Sandy Bay to Cobourg

It’s the last day of our vacation in the Thousand Islands and we are still a long way from our home port. We wake up early, early for us, and leave Sandy Bay and head to Cobourg. It was a smooth uneventful motor and then sail. Not much to say, so I just have a lot of pictures to share.

It’s an early start, I’m up at 6:15am getting things started. Get some coffee and tea going, start up some simple breakfast. Enjoy a beautiful sunrise.

Lori is up at 6:45am, quickly pulls up the anchor and we are on our way at 7:00am!

It’s a beautiful clear day, but just a little wind going in the wrong direction (right at us).

Not much to report and not much to see. We just motored west toward the Murray Canal. Approaching the bridge by Belleville.

To the North we see Belleville and the several marinas. Lots of great memories there. On the right (East) is Meyers Pier, we first stayed there in 2017 with our old Macgregor. That’s when we first caught sight of a CS34, Sunkissed. We later went back with Lori’s dad and had a great night at the bar at the end of the pier. On the left (West) is Crates Marine, that’s where we hid during a big wind storm last year.

Next landmark on our trip back home is Trenton. In the distance you can see CFB Trenton Marina. We stayed there with our Macgregor, it’s pretty shallow but a nice place to stay.

It’s also a great area if you like to plane watch. Always lot’s to see.

This picture is a bit of an optical illusion. Which way is it going?

This is where we started to see a lot more weed islands floating around. Had to keep a watch, wouldn’t want to get these caught up in the shaft.

Also a few boats to photograph. An interesting tug named Charlie James passes by and waves.

A sailboat motoring in the opposite direction. A Hunter sailboat?

We enter the Murray Canal, not much to report. Didn’t see much boat traffic.

So I use the time to take random photos, like this one of our mast.

As we leave the Murray Canal, the winds are picking up and coming straight at us. We enter Presqui’le Bay and turn South around the markers. The wind also shifts and starts coming from behind. Another sailboat behind us pulls out a bit of their genoa. We decided to wait until we were on the open Lake Ontario to hoist our sails. If the wind continues from the North it will be perfect direction for us to head home (West).

As we leave the bay, we see a massive motor vessel roaring straight at us. Behind I see a huge wake. I get ready, it’s on the kind of wake you don’t want to hit you on the side so I plan a turn to take the wake at 90 degrees. But they slow right down before they pass. The picture below is after they slowed down, before this, the wake was very impressive! The lookout on the deck gave a polite wave as they went by. The boat is MV Olivia, one of the larger yachts I’ve seen on Lake Ontario.

It also calmly passes the sailboat behind us as well. I’m a bit surprised that it will fit in the Murray Canal!

We turn to wind and raise our sails. We have definitely gotten much better at this. Our main goes up in no time now!

As we leave Presqui’le the winds shift again. Now coming at us straight on the nose. Typical. We had time so we kept the sails up and tacked back and forth to get back to Cobourg.

Our tacks are getting better. But I’m still trying to figure out how to pinch the wind a little better.

As we approach Cobourg, the sun sets giving us a beautiful sky.

We didn’t see much boat traffic along the way. One sailboat heading East.

Another sailboat that appeared to be just out day sailing near Cobourg.

As we get close to Cobourg, we drop the sails. Set the autopilot and get things packed up. It’s the perfect time to do this, rather than at the dock.

Lori cleans up the lines from our Genoa and gets the deck lines ready on the bow.

The fenders are all ready to go before we enter the harbour.

As we enter the harbour, we pass the landmark lighthouse and see all of the boats anchored in the harbour.

We coast into our slip, pack everything up from our trip. Take a moment to enjoy the view from our boat.

It was another fantastic trip to the Thousand Islands. As always, the time felt so short. But it’s also good to get back home and see the kids again. And we always look forward to that first really long hot shower.