Laurie and I finally left Grand Lake on Wednesday afternoon after a busy day getting all the last minute things packed, cleaned out and tidied up. After Laurie spent a little time getting the shed in shape, we were even able to find space in there for our hot tub! Unfortunately, we ended up with the entire contents of our freezer onboard of which most is stored in a cooler outside in the cockpit. We had waves good-bye from Jackie Mills along with Hugh Whalen.
We spent Wednesday night at Robertson's Point tied up to Mike Daniel's mooring ball, on the southeast side of Grand Lake near the entrance to the Jemseg River, enjoying a beautiful evening while watching the 5 boats of the Fredericton Yacht Club having one of their final Wednesday night races.
On Thursday morning we headed out onto the Saint John River and although it was really cold and windy, the wind was right behind us driving us to Whelplay's Cove. I called John Fallon on our cell phone and we soon realized that his friend and ours, John Sinclair, was in Whelplay's and was heading for the RKYC for their weekly Thursday night dinner. Although I had a boat loaded with groceries, John S. picked us up on the shore and we shot off for a salmon dinner. We met up with Ken and Sally, Bob
Barnes, and lots of others from here.
After dinner, John Sinclair retuned us to our boat at Whelplay's where we had a very frosty overnight making it difficult to get out from under the blankets in the morning. It's amazing to us that although three nights earlier we had to sleep in the cottage with all screens open, we now are on a thin walled boat under a environment Canada frost warning. I don't particularly enjoy seeing my breath in the air nor finding the bottom of our mattress full of dew in the morning! Although we're just
dealing with memories, that night may have been colder than we experienced in the Bay of Fundy in 2004!
We arrived at the RKYC around noon yesterday and enjoyed the company of John Fallon, John Sinclair and Ken Ward. Ken provided us with a space heater, but it will only be usable here while plugged into "shore power". Both Laurie and I took long hot showers this morning at the RKYC club house, and I even got a bit of laundry washed while I was there!
We are experiencing troubles with the Ham Radio, which I'm sure John will have working for us sometime today. The Ham Radio is our life-line for communications, so it's a biggie! Also, we are waiting for a refrigeration expert to tweak our little fridge on Monday morning and will pick up the new life raft and replacement battery.
Hugh called us this morning to inform us that the last cushion we were waiting for from a company in Texas has arrived at the Post Office. Richard Brogan (neighbour at the cove) will deliver it to us on Sunday evening when he returns to his home in Saint John.
Tonight we have a spar shed party to attend…busy times!!
All for now,
Dawn (and Laurie)
