{"id":4013,"date":"2022-09-05T17:36:00","date_gmt":"2022-09-05T17:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.zoa.com\/2022\/?p=4013"},"modified":"2022-09-06T01:52:15","modified_gmt":"2022-09-06T01:52:15","slug":"stlawrence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zoa.com\/2022\/travel\/stlawrence\/","title":{"rendered":"The Saint Lawrence River"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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We’ve come a long way in the past week. The Huron Jewel<\/em> started her journey on August 20 at Drummond Island in northern Michigan. I joined the crew at Fairport Harbor, OH on August 24. My last travel blog was posted on August 30 from Oswego, NY at the east end of Lake Ontario. Our ship is now in Quebec City, whose motto Je me souviens<\/em> (I will remember) honors the history of the people of Quebec. I remember being here<\/a> almost 20 years ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Leaving Lake Ontario, we sailed into an archipelago known as the Thousand Islands. (There are actually 1864 islands<\/a>.) These granitic islands straddle the border between New York state and the Canadian province of Ontario, forming one of the most scenic regions of upstate New York.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Every island that’s more than 25 meters across has at least one structure, a dock and a boat. Some islands are graced with elegant summer homes of the rich and famous. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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From cottages to castles, these islands are filled with history<\/a> and intrigue<\/a>. As we cruised along, we were joined by boats of all types enjoying the last week of summer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Lake Ontario and the Thousand Islands are 74 meters above sea level. To get to Quebec, which is at sea level, we descended through five short canals and fifteen locks. There were also lots of draw bridges. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Commercial ships get first priority for canals, locks and bridges. The Huron Jewel<\/em> joined a flotilla of other pleasure craft as we were herded through the locks and under the bridges. Whenever a big ship came along, we all hugged the side of the channel so as not to be crushed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There was a lot of waiting for locks to open and draw bridges to lift. Here’s Amanda and Palmer relaxing on deck as we await our turn to go through another set of locks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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One of the ships that joined us in the locks was the schooner Pride of Baltimore II<\/a>. Although it’s bigger than the Huron Jewel<\/em>, it’s small compared to the commercial ships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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It took three days to pass through the all the locks. Although the warm, sunny weather was perfect for lounging on the deck. there’s always work to do on a wooden ship, such as cleaning, repairing, sanding and oiling. The crew share these duties and take turns at the helm, while Captain Hugh directs our route and Julie does most of the cooking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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No one tires of watching ships, towns and forested hills glide by. On night watches, we see occasional meteors. Because the weather has been so calm, most of our meals are served on deck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Julie ensures that we eat well with plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables and a varied dinner menu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Where do our delicious meals come from? They’re created in the galley shown on the left. Note that the galley is large and spacious with big windows and plenty of headroom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Here’s Palmer at the galley table. He is often Julie’s sous-chef.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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While we’re below decks, let me give you a short tour of the interior of the Huron Jewel<\/em>, starting with the passageway forward from the galley. The first cabin on the left is occupied by Captain Hugh and Julie. Note the gorgeous woodwork everywhere. There are 20 different types of wood in the Huron Jewel<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Across the passageway and next to the heating stove is the head. Every ship needs one of these, of course. Naturally, it’s compact. All waste is retained in a holding tank until it can be pumped out at a marina.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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When not on watch, crew members read, sleep, play music, tell stories and enjoy the scenery. Here’s Palmer relaxing with a travel memoir titled Go Now!<\/a> If you haven’t already read it, he recommends it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Here’s my berth at the end of the passage. On the other side of the bulkhead is the forecastle where two more crew members are bunked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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After five days cruising down the Saint Lawrence, we docked in Quebec. Captain Hugh decided that his crew deserved a rest after “working” so hard. He gave us two days of shore leave for site-seeing in Quebec. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Conveniently, our dock is a 5-minute walk from the historic center of Old Quebec. This is Canada’s Labor Day weekend and there’s a cruise ship in town. So, the city is bustling with Canadian and international visitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The weather continues to be perfect. Here’s the view of the Saint Lawrence from the promenade in front of Le Ch\u00e2teau Frontenac<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Quebec is a charming city. It feels very European. During this holiday weekend, there are musicians and buskers on every street corner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Although the food aboard ship has been excellent, the crew enjoys the local caf\u00e9s for drinks and deserts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This morning, we had crepes for breakfast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ve traveled alone for most of the past 15 years. So, it’s a big change for me to have six traveling companions. Our crew has good chemistry. Sailing together in our small ship is going well and we’re a good team. I look forward to another 19 days with this entertaining gang before I disembark in Maine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Looking ahead, our next 800 miles will take us across the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, south of Prince Edward Island, through the Canso Strait<\/a> separating Cape Breton from mainland Canada, and then down the coast of Nova Scotia past Halifax. For much of this time, I probably won’t have internet access to provide updates on our journey. We may also encounter some stormy weather as predicted by windy.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we get to our next port of call, I’ll let you know how our long sail went. Until you hear from me again, you can track the Huron Jewel’s<\/em> progress by clicking\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We’ve come a long way in the past week. The Huron Jewel started her journey on August 20 at Drummond<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4008,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zoa.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4013"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zoa.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zoa.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zoa.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zoa.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4013"}],"version-history":[{"count":50,"href":"https:\/\/www.zoa.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4013\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4161,"href":"https:\/\/www.zoa.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4013\/revisions\/4161"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zoa.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zoa.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zoa.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zoa.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}