Belleville was to be a one-season stop over. But as is so often the case, the best laid plans are like a lint to the vacuum cleaner of life, and so our time was sucked away on various events (both big and small).
But finally all the ducks aligned and the planets were in a row 😉 And so, we spent our final days preparing, provisioning and saying goodbye to our many new, good friends.
But finally, we were off!
Thank you Belleville, thank you Stillwater. And thank you to all the wonderful people we’ve gotten to know there. There is sadness in parting, but pleasure in the people we’ve gotten to know. You’ve given us plenty of reasons to come back.
We headed out and pointed the bow east, following now-familiar waters of the Bay of Quinte and the Thousand Islands. Our first day out we (naturally) hit some very high winds; a fresh gale for all our sailing buddies (37 knots!). We anchored and rode out our first night of storms. But it was great to be off!
The next few days were spent getting re-aquainted with Pachina Mia the sailboat (as opposed to simply a house boat). We sailed 
and fought more storms 
. We saw, once again, some beautiful places 
, and did some fun 
and funny things 
& 
.
At the anchorage near Gananoque we finally caught up with friends Deb and Chris on Windover. They left a few days ahead of us, and we’d been hoping to connect one last time on the water (at least, until they chase us down in Newfoundland). They joined us in Beaurivage anchorage for one last meal and evening, and then they headed back west, while we continued east.
… eventually.
We lingered more than a few days in Beaurivage, spending Canada Day (yay Canada 150!), and then we moved a whole 10 nm down to our other favourite 1000 Islands anchorage and spent another four days getting ready to take the plunge. Of course Ann took a few plunges while there (a good thing too, can someone say Peppy Le Pew 😉 ).
After more than a week lingering in places we’d already been, we finally weighed anchor and headed out into the great beyond. We past under the Ivy Lea bridge. At long last we ventured into places unknown; over the edge of our known world…
Thanks guys. It was great to see the last lock at our stern. We’re close to Quebec City right now. Will likely pass it by b/c we’ve arrived exactly at the Tall Ship event, which is taking up all the dockage. We’ll see…
Impressed with your lock adventures and Warp Speed descriptions. You must be relieved to be through the locks and heavy traffic. Glad to hear you are enjoying your home on the water. Now it is on to whale watching!