Episode 12. St. Lawrence here we come!

 Episode 12.

St. Lawrence here we come! We filled with fuel in Port Hawkesbury, they assured us they sell lots and it was guaranteed fresh....We were under way about Noon as we had an over night sail and wanted to arrive in day light. 

 Calling Canso Lock for opening

 1st we saw the traffic had stopped then we could see the bridge start to swing. 

 Bridge swinging closed to let traffic flow again.

Lock gates opening

Trying to chat to Keith via Ham Raido...no luck figure we were too close to the shoreline. 

Diesel Drain confusion...

 OK, figured it out not clear fuel....just way too much water and this was, is very fresh fuel. 

 Sunset

We were able to sail thankfully and then the wind got up so we reefed. Beautiful clear starry night. Then at dawn we had our own private thunder and lightening quickly followed by rain.  

 Thunder storm fun

 Entering Riviere Au Renard, calm before the stormy strong winds that were forecast.  

Searching for a slip

The days run was 113 nautical miles. We were pleased with that.  

 Chapel on the hill. 

 Small boat inner most harbour within the harbour.

Serious fishing port. We met a couple from Midland Bay Sailing Club Don and Sheryl they knew our buddy UpNorthTed and he was a retired police from Metro and OPP so Noel and he knew loads of the same people + Don grew up in Cornwall Ontario and he and I figured we probably went to the same sailing school at the same time. Small world. We had great fun getting to know them while we waited for a reduction or change of wind direction.  

 Old saw mill that was a museum that has not yet re opened post Covid lockdowns. 

We Geocashed and enjoyed a great micro brewery with our pals from Huntress. 

 We sorted out the power chords back to North American style plugs. 

 The bright sunny days were cold as it was a strong wind from the north. This made a lee shore and lumpy conditions so we continued to wait it out and get lots of jobs done.

Stitching the dodger/spray hood window where the stitching had let go involved four handed sewing and a crick in the neck for the under side sewer.    

Then finally the wind changed direction and we headed off at sun rise. 

The town was waking, we were happy to be moving again and optimistically figured to continue through the night and make Matane.

 We departed with plans for 180 NM. 

The fleet departed along with us. We had the AIS transmitting again so that was good. Wind was up and down all day

 We reefed, we furled we sailed full sail we motor sailed we added more fuel to the main tank.

 We drained again the fuel filter.

 We put in a reef again and figured we would be best to head into St. Anne Du Mont we were tired and not up to going all night. Well we no sooner made that decision and the wind was blustery down the valley from light to force 6-7 and increasing. We lowered the main and motored into the harbour just as it got dark, really dark.

 Tied  up, on the only slip.

 Lots of confusion with bright lights, we startled a flock of cormorants and missed driving into the break wall due to their alerting us. Tied up and just in time....look what we found

 That mess would have shut us down fast, we were grateful we got in and secured before seeing this.( I'm blankity blank tired of seeing this)

Noel changed filters, bled the engine and were all set for an early departure. The days run was 90NM.  

Join us for the next edition as we continue to travel up the St. Lawrence.