Second time across the pond for B and myself together, and its our honeymoon – a rather off the wall version where we are visiting friends and family with a bit of business thrown in the middle, which means we are away for nearly a month!
First stop – our friends who live in Lewiston, right next to the Canadian border and less than 10 minutes from Niagara Falls. They keep a sailing yacht at Youngstown on the Niagara River, just before it joins Lake Ontario. The forecast for our first weekend with them was good, so naturally a trip out on the yacht was suggested and readily agreed.
We had a leisurely breakfast and then packed the essentials – beer, wine and snacks – lots of snacks – and headed out to In Lieu Of (originally purchased instead of a new car…!). There’s a lot of work to do on a boat, even just to go out for the day, as well as the ongoing maintenance. As we said to our friends, the trick is to know someone with a boat! Meantime, B and I dodged around trying not to get in the way, which was the main way we could help, and then we motored the short distance down river to the Lake to see if a spot of sailing was in order.
Turned out that a spot of sailing was all it was – main sail up, we went a mile or so, such wind as there was dropped completely, so sail down, ladder over the side and in we went for a swim. It was 74F in the water and well above that in the air by then – a perfect combination for floating around. The lake was like a mill pond – in fact at one point all 4 of us were in the water with nobody left on board, contravening all marine laws of course, but it was so still that there was no chance of the yacht drifting away from us.
The following day dawned bright and beautiful again – so it was a no-brainer to repeat the excursion. This time we never even bothered with the sails, but motored a little way upriver first, putting In Lieu Of on her original mooring – this year she was relocated to one closer to the harbour due to river flooding issues. Having moored there we went for a quick dip in the river – a little cooler, and quite a current which made me feel uncomfortable, so we turned around and motored back out onto the lake for another afternoon of lolling about, in and out of the water!
It got so hot we had to drape towels from the bimini to protect us from being fried – almost unheard of in late September in upstate New York.
Of course, we said, we brought the weather with us from the south of France….
Reflections
Making waves
Relaxing
Fort Niagara at the junction of the Niagara river and Lake Ontario.