On Our Own
Sunday, Daryl and Ann had to start their return to the land of the
working. We were up at 6:30 (we used our alarm clock for the first
time and it worked) to see them off. It was sad to see them go and now
Karen and I are together full time. After doing some laundry, we left
Belleville and sailed/motored/sailed/motored to anchor at Prinyer
Cove. We met John and Margaret from Snow Goose who dinghied out to say
hi. We hoped to meet up with them at Waupoos.
We decided to head for Waupoos on Monday although showers were
predicted. We were anxious to see our favourite anchorage. We ended up
motoring in light showers, with one downpour, and anchored opposite
the marina. We had dinner and a movie (our first movie aboard was, of
course, our favourite Shrek) and called it an early night. On Tuesday,
high winds were predicted so we set the Spade anchor in the predicted
wind shift direction. It is hard to tell which forecast to use - the
Lake Ontario East or the Kingston. They are different, especially on
the wind direction. The winds hit and did shift in one of the
predicted directions - the direction the spade was set. We were
reading 20-25knots with occasional gusts to 30. It sure gave the wind
generator a work out. Another front was forecast for Thursday so we
decided to give Kingston a visit. Also the water temperature at
Waupoos was a little on the cool side for swimming. I do not get my
bathing suit on until I see that Karen has successfully immersed
herself. She is the best indicator of a safe water temperature for
swimming that I have.
We had not visited Kingston in 6 years. On arriving, we found out that
this was the busiest weekend of the season and Confederation Basin was
full. This was Buskers weekend and all the boats had reservations.
Fortunately, we found a spot on the day docks and were allowed to stay
there for 20 cents cheaper/foot than at the regular docks - now I am
starting to feel like a retired cruiser. We had a great time visiting
Kingston. The Buskers were good performing on the street corners and
on the main street during the evenings. Kingston has an excellent
downtown area to wander about; great shopping, restaurants and a
farmers market within a block of the marina. We wandered the farmers
market and picked up some great really fresh vegetables. The butcher
across the street agreed to freeze some meat for us for pickup the
next day. The front came through as predicted and boats were stuck in
the harbour for three days as winds were steady at 25 knots - there
were white caps in the basin. Boats coming in had to tie up to the
hotel wall as anchoring in the harbour is no longer allowed. This was
definitely a good time to visit Kingston and Kingston was an excellent
place to visit.