Sandy Cove (2013-07-30)

N 44° 08.522', W 077° 18.457'

Well, we're finally on the move again.  We had a great break, and a very good visit with Dar's father and sister during the week.  On the weekend, our kids and their SO's (significant others) came down to Dar's sister's place to spend a couple days with us.


It was tough saying goodbye to the kids on Sunday when they headed off back to Ottawa.  It's only been a couple weeks but we do miss them as much as they miss us.

We met a cruising couple at lock 6 on Sunday night though, that helped to put things in perspective for us.  Frank and Gail, currently aboard M/V Double Time and working on completing a chunk of the Loop, have been retired for many years and have been cruising all over the world on their sailboat, S/V Alcid.  We had a great talk with them and they very generously shared many insights into the cruising lifestyle that they had gained over the years.

The next morning, before they headed out and up the Trent, Gail stopped by the boat to leave a note for Dar with a quote on it that I think truly sums a lot of this up.

I didn't go cruising so I could leave life behind.  I went cruising so life couldn't leave me behind!

- Author unknown

Today we left the lock at about 10 and headed upriver for a photo op at Dar's sister's place.  She has a great place right on the river, and it looks as good from the river as it does on shore.

Little slice of paradise

After the photo op we headed back to the lock to await a couple upbound boats getting locked through before we could start heading down.  We lucked out with the locks though, and had no delays and had each lock to ourselves.

It took a little more than two hours to travel the six locks back to the Bay of Quinte.  Looking at the time we decided we'd look for an anchorage a couple more hours away, and settled on Sandy Cove, just east of Belleville.  It was fairly well rated in Active Captain.

We arrived at about 1600 and found five other boats already anchored there.  We moved further into the anchorage, taking advantage of our shallow draft, and dropped the anchor in about 10 feet of water.

Not long after we arrived a few more boats arrived.  By the time it all settled down there was 10 boats in the anchorage.

Sandy Cove anchorage panorama

A nice dinner of barbecued souvlaki marinated pork with veggies on skewers and rice was followed by a couple more episodes of Dexter to finish off season 3.  After that we moved our chairs to the foredeck to enjoy yet another beautiful sunset.

Sunset in Sandy Cove

Now I'm off to do one of my favourite things that is totally enhanced by the cruising life; sit out in the cockpit and stargaze.  Well, at least I will once I regain my night vision, which I sacrificed to make this blog post... :-)