Salt Shaker on the Loop: Oswego, NY 7/7/10 to Brighton, Ont 7/7/10 to Trenton, Ont 7/8/10

We departed Oswego on a beautiful morning and crossed Lake Ontario to Brighton. The distance across the lake was about 67 statute miles and took maybe 3 hours to cross. The seas were uncommonly light, maybe 1 foot becoming 2 feet as we neared Canada.

We cleared customs, long story there, but the Canadian customs people were helpful and we entered the country on terms we were both happy with. The next morning we traveled the short distance from Brighton thru the Murray Canal to the Bay of Quinte and up to Trenton.

Never saw so many weeds in the water. As we neared Trenton, I got the dreaded overheat alarm on the port engine and of course shut that one down. Once at the dock at Fraser Park Marina, we got our heads together with those in the know there (Craig, the most able dockmaster and Dave, a most able mechanic) and decided that we must have picked up some weeds that covered the water intake on that engine. Took apart, examined, a swimmer went under the boat to check for obstructions to the water intakes etc. No trouble found and things were all once again normal. We took this opportunity to have the engine oil changed.

Our first view of the "big lake"

The magic screen. It shows we are making 22.4 knots over the bottom and we are just over a third of the way across the lake.

We were almost all the way across when we caught up with Don and Rosie. Got this picture of them making their way across.

And they got this one of us!

Arrived at our first Canadian dock. Note the yellow quarantine (Q) flag we are flying. It is customary to fly this flag once you are in the waters of a different country destined for one of their ports. Once you clear their customs, you remove it and replace it with a flag of the host country.

All dressed for Canada.

Jeni (of Bill and Jeni) who own and manage the marina. A great restaurant they have there. Lots of people from the locality also enjoy it.

When you are in a really small town, there is likely not more than one of anything. So signage does not need to be creative, just informative.

And if you need gas, it is here.

This is the HQ and restaurant of Bill and Jeni's marina. Very well laid out facility and is very unique in the area. The single word "cafe" makes it very inviting.

Another shot by Don. We are on the Murray Canal, just about to pass thru an opened bridge for which there is a $5.00 toll. Here is the bridge tender with his collection basket at the end of the long pole. Pat said to the bridge tender "there is a religious feeling to this." He laughed at the idea and asked her if there was anything she needed to confess. Then he noticed we had the season pass for the canal system and told us we could take the $5.00 bill back because the sticker covered the bridge as well as the canal locks etc.

Don and Rosie's boat against the far wall. Craig, like any good dockmaster/manager at a popular marina such as Fraser Park needs to get boats as efficiently packed in as possible to make the best possible use of the dock space. It may not be evident but the bow pulpit of the Just Rosie is overhanging the swim platform of the boat at the left and the swim platform of "Just Rosie is only about two feet from the seawall that the sailboat is against. The remarkable thing about this is that Craig took only a quick look at the "Just Rosie" and scarcely looked at the space and determined with the confidence of an aviator that it would fit.

Speaking of the boat to the left of "just Rosie" these are the props the owner of this boat has been waiting a long time for to replace the ones that need to turn the other way to be correct. Turned out these are the same wrong way! Lots more waiting I expect. These are big props. These are expensive props!

Canada has public parks everywhere there are people. This is one of the gardens of the one associated with Frazer Park. They are all manacured to the 9's. Very pleasant to be around.