Wed., June 2, 2010

We are now sitting in the Quebec, Vieux Port looking up at the older part of the city. The skyline includes peaks of the Chateau Frontnac, an old seminary, and many different roof lines of the old homes. This is really a beautiful area!

I think we have worn out our guests with the climbing etc. of the hills.






It has been overcast with a bit of rain. Nothing of significance though...

We had lobster last night (at least the ladies did while the men had St. Hubert chicken. I think our dinner was better! Bev couldn't watch while I cooked them. She really enjoyed the flavour though! They were only $7.95/pound! At home is is 3 times that price!!!

Sunday, May 30, 2010

We took some time to go to the Fort Chambly. JR being the history buff he is, really enjoyed this.





It was a good thing that we didn't leave a day later as they closed the locks past bridge 2 because someone fell off a pier and drown after a night out at the bar. They had to still find him so closed all of the downstream locks.

We started out for Sorel at about 1:00 pm (no one really paid attention to the time!).




When we cruised through Lac St. Jean, the shores were not visable due to the forest fires. It looked like rain... It also made the sun red (in sympathy for the lost wildlife and vegetation?)...

The interesting part is that the Trawler that is moored behind us, is one of 4 hulls of a design that we actually went to see in Moncton, NB is 2005... we went to look at it in it's infant stage of development... it was not yet a whole trawler. There are only 4 in the world and we ended up sitting right in front of one of them! Small world...

Trip 2010 May/June

So... we are finally here! We got to St. Paul D'Isle Aux Noix to take off on our trip and we had to wait for some work... surprise, surprise surprise!!! We tried to go see Fort Lenox and guess what... closed!!! They open the next day (of course the day we take off!)... So here we are at the Marina Gagnon...

So... we took off towards Chambley. We figured we would get there in plenty of time to see the Fort Chambly (since we didn't get to see Fort Lenox...). And... we waited for 2 hours at St. Jean sur la Richelieu. Yes. We got to sit and wait. Pulled into Chambley finally at around 4:00 ish. So... we had to wait to see Fort Chambly this morning!

1 week to go!

So I am trying out my blog to see if you all get the updates so you can follow us along (if you want to...). Let me know if it works!

Bev and JR are getting packed and ready to go. Our other passengers, Bob and Shelley, have had to bow out for personal reasons. Now we will have Michel's friends from Mont Tremblant joining us, Carol and Michel Boily. They have lined up someone to look after their horses and will be joining us in the other stateroom.

Mike is getting REALLY excited to see the boat again. So much so that he was dreaming that he was swimming and fell out of bed! Sheesh... : )

The trek bringing Shay 'D' IV home

This is a video of our trip to bring our lovely boat home to Canada. What a trip! We shared it with our good friends, Mona and John Urkow.

April 26th, 2010: We just booked some of our marinas for our trip in August to and through the Trent Severn Waterway. We aren't going to let it go like last year where we were just trying to get 'anything' to tie up to for the night!

We leave for our first of the year boat trip on May 27th to take it through the Chambly Canal to Quebec City then to Montreal where we will leave it until we return in August.

We had some of the fiberglass doen this winter so it should look all shiney and new when we see her again! The season is near...

Shay 'D' IV

Well, here is the start of our 'Boat Blog'... I figured if we can get practiced up on this now, we'll be full blown ready when we head out for many weeks at a time!

We are land lubbers that have been transformed into sea (inland waterway) dogs. We figured this would be a fun way to spend time in retirement as we will be able to move around, meet many different people, and enjoy new scenary.



We purchased our boat in New York in 2008 and have put on over 300 hours on the ICW so far! We have a wonderful 1989 48' Offshore which we have spent a lot of hours and dollars refurbishing back to her original glory! Yes, this boat is 'us' now and it is so comfortable. It is a very unique layout as it is NOT the typical Yachtfisher back end. We have an extended sun deck that has held up to 12 people for supper!

To date we have:

• Travelled up the Hudson River from New York to the Troy locks
• Passed through the Troy lock system to Lake Champlain
• Cruised up the Richelieu to the St. Lawrence to Quebec City
• Traveled from Montreal to the Ottawa River, through the Rideau Canal back down to the St. Lawrence River
• Travelled through the Thousand Islands
• Spent time at Valleyfield (one of our favourite places)

Besides Valleyfield, QC, our other favourite place is St. Anne de Bellevue. It is like tying up on a wall in Venice!


When we find some really neat spots to moor, we play a little! Nothing like a good swim to unwind at the end of a long day!

This stop was on the Rideau Canal just below the Chaffey's Lock. What a neat place! There are however watersnakes in the little creek that ran parallel to the Canal... Sheesh...


We are planning to do the Trent Severn this summer with many guests joining us for a different leg of the trip.

Next trip... St. Paul D'Isle Aux Noix to Quebec City then back down to Montreal... End of May can't come quick enough!