Eric Gallant greeted us at Souris Marina. Eric is the brother of Gerry Gallant a good friend who we have not seen in many years. No sooner did get the boat cleaned up Gerry dropped by the boat and invited us to his place for dinner. Was a great evening.

Souris has wonderful facilities and is very well sheltered. Was easy to see why so many cruising boats choose this as their homeport. Is about a 15min walk to town, grocery stores, cafes, crafts, and liquor store. The marina has cubed and block ice as well as gas and diesel.

There is a great fried fish and burger stand on the dock, a family restaurant just a few minutes away. We had dinner at 21 Breakwater.

We spent 2 days in Souris, and then sailed to Wood Islands on our route home. Conditions were fine, but wind was on our nose. We arrived in Wood Islands in the early evening. The final leg home was also very pleasant, light winds but we were able to sail the entire leg back to homeport in Charlottetown.

The sail from Wood Islands started as the fog was lifting. The cruising spinnaker was ideal in the light winds. We passed Cape Bear lighthouse and dropped the spinnaker. We passed Murray River and sailed into the bay at Panmure Island.
This beach was walking distance from Cathryn’s childhood home, so was a treat to drop hook of this beach.

After a pleasant lunch and afternoon we continued on past Georgetown and down the Brudenell River to the docks at the resort. The docks had expanded since the last time we were there. Depth is easy enough for our 5’2” draft, there is shore power and water and an attendant provided help docking and information on where to find showers and anything else we would need.

The docks are at the resort but not affiliated to the resort. We used the showers at the indoor pool. There are two restaurants and a pool bar that serves food. There is a small resort shop that hays toothpaste and other resort needs, but no store or fuel on site. There is tow 18-hole golf course, and during the day at least two motorboats tied up and walked up the docks with their clubs to play a round.

We did a walk around the resort, and some of the trails nearby. The trail onto the point goes past some monuments and should not be missed.



The next day we motored down the Brudenell River around the point, and then up the Montague River. It takes about 20 min to get down the Brudenell, but almost an hour to get up the Montague River to the wharf in the middle of town. Am sure some sailboats sails up but is narrow and there are many bends, so motoring is more comfortable.

Montague marina is welcoming, and again has all the services a cruiser could need. The marina is at the center of town with shops, restaurants nearby. The marina has a great little café and restaurant as well a craft shop. We had planned to spend two days, but nearby construction made it very noisy during the day.

The next morning we motored down the Montague River, into the bay and then had ideal wind for our sail to Souris.

Our summer cruise started late in the day, so we did a short trip to Wood Islands from the Charlottetown Yacht club. We had good wind, but it was on the nose, but the boat was comfortable even close hauled. Arriving in Wood Islands in the early evening, it is a very convenient port, and easy to dock along a sea wall. We arrived just as "Crabby's" lobster shack was closing, we'll just have to come back another time for that. There is shore power and water nearby. The port is bright with the lights from the ferry terminal, and there is some noise every three hours when the ferry empties and refills again. Mostly just fishing boat, except for Stan who was on his homemade ketch. He was getting ready for a sail to Newfoundland. Not every day you meet a full time beekeeper; he takes care of over 3,500 hives on PEI. He dropped over again latter in the evening to share some moonshine, mixed with honey. I never had anything like it, was very good. We were then treated to a great sunset just as the ferry arrived.

Our first overnight sail with my wife Cathryn, was a short sail to Victoria-by-the-sea on the south cost of Prince Edward Island. We had been there before, it is important to arrive near the high tide, otherwise an easy trip. We arrived in time for a walk to the local fish plant for fresh mussels and lobster. The chocolate factory in town happens to also have one of the best coffee shops on the island. The restaurants and streets were full of people, interestingly; almost all the cars had island license plates. Great to see everyone coming out of winter hibernation.

We had a wonderful sail back, and was such a nice afternoon we decided to anchor by Governor’s Island to soak up as much of the day as we could.

We awoke in Port Hawkesbury to a rainy morning. We headed out and called ahead to the Canso locks. They asked us to radio in at the first red buoy. After we were given the go ahead, the bridge started to swing open, and we were in the locks for only a few minutes, before we were on the other side and headed to Georges bay.

The weather was overcast, but favorable for sailing. After a few hours on the jib, the wind moved aft and decided to give the spinnaker a try for the first time. We were told the previous owner never used it once, and possibly ever. This turned out to look like the truth, the sail looked and sounded like it brand new. We had the spinnaker up as we passed Cape George and Ballantine’s cove. The next time we would see land would be Prince Edward Island.

The wind started to fade, and the motor came back on. The motor was running very well, and the consensus was to sail through the night. The winds were light; there were no waves but it foggy. We arrived in Charlottetown around 1am on the 24th, motoring 11 consecutive hours.

We had great luck with the weather for this trip. Was the nicest weekend of weather we had all year. St. Peters marina was empty, but the manager can down as soon as we docked. Offered to come down at 7:30 the next morning to refill our diesel tank so we could be at the locks at 8am when they open. A very short motor past the marina was the entrance to the swinging bridge and locks for the St. Peters canal. We radio in to advise of our arrival and our told to tie up next to the bridge. After 30min or so, an attendant from Parks Canada informs us there are hydraulic problems and they cannot get the bridge to swing open. They worked on the bridge all day, finally getting it open at 3:30 in the afternoon.

We spent a nice day in St. Peters, cleaning the boat and chatting with the many locals who came down to chat. The highlight was a visit from Greg Silver who operates Cape Bretton Sailing Charters. Greg lives only steps from where we were docked, and had just purchased a Niagara 35 that he was in the process of refitting for a trip south. He gave me a lot of information about the boat, and other owners in the Maritimes. He came by later in the day to drop of a printed copy of the original manual for the boat.

After going past the bridge and through the locks it was after 4pm, a little brisk and raining. We decided to take the long way around Ilse Madame, and overnight in Port Hawkesbury. Passing the refineries in the Canso Causeway at night was quite a sight. We tied up at what looked like an abandoned Port Hawkesbury yacht club at around midnight.