and go into town for crepes and French toast.

Galop Island Anchorage

Thursday June 11, 2015

The forecast for today was decent – some sun and some rain. We dropped the lines at 8 AM and headed into the 1000 Island area. This part of the St Lawrence provides several “routes” thru the islands, and because of our starting point we chose the Canadian “small boat” route. We had also met a Canadian “ex DeFever” family and they wanted us to parade past their house on the water. The area really is quite spectacular – hundreds of tree covered, rocky islands. Some of them hosting attractive houses (and even “chateaus”).

Running in the small boat canal navigation required constant attention and after a dozen or so miles of winding around islands and rocky reefs we made a bee line to the main channel. It was impressive country, but we needed to get some miles under our belts. As the river started to “compress” the current sped up and we were soon making 8 and sometimes 9 knots. Light speed for Tide Hiker.

Some ships

Build the house to suite the island?

Good anchorages are not that frequent in the St Lawrence. The current is a constant and the bottom is rocky. Using “Active Captain” we selected a picked a harbor like spot behind an island that had been created by the building of the Seaway. The entrance was very narrow – maybe 25’ or 30’ – but apparently deep enough, and we held our collective breaths as we slipped thru. All was well, great anchorage.

During the evening we were visited by a US Coast Guard cutter. They were “out for sunset cruise” and came over for a chat. “How in hell did you guys squeeze in here?” was their first question.

The entrance to our anchorage

Ships passing on the other side of the bank

Kingston (Marina)

Tuesday June 10, 2015

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We planned to leave at 8 AM but conditions were a bit foggy so we decided to delay departure an hour. We headed out at 9 AM and soon found ourselves in pea soup fog. Conditions were very calm, we only had about 12 miles to go and there was virtually no other traffic, so my opinion was that it would be good practice for the fog we can expect on the Atlantic Coast. The chart plotter tracked our course and the radar showed other boats so it seemed pretty safe.

Deidre - there is Cavara!!!!

We had been into Kingston before so Tide Hiker led the way in. The entrance thru the rock breakwater is only about 50’ wide and visibility was only about 100’. Fortunately the chart plotter was “dead nuts on” and we were exactly where we needed to be when the opening in the breakwater emerged from the fog. We headed for the “free wall” in the harbor that was available when we were here two years ago – but as we approached we saw a series of “no docking” signs. So we had no choice but to take a slip in the official marina.

On the way over the lake on Sunday Tide Hiker was besieged by small “May flies”. The same happened on the way to Kingston and by the time we tied up in the marina the whole boat was covered with millions of the silly things. We complained to the Marina staff – their response was - “You should have been here last week – the flies turned white boats black!”

Apparently this part of the world is plagued with these insects for 2 or 3 weeks a year. The poor things only live about an hour. Tide Hiker is already covered with their dead bodies, with more dying every second. I wonder how Charles Darwin explained that?

May flies.

Kingston is a busy and attractive town. Not so much today as the weather was horrible. But first job was to arrange Canadian phones and data services, rain or shine. This time we were relatively successful – it’s expensive but now we have a Canadian phone number (613 483 2552 - for emergencies only! ) and we have some data for the iPad. That night we visited a pub for a beer then upstairs for “a curry”.

Wednesday June 10, 2015