Here’s your lanyard and badge …

June 27/28, 2019 – Because we had come a bit further the night before, when we got up on Thursday we had only about 20 miles to go before we reached Trenton. We got a reasonable start, after checking with the marina by phone that it was ok to do an ‘early check-in’. We were told that the slip we were assigned was vacant, and arriving early wasn’t a problem, so we headed out to arrive about 11:30.

We were met at the dock by no less than four dockhands at the Trent Port Marina, all with matching T-shirts and wearing inflatable PFDs. That kind of an operation was something that we hadn’t seen before.

No retina scanner, but the next best thing…

We were tied up and checked in by noon, to a state of the art marina with great facilities, including for security on the docks. We were issued a pair of proximity cards, with lanyards, to get us onto the docks, that were each secured with gates and cameras. As a former national security professional, it made me feel right at home. Sort of.

Provisioning, stage 1, complete…

We explained the LCBO situation in a previous post, but here’s the rest of the story. The Ontario provincial government contracted with “The Beer Store” to be the exclusive distributor for beer in quantities greater than six. So if you want a 12, 15, or 24 can/bottle case of brew, then you have to head to The Beer Store. Which is what I did after getting lunch at the fish & chips place-bike with trailer over to the store, and back with three ice-cold boxes. Now, which one to sample first?

We took advantage of the nearby grocery store, and free laundry at the marina, to get ourselves ready to head north into the Trent-Severn Canal.

Swans, loons, and a C-130

June 26, 2019 – We departed Kingston to make our way toward Trenton, where we’d enter the Trent-Severn Waterway. It was about 70 miles, so we’d earlier decided to split it into two easier legs, when we made our reservation there for Friday.

We traveled down the northern edge of Lake Ontario, north of Amherst Island, before entering the Bay of Quinte, which zig-zags and leads to Trenton. We had our eye on an anchorage that was about midway, but as the day went on, some significant thunderstorms (possibility of tornados, and 2cm hail) were beginning to build, and the winds (projected up to 60 mph) were going to turn much more westerly.

We decided to press on a bit further, to find a more protected spot. We got there and anchored solidly, and while still windy, we were inside a point that shielded us from the waves that were beginning to build to 2 feet out in the bay. We watched as the line of storms split – the major part went north of us, and the other part fizzled, so we got a nice evening as the winds quieted.

One of several swans out at dusk; we have seen them fairly plentifully in the area

Just at sunset, we were surprised to be ‘buzzed’ by a C-130 at a few hundred feet off the water – hmmm, maybe we are in a flight training corridor? We later found out that Canadian Forces Base Trenton, Canada’s largest Air Force Base, is the hub for air transport operations in Canada and abroad. It also hosts the National Air Force Museum of Canada. We would see and hear a lot of military traffic over the next day or so as we got into Trenton.

As it got dark, we could hear the cries of loons, but didn’t see any until the next morning; they generally tend to be pretty wary, much more so than ducks and geese, and because they float so low in the water, and dive often, staying underwater for a minute or more, they can be difficult to spot.

The first loon we’ve seen on the trip

Crossing over to Canada, and enjoying Kingston

June 24-25, 2019 – To finally resolve the ‘overnight delivery’ that wasn’t, Davis drove me to Watertown, to the FEDEX dispatch center, to get my package directly, so we could get underway to Kingston, Ontario. In the same office park we encountered something just a little…interesting. You know the little pine tree that hangs from your mirror? Apparently it takes a pretty good sized office building to house the corporate brain trust, and it’s in Watertown, NY. Who knew?

As we pulled out of the harbor at Clayton, we were reminded that this was the St Lawrence Seaway, not just just a small boat channel. Luckily, they go very slowly, and it’s not too hard to see them coming, nor to keep out of their way.

We crossed over into Canadian water, and cruised for several hours before arriving in Kingston.

Not sure whether the ‘lighthouse’ is real, but a striking home on a point as we cruised the Canadian Channel on the way to Kingston

After docking at the Marina, we took a walk into town, and decided to take a tourist trolley around to get oriented, since we would be spending two days here. It was rather odd, though, that the trolley guide was an Asian immigrant, with quite a thick accent. He had studied the script, of course, but it just didn’t quite have the cultural credibility that it might have had with a native Canadian.

Impressions – nice small city, lots of history, beautiful buildings – including the Queens University – quite vibrant downtown area, lots of cafes and restaurants, 2:30 in the afternoon is NOT too early to hang out and have a beer, legalized marijuana businesses right out in the open (maybe or maybe not related to the beggars sitting around at street corners.) And they really obey the crosswalk signals – but step off the curb the instant the light is red.

Our guide pointing out the defensive tactics

The next day we rode the trolley back to Fort Henry, constructed during the War of 1812 to protect the Kingston Royal Naval Dockyard (the site of the present-day Royal Military College of Canada) on Point Frederick from a possible American attack during the war and to monitor maritime traffic on the St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario. It was enlarged in the 1830s, and restored to its present appearance in the 1930s. Really enjoyed the walking tour, but we did not get to see any of the drill demonstrations.

Note the curved corners at the bottom; cannons at the top corners would shoot into the corners, which would turn the canonballs toward the area where attackers would try to enter the gate.
They were either finishing, or waiting to start; we missed the action
A key provision from which the troops would receive their daily ration; in the second-most fortified room in the fort – next to the powder storage area.
Map of the empire – note England on both ends; a straight line could be drawn to any point in the empire without going across a seam

We caught the trolley back and found a good example of one of the aforementioned establishments to enjoy a frosty beverage and a late lunch, while observing the scene. Had a terrific ‘brewers plate’, that wound up being enough for a complete meal. We talked to several other people at nearby tables, including some Australian tourists, and a guy who was on a motorcycle trip with friends. He came to our table to borrow a spare chair, and wound up sitting down and talking to us for 20 minutes

Our new boat cards

We then walked to the local Staples store a few blocks away to pick up our newly printed boatcards (version 2.0), that we exchange with other boats that we meet along the way. We have a rapidly growing binder with the pages of other cards we have collected – helps us to remember people names that go with boat names, as we encounter folks a few weeks later that we have met before.

Interestingly, the government owns all the distribution for alcoholic beverages, so no wine in grocery stores, no beer at gas stations. The LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario) stores ensure consistent pricing and take the hefty government cut of taxes on all sales. We went to an LCBO store to check it out. Generally, prices were higher on the kinds of things that we’d stock on the liquor shelf, but reasonable on many low/mid wine bottles. Many, many different kinds of beer – you have to flip your head, though, with regard to what’s an ‘import’ and what’s ‘domestic’. Only singles cans (big 16 oz. ones) and six-packs. No 12 or 24 cases!? What’s up with that? (To be answered in a future post) We bought a couple interesting sounding craft brews, a cider, and a sangria, to try.

Later, we went back to a German restaurant we had seen, and sat in their biergarten for some really good German beer, and some OK schnitzel. Tomorrow we will head up the Bay of Quinte, enroute to Trenton, Ontario.