Aug 7 — Day 31 — Frederickston to the Upstream Grimross Island Anchorage — 21 NM

 While at Frederickston we decided to go to Douglas Harbor on Grande Lake, a short detour. But it seemed too far for one passage. So where to stay along the River? With good weather today,  but not tomorrow, it was better to go further today.We passed Oromocto first, and we liked it, but it was not far enough. Next came Middle Ground, an eye shaped island where RKYC had stayed during its cruise,  but also too near. Ox Island was third, and “Pyerates Treasure”, who we had met in Oromocto, had graciously offered us the use of their mooring there. But we pressed on,  motoring with the downstream current the whole way (though I did twice fly the small jib, briefly, but to no avail because the light wind that was available curved with the river to stay on our nose). 

This screen shot illustrates the dotted pink line (solid red on the paper charts), that have been added to show the correct route so boaters will be less likely to get lost. This one passes on the correct side of red buoy “H28, but would take users over a patch of 6’6” water where I’d prefer not to be. Darker blue water is shallower and the shot shows two solid pink lines on the left, representing our track upstream, toward the left, and down. Though the water in the river is higher than normal, I took care to stay in the light blue part of the River, however skinny that piece of water was. 

Then we came to Grimross Island, very close to Gageville. The bulk of the river passes on the west side of Grimross,  but a bit of water also passes its east side, which is wide, but mostly shallow for most of its length - less than five feet deep. At each end, however, the chart showed there was deep enough water for anchoring.  We chose the upstream end where we anchored in 12.5 feet of water with 60 feet of snubbed chain. We were and remained the only boat in the anchorage with more than 450 feet of water to either shore. It is a pretty nice spot with a view of the bridge we had just passed under.

The blue dot toward the top of  the satellite view of  Gatesville shown in the last post is our location on. Grimross Island was not mentioned in the very thorough Cruising Guide; this worried my mate. There was one drawback: close proximity to Route 2, the Trans Canadian Highway, which passes nearby. But we live half a block from Broadway in NYC so street noise is common for us. 

We did not go ashore, saw no dinghy dock and while a beach landing was possible, we might have been trespassing.  But I lowered the dink to try out the alleged fresh warm River water. Well not warm but comfortably refreshing like an unheated pool at home. The taste test (I did not swallow) showed no hint of salt. The water is quite clear but has a tan tint as shown by comparing the top rung of the swim ladder, above water, with those below water. 

I used to be a strong swimmer, distance not speed or form. I have gone into every body of water I could get to, including, last June, Arctic water in the pool of a cruise ship. This was my first New Brunswick water though.While in the water I cleaned the dink and ILENE’s rudder.

The  main sheet, through repeated tightening and easing had developed a twist that seemed to stiffen it and interfere with optimum performance. While on anchor we reverse twisted it. Time will tell whether this “fix” will work.

Whenever Lene expresses doubt about whether cruising is fun (and the weather this trip has given her cause for such complaints) I show her pictures like these as reminders of the joys of cruising.

A beautiful simple Al fresco dinner of delicious boat cooked food in our expansive cockpit dining room followed by a good calm night of sleep.