Hello everyone. Our friends made it from Toronto about 10:30 on Sunday but we decided to stay another night in Pointe Claire as the weather forecast was not great and we were afraid we wouldn't make it through the locks at Montreal and then be able to find a place to stay for the night so we got Don to go up the mast and fix the anemometer and get a few more groceries etc. We left early the next day and went thru 2 locks. We had to wait about an hour at each lock but other than that, we had a fairly easy day. We motored again as the wind was light and from the wrong direction. So far that has been what we have done most days! We made it to a nice anchorage in front of Sables Island close to Sorel at about 18:30. Some people say you can go to Trois Rivieres from Montreal but I think that would be impossible unless you were through the locks the day before and stayed in Lachine. There is a good place to stay there but unfortunately we didn't know that the day before or we would have tried to do just that.



The next morning we set sail for Trois Rivieres, not too early as it was only about 35 miles away. The winds were strong but from the wrong direction again but Bruce was determined to sail so we tacked our way through Lac St. Pierre so the short trip ended up taking up most of the day, but the sun was shining and we were in no hurry. We anchored in the west branch of the Riviere Saint Maurice right in front of a beautiful beach and had our first swim in the St. Lawrence . The water was 23 degrees and there was quite a current even in the river. This was the first time anchoring in such a current and we have never anchored when the bow of the boat would not point into the wind. The anchor stayed beside us or behind us all night. We dropped the dinghy and went for a walk into town. The people were very friendly and the town quite beautiful!

We planned our departure to Quebec City to take advantage of the currents and left at 0800 only to find that we would arrive earlier than we wanted to. In the end it really didn't matter except just as we were ready to enter the club a storm came up and it started to rain quite heavily. The only good thing was right after we docked a beautiful rainbow appeared over the boat which made for a great photo opportunity for Arlene who loves to take pictures! The evening was spent doing laundry and catching up on a few phone calls. We had quite a storm around 2100 and even though we were at a dock, I think Arlene was a little nervous having a tall mast over her house during a lightning storm! The next day we spent the entire day walking around Quebec City. Bruce bought his first pair of flip flops(crocs). He now has to learn to walk in them. This should be quite funny as he keeps trying to scrunch his toes up! We had lunch and dinner out which was a real treat for me as we had not eaten at a restaurant since we left home! I fell in love with the city and would have liked to spend more time here. Tomorrow we will leave for Malbaie or Pointe au Pic and then on to Tadoussac. I am looking forward to seeing some whales but not to the colder temperatures I am sure we are going to get.

So far I think we are adjusting quite well to living on a boat. We have started to follow the 7 p's of sailing (prior proper planning prevents piss poor performance) and that seems to work better than throwing money into the water. I have decided that I have brought far too many clothes. I have also decided that a boat is a lot harder to keep clean than a house and no matter how small it is you can still lose everything. We seem to have spares and tools for everything but when something breaks, we never have the right part or tool to fix it!

We forgot to bring our camera to Quebec City today but my friend Arlene took tons of pictures so will post some after they go home and e-mail the pictures to us. I am still getting used to trying to fiqure this blog thing out and this is the second time I am typing this blog as the first time only half of it got saved. It is now almost midnight so I hope this works this time as we leave tomorrow and may not have the internet for a few days again!