On Sunday the winds became more favourable and we decided to head off for Gananoque. A note on winds and sailing for non-sailors reading this: winds blowing towards our destination are good whereas winds blowing from our destination are bad. A 20 knot wind blowing us towards our destination makes for great downwind romp, but, if it is on our nose, it makes for a bouncy, tiring day. So, we have good winds and bad winds in relation to the direction we are trying to go. Also, we can have too little wind where we have to use the motor to get anywhere in a reasonable time or too much wind which is uncomfortable - fussy aren't we? So when we say we are motoring, there usually is not enough wind and, when we are waiting for favourable winds, the winds are usually strong and coming from the direction we want to go. Fortunately, being retired means we can be somewhat fussy and wait for favourable winds, for nothing changes like the weather.

Back to Kingston and what do we do all day. Before leaving, we had to first shower - never pass up a chance to get clean. This sounds simple but to reach the showers involved a walk up through a hotel parking lot and down into a basement by the Marina office. Then after breakfast and cleaning up, we had to walk into town to pick up the frozen meat that we had ordered the day before from a butcher who didn't open till 10:00. Then we had to get water as we were on the day docks without any services. We carry lots of water on our boat for cooking and cleaning, and the water from these tanks lasts us about 2 to 4 weeks depending on how clean we need to be. I guess we had been quite clean as our water was running low. The marina staff were very accommodating and let us tie up for a short while at a regular dock to take on water at no charge. With full water tanks, we headed to Portsmouth harbour to top up our diesel tanks and for a pump out. All waste from the toilet, or "head" in nautical terms, is contained in a holding tank. We have to pumpout the holding tank about once a week at a facility which will send it for proper treatment. This took some time as there was a lineup for the diesel station and the pumpout was the slowest we have seen - there is nothing like extending a yucky job. Finally we were ready to head for Gananoque. We sailed down past Howe Island, enjoying a nice lunch along the way, for now it was well past noon, and entered a channel by Aubrey Island into a very busy Thousand Islands. We had forgotten how busy this area was and it was a bit of a shock coming from the relatively secluded areas around Waupoos. After checking a few full anchorages and a busy marina in Gananoque, we decided to head up the Bateau Channel to Trident Yacht Club. Trident was a great choice, offers reciprocal privileges for the first night, and is in a remote, cottage-like setting. We had a dock facing the channel and could watch a blue heron fishing on the next dock and a mega-turtle racing up the pathway to the club. We barbequed at the club and had a quiet evening. So ends one of our days - a busy one at that. Normally they are not so busy but we do spend a good part of our time maintaining this lifestyle.

From Trident we went to Collins Bay Marina as thunderstorm warnings were out for that night. They have fixed up the marina in the past few years and it has to be one of the friendliest marinas we have ever stayed at - we even got courtesy sail ties as a new visitor. There was a No-frills Store within a 15 minute walk for provisioning and a large conservation area beside the marina for hiking. This was a great place to hang out in bad weather. It was hot and humid before the storm arrived so we took our dinghy over to the park, dropped our dinghy anchor, and went for a swim. It was great fun trying to figure out how to get back aboard after the swim - glad no-one was taking movies!

Next we anchored in Kerr Bay, about 6 miles from Collins Bay. Kerr Bay is a lovely anchorage, well protected. John and June from Sunstone put us onto to this spot as well as Waupoos - great anchorages and not crowded. We stayed until Sunday swimming, reading, bird watching, watching people anchor (a favourite pastime among boaters) and generally enjoying being anchored out. This week was our 3 week milestone. Karen had a brief moment when she was worried about the timing of our trip back, usually a concern as we have to watch the weather to allow enough time to get home for work. Fortunately it was only a brief moment, then she remembered she didn't have to go back!