Starr passage Hawaii to Unalaska or Kodiak 2018


We are underway for either Unalaska/Dutch Harbor or Kodiak, depending on the weather.  Sharry and I planned on departing a week ago but postponed the departure so we could fly back to San Clemente for my cousin Karla Gellers memorial. We are fortunate our friends who are crewing for us are all from Oahu and were able to rearrange their schedules so the Monday 28 departure worked out. Joining us for the passage are 3 great guys, Bill Noodle Leary, Clay Hutchinson, and Kyle Kim. I asked each of …
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Harlingen, NL

Our main reason for stopping in Harlingen, NL was that it was convenient for picking up our new tender en route to Norway. Harlingen worked out splendidly for that purpose, but it also was an excellent stop overall. We enjoyed the city’s many waterfront restaurants and made several interesting side trips, including a tender trip…

Underway!

Red Head has finally thrown off the lines and headed out! Dora’s first official cruise. OK, so maybe it’s not a trip around the world – only 10 miles down river to Shady Harbor Marina. Still, we’re calling it.

Dylan and Dee Dee fell right into line as soon as they heard the engines start. Dora had to be coaxed up to the pilothouse with a treat. She’ll catch on. 


Dora found it a little hard to settle down. There’s just too darn much to see.


But she did eventually cuddle up with her fellow crew members.

Red Head starts her summer cruise with the help of Dylan, First Mate. 


Dee Dee, Second Mate. 

And the newest member, hoping to soon reach Provisional Third Mate, Dora.

  
Dora did great with just one little issue. She is fearless. Literally. That’ll be a future blog entry. Mom has to calm down first…

The start of the Trent Severn – Trenton to Campbellford – May 24th, 25th and 26th

Thursday, May 24th

The start of the Trent Severn.  Today we did six locks and tied up at the lock wall in Frankford.  All the lock masters were so friendly and very helpful.  They would answer questions and provide a lot of information.

Bye bye Port Trent Marina.
The bridge starting the Trent Severn waterway.
Our first lock!  Mark and Christine on S/V Harmonic, 33 Hunter lead the way.  We arrived just before opening at 10:00 am and tied up at the blue line.  We walked up to talk to the lock masters.  They said that lock two was cleaning debris out of the water so we would not hit it so it would be a little longer before they would open and let us go through.

I asked if I could try turning the crank that controlled the lock gates and they let me!  Very easy to move.  They said that it’s hard to get it started but after it starts it’s easy.
Lock master Lucas gave us some maple syrup from his family’s tree forest. He also told us that if you sniff the maple leaf image on their money, it smells like maple syrup.  Sure enough, it did!  Each lock has one summer help job working with the main lock master.  The requirement for this summer job is that you must be a student.  This is a great opportunity for these college kids.  During the slow season (now through July) if they are missing helpers,  the student lock workers will drive to the next lock before we’d arrive to help the lock master. It’s called “chasing the lock”.

 

 
  
Lots of geese and several had babies.

 

 

All tied up for the night at the Frankford lock wall.



Friday, May 25th – Frankford to Campbellford

Lock Seven park is under construction and it was only a pass through (no docking).

Teak has made herself right at home!

Nice homes along the shore.

Swoons

How would you like to walk these stairs?

Too much current coming in for me to hang on so Josh took over.

Flight Lock (Two locks together)  You go into one, they fill it and open it, you move to the next one and they close it, fill it then open it.

 

This is something you do not see in the states anymore.

Saturday, May 26th – Campbellford

The morning started off with a walk over the bridge to the Farmer’s Market.  Very small market with not many items for cruisers.  Off to the Chocolate Factory Outlet Store we went!  No tours, just a store and… yes, we bought some chocolate.  Yummy!!!!!  It was a nice morning walk.

The squirrels here are a black color.

Two more boats came in last night.
The Chocolate Factory Outlet Store

We were told that the Chocolate Factory Outlet Store used to own this factory and give tours but they sold it to this company and no tours now allowed.
I wanted to go to the local suspension bridge but no one would do the 3.5 mile walk with me so I decided to go alone.  I had a great walk!

Look closely!  Yes it is a Full Service Station.

Ranney Gorge Suspension Bridge

This is to prove that I did it!

 

After lunch, I started working on updating our blog.  Uploading all my photos takes time using free WiFi.  Nothing more for us to do here so we decided to head to our next lock and stay on the wall so we can go through first thing in the morning. 

As we were leaving the boat to go to the grocery store I saw a guy swimming towards our boat.  He asked if he could use our stern ladder to climb out.  He was on the other side of the river and saw a squirrel in the water and jumped in to save it.  Yes, he was bitten by the squirrel. The town only had ladders on the side of the river that he jumped in on.

After we got back from the store it looked like a storm was heading our way.  Our plan to move on to the wall did not work!  The rain decided to come and it poured!  Two other boaters came through the locks and tied up during the rain.  We have three boats now heading to the locks tomorrow.



The start of the Trent Severn – Trenton to Campbellford – May 24th, 25th and 26th

Thursday, May 24th

The start of the Trent Severn.  Today we did six locks and tied up at the lock wall in Frankford.  All the lock masters were so friendly and very helpful.  They would answer questions and provide a lot of information.

Bye bye Port Trent Marina.
The bridge starting the Trent Severn waterway.
Our first lock!  Mark and Christine on S/V Harmonic, 33 Hunter lead the way.  We arrived just before opening at 10:00 am and tied up at the blue line.  We walked up to talk to the lock masters.  They said that lock two was cleaning debris out of the water so we would not hit it so it would be a little longer before they would open and let us go through.

I asked if I could try turning the crank that controlled the lock gates and they let me!  Very easy to move.  They said that it’s hard to get it started but after it starts it’s easy.
Lock master Lucas gave us some maple syrup from his family’s tree forest. He also told us that if you sniff the maple leaf image on their money, it smells like maple syrup.  Sure enough, it did!  Each lock has one summer help job working with the main lock master.  The requirement for this summer job is that you must be a student.  This is a great opportunity for these college kids.  During the slow season (now through July) if they are missing helpers,  the student lock workers will drive to the next lock before we’d arrive to help the lock master. It’s called “chasing the lock”.

 

 
  
Lots of geese and several had babies.

 

 

All tied up for the night at the Frankford lock wall.



Friday, May 25th – Frankford to Campbellford

Lock Seven park is under construction and it was only a pass through (no docking).

Teak has made herself right at home!

Nice homes along the shore.

Swoons

How would you like to walk these stairs?

Too much current coming in for me to hang on so Josh took over.

Flight Lock (Two locks together)  You go into one, they fill it and open it, you move to the next one and they close it, fill it then open it.

 

This is something you do not see in the states anymore.

Saturday, May 26th – Campbellford

The morning started off with a walk over the bridge to the Farmer’s Market.  Very small market with not many items for cruisers.  Off to the Chocolate Factory Outlet Store we went!  No tours, just a store and… yes, we bought some chocolate.  Yummy!!!!!  It was a nice morning walk.

The squirrels here are a black color.

Two more boats came in last night.
The Chocolate Factory Outlet Store

We were told that the Chocolate Factory Outlet Store used to own this factory and give tours but they sold it to this company and no tours now allowed.
I wanted to go to the local suspension bridge but no one would do the 3.5 mile walk with me so I decided to go alone.  I had a great walk!

Look closely!  Yes it is a Full Service Station.

Ranney Gorge Suspension Bridge

This is to prove that I did it!

 

After lunch, I started working on updating our blog.  Uploading all my photos takes time using free WiFi.  Nothing more for us to do here so we decided to head to our next lock and stay on the wall so we can go through first thing in the morning. 

As we were leaving the boat to go to the grocery store I saw a guy swimming towards our boat.  He asked if he could use our stern ladder to climb out.  He was on the other side of the river and saw a squirrel in the water and jumped in to save it.  Yes, he was bitten by the squirrel. The town only had ladders on the side of the river that he jumped in on.

After we got back from the store it looked like a storm was heading our way.  Our plan to move on to the wall did not work!  The rain decided to come and it poured!  Two other boaters came through the locks and tied up during the rain.  We have three boats now heading to the locks tomorrow.



Belleville to Trenton – May 22 & 23, 2018

Tuesday, May 22nd

Teak had another vet appointment at 9:30 in the morning to be checked once again before we headed out for Port Trent Marina.  Our rent car needed to be back by noon, and we needed to find out about the alarm going off on our b…

Belleville to Trenton – May 22 & 23, 2018

Tuesday, May 22ndTeak had another vet appointment at 9:30 in the morning to be checked once again before we headed out for Port Trent Marina.  Our rent car needed to be back by noon, and we needed to find out about the alarm going off on our bow t…

Afsluitdijk Dam

The 20-mile (32km) Afsluitdijk dam, completed in 1932, protects the Netherlands coast from flooding and provides an important source of freshwater by transforming the saltwater bay Zuiderzee into a freshwater lake renamed IJsselmeer. The dam also provides an important road link between the provinces of Friesland, where Harlingen is, and North Holland. An easy bike…

Harlingen Canals

We set of from Harlingen just past 7am on a warm and sunny day to test the new tender on a longer trip and to enjoy the inland canals. After passing through the sea lock, we spent several hours touring the narrow and shallow inland canals, passing through small towns and alongside old-style Dutch windmills….

Northbound 2018: Playing the Weather to Hingham

As noted in the previous article, we arrived the Morehead City Yacht Basin fuel dock at 0815 hours on Wednesday morning. Our goal was to take on fuel, top off our water tank, offload garbage and, since the forecasts looked favorable for following seas …