Last week St. George Harbour had been on the boil for 3 days, and rain had been either in the forecast or coming down in buckets; making sleep difficult, leaving the boat a wet and dirty affair, and most maintenance chores impossible. We have enjoyed books, music, and Sudoku; and missed our regular exercise. The heavy winds finally abated Friday morning, and, after our scheduled communication with the Mississauga Maritime Ham Net, the two of us scurried off the boat and caught a bus for the long but crazy bus ride to Hamilton. We got some shopping in – including visits to two chandleries where some boat equipment was acquired for us and other boats – and had a nice little lunch beside a beautiful park. The day slipped by rather fast, although I had time after our bus ride back to St. George to assist Buck on s/v Nomad with a repair of his wind generator. We discovered what was required before dark, but saved the repair for Saturday. Saturday night, we slept on flat water; such a pleasure after the days of bouncing at the mooring.
Saturday was fabulous. The sun gave us a beautifully warm day and provided 16 amps at times through our solar panels. Dawn dropped me off at Nomad, while she carried on to the Dinghy Club with a full bag of laundry. Buck and I had great success with the wind generator (broken electrical connections, with some complications related to lack of slack wire, height, and trying to solder in the wind) and Dawn had the boat festooned with drying laundry by noon.
At 1:30, Buck gave Dawn and I a tour of Nomad. It is a 38’ custom-built aluminum sloop, with everything well thought out for long-distance, cold-water cruising. So many interesting ideas, all arranged to allow single-handing success. As previously reported, he is returning to Florida from Newfoundland, and intends to get to Greenland next summer. The rest of us, trying to escape the cold, can’t truly understand this man who wants to spend his summers in long johns and 4 other layers, always in sight of a glacier. We’re aiming to convince him to visit beautiful Grand Lake the summer after his Greenland visit, where his wife Caroline can fly and meet up with him.
After the tour, we gathered with Buck, David and Kristin of “Sayonara” and Walter and Danna of “Madness” (1978, 42’ Peason ketch, hull #1) to go to the bus stop. We got off at the entrance to the “Crystal Cave”. After descending about 100’ down, we walked along a walkway on floating pontoons in an amazing and large cave of stalagtites and stalagmites. Hopefully Dawn can post a picture.
From there we walked to a place called the Swizzle Inn for supper. Great food, but we stuck to pitchers of the special “Rum Swizzles”, which ultimately we agreed included very little rum at $44.00 a round. The place was decorated with Canadian flags, as they were being visited by a Canadian rugby team. I tried to find out what team it was, but all they knew was the country. They didn’t show up while we were there. Regardless of the libations, we had fun; then took the bus back to St. George, and walked to St. Catherine’s Beach. We joined a large crowd with a giant beach bonfire and a bar selling libations.
At the beach, beside the towering east wall of Fort St Catherine, we were treated to the best fireworks show Dawn or I had ever witnessed. Likely the biggest part of it was how close we were. They were fired over our head from the high bluff in front of nearby Fort Albert. It was absolutely beautiful, and the crowd was most appreciative.
We walked back to St. George, enjoyed a tour of the sailboat “Madness”, then toddled off to bed. Tonight, we are having a party aboard “Sayonara”, who have too much food and not enough refrigerator. We’ll potluck all the items missing from the menu!
