August 20 – 23, 2009 - Picton and Waupoos

When we arrived in Picton there was no space available at PEYC or the municipal dock. Tip of The Bay had slips for both Chi Chi Maru and Polar Pacer. Tip of The Bay has changed a lot since we first stayed there in 1998 with Opus 1. Unfortunately the changes have not been for the better. When Claire and Tony owned and operated the motel and marina it was well maintained with some English charm and small town hospitality. The new owners obviously are not interested in anything more than the value of the land for some future development. The docks are at the point of being dangerous, the shower facilities for boaters not clean and the motel and restaurant are in a general state of disrepair.

Chef Tri’s last meal for us was Vietnamese BBQ pork with vermicelli noodles and modified cold spring rolls with shrimp, basil, vermicelli noodles, marinated onion and two dipping sauces. Delicious! We had the rest of the carrot cake for dessert and drank another bottle of the Malbec Catena.

Chi Chi Maru left early in the morning for Toronto and we were truly left on our own to begin the adventure. There was room at PEYC so we moved over there for two nights. We spent most of Friday waiting at the hospital to get or final shot of Twinrix. The receptionist at the medical office where we enquired told us that there was no one there who could give us needles and we should go to the emergency room at the hospital and one of the nurses there would do it for us. We were embarrassed to be using emergency facilities to get a vaccination. Saturday was a working day. We had to buy lumber to make a fender board to use in the locks and to make supports for the mast when it comes down in Oswego. Tom was quite a site carrying 2 x 6’s down Main Street while riding the folding bike. I set up the sewing machine and made screens for the two small aft hatches.

PEYC was having a Lady Skippers race on Saturday afternoon. I think some gender testing was in order. We were invited to the after race BBQ and met Bill and Ana on Knot Tied Down, a 40 ft trawler from Melbourne, Florida. They are in the process of completing the Great Circle Route before heading off to places further south. They were generous with information on their experiences up the Intracoastal and told us about the website www.activecaptain.com to get up to date info and reviews on things like anchorages, fuel prices and local attractions. We also met Sarah who was surprised to see a Prout Catamaran. She used to own Madeline, a 33 foot Prout, and had attempted to sail her to the Azores but hit a whale three days out from the east coast of the US and decided to abort the trip. Madeline was made famous by the book A Sailing Promise which was written by a sailor two owners back from Sarah.

We intended to anchor at Waupoos Island on Sunday night and have an early start across the lake. As there were thunder storms in the forecast we opted to take a dock at the Waupoos Marina. While the rain clouds threatened we set out on foot to the Waupoos Estates Winery just a couple of kilometers down the road from the marina. The rain held off, we bought some wine and stopped at several roadside produce stands on the way back to pick up fresh blueberries, corn on the cob and beefsteak tomatoes. We also found the farm that had a poster in the marina office advertising fresh lamb for sale. Like many of the garden stands it operates on an honour system. If no one answers the door, you walk into the back porch of the farm house, find the freezer with the price list posted, make your selection and leave your money in the little wooden box provided. A truly self serve check out! The storm never happenedand we were on our way by 6:15 the next morning just as the sun was rising over Waupoos Island.