Kingston to Trenton

                 When we raised anchor in Morton Bay on our last day in the Rideau Canal, we pulled up this huge mess of weeds.  It took us about fifteen minutes to clear it with a gaff and a boathook.  I spoke with a local boater later about our beautiful night in that Bay and she said "Did you pull up some grass with the anchor?"  It seems this area is known for its overgrowth of thick grass and weeds.  Someone else told us the zebra mussels had done such a great job clearing the water the grass started to grow in where it had never been before.  If you anchor here, keep something handy to hack off the clumps you bring up!

        We entered the last locks on the Rideau at Kingston Mills, a flight of four locks dropping 60 feet.  The view was spectacular! 

        From there we moved on to Kingston, and took a marina for the night.  Our tentative plan was to spend a leisurely afternoon and evening looking around town and explore a little more the next day as well as take care of reprovisioning and laundry, spending another night here if we fancied.  So we scoped out where the laundromats and grocery store were, noted the lovely stone buildings, and browsed through a few shops.  We’re not big fans of dollar-type stores, but Dan was looking for thread and so we ducked into one to see they had what he needed.  He is currently designing a flag to commemorate our 2015 completion of the Down East Circle Loop.  

We chose a small restaurant with a patio overlooking the street to people watch over drinks and dinner.  I noticed a large pink cloud formation and wondered if the smoke from the wildfires was finally catching up to us.  We went to firesmoke.ca and saw that yes it was.  In fact, Kingston was due to be covered (smothered) with a ‘very unhealthy’ plume the next day.  

        We changed our plans.  After dinner we collected the laundry and the grocery bags and I sat in the laundromat while Dan did the shopping.  We got up early to leave Kingston in time to make the 0700 opening of the bridge that let us out into Lake Ontario.  Things were a little hazy, but not bad, and we had an enjoyable cruise along the coast to the Adolphus Reach that led us back inland to the Bay of Quinte.  We anchored in a little nook off Willow Point for the night.

Thursday, June 29, we awoke to a very hazy sunrise.  Air quality was designated as ‘unhealthy’ so we donned our KN95 masks as recommended and wore them all day while we cruised through the Bay of Quinte.  We decided to make a side run to the Murray Canal - because that’s Dan’s mother’s family name. 

        Murray Canal is definitely the road less traveled for most Great Loopers, even though it’s straight across Lake Ontario from Rochester NY, and is considered the beginning of the Trent-Severn Canal.  It’s only 8 kilometers (nearly 5 miles) long and has two swing bridges, but no locks.  We pretty much had the entire canal to ourselves.  We traveled the length of it to Lake Ontario, turned around and came back inside the Brighton Road Bridge and tied up to the seawall for the night.  Lucas, the bridge tender, came down to offer us the key to the washroom and told us to just hang it on the hook near his office door if we left before he got back in the morning.  

Today (Friday June 30) the air is still unhealthy, but the smoke is supposed to start clearing out later today and stay clear for the next couple of days.  We’ve taken a slip at the Trent Port Marina and are enjoying their boaters’ lounge (and wifi).  And there is a rumor of ice cream available here too…  Side note:  tomorrow is Canada Day, when all of Canada celebrates its nationhood with fireworks and festivities.