Not quite off the dock... but getting close!

We’ve been aboard for one week as of today, cleaning, taking inventory, unpacking and driving over to Kingston (which is about 15 miles away) to make repeated visits to the marine outfitter and big box stores. We are supporting the Canadian economy really well :)

Every day is full, from sun up to sun down and given these are the longest days of the year, we fall into bed pretty exhausted each night. But it’s good - we’ve made a lot of progress and Heron feels pretty homey to us now.

It’s very humid here (for a couple of dessicated Coloradans) and anything you do, besides sit in the shade and drink a cold beverage, raises a sweat. So, one of the really fun things we did the other day was pull up what turned out to be 200’ of 3/8” dried-mud encrusted chain from the chain locker to see what we had and check out the fastenings. This had to be done where the anchor and windlass are - at the bow, in full sun. Ugh! Let’s see, some other fun things this week have included crawling around the storage holds and engine rooms, cleaning grease and dirt and inventorying every single piece of gear or mechanical system. Each morning also involves clearing the nightly accumulation of spider webs (inside and outside, ewww)! The trade off for fresh water is BUGS.

Here’s Dan’s dockside workshop, fixing a second anchor.

Lest you think it all drudgery, there’s been a lot of fun, too. Dave and Vicki, who owned the first tug we ever saw when we were in the Bahamas, warned us that we should not buy this boat unless we were ready to chat with the many who stop to complement her and ask questions. I can now attest to that. Here’s a typical scene any time I step away from the boat for a minute - Dan chatting with strangers:

At this marina, we are within walking distance of the town of Bath, where I found the yummy bakery earlier in the week. July 1st is Canada Day and we were encouraged not to miss the parade and big doings in the park, including a live band and food trucks (poutine, anyone?) It was all that is was cracked up to be, including these British re-enactors firing their muskets. We are in Loyalist Township, after all!

We capped Canada Day off with drinks at the home of Mark and Cathy, some newfound friends who keep their boat here at the marina and live just a couple of blocks away. Too many drinks. So many laughs. And a walk home with fireflies lighting the way on the ground and fireworks in the sky. Enchanting.