Day 23 - Mon 20 Jun 2016
Docked – Trenton, ON

[photo: exterior view of the fabulous new Trent Port Marina]

The latter part of Sun was interesting in that the blazing sun was really heating up the interior of the boat to the point that Diane, the heat-loving creature she is, was complaining about how hot it was. I suggested that she and I wet down with the outside shower again and sit in the breeze in whatever shade we could find. That was vetoed, so we ran the generator and the A/C for a while. You understand how our boat got her name, right?

Once the sun went down, I shut down the generator and sat on the flybridge with a beverage and an audio book. I had not listened to one of those in quite a while. It allowed me to close my eyes and get comfortable without having to adjust everything to actually read. By 2130, it was actually getting cool, much to my delight. I opened the forward window and rear door and set the screens in place. When we awoke on Mon, Diane complained how cold it was. Sheesh!

With 4 hours to run at our low-speed of 7-8 kts, we weighed anchor at 0630 and had a lot of weed and mud to clear off the anchor. With the wind from the SW and us traveling in a zig-zag pattern in the bay, sometimes we had the wind at our back but mostly it was on our nose. It definitely affected our travel speed, but it was all pretty comfortable.

We arrived at the new Trent Port Marina about 1030 and were greeted by a knowledgeable dockhand. There were 2 other PDQs here, with Building Our Wings just getting ready to depart. The rest of the gang had a good time last night and then took off today. I know there might be some of them reading this, but we have to say we are not happy moving so much and so often as that group seems to do. Yet, to other cruisers we know, we are the speed demons. I guess it is all relative.

Once tied up, we just opened the side windows to get a near gale cross breeze thought the cabin. We did some chores and then Diane fixed a delicious early lunch. She took the spicy chicken strips I had made for the fajitas and made a tortilla wrap with spinach, tomato, avocado, and the last of the grilled asparagus. It was a weird combination of the type you might only find in a special bistro, but it was very good.

I walked up to the new and incredibly nice marina building, where I paid and got the tour. The showers and baths are all private and they are nicer and cleaner than many people’s homes. They have a lounge with a big TV (it was carrying CNN with more US election “news”, so I quickly exited), a fabulous free laundry with multiple new machines, and a canteen (little snack bar). The price was only $1.70 CAN/ft including their rather high taxes.

When I got back, we took up 2 loads of laundry and our grocery bags. The Metro grocery store was only a good block away and it had everything we needed. We brought $800 CAN with us from last year in anticipation that the exchange rate was not going to be as good this year, and we were right. Diane detoured to make an appointment to get her hair cut tomorrow, while I carried the groceries back. My ego likes the fact that I must be getting stronger as I age. No way could I carry $80 worth of groceries by myself when I was a teenager.

I put together a crockpot lasagna for supper since we had a craving for Italian food. I should note, again, that other than some simple appetizers and the marina cookout, we have not eaten out once so far. It isn’t an attempt to save money as much as that we really like the way we eat on the boat and know it gives us healthier options.

A number of new Loopers were already in, or just arriving at, the marina, so we set up a casual party with minimal snacks. At first we tried to sit/stand on the dock, but the sun and wind were so strong that it was uncomfortable, so we moved inside Diva Di. Several of the couples hail from within 45 minutes of our home in Punta Gorda, at least part of the time.

The lasagna was delicious and it was another early bedtime for us. We will be here all day tomorrow, getting a visit by some friends from our sailboat days, and there are chores that did not get done today that still need doing. We plan to start into the series of locks, rivers, and lakes known as the Trent-Severn Waterway on Wed.