08/15/2008, Kingston Creek, St John River
We motored out of St John's and the Kennebecaset YC armed with a wealth of information about the St John's River thanks to a talk by a member of the RKYC last night. Larry chose the anchorage at Kingston Creek because the high shorelines made it look like a fjord. Several other boats chose to go farther in than we did but our dinghy ride brought us to Glide, a lovely Island Pilot power boat who insisted on serving rum and coke. We spent a calm evening on anchor after grilling a pork loin and watched the eagles, a brief after-shower rainbow, and finally, a full moonrise. Does it get better than this?
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08/14/2008, RKYC St John, New Brunswick,
The sunrise over the Bay of Fundy was lovely and we SAILED to Dipper Harbor. It was great to finally turn off the motor and move smoothly and quietly through the chilly water. I have to find out what these cute little black and white ducks are. Also spotted seals today and more dolphins. Dipper Harbor is quite rolly but lots of us were there (13 boats went right to St John). Just as we were grilling steak and zucchini we saw a small fishing dory go to most of the rest of the boats. They all started picking up anchor and moving. Some just reanchored out near us, some went around the jetty into the crowded inner harbor. It turns out the fisherman was politely requesting folks to move away from the herring weirs near shore because when the herring swim in, they will think the hulls are predators and wont go near the weirs. He was expecting a large school of herring that night.
We woke to the densest fog we have seen this morning and motored slowly along the invisible coast to the port of St John. On channel 10 VHF we listened to other Flotilla members talking and then on Channel 12 we listened to the Fundy /St John Harbor Control. We had to check in like everyone else and make sure that we knew where the asphalt barge, Coast Guard vessel, fishing boats and ferries were, although the fog had only lifted to ¼ mile visibility. Once we actually got in the channel we had much better visibility and got in line as the pilot boarded 2 of our Flotilla vessels to go into the St. John River and through the Reversing Falls. Slack tide was about noon and we were all very excited. It was like all those places we have been (Hellgate, The Race, Plum Gut...), if you go at the right tide and pay attention to the water, it's not that scary. What was interesting was the birds and seals that thought the currents were a great place to play. It was like they thought it was their own personal roller coaster. Very cute. One boat almost went sideways, but righted himself quickly.
With great visibility we motored to the Royal Kennebecasis YC and rafted on a mooring with JayCeeDee, an Island Packet. We bussed into St John for a tour of the Fundy Radio Control with a very interesting lecture. We also stopped to see what Reversing Falls looks like when it's not slack. Whoa Nelly! A walk around this lovely city, populated by descendants of Loyalists to England after our Revolution, made us think we wanted to spend more time here. Our after dinner speaker at the Yacht Club made us understand how many treats await us on the St John River. The water temperature is in the 70's??"time for swimmingJ.
OK. Here it is. Reversing Falls--3 hours after we sailed through.
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08/12/2008, Grand Mannon, NB, Can
We spent an extra day at Grand Manan. Interesting thing about Canada: Stamps for letters and postcards are 96 cents plus the 15% blended (federal and provincial) tax!!. The bakery here is spectacular and the people have been quite friendly. Folks wave as they drive by and often let you cross the street when they don't have to. Larry went off with the cutter to help the boat with pot warp wrapped around its prop. Last night we had dinner aboard Stardust. Howard is a great cook. It poured all day today so we did boat chores, napped, and read our books. It is chilly but will get warmer on the St. John River. Water temp is in the 50's and air isn't much different. Ergo, more fog. Tomorrow we go part way to St John and stop in Dipper Harbor on the New Brunswick shore. Here is the little hitch hiker who came into a croc to get out of the rain.
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