Lake Ontario and Beyond

On Friday morning, June 24th, the weather was not exactly ideal for crossing Lake Ontario, but it was far better than what was being forecast for the next couple of days, so we went for it.  After considering various possible routes across the lake, we chose the one that would expose us to the prevailing SW wind and resulting waves for the least amount of time and shortest distance.  From Oswego we headed NE across the eastern end of Lake Ontario toward Stony Point (a three hour cruise), and then ducked  into Henderson Bay for somewhat less wind exposure, and on across the bay into Henderson Harbor (near Watertown, NY), where we would be protected on three sides.  There we dropped the hook (and secured it) in one of two available charted anchorages and comfortably sat out rain storms and high winds for two days.

On Sunday, June 26th, with the storms behind us and having decided it was safe to move on, we pulled up anchor and left our harbor of refuge.  It was overcast and cool, but the SW wind created only a moderate chop on the lake surface, with 1-2 ft. waves, which the boat handled well.  By 10:00 a.m., we were entering the St. Lawrence River, with the NY shoreline to starboard (right side) and the windmills on Wolfe Island in Ontario, Canada, visible to port (left side).

This portion of the St. Lawrence River (and for the next 50 miles) is referred to as The Thousand Islands, although there are actually 1,800 of them.  But, who's counting? Our destination that day was Clayton, NY, another 15 miles downstream (NE) on the St. Lawrence Seaway, and home of the Antique Boat Museum, about which we had heard wonderful things, all true. Our visit to this famous museum turned out to be well worth the $11.00 admission fee (for seniors like ourselves).  The exhibits, housed in several buildings along the waterfront, range from beautifully crafted wooden canoes and sailboats, to classic powerboats, one of which they allow visitors to actually sit in and get behind the wheel.

This waterfront town is very pleasant to stroll around, and we thoroughly enjoyed the two days we spent there, including the delicious dinner we had at Bella's Bistro, overlooking the St. Lawrence River.

Although, once again, we felt like this would be a great place to stay much longer, we were also anxious to explore more of the Thousand Islands area and head for the Canadian side of the river. So, we reluctantly left Clayton behind and continued on our journey, paying close attention to the all important channel markers in this area where many careless cruisers run aground on the unforgiving rocks lying just below the water's surface.

Every view along the way just cried out to be photographed, but we just snapped a few as a sampling of what this gorgeous area has to offer. Some of the islands are private, with summer homes on them.

Others are maintained by Parks Canada, with docks where boats can tie up for a day, overnight, or longer, for a reasonable fee.

Although we were tempted to stop and spend some time on one of the islands, we had now crossed the border into Canada and therefore needed to be cleared through Canadian Customs before we could legally stop anywhere. So we continued on to Gananoque, Ontario, to complete the task. This involved stopping at the municipal marina there and using a special telephone provided expressly for this purpose.  Only the captain is allowed ashore to complete the process, which took only about five minutes, after which we could take down the quarantine flag we were flying, replace it with a Canadian courtesy flag, and be on our way to Kingston, Ontario, our next destination.

The marina in Kingston is well situated in a municipal park setting, but right in the heart of the city's government and commercial district as well.

On our first day there, we wasted no time in locating a spot to sample some of the local brew.  We ended up at the Kingston Brewing Company just a block away from the waterfront and enjoyed a late lunch with a couple of glasses of ale.

The next morning, when we realized that we had left our VISA card there, we really sweated it out until they opened for the day and we were able to retrieve it.  As we strolled back to the park and our marina, a man saw our smiling faces and offered to take our picture. Don't we look happy?

Since this was a very windy day, we were also glad to be tied up securely to a dock in a protected marina.  We wanted to wait for the wind to subside again before leaving Kingston, since we would be exposed to the open waters of Lake Ontario again, this time on the northern shore. We had made reservations at a marina in Trenton, Ontario, for the upcoming holiday weekend, when Canadians would celebrate their national holiday on July 1st, which is much like July 4th for Americans. A few other "Looper" couples also had the same plan, so we all converged on the Fraser Park Marina in Trenton.

When we arrived, we could see someone setting up equipment for live entertainment in the adjoining municipal park, just a few feet from our boat.

Since the band was good, and they sang some of our favorite oldies but goodies, we really enjoyed it.  The next night, when we had happy hour with our new friends onshore next to our boat, we weren't so lucky.  The band that night was very loud and not so good.  Oh, well, at least they stopped early, after which the fireworks across the river from us took center stage, and it was quite a beautiful sight to behold.

On Saturday, all ten of us got together again, this time going out to dinner at Tomasso's Restaurant, right on the riverfront, and had an excellent meal.  Then on Sunday morning, we said farewell to the folks on the other four boats ("Reality Check," "Glory Days," "The Dudden Pilot," and "Great Escape"), while we remained behind on "Docker's Inn, " awaiting delivery of an important data chip for our Garmin GPS Chartplotter, which was supposed to arrive on Thursday, but which got hung up in Canadian Customs and then delayed due to the Canadian holiday weekend.  Oh, well, if one has to be stuck somewhere, this isn't a bad place to be.

UPS Canada has assured us that our GPS data chip will be delivered tomorrow, which will allow us to continue on into the Trent-Severn Waterway toward Georgian Bay in eastern Lake Huron.

Oh, gotta go; another "Looper" boat just arrived!