The mail came at noon and we were underway for Kingston Ontario by 1100. We ran a little faster than usual to make the 48 mile crossing in about 5 hours. Our next fill up would indicate 7.5 gal per hour consumption instead of the usual 6.1 gph.

Kingston

"Flora MacDonald Confederation Basin, Flora MacDonald Confederation Basin, this is Remedy." I called around 1 hour away. There was no response.

We passed a tall ship True North, a twin masted schooner of over 100 feet. She was on a broad reach with all sails up, headed southeast toward Cape Vincent. I called her and asked if she was in Opsail. No she wasn't.  She operated as a charter out of Toronto and summertime is time for making money, not time for a holiday.  "You are a lovely sight, I wanted to know your particulars for my log" I explained.

I tried several more times to reach the Marina, "Flora MacDonald Confederation Basin," then
"MacDonald Basin" and "Confederation Basin".  The whole thing is such a mouthful.

"Remedy, Remedy, this is C2," I heard a call.

We went to VHF 68 and he explained, "The Basin is answering you but you can't hear them."

"Please, relay a message to them that Remedy is on the way and will arrive in 30 minutes," I requested. We were arriving a day earlier than our reservation.

I heard him do the relay.  When we got in very close I could communicate with them well. Perhaps the large hotel between them and me was effectively blocking out their hand held radio transmissions.
They housed us on a railing as a temporary location the first night. Next morning we moved to a regular slip. Later that day Don and Ann Thomson arrived on AnnTicipation and took a slip nearby.

Kingston is located on the eastern end of Lake Ontario where the St. Lawrence River starts its passage to the sea. It started as a trading post, became a military fort guarding Canada. It is the home of the Canadian Kingston Military Academy, the Ontario Penitentiary, and Queen's University. It was the site of the Olympic sailing events and is the preeminent fresh water sailing port in Canada. The city hall was originally built to house the government of Canada. Before the building was completed, the decision was made to have Ottawa be the national capitol. That's why Kingston has such an impressive city hall for a relatively small city. We took the trolley tour around the town. That's how I learned all this good stuff.

That afternoon Ed and Dorothy Hearon arrived. They are the Thomson's guests for the next few weeks.
While they we out touring the countryside in the rental car, Marion and I discovered the restaurant where you eat mussels and the White Mountain Ice Cream Store.

On day 3 Marion and I decided to pack a picnic lunch and take our bikes to explore Wolf. Island. It's a short ride across the river on the ferry.  Just as we were pulling out of port Marion got a severe attack of angina. It did not pass. She took a nitro pill and waited a few minutes. It still did not pass. I went to the bridge and told the ferry captain that she was having heart pains. He said the best thing would be to have an ambulance and paramedics meet the ferry. Then just minutes before landing at Wolfe Island he put the ferry in reverse and headed back for Kingston. He called 911 and had the ambulance waiting for our arrival.

The ambulance took us to Kingston General Hospital, a teaching hospital for Queen's University Medical School. Marion was checked in and over the next few hours in ER the pains subsided. They did a battery of tests and consulted with her doctor in Houston. The tests indicated she had not suffered any damage to her heart. She was released to my care after 8 hours in ER on the condition that I could get her back in 15 minutes if there was a reoccurrence. Don Thomson and Ed Hearon were there with the rent car and shuttled us back to the boat.

For the next two Days Marion rested up, and her energy levels slowly rebuilt. By the time we were supposed to pull out she was up to 87%. We did some provisioning and left around noon for a short sail up the Bay of Quinte.

Prinyer Cove

For a nice rest we selected Prinyer Cove. It's about a mile long and an eighth of a mile wide. It gets grassy and shallow at the far end.
 

"Hello stations with Knowledge of Prinyer Cove, This is Motor Yacht Remedy seeking information about the bottom conditions." I radioed. After a while an answer came back, "To the vessel looking for information on Prinyer Cove, I was there last night." We met on Channel 68 and he said he had a good set using a Delta. I told him my choices were a CQR and a Fortress. He recommended the CQR and that I avoid the grassy end of the cove. I thanked him and proceeded with confidence into the cove.

We set the CQR in 12 feet of water and it held with one engine idled. We planned to stay two nights so I put the dinghy down and got out the Oxalic Acid to remove the brown mustache Remedy was wearing.

After  awhile the wind came up and it was cool working on the hull. The stains were coming off well.

"Ed, Ed, we are drifted aground," Marion called out to me.

"Go topside and start the engines," I called back.

"You come up here right now."

"I'm coming," I repeated louder, "I'm coming."

I climbed aboard went forward to the anchor windlass and started hauling in 80 feet of chain.  The boat moved forward a bit. We would need the engines to move off, however.

As the anchor came up it was clean except for one grapefruit sized blob of mud. "Idle forward on the port," I called to Marion.

"We are not moving forward," she called back.  We must have been hung in the long grass. With both engines idle forward it began to move. Then it came free.

It was time for the Fortress. We moved to the center of the cove where the water depth is 30 feet. The Fortress held on the first try and we dug her in with two engines in reverse.  We monitored our position for a half an hour as the winds picked up to almost 20. We had 120 feet of rode out so we swung in a large arc that would bring us within 60 feet of the shore at times. No problem!

We tested the engines and the port engine had restricted water intake. The strainer was clear but the through hull feed was clogged. To clear the line we used a dinghy pump inserted into the strainer. I used a dish towel to seal the hose and Marion stomped on the bellows pump. After three tries sea water ran in freely.  The engine checked out OK.

That evening we went ashore for a walk along the country lane. It's a very pleasant countryside. There are a half a dozen homes along the south shore all on very large lots.

Next day was relaxing time... we sailed the sunfish out into the Bay of Quinte. It was a bit too far to go all the way out into Lake Ontario so we settled for the shorter sail. It's great fun having the sunfish. We use as much as the dinghy it seems.

Trenton
 

Trenton was an easy 41 mile trip up the Bay.  By now I finally mastered my new digital camera. You must be careful to Lock pictures you want or you can easily erase them. That's why I have no pictures of the Erie Canal after Ilion and no pictures of Kingston Ont. The Bay of Quinte was like a mirror on our trip to Trenton. Here is a red marker along the Narrows before Bellville.

We got into the Fraser Park Marina in the early afternoon.  Craig the Harbormaster made us welcome and gave us map of the town. I made arrangements for the rental car to pick up Sam and Charlotte Pakenham-Walsh, our guests for the following 10 days on the Trent-Severn Waterway.

While picking them up in Toronto we made a side trip into town to deposit some of their luggage. The hotel is right by the University so we made a nostalgic trip to my college, St. Michaels.
 

St. Basil's Church and school were the starting home of the Congregation of St. Basil in Canada.  I was a student for the priesthood during my college years.

Here is a picture of the house where I lived for three years. The garret behind me is where I studied. Being house master I had the best room in the house.

But alas, one of the landmarks, The Bay Bloor Tavern, had given way to the wrecking ball, and a tall insurance building stands in its place. The rest of Toronto had not changed a bit.