Drip/Dry in Montreal 6-16-10

You have to work a bit to get into Montreal harbor against the swirling 5 knot current by buoy #201 on the St. Lawrence. This is a little tough for a trawler that only goes 7knots especially when you are surrounded by an excursion boat and a tug with a barge. We held our own in the channel, but then the tug and barge suddenly veered 180 degrees and we had one of those uh-oh moments, fearing that we would be next. We learned later that the tug purposefully steered into the outer rim of the current which brought it perilously close to the high cement harbor wall-- that’s for the professionals, not Loopers like us.

I had no idea that the excitement was only beginning for the night. We had reservations at Port D’escale du Vieux Marina in Montreal and justified the $1.95 per foot charge with the fact that we needed to power up, do 4 loads of laundry, reprovision a bit and sightsee. Imagine our total surprise when we docked and were then told that the marina’s electric grid was being redone and there was no power at the docks or for the laundry. It’s 5pm, we don’t want to go back out through the current, so we do Plan B by negotiating a 25% off price and I set off with a map and full laundry cart. Sounds easy enough except I did not count on my map being shredded by pouring rain and wind, getting lost on one way streets, having to count on the kindness of strangers trying to understand my lousy French, and finally finding the laundromat which had already closed at 6:30 pm. Insert expletive here!!!!!!!

But wait a minute---this could be an opportunity. Think like an old-time sailor man…. What is a washing machine anyway but a mechanical way to add water and soap to clothes, agitate, rinse and spin. I was already out in the pouring rain for 2 hours so the laundry was soaked (step #1), the detergent bottle had already leaked all over them (step#2), I was agitated and had been jiggling this washload all over kingdom come for miles (step#3) so hell, the laundry was almost done except to wring it out and hang it around the boat to dry. Pretty amazing…….