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Belle River June 5-6 2004 |
This was to be a shakedown cruise with Gina's sister Linda and husband Hank, who were to accompany us on our North Channel / Georgian Bay Cruise in July.
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lake was calm and the skies clear as we cruised across the Lake. Tim
had marked the harbor on the GPS, and it is pretty much just a
straight shot there once out in Anchor Bay. It took us less than an
hour to get there. The staff at the marina were great, guiding us in
to a slip near the front. This was our first trip to Canada, where the low floating docks are the norm. We backed in and tied off. After that, Gina went to the phone and called Customs to clear us. |
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We had lunch consisting of wraps on the boat. There wasn't a whole
lot of activity here this early in the season, only a few other
transient boaters near us. After lunch we decided to take a walk
into town. You go through the park and up a hill for almost a mile.
We went to THE Beer store, but it was expensive. We then went to a
LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario) where we found some pretty
good deals.
We filled a couple of grocery bags full, started walking back to the marina, but stopped in a wine making shop that was very intriguing. We talked to the proprietor for a bit then headed back to the boat. |
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Wine Making |
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| Back at the boat, we decided to go for the wine making. We huffed it back into town before Shorline Wines closed at 5:00 p.m. The gals picked out a wine type, and the yeast got mixed and put into a bottle to ferment for several weeks. Then we would return to bottle and label it in July. It ended up costing around $3.00 a bottle. (But if you included the gas to make two trips there by boat, it would be a little more. Ha Ha) | ||||||
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Dinner and a Walk At Belle River Marina there is a nice Greek restaurant right near the docks called Captain Nikolas. You walk up the outside stairs to get to it, and the motif is very informal. There is a great view of the Lake from most tables. It was not crowded. The menu was very extensive, with numerous authentic combination plates. We had a nice dinner there.
After dinner we took a leisurely walk out on the breakwater. There were some very large rocks, but the trek was fairly easy. There were a few people fishing, and we enjoyed the walk and views. It was a nice time (and not even summer yet). |
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| Heading Back on Sunday | |
| Sunday morning was overcast with a slight drizzle. Hank and Gina made breakfast to start the day. We untied and left the dock around 10:30. The lake was fairly calm, and we started the cruise back with the camper top up. | |
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This was our farthest south on Lake St. Clair
we had been. We got out the charts and decided to take a leisurely track
back. We went west 10 miles to the Detroit River. Hank took the helm for a
while, and we ventured further past Belle Isle, Windsor, Downtown Detroit,
before turning around before the Ambassador Bridge.
We then headed back out to the Lake and home to Mac Ray. We had to navigate around a large regatta of sailboats that were racing that afternoon.
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Cruising the Detroit River. The Ambassador Bridge & Renaissance Center |
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