July 21-28

It's been a few days since our last update, and we have lots to add.

Our voyage down the St.Lawrence from Montreal to Sorel was pleasant and quick with the 1.5 knot current pushing us all the way.Montreal needs some work on their Cardinal Buoys. At Sorel we entered the Richelieu and to our first Lock at St. Ours. Quite a pleasant lock to travel through as it has floating docks inside to tie up too for the lift. We chose to stay at a nice little marina in Handfield for the night before heading to the Chambly Canal the next day

The Chambly is not quite so nice to travel. There are nine locks in all and they are narrow and short, and now very busy with the Quebec construction holiday. Being so narrow only 2 of our boats will fit each lock at a time, so Holidaze and I Docked'R travelled together and we were a lock behind with 3 other small boats. We started the locking at10:00am and we finally got through the last lock at 5:30pm. It was a long, hot, slow day of travel. Gosselin Marina was  our stay for the night. We made use of the pool and the supplied BBQ's and had a nice group dinner on shore. As it was Rachel's Birthday we of course had to have one of Joy's chocolate cakes to celebrate.

The next day had us stopping at US Customs to check into the US, all so serious, and we were finally entering Lake Champlain. As the lake was calm and we were making good time we decided to head to Burton Island State Park in Vermont. To get there we had to travel through the Gut and Lift Bridge into the area they call the Inland Sea. Burton Island was a nice spot and well looked after as a water access only park. However here is where our troubles started. The inner harbour was stated to have a 6 foot entrance limit and they said if you can get past that the inner harbour has lots of depth except at the two far docks. Well they were wrong, once inside we hit bottom and we draw just under 4 1/2 feet therefore the entrance is not really the limiting factor. Even though we hit it sounded like a light touch, so with the wind picking up and the nice location we all decided to stay for two nights. When it was time to depart wouldn't you know it we hit again even though staying in the middle of the channel, and this time it was a solid hit. So the hunting started to find a marina that could and would pull us and source out either a repair or replacement propellers. With the damaged propellers we slowly cruised to Mallets Bay and stayed a two nights in Mallets Bay at Bay Harbour Marine. The next day Jim rented a van and we day traveled to Burlington for shopping, sightseeing and a great lunch at Henry`s Diner. Joy was able to find Champy. And for Dinner we were recommended the WaterWorks, which was very nice and beside the falls and in an old mill.

Our searching found a great yard in Shelburne Shipyard and they were very helpful in sourcing a new set and arranging to get us out of the water and going again.

Since we had to wait a couple of days for delivery, we anchored alone in Sledrunner Bay while the rest of the travelers continued on downne the lake to Bay Port Marina for two nights. I think Bob said something about a Lobster Fest and fireworks, I think he thought he was in heaven.

On Saturday morning Shelburne Shipyard pulled the boat and had the new props on in 40 minutes and we were able to meet up with the fleet in Westport NY that afternoon. So we are all back together again and should be travelling as a full fleet once more.