In Lake Ontario

Sackett's Harbor, NY
 June 25

We traveled across part of Lake Ontario with John, on  Canatarra.  Sackett’s Harbor is the home of Funny Cide, who is the horse who had a chance to win the Triple Crown, but didn't quite make it.  

We walked around the town and visited a brew-pub, a marina, a visitor's center and down to the fort.  It is a quaint little village sort of like Rockport, MA.  We are tied to the municipal dock, but not supposed to stay overnight.  I worry about those things because I am such a little rule follower. 

We enjoyed a nice evening meal with friends of John ’s from North Carolina.  It was so nice to be with southerners. 

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We took a boat up to Boldt Castle and Alexandria Bay in the Thousand Islands. If the Thousand Islands didn’t have 50 below 0 weather in the winter, I can’t imagine cruising anywhere else. 

From Alexandria Bay we went on a shuttle to Boldt Castle then shuttled over to Yacht house on Wellsley Island. The original name of Heart Island was Hart Island, but Boldt changed it. The swan pond was added to make the shape of the island a heart and the island was renamed Heart Island. The deer on top of the house and Arch are known in Europe as harts. 

Boldt Castle was being built as a gift for Boldt’s wife, Louise. It was never finished. When she died in 1904, a telegram arrived on the island and 300 workers put down their tools and left. 

They have a powerhouse, playhouse, hennery, swan pond, and an arch entry where the launches from visitors came into a little estuary to disembark.   

 

Millionaire's Row
Thousand Islands

 

Powerhouse at Boldt Castle

We passed thru Millionaire’s row. Prior to 1900, millionaires from NYC came for summer homes and they raced yachts during the day then at night entertained each other at fancy dinners and balls. The typical summer home was 26 rooms. After 1900 the millionaires began to die out and the common folk began to use the area as a vacation area. It is truly a fantastic place to visit.

Boldt Castle

Clayton, NY
June 26

Traveled from Sackett’s Harbor, still with John . His boat was boarded by the Coast Guard and we went ahead and anchored in Clayton, which is a very busy and wake-filled anchorage. It is a beautiful little town – a favorite stop so far.  It was quite windy the first night, but the anchors held well.

We toured the Antique boat museum. It is huge and has many buildings. One building was full of early powerboats – mahogany heaven. They display the largest runabout in the world. It is named PARDON ME, and is 48’. It is all bright work varnish. Interestingly the powerboats before 1960 looked much like cars. The windows even rolled down like car windows with handles. 

Another building had St. Lawrence River skiffs. They have one or 2 sails, look like a canoe, have a fan keel with 4 segments. There is no tiller; you change directions by shifting your weight and manipulating the sail and keel.   

 

Some of the beautiful boats
at the Antique Boat Museum

Lawrence River Skiffs

 

It was a wonderful museum. We spent about 5 hours one day and went back for 3 more the next. Even watched a wedding there that night. It is our second wedding so far.

I made quarantine flags for John and us and fixed side window on John’s enclosure. 

We went out for dinner with John at the Thousand Island Inn, which is where Thousand Island was first made.  We had the salad, of course, with Thousand Island Dressing.  It was quite different from the store version.  It was thinner and a lot spicier. 

Went to the Hand weaving museum. Not much really, but I found a backpack basket for $70. Cheapest I had ever seen was $110.  I had been looking for one for about 4 years.   

 

 

Mahogany Heaven

Don drooling over beautiful boats

 

The Yachthouse was for his collection of 51 boats. One house was for the Steam Yacht, Louise and a section was added for La Duchesse, a huge houseboat, which was later bought by Rand MacNally and has been donated to the Antique Boat museum in Clayton.  It will be there within a couple of years. 

Alexandria Bay was a tourist trap. Not much to see. However, we loved the ride back to Clayton. There were hundreds of islands. By definition, an island is 3 square feet, above water year round and supporting 2 trees. The smallest island is Tom Thumb Island. There are about 1800 islands in Thousand Islands and they are just filled with beautiful homes and boathouses. 

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Amherst Island, ON,   Kerr Pt.
June 30

We had an early call from John asking if we were ready to go. We were going to Kingston anyway, so followed along.  It is such a tragedy. 

We had a nice trip to Kingston. We traveled thru a small channel by Wolfe Island then into Kingston Harbor. We had to go to Kingston to clear customs – otherwise, we would not have stopped there.  On the way over we got rid of all of the alcohol that would not clear customs.  We had been hearing that they would fine, tax and confiscate it and it was not worth the problems. 

We had a difficult docking (understatement). Winds were squirly around the hotel where we had to tie up and we were unprepared to dock. We were instructed to tie on the west side of the Raddison for customs and there were no cleats, only an iron fence which you had to tie to then climb. 

We called customs on their toll free number and they took our information. They sent 2 officers over and we had to sit on the back deck while they inspected the boat. The younger one was in the wheelhouse for about 10 minutes and the older was below for 20 minutes with the younger one helping him for half of that. When they got there they were pretty gruff, but when they came out, they were pretty friendly and smiley. Even enjoyed playing with the cat. 

We had to climb the fence to get on and off of the boat. We walked to town twice to get charts, change out our money and pick up some supplies including beer and wine, which we had not been allowed to bring in.  It was the day before Canada Day and the streets are flooded with people, so we decided to just move on as soon as possible. 

A guy who had a single engine boat helped us spring off with no problems. It was much nicer than the docking. 

The wind had picked up considerably since we arrived in Kingston. It was a rough messy crossing, but thankfully short. We stayed in a nice quiet anchorage at Kerr Pt. On Amherst Island, CA. It was better to get across and enjoy a quiet anchorage than to stay in Kingston.  It offered protection from all directions except the SE with good holding in most of the anchorage except for grass farther in. 

I washed the fender covers and prepared to put them back on the fenders. We were getting ready to go back into the canals and I had to have them on for the first lock.  I was really glad to get some rest.

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