Usually I start our blogs with “Where should I begin?”, this time as I write the blog I’m wondering where should I end? This is our last blog of our adventure, however we will be posting 1 last one upon our arrival home.
Almost 3 years ago to the date, I sat in Tobermory’s harbour and commenced writing a journal of our travels to share with you all. Not knowing where the journey would take us, and with more uncertainties than certainties, we left our home waters of Georgian Bay to escape the “everyday". Not knowing what we would find or even what we were looking for, I now know we found it.
So, now Meggie sits in the comforting harbour of Tobermory once again as I write my last entry of our adventure. As we rounded Cape Hurd this morning and entered into Georgian Bay we both felt a sense of calm and beauty that we had missed (unbeknownst to us). These waters of Georgian Bay are littered with picturesque island after island with beautiful clean clear water surrounding them. It did feel like coming home, now that is not to say we’re not missing the life we had grown accustomed to, or the locations we were used to. To sum it all up, it’s bitter sweet.The last blog seems a very long time ago, way back in Norfolk. We left Norfolk with a decent weather window to head on the outside to Cape May, NJ.
The sail was uneventful (which is always a good thing) and upon reaching our destination of Cape May, I thought I would check in with our weather guru Chris Parker and see if we would be getting out of Cape May and into NYC in the next day or two. We had wanted to meet Mike’s brother Martin there for our last ocean voyage, but wanted to get underway again quickly. Chris gave it to me straight up…”If I were you, I would get in and out of Cape May today and head straight for NYC as a cold front will be approaching and hitting the NJ coast pretty bad. If you don’t go today or tonight, you’ll probably be there at least a week, if not more.” And I was so looking forward to a good nights sleep. So, we passed the inlet to Cape May and continued on for another night to NYC. Another uneventful night (which is always a good thing), but as the sun rose the next day to reveal what was in store, we didn’t like what we saw. Nothing! We couldn’t see ¼ mile in front of us. Dense, dense fog surrounded us and here we are entering NEW YORK CITY harbour of all places. Stress level…8 (well for me…for some reason Mike has been staying very calm in stressful situations…I’m taking this as a good thing).
So I put our position on channel 16 on the vhf radio every ½ hour or so, and pretty soon we spotted a green buoy (after dodging a couple of boats, as the tanker approaching honked his horn), and as we continued in the channel the fog lifted enough for us to see our way to a safe anchorage.
The next day brought a clearer sky and a nice sail into NYC harbour where we anchored behind the Statue of Liberty to await our crew. Martin and Harry (Mike’s brother and our nephew) joined Meggie as we sailed past the Statue of Liberty up the Hudson river to the 79th Street boat basin.
Thinking we were going to have a fantastic sail, we sort of forgot about the extreme current that was against us and to make it even more interesting we had the wind against the current, and to top it off, there were heaps of boats in the harbour making huge wakes which added to the already wish washy waves. All of that aside, it was great! Harry loved when the wish washy waves came over the bow and soaked the decks (all Mike could think was “I really hope we latched down the hatches”). He would exclaim “Awesome” every time we hit a big one. We were flying down the Hudson, on a broad reach until we noticed the anchored Coast Guard boat in front of us and he wasn’t moving…and neither were we, in fact I think we were actually going backwards, due to the strong current. We were smack dab in the middle of the Battery at max ebb….oh boy. So on with Stg. Major and a slow slog up the Hudson. We had some good times and lots of laughs so it was definitely worth every wish washy wave bash. Martin and Harry spent the night aboard, which was a great way to catch up and spend some quality time together. It was nice to see the Shaw boys together again.
Our time in NYC passed too quickly and on up the Hudson we began. In no time we were in Castleton taking the masts down to transit the Erie Barge Canal.
Not much excitement for the next week. If you remember from our previous passage through the canal, there was a lot of bad songs getting stuck in your head for days at a time, no exercise, long days and cold mornings.
Pretty uneventful, except for the 37 locks. At this point we were both feeling the last few legs of our adventure were feeling more like a chore to get the boat home. Moving everyday, rain or shine, hot or cold. Finally we were at the end of the canal in Buffalo and ready to put the masts up. There is one place to do so and they charge $6US/foot of mast. So Meggie is ketch rigged, so we have almost 60 feet of mast…you do the math. Out of the question. So our only other option was to motor to Port Colborne on the Canadian side of Lake Erie and put them up there for $100 (CND), so off we went to Port Colborne. Luckily the wind was zilch and there were no waves and we had Megs up and running in no time. We were in Canada!
Before we left the confinement of the canal, we had a visit from our Antigua crew, Paul and Leanne. It was a short visit, but a great one nonetheless. We were also excited for a visit from Mike’s sister, Marie and her boyfriend Doug who were planning to meet us in Port Stanley, where we were going to take a much needed couple of days off.
After a long sail around Looonnnnngggg Point and a beat into Port Stanley we tied Meggie to the dock for 3 days for a much needed rest. It had been over 3 years since we had seen Marie, so big celebrations all around were in store. We had a great weekend with her and Doug. The weather was gorgeous and we got to spend 2 solid days together just catching up and chillin. They treated us way too much, but all the same it was much appreciated. It was really nice to see Mike have some one on one time with both his sister and his brother that month. And, it was nice to stop….did I mention that?
So, onto Erieau, Leamington…done Lake Erie. Up the Detroit river (no mishaps with the spreaders this time), cross Lake St. Clair, up the foul current infested St. Clair river, stop in Sarnia for 2 nights for weather, sail to Bayfield in Lake Huron, overnight from Bayfield to Tobermory. Phew, and pretty soon Thronbury, and then that’s it.
So we’re enjoying the last of it. We’ll anchor in Wingfield basin, a sweet little anchorage for a couple of days before we make our last run to our home port.
Plenty on our minds, mixed feelings, mixed emotions, but it is all good. We’re in a beautiful place and the best you can do is make the best of every situation and place you are in, otherwise what is it all about?
I want to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their constant support over the past 3 years. To our new friends we met along the way, our destinations wouldn’t have become experiences without you. To our cruising friends, may you always be safe, we will be living vicariously through you now, so make it good. The memories we have stored in our minds and hearts will last a lifetime. I know this isn’t the end of Mike and Kylie’s excellent adventures, but it is the end of a wonderful 3 years spent together sharing a different world we didn’t know 3 years ago. It is the end of this chapter, but another is about to begin. Sniff sniff.
Live your life now, Be well,
Kylie and Mike
