Day 57, June 20, 2012: Today, we are poised to enter the step of eight locks up to Ottawa and the Rideau Canal. Getting here was almost all of the fun. We are overnighting in a magnificent marina at Casino Lac Leamy in Gatineau, Quebec.

Day 55, June 18, 2012: The highlight of a lovely week in Montreal is time spent with family and old friends. After all the dire warnings about the commercial traffic on the St. Lawrence going upstream to Montreal, we found ourselves all but alone of a  chilly Monday morning. We passed one freighter headed upstream laboring against the 3-knot current. We made the 40-mile run from Sorel in just under 2 hours, finding no reason to loaf and fight the flow.

Day 36, May 30, 2012: We gave Atlantic City three days. Except for the big and—some would say– gaudy casinos Atlantic City isn’t much. Most of the buildings at the right, seen from the pool deck of the Golden Nugget, are other casinos. The town is served by a multi-route jitney system at a small fare with frequent stops. Provisioning can be had at the Acme supermarket in  town but the area is a touch sketchy. We went there at high noon. (The day before, two Canadian tourists were murdered!)

Day 31, May 25, 2012: We schedule our departure from Cape May at 07:00. The fog is back heavier than two days ago. We wait until 08:30 before departing Canyon Club Marina (left). By then the sun is poking through the gloom. We make the decision to leave before the sea breeze kicks in threatening to make our short passage rough. We pokd out into the Cape May channel and the  fog’s dissipation looks promising as we pass the Coast Guard station  (left). Not to be! Out in the open the ceiling dropped to near zero and we were totally dependent on instruments again.

Day 30, May 24, 2012: Monday, May 21st, was the first stormy day we have experienced since departing Charleston on April 25th. It was not a lost day! We spent the day tramping around downtown Baltimore, experienced the free Charm City Circulator, a bus system that reaches most areas of downtown, including shopping at a Whole Foods market.