Far Niente is currently docked at the Port Credit Village Marina in Port Credit Ontario. We'll be here several days as we visit with friends and take in some of Toronto (15 miles east) via fast commuter train. We'll next head south back into U.S. waters and stay in Rochester, NY where my wife has family prior to our last Lake Ontario stop in Oswego, NY.

We left Port Dahlousie (south shore of Lake Ontario just west of the Welland Canal exit) about 10 am to 5 kts of wind and a flat lake. An hour out, in a mixture of fog and haze, winds picked up to 10 kts and we hoisted the sails. Thirty minutes later we had 0.00 & 0.00 on the knot meter and wind indicator. We pulled sails in and motored to Port Credit. A few miles off shore, about 90 minutes later, it was blowing 15-19 kts! Drives you crazy sometimes.

We had planned on docking at the Port Credit Harbor marina which has the most unique breakwater separating it from Lake Ontario one has ever seen; a sunken freighter of some 300'. We called them to request a slip and they said they were full and could not fit us in (about 900 boats in this marina - it is huge). So we called the little and uncharted (at least there were no descriptions in the 2 cruising guides we had on board) Port Credit Village Marina right off the Credit River and just in front of a bridge with less than 50' clearance.

The ride in was tense as the river/channel is silted up and very shallow in spots, but the attendant we spoke with on the VHF said we could make it with our 5' draft. So we followed the seawall, hugging it all the way, and I watched as the depth meter ticked down from 9' to 0.3' below our keel. Tense is the only way to describe it. Oh, and then there were the 2 outbound powerboats that only stubbornly gave way. (Biting my tongue about some of these yahoos.)

We are the only sailboat in this marina of about 40 slips. There are about a dozen other power/fishing boats and many empty slips. We understand they will fill up on the weekend. It is a basic marina: restrooms, 1 washer and 1 dryer and gated access. It is in a busy area and very urban, but not as offensive as Jefferson Beach Marina in St. Clair Shores. The marina is situated around a park-like setting with benches for landlubbers to watch the boats come and go.

There are more than a dozen bars/restaurants within a few minutes of the marina. There is a marine chanderly right around the corner, a Starbuck's across the bridge that spans the Credit River and a big grocery store 10-15 minutes away. You can catch the high-speed commuter train to Toronto across the street as well.