Off to Canada

The barracks at Fort Ontario

So now we’re off to Canada.  Back on the Erie and then the Oswego Canal to Oswego, the city on Lake Ontario.  We tied up to the wall near a bridge, and it should have been under the bridge given the heat. We walked to the grocery store and laundromat and had a visit to Fort Ontario.  The Fort has had many demises but was always rebuilt on the ashes of the previous war.  In WWII, it served as a refugee center for Jews from many European countries, all of whom were required to sign a document indicating they would go back to Europe as soon as the war ended.  The US didn’t want refugees, but all were eventually allowed to stay.

It is hot.  Bill tried to start the generator so we could turn on the air conditioner but the start cord fell apart on the first pull. Needing the generator for many things, Bill sprung into action and quickly found someone who could fix it and he took off running with the generator in our folding wagon. He was lucky to have found an Uber driver with a van who could take the generator and the cart and he was back in two hours.

The next morning we went through the last Oswego lock at 7am and headed north on Lake Ontario. The winds were not too bad, but we had following seas which tosses the boat around quite uncomfortably. Some of my friends would have enjoyed this 30 mile open water trip (Dottie and Leslie) and some of you would have definitely NOT liked this passage (Mark and Norah).  I must say that this required me to get my sea legs back!

Some of the flooded docks in Cape Vincent

Our first stop on the upper St. Lawrence River was in the little town of Cape Vincent.  Most of the docks in town were under water.  From what we have heard, the water level has come down about a foot from its peak, but has about another foot to go to reach normal levels.  This has devastated many docks and has severely affected tourism along the waterway.  We did find a spot on the Dept of Environmental Conservancy and were able to spend the night in this sweet town.  We had a fantastic lunch at Crave, a restaurant owned by a Floridian whose restaurant in Florida had been wiped out by a hurricane.  We also took a long walk along the shore. We very well might have been the only tourists in town.

At the Boldt Castle dock.  One the shore
behind us s Boldt's boat house that could
accommodate is 105 foot yacht.

Coming up to Boldt Castle.

Boldt Castle.

I had told Bill before the trip that I was not interested in going to any castles.  Why, I’m not sure. In any event, he convinced me to go to Boldt Castle the next day.  It is on one of the 1800 islands in the Thousand Islands in the St. Lawrence.  The castle was fascinating.  It was built by George Boldt who had emigrated to the US from Poland in the 1800s without a penny. He worked many jobs including starting at the bottom in a hotel in Philadelphia. He worked his way up, ending up building his own hotel (the Bellevue).  After the Bellevue successfully hosted the wedding of an Astoria with over a thousand guests, he partnered with Astoria in building the Waldorf Astoria in NYC.  Success made him a millionaire (when a dollar meant something), and he built this castle for his wife Louise, who died before it was finished. He immediately abandoned the project. After decades of neglect the State of NY purchased the property and is finishing the facility much to Boldt’s original plans.  It is now a very popular tourist destination. The weather has now become stunning.

We then found a quiet dock for the night on Cedar Island, part of the NY Park system.  The next day we motored to Singer Castle, a beautiful structure built by Singer Sewing Machine President, millionaire Frederick Gilbert Bourne,

Singer Castle is designed based up the 1832 book Worcester
Castle by Sir Walter Scott and includes a lot of secret passages
so servants could look meet the needs of the family and guests
without going through a room.

but very different and available to rent for less than I would have thought.  It was the last of the great castles built in the peak of America’s guilded age, 1888-1905, and modeled after Sir Walter Scott's novel about Woodstock Castle (1832) in Scotland.  The story is that after Boldt stopped work on his castle, all his laborers went to finish Singer Castle, and it was finished in record time, two years.

After the tour we headed north into Canada, less than a mile away to the north.  When a boat enters a foreign country it is expected to host a yellow flag on its starboard side amidship.  We hoisted ours, called Canadian Customs and were directed to the custom phone on the dock in Rockport about 6 miles or so away.  So…  On our way to settle up with Canada, I get a phone call from Aetna letting me know that my Medicare Advantage coverage had been denied.  Grrrrr.  While on that very long and fruitless call, we hear a toot behind us and realize that we are being stopped by the Canadian Mounties, a boat with six officers on board.  They no doubt saw our yellow flag. “Sorry”, I tell the Aetna guy, “we are being boarded by the Mounties in the middle of the St. Lawrence River and I can’t talk to you right now!”. I’m sure he thought, “that’s a new one.”  Let me just tell you, I had much rather deal with the Canadian Mounties than with Aetna!!!  Anyway, the officers were helpful and polite (and cute). I complimented one of the officers on how professional and polite they were and he replied “We have a stereotype to maintain, ma’am.”  Oh, Canada! After this, Bill was able to go through Customs in Rockport, and we leave Aetna for another day.  I promise, no more on Aetna.

We ended up in a group of islands in the Canadian Thousand Islands National Park and anchored on quiet Endymion Island and were able to go for a pre-dinner swim in the St. Lawrence, the clearest, cleanest water north of the Bahamas. The next morning we had a lovely kayak around all the little islands.  Bill had made a map on a paper towel so we wouldn’t get disoriented. We left after that to head to Gananoque Island in the Canadian 1000 Islands to check into Canada and to meet up with a Spanish family, relatives of Caroline’s AFS host family in Austria.  We had met them in Austria in 2012.

Danny at the helm.

The town dock in Gananoque.

That afternoon, I walked 2 miles through the pretty town of Gananoque to get groceries and Bill stayed on the boat to wait for our friends from Europe  {Bill’s note: While waiting for Molly, Salty Paws is tied up at the Gananoque Town Dock, that is level with the water.  As boat wakes come in the harbor I need to use my legs to fend off.  After an hour of this, a particularly big wake from a large speed boat comes to the dock, and it takes all my strength to keep Salty Paws from ending up half aground on the town dock.  After that, I immediately move our boat to a nearby safe dock, despite the NO DOCKING sign.] We took the four on a short boat ride. I must say, I had rather ride with daughter Cristina or son Daniel at the helm than father, Alberto (so sorry Alberto!).

Cristina at the helm.

The De La Vega Leinhart family from Spain.

We anchored that night, again in islands in the National Park, and spent the next days motoring 90 miles to get us near the Trent Severn Canal which we enter day after tomorrow. I must say, the St. Lawrence River is a magnificant boating area and has every kind of vessel, from tankers to jet skis, cigarette boats, sailboats and weekender cabin cruisers. We haven’t seen anyone else doing the Great Loop in the River, but we think we are now headed into more popular territory for “Loopers”.