PRINCE EDWARD COUNTY, COLLINS BAY & KINGSTON - June 7 & 8, 2016

PRINCE EDWARD COUNTY, COLLINS BAY & KINGSTON - June 7 & 8, 2016

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Tuesday June 8, 2016

We had a lovely night at anchor by Green Point after the wind settled down. In the morning, the sun shone and with next to no wind, it was picture perfect (only I forgot to take any pictures). As Wings and Sir Tugley were three hours away, we got to do some chores. The first was to put our new water maker (reverse osmosis equipment) to the test. We hadn't had a chance to do this in Georgian Bay and the water quality in the Trent-Severn had us waiting until we were in Lake Ontario. 

The high pressure tubes contain filters that were sitting in a long term pickling solution (preservative), so after start up, the instructions had us run it for 30 minutes to eliminate all this solution, before putting water in our tank. I’m delighted to report that the equipment started up and ran as it was supposed to and in the course of an hour, we made about 35 gallons of water. This will be very helpful when we get into salt water where we’ll be wanting to rinse the salt off the boat after a run.

Sir Tugley and Wings caught up to us around mid day and we continued our journey along Long Reach and Adolphus Reach (two parts of the “Z” of the Bay of Quinte). The body of land to our starboard side (between us and Lake Ontario) is called Prince Edward County. This land was long settled by First Nations peoples and they county has significant archeological sites including the LeVescounte Mounds of the Point Peninsula Complex people, built about 2000 years ago.

European-Canadians were settled here when the county was created by Upper Canada’s founding Lieutenant-Governor John Graves Simcoe in July 1792. It was named Prince Edward County after Prince Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent (Commander-in-Chief of British North America) and 4th son of King George III.

For many years, Prince Edward County was closely associated with Hastings County on the mainland. Its longtime militia unit called the Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment, known locally as the Hasty P’s. The militia’s most famous member was writer Farley Mowat. He wrote “And No Birds Sang” about his experiences with the Hasty P’s during the Second World War’s Italian Campaign.

Prince Edward County has long been a favourite of cottagers, boaters and retirees. It has also become a wine region in the past decade or so.

We made our way into Prinyer’s Cove on Prince Edward County for the night. This anchorage was a regular stop for us and most other boaters from western Lake Ontario making their way to Kingston and the Thousand Islands. It is extremely well protected from most winds and offers deep, clean water and a lovely setting to enjoy. We've spend many an enjoyable stay here with boating friends David and Joan, owners of a sailboat named Big Kanu

Wednesday June 8, 2016

We woke to a grey, cold day that clearly promised some rain. We were underway by 0745 for a 20 nautical mile run, first to Collins Bay to pick up some boat equipment purchases from the local chandlery and then on to Kingston. Most boaters rely on electronics today; chart plotters (like a GPS for a car, but with nautical charts on the screen instead of roads; auto pilots; radar; weather info; monitors for engine rooms, bilge pumps and on an on. Electronics can be a big help, like having an extra crew member or two. Electronics can also be a big headache. Here is an example of a headache:

• Auto pilots require a heading sensor. When they work properly they are properly aligned with magnetic north and they allow you to engage the autopilot to steer the point to a waypoint (destination) or a series of waypoints. Whey they are not calibrated properly, their functionality is less than desirable to possibly ineffective. Following installation last year, we had several months of trial and error in our set up and location of the heading sensor (free from other magnetic influences on our boat). By September it was all sorted out and working well
• Today, as we approached Kingston, it started to misbehave. It took five minutes or so for me to remember that just west of Kingston there is a well known “magnetic anomaly” that will throw off a regular compass, an auto pilot heading sensor and anything else that relies on magnetic north. Over the course of a few miles our heading sensor moved about to an unnerving extent. I have my fingers crossed all will be normal when we depart Kingston harbour.

This afternoon and evening the weather got cloudier and the showers came and went. We went out for a lovely lunch at the Aspara Ankor, a Cambodian/Thai restaurant close by the harbour. It was very authentic and wonderfully prepared and presented and was quite a treat. In the afternoon, we wandered around downtown Kingston picking up a few things here and there. On our way back to Tug'n, I looked over the harbour and saw a familiar boat and remarked to Fran that it looked like an Oceania 30 Trawler like the one my Dad used to own. Fran spotted a custom teak box on the upper deck, just like Dad had. We walked out on the dock to take a closer look and saw lots of confirmations that this was indeed "Celebes", the boat Dad owned between  ~ 1983 and 1996 . The cabin door was open, but a knock on the hull and a "hello skipper" yielded no reply. So, Fran snapped a couple of photos of me, standing beside Celebes, but don't look too closely as she isn't in the greatest shape. Still, it was a treat to see the boat again and savour a few great memories of her.

Happy hour was aboard Wings, followed by a take out pizza from Wooden Heads Gourmet Pizza and a movie on Netflix. Another great day!

Fran beside a 4 wheel ad for Kingston Brewing Company & Dragon's Breath Beer


Stephen at Kingston's Centennial Basin beside his a boat his Dad
owned in the 1980's & 1990's

Stephen beside a great old Canadian Pacific steam locomotive by 
Kingston's Centennial Basin