July 4…8 ish AM…we gave them a bit of a break… Fired up those engines…and not one head appeared…clear, calm and sun is shining…water on the St Lawrence is glassy smooth…Big ships are moving and some boaters …current is against us about 1 knot (that will increase through the day somewhat)…but that little breeze was on the bow…we were plenty cool…about an hour in and we both opted for longer pants and jackets…more and more boats on the water but it is Saturday and the sun is shining. All chatter on our radio is in French…don’t understand a word!!!

The last two hours of our trip as we got closer to Montreal the boat wakes became an issue…in fact, we thought it was just as rocky rolly as the bay going into NYC…we were amazed…the big ship wakes were not nearly as bad as the other boaters. Too many people on too many boats going too many directions and going too fast… because the current is increasing, our speed is decreasing…which makes it even more rocky rolly…poor Dakota got seasick. Always a not pleasant event! But one we have learned to be prepared to deal with.

Our arrival at Port de Plaisance Marina in Longueuil was an event for the record books. The entrance from the river is a fight of boat traffic and river current…once inside the break water,  we were looking at one of the busiest gas docks ever…big and little boats, lots of people, dogs, and dock hands, of course, speaking and yelling in French.  Lucky for us, a big slip emptied at just the right moment, and we scooted right in…gas-o-line, pump out and two nights stay, please…I took Dakota to shore where he regained his sense of land…and we were in our slip by 3:30..

It is a big place…and it is a great weather weekend for folks to be on their boats…oh, and fireworks at 10PM. Yes, it seems the city is hosting some sort of fireworks contest…and tonight is the Italian entry. We love the irony of it…Americans in French speaking Canada on Independence Day enjoying Italian fireworks…lol…and it is the third time in so many days we’ve had fireworks…this time I don’t think we’ll be on the front row with smoke blowing in our windows. We are so blessed that they don’t seem to disturb Dakota much either…he just goes to bed.

We did discover that there is some sort of key the marina forgot to give us for the gate at the entrance to our slip. Better check that out when they open in the morning.

So the typical Fourth of July fare for us…burgers, brats, potato salad, deviled eggs, and baked beans. Lots of Frenchies coming and going…boats headed out into the river to watch those fireworks…oh, and yes, there is drinking involved. The y put on quite the show….but we thought the fireworks were a bust but it was just because there were too many trees between us and them…though they made quite the racquet.

Tomorrow we head into Montreal…we think the ferry leaves from this marina…to play tourist. One day is about all we plan to do. We’ll probably do a “hop-on-hop-off” bus tour…hope we can find one in English.

early night…we have work to do tomorrow…but just like at Fort Edwards last week…people people people…and fireworks. But then the band music returned…don’t these folks have to work tomorrow??? We don’t really know when it finally stopped…we went to bed.