Just Another Day on the Boat

After a wonderful 10 hour sleep, we have a quick breakfast before we spot some mechanics working on a boat across the way. As it has been a whole 3 days since our last diesel mechanic encounter, we think it’s time to have someone look at the starter for our Yanmar Diesel engine. Harald ventures over and they agree to come by later this afternoon.

This is not a serious issue, yet, but we have noticed it sometimes takes up to 3 pushes of the starter button to activate the engine.

We did some planning for the next few days and then headed to downtown Longueuil for some groceries and a bit of a tour, rather than going later for our planned dinner out.

We walk to the marina office building and across the highway on the pedestrian bridge. Vieux Longueuil is lovely, including historic churches and other buildings. There are many delicious looking restaurants with patios, rest spots on the street with chairs and bright paintings and people out enjoying their lunch breaks.

The stop at Metro, and le Petit Marche for fresh berries, has us carrying 3 bags of groceries back to the marina. Before loading the fridge, it seems a good time to empty it and defrost the freezer. Seems our supplies of meat and produce should last us until we get to Quebec City, our next major stop.

Harald fills water tanks just before the mechanic arrives and the decision is made to replace the starter - more preventative than anything else. So we still have a spare old one. $250 cash to the nicest and youngest diesel mechanic we have ever met!

The afternoon activities include vacuuming and balancing my cheque book while Harald builds a temporary antifreeze overflow tank for the engine.

We move the dinghy to the davits at the stern, as it has been riding on the foredeck since we left Morrisburg. In the evening we work on our weather and chart plans and head to bed knowing this was a successful day.

But the night is a sleepless one for me, for no apparent reason. The sun is rising earlier the further east we travel, so I lay awake thinking about what we’ve done and what lies ahead, but finally get up to make toast and smoothies.

Slipping the lines at 9:02 we exit the marina and travel the 6 miles past the Montreal commercial docks holding many freighters loading and unloading their cargo. There is just a light rain, but the rubber boots are still handy from the heavy rain on the day of our arrival, so they are my chosen footwear for another day.

My list of freighters continues to grow as we add 13 more today. Some of them we have to make way for, others are distant enough we only feel their wake after they pass. With 1.5m swells and wind now on our nose at 15-20 knots, there is a good bounce after the ships pass.

The rain stops but it is cool. We are in full foulies and warm gloves as we enter the Chanel Terrbonne at 12:20. This is very narrow and shallow and the entrance to a very low lying area offering bird sanctuary and home to two small marinas and a few cottages.

We are greeted by the token heron and now also a bald eagle. Passing the town of Contrecoeur and the two marinas, I steer us into the anchorage at the north end of the channel, just 10 minutes shy of a 4 hour trip.

After a cold lunch prepared last night: left over cold chicken and salads, I nap in the cockpit, waking only to investigate any new bird sounds. This includes the “laughing” of a couple of moorhens I can see coming out of the long grass just long enough for a dive and swim. This is a new bird to me, but is easily found in my bird book after a close-up shot of it flaunting its lovely red and yellow bill. But the kingfisher who perches on the odd sign in the long grass is not new to me but very welcome as one of my favourites. We have heard several in recent anchorages, but this colourful female seems to want to stay long enough for a photo shoot.

All of this is happening while ships pass, only separated from us by the long marsh grasses.

The recent rain has found its way into some nooks and crannies so Harald applies some calking and we dry the damp linens in the cockpit until light rain comes. Seems like a good day for tea and brandy which we indulge in while I prepare fresh scones for baking before I roast the pork tenderloin for dinner. I believe we are getting comfortable with our new lives as we try to live “normally” - just on the water.