Montreal

Hello Montreal! – Quebec, Canada

Montreal – The End of Our Trent Severn Waterway, Rideau Canal Cruise – Named after Mount Royal, the centrally located hill with three distinctive peaks, Montreal was originally called Ville-Marie, or “The City of Mary,” The city is in the southwest quadrant of Quebec on the Island of Montreal. Many of the buildings, in Old Montreal, dating back to the 17th century, and some, back to the late 16th century. The final approach to the Montreal Yacht Club was a little dicey with a strong cross-current tossing us around like a little toy boat. I am thinking this resulted from the city being…

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We Found a Boating Haven in Indiantown, Florida

Short Cruise Today – Transiting from South Bay Cover to Indiantown, Florida. Leaving South Bay Cove in the morning put us with an early arrival to our day's destination of Indiantown, Florida, located on the St. Lucie River, just off the big lake. Indiantown was established by the Seminole people as a trading Post. On the way to our destination, we were intrigued by Slim's riverside sign (below), too bad we didn't have time to stop, it looked like it might be an interesting place to investigate off the river. Finishing up the last leg of the "Rim Route" today to go…

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Caladesi Island – Trails and a Beautiful Beach!

Caladesi Island –  An Island Paradise! In our experience, Caladesi Island is never busy in January. This is our third stop at this state park, we never tire of its beauty. We stayed a few nights, one of only a handful of boats at this time of year. When we tire of walking the virgin pine forest trail around the island to the natural water hole, we take the return route, back to the marina, by way of the beautiful sandy beach. The updated marina has electrical and water hookups and you can stay for three days for a minimal fee.…

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Captain Jim on Phone

Launch Day – Tarpon Springs, Florida

Tarpon Springs is a Favorite Stop for Kismet! Kismet was launched at the usual place, Anclote River Park, just northwest of Tarpon Springs across the river. Turtle Cove Marina was our choice for dockage during our week-long stay while we did all of our usual activities which included, food shopping, and visiting our favorite Greek bakery and restaurant for Greek salads. We walked all over town and the sponge docks soaking up the distinctive aromas and unique sounds of the Greek culture. In between all that we did our final provisioning of the boat for our trip south down the ICW. We got the boat…

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Lisa Deplaning Air Force One

National Naval Aviation Museum – Orange Beach Marina – Pensacola, Florida

Staying at Orange Beach Marina so that we can take a day to visit the National Naval Aviation Museum. We arrived late afternoon, got settled then borrowed the marina's loaner car to take a tour of the area and visit one of the beautiful beaches. Some folks stopped by (above) that knew us because they also own a Ranger Tug. It's a small world! The National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida – A Must-See Museum! On our third cruise through the Florida Panhandle, nine years after we heard about the museum during our first Great Loop adventure, we made plans to…

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A Taste of Scandinavia in Poulsbo, WA

Little Norway on the Fjord – Poulsbo, WA Poulsbo, sitting at the edge of Liberty Bay, is a delightful, highly Scandinavian-influenced, community. This quaint, picturesque, little town has a strong Norwegian heritage. Its founders came from Norway via Michigan and Minnesota to settle in a landscape that was similar to their own snow-peaked mountains and fjords. Other Scandinavian immigrants soon followed. On a prior visit to Poulsbo, we had docked at the city marina, so this time we decided to anchor out in the protective confines of the bay and dinghy into town for our on-shore leave. We arrived late afternoon,…

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Port Townsend Recommendation

Port Townsend – Washington’s Victorian Seaport & Arts Community Over the years people have highly recommended a visit to Port Townsend, WA, but, for whatever reason, we have never made the stop. During our trip out west this year, we put Port Townsend on our planned route as we headed south from the San Juans toward Puget Sound. Port Townsend, one of the coolest small towns in America, sits at the northeast point of the Olympic peninsula where the Strait of Juan De Fuca and Admiralty Inlet meet. In the late 1800s, Port Townsend was intended to become the main…

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Boats at Dock, Toba Wildernest, Desolation Sound

Something Special About Toba Wildernest

We found Toba Inlet to be some of the most beautiful areas in Desolation Sound. When we were there the water was that greenish color, almost like we'd see in the Bahamas. It seemed to have a phosphorescent glow about it. As we approached Toba Wildernest Resort, we enjoyed a parade of boats passing us as they left the marina. Lots of boats coming and going from Toba Wildernest. As we slowly approached the marina dock I radioed Kyle, who gave me instructions to dock on the inside of the T dock closest to shore. My immediate concern was if…

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Ranger Tugs Captain's Meeting, Comox B.C.

Fresh Shrimp Tonight in Comox, British Columbia

Leaving Nanaimo, we decided not to cruise with the pod on our way to Comox. It was an easy run with calm seas and sunny skies. Once settled in at the dock, there were more Ranger Tug owners to meet and hot showers to take. Happy hour consisted of another Captain's briefing on the outer dock. Jeff reviewed the events of the day and covered what would happen the next day. Cruising runs like we've done the last two days takes a lot out of you. Not much lingering on the dock in Comox after happy hour tonight. After reviewing…

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Kismet Anchorage, Diamond Island, Tennessee River

Returning to Diamond Island to Anchor

Diamond Island welcomes Kismet back to its beautiful anchorage. A beautiful fall day presented itself to us as we headed out, from Clifton Marina early the next morning, with a plan to anchor out at Diamond Island. With bright blue skies and a pleasantly warm day, we basked in the scenic beauty along the Tennessee River during our cruise. Lots to see with many boats on the water, some Loopers passing us, and people fishing or relaxing along the sandy shoreline of the river. The houses along the river are interesting to look at and we enjoyed seeing this herd…

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Tennessee River

Blue Creek Anchorage By Cuba Landing Marina

Blue Creek anchorage is just past Cuba Landing Marina. Leaving Pebble Isle Marina we had our sights set on an anchorage we'd never been to before. Twenty miles upriver at MM116 of the Tennessee River is Blue Creek, Cuba Landing Marina is located there. (The photo above, and below, shows the entrance to the marina and the cove we anchored in.) Having just left a marina we inched our way past Cuba Landing to a shallow, relatively open cove. We found a few more boats anchored there for the night in 5 to 8 feet of water. We've never anchored…

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Marina Sign, Spanish, North Channel, Canada

Road Trip… Canada Here We Come – Spanish Marina

In light of some of our road trips recently, the one we took today was relatively short. We started by heading north along the scenic route of northwest Michigan. We drove Kismet across the Mackinaw Bridge, through the Upper Peninsula, across the border into Canada, and finally, 260 miles later, we launched her in Spanish, Ontario – right in the heart of the North Channel. We stayed one night at Spanish Marina getting things organized and prepped for our two-week North Channel boating fix, it had been five years since our last visit to this magical Canadian wonderland, way too…

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Keri 'D" Away Boat, Charlevoix, Michigan

Our Biggest Fan in Charlevoix

Charlevoix is home to our biggest fan. Every time we see Rob, on Keri 'D' Away, we're reminded how often he reads our blog and seems to know what we're up to on our boat. On our recent visit to Charlevoix we ran into Rob, and his wife Keri, at the downtown marina; Rob was a little perturbed that the blog wasn't more up-to-date. (We were a little behind in catching up with our adventures in the Florida Keys this year. There was so much to write about it seemed to take forever to do the posts.) Rob will be…

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Kismet Docked on New River, Fort Lauderdale

Keeping a Promise in Fort Lauderdale

Lisa made me promise we'd stop in Fort Lauderdale for a week, so after staying in Homestead for two nights to catch up on work and other chores, here we are putting the boat in the water right at Cooley's Landing Marina (below), on the New River at the beginning of the downtown Riverwalk area. Cooley's is one of our favorite marinas in Florida. Nice facilities and location. We can walk to shop in Las Olas, eat out at a choice of restaurants, grocery shop, or get plenty of exercise walking right along the river. Lisa always raves about Cooley's…

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Key West Harbor, Stock Island, Florida

Stock Island Stay

We can't say enough good things about Key West Harbour, on Stock Island. Our second stay here, for the month of March, was ideal. Great slip right by the tiki hut on the outer rim, open-air showers under the hut, and a spot to enjoy happy hour under the other hut. Life is good. We were happy to meet up with Brenda and Vern, on Trouble II, they were our neighbors at Key West Harbour in the winter of 2010.

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Shrimp Boat, Stock Island, Florida

Bringing Home the Shrimp – Stock Island, Florida

Not only did the fishermen "bring home the shrimp," but we also brought it home, to the boat that is. Freshly caught shrimp for dinner tonight, what could be nicer? Fresh seafood all within a mile of the marina. Fishbusterz usually has a full array of fish and shellfish available. The Lobster Company, closer to the marina, has more including stone crab claws, a new favorite of ours. This is just one of many reasons we love to stay on Stock Island. The shrimp boats raft off each other in the basin behind Fishbusterz. We originally thought there were docks…

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Fishing Dock

A Favorite Haunt – Stock Island Lobster Co.

One of our favorite haunts this winter was the Stock Island Lobster Co., just a short walk from our marina. Unfortunately, the whole month of March was very windy and the boats did not get out to get their catch like they, and we would have liked. Some days they had nothing to sell and others they could only sell a limited amount to us, but we did get some lobster a couple of times and some snow crab claws another.

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Pot Luck MTOA Party, Marathon, Florida

Initiating More Turtles

Jim couldn't wait to initiate Louis and Robert into the Turtle Club (below). Remember the post we made while in Tarpon Springs when Ed initiated us into the club, Turtles Inc.? So if you happen to see Louis or Robert don't forget to ask them, "Are you a turtle?" We had lunch with a group of boaters who are staying at Sombrero Dockside Marina. Diane and Louis, on Bella Luna (left), Phil, on Wonderland (center), Robert and Kay, on C-Life (right), and Alice, also on Wonderland (right in sunglasses). Wade and his daughter Shauna, on Shady Lady met us one morning to…

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Fort Myers Yacht Basin

Fun Times in Fort Myers, Florida

Kismet was dwarfed by two larger boats in the Fort Myers Yacht Basin Marina. This is a fun spot to spend a few days or more. The downtown is vibrant with more shops than ever. It's a quick walk to the grocery store from the marina and they have a Joe's Crab Shack just a few blocks away. To top it off there is a great farmer's market under the bridge every Thursday. As it turned out we ran into another Looper, docked right next to Kismet, we'd recently met John & Kay on Admiral's Choice at the 2011 Fall AGLCA…

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