Getting ready to go again

We're in the final process of assembling the stuff we brought home with us last fall after winterizing the boat. We plan to leave Beaufort, with the F150 loaded, on June 8. Our "Float Plan" for continuing our cruise looks like this at the moment. After recommissioning the boat we will head Northeast down the St. Lawrence on June 22. Expect to be in Charlottetown, PEI on July 3, Bras d'Or Lakes July 20, Halifax, Nova Scotia August 9, and St. John, New Brunswick on August 23. We will cruise the St. John river for 7 days before we head SE into Maine. We expect to be in Portland, ME about September 28, New York October 10, St. Michael's, MD October 14, and back home November 1. Looking forward to a GREAT summer. It is Sunday, June 13. The Beaufort hill billy's arrived in Rimouski, QC, Canada on Friday afternoon, June 11, truck loaded to the gills. The covers had been blown off the boat, we already knew that. There is some minor damage to our rear enclosure so we will see if we can get a canvas shop to do some repair before we leave. Have started up both engines and have the water system functioning. Our old original hot water heater is leaking a bit, probably time to replace it, I'm not really surprised. All other water systems appear to have survived the winter. We have the crane and flat bed truck scheduled for Tuesday. Looks like the boat is ready to go in but we do have to confirm with the Port of Rimouski on Monday that we are free to use the pier on Tuesday to lower the boat in. Cleared for launch after 12:00 noon on Tuesday by the port. The process starts by loading the boat on the trailer in the marina yard. The "Crane God" is checking the rigging before the lift is made. The rigging is fine and the balance good, the lift starts. Slowly the boat is moved over the trailer where it is set down, blocked up, and tied down for the ride to the city pier.

Once loaded and secured, the caravan leaves the marina yard and heads down the road for the city pier. Positioned at the pier wall, with the water some 20' down, the crane again picks up the boat and swings it out over the water, lowering it slowly, until it floats out of the slings. Captain, start your engines.

And off we go back to our slip at the marina. The last several days we have been starting up all the smaller systems on the boat and loading all our stuff back into the boat. We are well along to allow our departure on Monday, but now it looks like the weather may not cooperate. The wind is suppose to shift to the NE on Saturday and blow 20 knots. With the outgoing current and an incoming COLD wind, the river gets pretty choppy. At this point the river is as wide as it is across Lake Ontario. We'll see how it goes. Well it's Sunday, June 28, and we are still in Rimouski. When we did the sea trial on Wednesday, June 17, we found that the radar antenna didn't want to send a signal to the GPS Chartplotter. I discussed the error message with Garmin late Wednesday afternoon and they felt we needed an update chip, and we could get that chip from Raytech in Montreal. Called Raytech Thursday morning and they shipped out a chip later in the day for next day delivery in Rimouski. Well, the chip didn't arrive as promised on Friday, didn't get here until Monday afternoon, June 22. Installed the chip, updated the software, but it didn't fix the radar problem. Called Raytech at about 4:15 pm, left a message, but nobody called back before 5:00, so I called Garmin in Kansas. If the update hadn't fixed the problem then there must be something wrong with the antenna and it would have to come in for service. So Monday evening I took the antenna off from the roof of the boat so we could be on the road to Montreal at 7:00 am Tuesday morning. We got to Raytech shortly after 1:00 pm on Tuesday. They would check out the antenna first thing Thursday, Wednesday was St. Jean de Baptiste day, a holiday in Quebec. Thursday morning they called to inform me that two boards were defective and they would have to get parts from Garmin. No more word on Thursday on the status of things. I called early Friday morning to learn that the parts needed were on back order at Garmin and that it would be three weeks before parts were available. I said no, we were going to solve this problem long before then, and they agreed to see if they could find a new replacement antenna somewhere in Canada. Just before noon they called back to tell me they had located a new, compatible antenna an hour's drive north of Montreal. I said "go get it, I'm on my way, will you be there after 5:00, it will take me about 5 1/2 hours to get there". If I was on my way, they would wait, and they did. At 6:00 I started back to Rimouski with the new antenna, returning to the boat a midnight. I installed the new antenna on Saturday, and we are now good to go with all systems working. But guess what, the wind has again turned to the NE, blowing 20 - 30 Knts, kicking up waves 3 - 6'. So we continue to wait, probably until Thursday, July 2, before we can go. So goes boating on the lower St, Lawrence. One thing for sure, when your traveling by boat you meet some neat people. Our stay in Rimouski has been no exception, and much as we are anxious to move on, we've met some wonderful people here. I've spent the most time with Albert, our mechanic, and his wife Necole. We had them on the boat Sunday evening, June 21 for a soup supper. Necole backed a loaf of fresh multi grain bread and brought a bottle of wine. We had a great evening with Albert entertaining us with his German box accordian. The next time we see them will be in South Carolina. When we were here last July, we were told to look up Genevieve and Marcel on the SANTA MARIA I. They were never on their boat while we were here. We've met them now, and went sailing with them on Wednesday, June 24. They have both now retired and Marcel will be moving the boat to Bras d'Or Lake, leaving on Monday, June 29, (he thought). We will see them again when we get to Bras d'Or Lake in late July. Last fall while working on the boat, a curious passer by, Daniel Barbeau stopped to see what was going on this big Hatteras. Daniel owns a very nice bistro in Saint-Luce, a small town just east of Rimouski. I had a delightful dinner their last fall and we ate dinner their again today and had a nice visit with Daniel. With this down time, we decided to drive out to the end of the Gaspe Peninsula and see all the sights. This will allow us to move quickly with the boat to the city of Gaspe once we can get out on the river. The Gaspe Peninsula is the end of the Appalachan Mountain range and the end of the International Appalachan Trail is at the end of the peninsula. The 3775' mountain peaks drop quickly into the Gulf of St. Lawrence with spectacular shear cliffs. Everywhere there is a little river running into the river and gulf, there is a little town, Saint somebody, built around a spectacular Catholic Church structure. There are historic light houses on all the points, and even two wooden covered bridges. Pictures can't capture the beauty, but they are the best we can do.

Today we drove a few miles east of Rimouski to visit the jardins de metis, or in English, The Reford Gardens.

Each day while we wait to get going, we find another interesting place to visit. Like Devils Canyon, 20 miles south of Rimouski, where the Rimouski River flow from the mountains to the St. Lawrence River.

As we returned to Rimouski, this is the view of the town below, the St. Lawrence River, and one of many islands that dot the south shore of the river.

We're still here in Rimouski on           July 1. Decided to look into bus schedules when it comes time to come back and pick up the truck. Well, bus schedules don't work to well to come back from the coast of New Brunswick, the only bus each day gets back to Rimouski at 11:00 PM, and then I'm going to get in the truck and drive 6 hours back to the boat, NO. But, if I left right now, 2:00 PM, I could leave the truck in Campbellton, NB, and get back to it from Miramchi, NB in about 2 hours. Weather forcast for tomorrow, July 2 is looking pretty good to head down the river, so I left for Campbellton, found a place to park the truck and got back to the boat by 11:10. WE'RE READY TO GO!