15 Jul 16

Another beautiful day in paradise, although we had a blustery, rainy night. Better here than the poor folks in Nice, France; our sympathies to the good folks out on the promenade enjoying a summer celebration in peace. We were up and moving by 08:00 and had a hearty breakfast. Just after 10:00, we decided to press on to Saint John and the RKYC. The wind was not too bad, SW 10-15, but right on the nose, so we motored the 16 miles to the RKYC, arriving about 12:30. We pumped out two full holding tanks and bought 10 gallons of diesel before moving to our new home for the weekend, slip B61. After lunch, we went up to the club house and plugged into WiFi for the first time in a week (i.e., 237 e-mails). The rental car was collected about 16:30, then we settled back at the yacht club for a quiet evening and dinner aboard.  

45-18.299’N, 066-06.115’W

16 Jul 16

As we were out of breakfast food, as soon as we got up, we went looking for a place to get some breakfast, but all we could find was Tim Horton’s, which is pretty much like McDonalds anymore, so not very good. Then, we went grocery shopping to top up the larder for the run back south of the border. On the way back to the boat, we stopped by the Reversing Falls to check it out the flood at HW; it is not nearly as dramatic as the ebb flow at LW. We got back to the boat in time for lunch, then we went looking for a laundromat, which we finally found near the city center. We visited the Reversing Falls again to check out the ebb at LW; definitely more dramatic than the flood at HW. We got back to the boat at 17:00 just as it started to rain. Dinner aboard (pork souvlaki kabobs), followed by a long FaceTime with our Vancouver sailing buddies to plan their visit in September. We kept up the conversation until it started raining again about 22:00 and the WiFi signal was too weak to support audio/video communications.

17 Jul 16

Apparently, we drank a bit too much wine during our FaceTime conversation last night, as we slept in till 09:00. We wolfed down breakfast, jumped into the car and headed up the coast to St. Martins. We arrived just after 11:30, so the tide was still too high to get into the caves, so we drove up to Fundy Provincial Park and enjoyed a beautiful drive along this unspoiled coast, looking at the standing stones and pristine cobble beaches. When we got back to St. Martins, the tide was out far enough that we could get over to the caves, which have been eroded out of a very thick deposit of conglomerate and sandstone laid down in the early carboniferous period. It rained lightly all the way back to Saint John, but we made it back in time for happy hour and dinner aboard (salmon and potatoes). Weather looks good for tomorrow’s down-bound transit of the Reversing Falls at 2:20 after HW in Saint John; we should cross the falls about 14:00 tomorrow.

18 Jun 16

We were up and moving by 08:00, but listening to the new forecast during breakfast, it looks a bit dodgy for going this afternoon: foggy and cool, with SW15-20, gusting 30 - this would be 21 N-m with the wind smack on the nose, with the ebb current going in the right direction, but against the wind, resulting in steep, choppy seas. So, we decided to wait until tomorrow. Actually, the forecast for tomorrow afternoon is the same, but we will now aim for LW slack (i.e., 3:30 after LW in Saint John, which is at 06:11), so over, or rather through, the Reversing Falls between 09:40 and 10:40. Hopefully, we can then make it to Dipper Harbour by about 13:00, before the wind gets up too much. Of course, the forecast will probably change again by tomorrow morning. Having decided to stay here today, we were in no rush to return the rental car. We drove around Saint John a bit and did a bit of shopping for bits and pieces, but it was foggy and cool in town and we had pretty much seen what we wanted to see, so we returned the car about noon. I spent the afternoon pottering about on the boat and dinghy and the Admiral parked herself up in the yacht club taking advantage of the WiFi. Dinner aboard - pork chops and corn-on-the-cob. About 18:30, the predicted thunderstorm rolled in: impressive thunder, but not much lightning, at least within worrying distance, at least compared to Florida. Still, we got a lot of rain for an hour and a half or so.