Touring Prince Edward County

Touring Prince Edward County

A long travel day moved us from Gananoque to Prinyer’s Cove off Prince Edward County. A couple hour stopover in Portsmouth Harbor gave Steve a chance to taxi up to West Marine for the essential caulk needed to complete his deck redo. 

So, we arrived late afternoon in time to chat with the jolly docktail party on the beach at Prinyer’s Cove Marina and enjoy a leisurely dinner with my high school friend and college roommate Shauna and her husband, Martin, who live in the nearby Cressy area of Picton. They also kindly drove us around and organized lunch at the historic Merrill Inn in Picton to give us a close up landlubber view of this lovely area. This mostly rural – farm and dairy – land bordering Lake Ontario on one side and the Bay of Quinte on the other has recently been discovered and now includes upscale shopping, dining and wine tasting. Although we passed on the local wines, we were delighted to try the local artisan cheeses and stocked up for the next leg – the only dilemma was limiting ourselves to what would fit in our frig. Meeting “old” friends, even if once every 10 years or so, is one of those rare and special treats that can be indulged with our vagabond lifestyle. We are grateful that Shauna and Martin could be home and find some free time to share with us while we were in their corner of the world.  The icing on the cake – for this reunion – was cruising together back from Picton to Prinyer’s Cove. We hope to see them both on Erben Renewal in the future.

Gananoque, ON

Gananoque

The town with the unpronounceable name, Gananoque, is our next port of call. Gananoque sits at the mouth of the Gananoque River along the shores of the St. Lawrence River and is one of the Canadian gateway cities to the 1000 Islands region. Many of the big boats we have been dodging for a week or so come from here. It is also a boater friendly community with handy groceries and a full service marina. While Julia shopped for essentials, Steve continued worked on another teak deck maintenance project – all the men on the Camelot dock were working on their boats while the women wisely relaxed with a book – must be in the genes. Fortunately we enjoyed perfect weather for our visit here, and everyone we met was rejoicing in the sunshine, and lack of rain. Summer seems to have arrived – and at least for now it is perfect as was the vast choice of cuisines in the handy restaurants. All is good!

Island Hopping

Island Hopping

Crossing the border into Canada and intending to anchor in the Thousand Island National Park, we stopped at Rockport at a marina to clear customs.  Steve did the captain’s duty and called in our report so we were legally in our neighbor to the north. We also took the opportunity to pump out before heading to a park dock behind Georgina Island – just under the Canadian side of the Thousand Island Bridge. We would have spent more time on the island but the hummingbird-sized mosquitoes drove us back to the boat.  We did find very clean and modern composting toilets on an otherwise pristine island. From Georgina we motored to Camelot and again were lucky to find a spot on a park dock – this time with several Canadian boaters over for the weekend.  The walk on this island was blessedly almost insect free – but then a liberal coat of repellant was applied before venturing out….. The scenery is dramatic with granite outcroppings shaded by pines, washed by crystal water and graced with bird song.  This rugged combination makes us think of visits to our familiar northwestern shores of Oregon, Washington and Alaska. However, here the virtually untouched park islands are immediately adjacent to cabins and cottages on both sides of the border. As a result, cruisers zip along between the islands gently rocking our boat on the dock. Although we may feel remote on the island paths, in fact the town of Gananoque (our next stop) is just a few miles north, New York is across the channel and most of the islands around us are occupied.

These national park docks are covered by our seasonal mooring pass which we purchased back in March with the early bird discount - a commitment that meant we would spend most of our summer in the Canadian Heritage canals rather than go out and do the “down east loop”.  We are instead doing the “triangle loop” – returning to the US via Lake Champlain.  That tantalizing “down east loop” will have to wait for another summer.  There is just too much to see in this northern playground to cover all the bases in one season.

If you wonder what we do with all the hours on anchor or docks - here is Steve - working on health care solutions......