Day 15
Monday July 2, 2012
Left Le Nautique marina in St Jean Richelieu around 1pm after buying the obligatory souvenir T-shirt and a quick pump out. They charge 15 bucks for a pump out up here. I guess we don’t know what we have back home with federal grants paying for that service.
A slow trip out the river due to all the boaters and a quick check out through US customs.
We found a nice anchorage in Pelots bay on North Hero Island behind some homes. A very nice quiet, somewhat secluded spot. The bugs are brutal up here. We are certainly glad we put the screens back in. We never have a problem with them back home. I guess that is one good thing about boating on salt water. TB

Day 14
Canada Day July 1, 2012
Last night we ate out at the Le Nautique restaurant. I don’t know if they are intentionally slow or if they were swamped and not well staffed because of the holiday but it was way too long to get dinner and we were getting tired of the French sing alongs.
(not recommended)

Sunday, a pleasant day and our last full day in Canada. There is still a festive atmosphere with original French rock music blaring from the local park behind the marina. It was all free and we made our way up there. We had an overpriced ice cream and got to see the musicians up close.
Tonight there will be fireworks over the St Jean Harbor and we have front row seats. It is always a pleasure to see fireworks on the water from a boat. We managed to do some laundry and reprovision at an IGA before starting our trip south. Much to our surprise there was a group of hot air balloonist that went by. There is a late summer festival/competition here for ballonists but we never expected to see them now.

Sat June 30th We rented a car and drove into Montreal. We visited the old section and the ports, all very picturesque. There was much going on, loads of people and the streets were buzzing. We had a light lunch and drinks in an open air cafe while we listened to live jazz. Sweet ! My high school French is coming back slowly.
We also took an amphibian tour which gave us a more in depth look at the old city.

We spent the last two nights anchored in Lake Champlain. This has to be some of the most beautiful boating we have ever experienced. We anchored in two picturesque spots. One was Barn Rock Harbor, a little inlet, that only had one other boat anchored. Tom did some fishing. The next night we anchored by Valcour Island. Here you could get off, walk on trails to an old light house, walk on the beach and do a little more fishing.

On Friday June 29th, we got up early and boated the last 40+ miles to St. Jean-Sur-Richelieu a small town just south of Montreal. We had to clear Canadian Customs as soon as we went over the border. This was our destination! We obtained a great slip and met a lovely boating couple Pierre and Suzanne. We shared some boating tips and had a few drinks. We walked around the town and found out that this weekend is Canada Day, a holiday similar to our Independence Day. Tomorrow, it is off to explore Montreal.

We survived our first few locks and are getting accustomed to the hospitality of these small towns. We had the opportunity to tie up at the town walls in Mechanicsville Ny, Ft Edward NY and Whitehall NY. Each area provides power and water to canal cruisers for free. At one point in time they must have been thriving communities but now they look 1/2 vacant.