Does Anyone Speak English???

The morning was bright to start with but then some clouds moved in and WE MOVED OUT! No one else seemed to be up when we left at 8:40a but we wanted to take advantage of a bit of drier weather predicted for the morning.

Just before we left Walter called the customs office as it says to do in the Waterway Guide. The Captain understood the lady with the french accent to say we could just call them when we docked at Saint-Jean-Sur-Richelieu (St. Jean on the Richelieu River). She said there was no need to stop at the customs dock. So within 16 minutes of leaving our marina we cruised right across the border!  It was 9a and we were enjoying the ride.....THEN at 9:07 a french Canadian on the radio said, (now please slur these words and say them aloud with your best French accent!) “Miss ggiggi Miss ggiggi Miss ggiggi (I loved hearing the boat name said this way!) this is the Canadian Border Patrol”.... We answered and they were beside themselves saying excitedly, “You went right by the Customs Dock!!... you have to STOP!!” We said we would be glad to turn around even though we had been told it was not necessary ..…. and frankly we figured they were bored and, for a second, thought to give them some excitement by firewalling the throttles...... But we were the good guys and quickly turned around and went back to their dock.

Canadian Customs Dock

Don't you think if someone is working the border for a country they need to speak both their country's language and the other country's tongue??? Walter said it would be a starboard tie so I ran to get the lines out that I had just put away.... I rigged just the stern and the bow. As we neared the dock I asked the one question I have started with all day when needing something from anyone in Quebec: “do you speak English?” EVERYTIME the answer is always the same as with this guy, “yea”. So I asked him if he wanted a stern line first. He looked at me blankly.... so I repeated it... no understanding showed in his eyes so I walked to the forward deck and asked if he wanted the bow line first...again a blank stare and he had no hands out to catch any line! What on earth?! We were getting close to the dock and I needed someone to get the line I was about to throw! Then he says something in french to another guy not seen inside building... he turns to me and says I have no knowledge of “line”... so I said, “ROPE”? Still nothing... okay I was done and he had best catch whatever I threw... he still didn't have his hands out when I hit him with the rope! But he caught it and started tying us up and then after I encouraged him to follow me forward he caught the bow line. Whew! At this point I think we must be in big trouble... he is not being friendly at all.... but later when talking to Walter he seemed to be able to speak English pretty well....... The other guy came out on the dock and told us that everyone must stop at this dock but up river there are no docks so you just call. Huh?   

The Captain shows our papers to the Custom Agent

The agent asked if we had cigarettes or liquor on board.  Walter told him no tobacco but three bottles of wine!  We had been given two at the Bon Voyage party and one marina had one in their gift bag.   He let us keep them... so we saved the wine for our friends! However, the Captain said the wine was starting to smell good so family & friends you best join us soon.  :-)  

Released from the custom agents we continued and soon passed an opened Railroad Bridge.  Which stays open for boaters until time for the train.

 

When we entered Canada the water became the Richelieu River. There were pretty homes & yards along the River banks.

 

We thought the water must be very cold. I was wearing a knit pullover sweater on top of a long sleeve T-shirt. As we went along we saw a few people IN the water but all were wearing wet suits.    

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We docked at the Marina here at St. Jean before 12noon which was good as we needed to get to a cell phone store to get a Canadian pre-paid phone and hopefully a Canadian card for our Hot Spot so we will not have huge charges on our present cell phone and still have Internet access to do the blog.  

In the office we were told the banks were open today.. Saturday! So we hoped to exchange some of our American $ for Canadian. The Marina office printed up a map to the phone store & the bank... we walked many many blocks looking for the “OPENED” bank and the phone store.... We would ask, “do you speak English” before asking how to find places... everyone speaks English.. yea, right!  

We never found these places.. went into what we were told was a mall and it turned out to be a huge speciality grocery store. I asked an employee if he spoke English and... you guessed, he did.  I told him I needed a cell phone and he immediately led me to the Saffron spice!  It was so funny that I nearly laughed but then pulled out my cell phone and showed him what I wanted... my phone is not a smart phone so perhaps he didn't recognize it. ???  He took me to a young gal behind the deli counter..who kindly wrote down the name of the mall where we would find many cell phone companies in Kiosks AND she called a taxi for us.... the Taxi driver went to English schools and really did speak English.

Back at the boat in time to heat up some leftovers for dinner and plan tomorrow's trip down the locks of the Chambly Canal.