Aug 4, 5 & 6— Days 27, 28 & 29 — Jenkins Cove to Gagetown, to Oromocto and to Fredericton — 20 & 17 NM

 We motored at five knots out of the sheltered serenity of Jenkins Cove

the three miles to and through the well marked passage from the nine mile long Belleisle Bay

between bigger Hog Island and smaller Pig Island, both low marsh islands. Until we got to that passage, the wind was directly in our faces at 20 knots for apparent wind of 25. Immediately, once back in the river, the wind came and remained very close to our transom at 15 knots apparent and we used the small jib without engine, again making various speeds, but probably averaging four knots. The wind was stronger than the day before, but we still used the engine, twice. Once was on a short  zig into waters where the wind was cut off by the hills until the zag, during which we made 1.2 knots and took lunch, before motoring. The other time was after speaking to a drag ferry Captain. She asked me to hurry across her cable. Another beautiful sunny day. 

The next two passages were on windless days so all motoring. We passed more beautiful riverside scenery. More hilly to port.

And more marshy to starboard; but the marshiness was only apparent—  cattle were grazing near the edge. 

Gagetown is a tiny town (I’ve marked with a horizontal red line) in narrow Gage Creek (the thin vertical black line at the side of the town)  on the straight side of Gage Island (that I have marked with a vertical red line).  A Marina, specifically a dock parallel to the creek, near its hill-backed mainland side also offered a row of about half a dozen moorings along the other side of the creek. The River’s main stream, wider, deeper and marked on the charts with a red solid line  (indicating it is the preferred and safer route, runs in a “C” shaped bend, the long way around Gage Island. It starts in the lower right in this view and after curving around Gage Island, continues up in the upper left corner. (Gage was the British general who defeated a French one here long before our revolutionary war. (Ignore the blue dot in the upper part of this picture, for now.

Communication with the marina proved difficult; when we finally could not determine which was our reserved mooring we motored near the fuel dock, and yelled to the attendant who said “Take the green one.” We did but it’s bridle looked puny as well as too long. When the wind blew us toward the marshy side of this creek, our stern was within 10 feet of the marsh grass. So I  cleated the bridle shorter and added one of our dock lines to double it up. Going ashore we asked the dock attendant why he had not answered the VHF calls. “That’s reserved for only emergencies” was his answer! I also asked him and others about tides, wanting to know is they would be more favorable in the  morning or afternoon next day. “I don’t know”. Well I figured a couple of knots do not mean much to power boaters. But later I learned that tidal flow is indeed arbitrary, based on random unannounced releases of dammed water upstream. I like this bucolic picture of ILENE.

We found a bar and grill, a restaurant, an ice cream cone stand, a craft shop, a post office, a gas station, and two pottery places. The restaurant looked nice, but the food was rather mediocre. We had thought of staying another day in Gagetown, because of “all-day rain” forecast the next day, But it looked like the rain would be light in terms of its volume and without wind it would not be a problem. We cast off early in the morning in the rain, which later dried up.

Oromocto is the site of Canada’s largest military base and almost everyone there is or was in the army, related to such a person or working in a job serving the military. The club is a very long dock with boats tied up on both sides in a creek off the river. About seven folks were on hand to catch our lines and help us tie up. We had a fast food lunch nearby. They call them “Grande Big Macs” here, not because they are bigger but because Grande means big in French. Lene indulged her lust for shopping in a supermarket, drug store, pet store and Canada Tire Store. With lots of fresh (but not potable) water, I got ILENE’s topsides cleaner than they have been all year. Under large yellow tents are picnic tables and free use of propane fired grills where we ate our salads.

But the best part of our Oromocto experience was the folks we met there. Lucas, retired from the military on disability who had lost his wife recently came over from his power boat behind us, on the right. I taught him as much as I could about sailing.

 I noticed that as in the states many boats are named for words ending in “cy” such as Lunacy but spelled “sea”, French speaking people use “o” endings, such as in “Bistro” but spelled “eau” meaning water. Jason and Norma and their twin Tenth graders, two cats and a dog were vacationing on their 33 foot Beneteau, “Halcyon”. They toured our boat and we theirs. This was the stop after the end of the RKYC’s eight day Club Cruise; it is up to each Captain to plan his or her own itinerary back to St. John. 

Then the short hop to Frederickton where we are on a mooring set of the town side of the river, but below the two bridges. You can barely see the second one, low, below the first. The low bridge is the limit of navigation for sailboats on the St. John River. So from now on, with digressions, we are on our way home. The town is around a bend to the left, just past the low bridge. Like Albany in NY and Trenton in NJ, Frederickton, though smaller than St. John, is the Province’s capital.

The Frederickston YC has two homes, one in town and the other, which we hope to visit soon at Douglass Harbor in Grand lake. Mike, Rear Commodore, came out to greet us, charged the princely sum of $10,  Canadian, ($7.50 at home) for our mooring, gave us a key so we could get back in and drove us in to the city. But on Sunday, most things were closed so after lunch in a restaurant we took in the Barbie movie. Lene loves Greta Gerwig and though not a doll player as a child, was eager to see the movie. I had low expectations for it and it started slowly with fantasy, but gradually it won me over. It was a full throated attack on paternalism, over-corporatization and toxic masculinity and promoted all people of every gender, race, etc. equally. 

The YC here in town has a mooring field with many moorings, a small dock, a large yard for storage, a gazebo and a portapotty. I think that’s what most of its boats are at Douglas Harbor.

With Monday a Provincial Holiday, things were likely to be closed so I hauled the dink and we made plans to head down river tomorrow. Frederickston was a destination, because it was there— like Everest. Frederickston is approximately the same latitude as St. Peter’s in Nova Scotia. We have put 608 NM under ILENE’s keel and are 635 road miles or 528 air miles from NYC. We have been gone 31 days so far — 27 passages and four lay days — with an average of 22.5 NM per passage. We will be back in about 35 days.

Thanks for reading.