Hurry up and wait

After a good night's sleep, we scrambled to get the boat ready for today's adventure: our trip through the locks on the Welland Canal. Preparing the boat meant putting out extra fenders and lines to keep the boat away from the walls of the locks, securing everything, and gathering anything we might need during the day - like food - to keep close at hand in the cockpit. The voyage through the locks requires our constant presence and vigilance on deck; since we've never done this before and don't know what to expect, we've probably over-prepared. But better that than being caught unaware.

So we got to our check-in point at 9:45 and were told it would probably be around noon before we could start. There were some freighters coming through and we had to wait for them, since commercial traffic has priority. That's fine. Unscheduled idle time around here is never idle and is usually a blessing in disguise. I finally did the dishes, which had been stacking up for a few days. I don't know if that qualifies as a blessing, but they're done.

In my haste and exhaustion last night, I didn't mention all the friendly people we met at Sugarloaf Marina, starting with people in a dinghy who gave us directions to our slip. Next were some other boaters, along with the dockhand, who met us at the slip and kept us from seriously blowing into the dock. The Canadian customs officials met us at our boat and facilitated the process of customs. People kept stopping by to say hello and admire the boat. It's amazing how many people have connections to Punta Gorda and approach us when they see "Punta Gorda, Florida" on the transom...two different parties here. There was a boy about 11-12 years old who kept walking by and grinning at me, so I invited him onboard to see the boat. He was wide-eyed and awestruck. We met a young couple who hope to circumnavigate the world when their kids are grown. The kids working in the office bent over backwards for us, even offered to drive us in to town. On our way out of the marina this morning, people were waving and wishing us bon voyage. We'll have warm memories of our short stay in Port Colborne.