Canada’s St John River Cruise Gathering

R

Rick from Maine

New member
Thanks to Dave Deem of Will-C, we checked off a bucket list C-Dory cruise: the St John River in New Brunswick. There isn’t much information available to find launch and tow rig parking. Luckily, Dave has a friend on the River and was able to arrange launching and parking for 5 northeast C-Brat boats: Will-C, Hunky Dory, Widget, Illusions, and Kingfisher.
The 75 mile stretch between Fredericton and St John includes 4 large bays/lakes and many side channels through farm lands with hardly any development. We cruised over 250 miles and didn’t get to about 1/3 of the cruising grounds. Weather was perfect for 5 days: sunny, light winds, temps in 70’s in day and 50’s at night, before rain forced us to shorten out cruise.

Saturday: After each of us driving up separately, we gathered on Aug 3 at Dave’s friend’s place in Kingston Creek, a protected anchorage. Our hosts put on a supah welcoming BBQ to start our cruise.

Sunday: We cruised 32 bucolic miles downriver to St John passing lighthouses, sailboats, beaches, ferries, and farms. Dave arranged berths at RKYC. Then he arranged van tours of St John including the amazing Reversing Falls culminating with a flavorful dinner at an Indian restaurant. Cruise gatherings don’t get any better!

Monday: In the AM, the men cruised through the Reversing Falls at slack tide; we now have bragging rights! Our Vance Beach lunch plans were interrupted by a T-storm. So, we anchored in the lee of Frenchmen’s Cove til it passed. Our 40 mile cruise was to Evandale Resort where we berthed for the night with an Inn, Pool, and restaurant on the grounds. Another great cruise gathering day.

Tuesday: Weather forecasts made us change plans and shorten the cruise to pull boats and head home on Thursday. First we headed to Gagetown to allow our wives the opportunity to quench their pent-up shopping appetites, while some of us did our duty by sampling local beverages. Then we cruised through the Jemseg River to Grand Lake. After scouting a few anchorages, Widget found an isolated protected cove that was the perfect anchorage for the night. This was our most remote anchorage over 30 miles from a town. The stars were so numerous that it was hard to make out the constellations. Loons serenaded our dreams.

Wednesday: On mirror like water, we scooted for 3 hrs at 20 mph to Fredericton, the Provincial Capitol. We lost count of the Bald Eagles and Herons while passing creek side cow herds. Fredericton was our cultural stop with museums, guard changes, shopping and lunch. Alas, we headed back down river spending the night at a marina near our tow rigs.

Thursday: All 5 boats were pulled and road ready by 11:00 AM for our final good-byes. It was a wonderful cruise gathering on new cruise grounds.

If you’d like to cruise the St John, there is one public launch ramp with parking in Fredericton, at the corner of Rt 105 (Union St) and Gibson St (N45 57.693, W066 37.596). The ramp is less than an 8 hr drive from Boston, MA. There are Canadian charts of the waters. Most of our group used Garmin charts on I-Pads.

Rick from Maine
 
Rick did a nice summary of the cruise. He did forget to mention, as he noted on the trip, that we had most likely anchored further east than any other C-Brat save the member that lives in Nova Scotia.
 
It was a great cruise. We are submitting our receipts for a tax refund from the Canadian government. I'm not sure what will qualify but, Will-C. Thanks to all involved, a truly memorable experience. Thanks Rick for the kind words. My wife Ginny was really the one who deserves the credit. I'm just a figure head. Nice protected fresh water with plenty of secluded places to explore. Dockage for 1 dollar a foot at some stops with power. Gas on land 1.32 a liter. I don't remember what fuel was on the water but it was listed as Supreme with no ethanol. The boat loved it. Over all alcohol, beer, wine and hard stuff at least twice as expensive as in the states. Food in general is more expensive. Never the less this area is highly recommended. Plenty of water good depths almost everywhere. Wind usually kicks up every day around 1:00 pm. Ramps also available at the Saint John Marina and the Royal Kennebecais Yacht club in Saint John. Also a decent ramp in Gagetown. Cheers
D.D.
 
Rob,
Our pleasure. We do think that the minister of tourism needs to let the world know that the Saint John river and it's tributaries offer a protected, deep water, warm, peaceful river system with almost endless opportunities for the trailer boater and RV camper types. A six day mapped out trip in brochure from Saint John to Fredericton showing ramps, where fuel is available, dockage, distances would be a real asset to folks contemplating or planning a trip. The people in the area is hurting for tourism and from what I could see good information was hard to find outside of my contact who is from the area. Even folks in the river towns seem to be unfamiliar with distances on the river to other towns etc. During the week boat traffic is light to non existent. One problem seems to be the lack of docks at the boat ramps. But it surely is a perfect cruising area. Protected anchorages are almost everywhere. I did a couple of reviews on Active Captain and I am going to send a letter to the minister of tourism about providing more information on the river valley.
D.D.
 
Wow, thanks for sharing! This is a cruise not many of us Upper Left Coasters are ever likely to be able to enjoy, but who knows? Anyway, I enjoyed it vicariously!
 
Hey Dave,

Thanks for the great photo album.

Now for the important stuff....

Did ja catch anything?

Did ya see anybody catch anything?

Did ya have any clams or oysters? :thup :beer :beer :thup :D
 
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Joe,
I could not afford a week long non resident Canadian fishing license and still buy beer and wine. I could spin a yarn about all the monster fish I landed but you know I'm not that good of a fisherman. The river has small mouth bass and large mouth bass in abundance. Sturgeon and some salmon. I saw kids on the dock catching perch the green and orange long skinny models and either pickerel or small pike from the dock at Gagetown with regularity. It looked to be a very good fresh water fishing area. I'm addicted to salt water fishing so hence my decision not to bother with a license. :wink:
D.D.
 
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Joe,
We did kill a lot of seafood. I don't do raw oysters but we had broiled, haddock, salmon, scallops, steamed lobster, mussels, clams. etc. over linguine. Pictured is our meal from Street and Company on Wharf street one of Portland Maine's better restaurants. This a picture of Lobster Diavlo for two at 47.50 this meal fed us twice. Best meal we ever had twice. If you even near Portland this place is a treat. Reservations required or a wait but they have a bar and a nice waiting area. We parked the boat at a Hilton Garden Inn out by the airport and took the hotels free shuttle into commercial street. It's just a short pleasant walk to the restaurant. Yum.
D.D.
 
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