Is the friendly people.
People everywhere have come by and said hello or have come to the end of their docks and waved us down for nice chats. Garry came out, gave us anchoring advice, and sent us this picture.
Peregrinus safely anchored in Halcyon Cove, inside Cumberland Bay, Grand Lake. The Zodiac hangs from Peregrinus' stern and Garry's Happenstance lies on a mooring deeper inside the cove. BlackBerry 9900, 7 September 2014.
On 6 September 2013 we drove on this bridge on our way home from our trip to Labrador and Newfoundland. It is a bridge on the Trans-Canada Highway over the Saint John river, near Jemseng (but it is not Jemseng Bridge, three kms. away), between Routes 102 and 105.
On 11 September 2014, one year and a week later, we sailed under this bridge on our way to Fredericton.
Peregrinus broad reaching under genoa and mizzen sails. Canadian courtesy flag on the right spreader.
A wonderful aspect of sailing the Saint John is that you get to see the countryside go by from up close.
And the countryside gets to see you, too. We came across many cows, who regarded with some concern this big white thing, as it floated by.
... sun, moon, and stars, brother, all sweet things;
there's likewise a wind on the heath.
Life is very sweet, brother; who would wish to die?
––– George Borrow, Lavengro: The Scholar, the Gypsy, the Priest (1851)
Click on the photo for clarity.
Simultaneous panorama picture of sunset and moonrise (a bit over 180° field of view), from Peregrinus aft deck; the slanting lines are the boat's backstays. 8:17 PM, 8 September 2014, Mouth of the Salmon river, Grand Lake. iPhone 4S, ISO 640, 1/120", original 9365 pixels wide.
––– W. Clement Stone
Purple moonrise in the Northeast Arm, Grand Lake, Saint John River. 7:56PM, 8 September 2014, iPhone 4S, 1/24."
Cats always manage to find the warmest spot.
From Flowers Cove to Douglas Harbour: A great day for lazy sailing. As the crow flies, we made all of seven-and-half miles that day, across many tacks. One of the screens tells the tale: 3.5 knots of wind, and on the nose. A rare windless day on the Saint John. But never once did we turn on the engine: the Fredericton Yacht Club had evening races that Wednesday, and we weren't about to go motoring across their field. iPhone 4, ISO 50, 1/1255."
Peregrinus reached the north end of Grand Lake at the mouth of the Salmon River: N 46°4' and W 65°55'. The Salmon is sufficiently deep for Peregrinus to sail all the way to Chipman, but power lines halfway there that are only 16 meters high are an unsurmountable obstacle in the river; we instead went there by Zodiac and reached latitude N 46°10'.
This is higher than Montréal and Halifax, which sounds impressive enough, until one realises we are only as high as Lake Como in Italy, and that London, Copenhague and Helsinki are much, much further up north. Maybe next year!
7 September 2014: Peregrinus on a port tack approaching Newcastle, three-and-half miles west of the mouth of the Salmon. The black dot to the left of the boat icon is Fredericton, and the dot below it is Saint John. The water on the right half of the map is the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, whose north shore we explored last year.
Founded in 1758, the town takes its name from Col. Thomas Gage, the original grantee.
Gage fought alongside George Washington at the Battle of the Monongahela, where a column of 1300 British (including Virginia Regiment locals) were routed by 100 French Marines, 150 New France militia, and 650 Indians. The Brits ended up with 900 casualties including their commander, General Braddock, whereas the French and Indians lost 90. Gage took field leadership of the Englishmen and Washington of the Virginians after the death of Braddock and organised the retreat, such as it was.
Gage later held the posts of Governor of Montreal (immediately after the British took over New France for good in 1760) and Commander-In-Chief, North America 1763-1773, and 1774-1775. He was married to a Colonial, a grand-daughter of Stephanus Van Cortland.
The people of Gagetown we've met are without exception very friendly and very proud of their legacy. Among the many we have met, Tony (a Brit transplant) gave us navigational recommendations and a tour of his bucket trawler, the Thomas Gage; Wilf and Christina were excellent hosts at their family farm; and Brenda at the Gagetown Cider Company introduced us to her family's original ciders, bubblys and wines, available only on site and in Moncton.
Brenda's dog decided to walk us from the Gagetown Cider Company's warehouse to our Zodiac, which we had left at Fox's Wharf, right at the entrance of the orchards. Remarkably, he waited at the wharf until we tied off, then immediately he got up and went home.
Most of the Saint John river shores were settled in 1783 by those who chose to stay loyal to king and country and uproot themselves from the rebellious Colonies south of here. Saint John, first city chartered in Canada, and Fredericton, capital of New Brunswick, were both established that year.
Motts Landing Vineyard and Winery, on Washademoak Lake, sits on the parcel of land granted to the Motts family during Loyalist settlement. It offers a free mooring for passing boats, right in front of the sign that reads "Winery" on the north shore.
The winery owner’s Loyalist family still holds their original land grant upriver, and decided to honor tradition by not renaming the Landing. We liked the wines very much and find them very refreshing and easy on the palate, which shouldn’t surprise, as the owner, Sonia, spends every Canadian winter in New Zealand at work, winemaking during the austral months there. Now, isn’t that just the perfect arrangement?
The Saint John river, on top of featuring hundreds of miles of beautiful coastline, warm fresh waters, and excellent sailing given the prevailing winds and the shape of its bays and lakes, offers a number of wineries adjacent to shore.
We much enjoyed the warmth and hospitality of the owners at Dunhams Run winery, and ended up returning a couple of days later for Brit comedian James Mullinger's stand-up act at Dunhams.
Dunhams is all estate-grown, estate-bottled, and we thought all blends and varietals were very good; Frontenac is the core grape at Dunhams. All grapes are hybrid, as traditional ones would die in the winter; we particularly enjoyed the creativity of the wines and took to Peregrinus a mead and a mead/wine blend.
