Gananoque, Ontario

We had a short cruise on Thursday, July 26 heading for Gananoque, Ontario.  The first thing we had to do was to go through customs.  We had been staying on the New York side of the 1000 Islands for five days and now we planned to spend a couple of days on the Canadian side. We headed over to Rockport, a little hamlet where we thought we could sign in quickly.  As we approached the customs dock, the local dockmaster told us we could just call in and give them our number.  But our phone service was very spotty at the time cutting back and forth between our U.S. and Canadian carriers so we pulled up to the dock.  We finally reached customs by phone.  The customs agent, as always, asked about our ship’s store.  When Jonny listed our rather extensive inventory of wine, beer and liquor he admonished us for having too much but let it go because we were on the loop! This is the second time we were excused for being in Canada for an extended period of time!

We walked around Rockport, a cute little bend-in-the-road kind of place.  There were some old time stores and charming vintage signage.

The predominant activity was the array of tour boats that drew buses and cars requiring extensive parking lots throughout the tiny hamlet.  We imagined it must have been a lot prettier before they “paved paradise and put up the parking lots”!  Even though it was still morning, we indulged ourselves by sharing an ice cream cone before returning to Zendo.

Resuming our cruise, we went by some minuscule islets and some homes on larger islands that were quite attractive.  Many of these 1000 Islands homes (of all sizes) seem to be summer homes. 

A few hours later we arrived in Gananoque by 1 p.m. This larger town of 5200 was recommended particularly because it has an excellent community  theatre and one of David and Mary Ann’s favorite restaurants.  The theatre is located on the waterfront and has docks available for patrons to attend the shows there.

It makes sense since so many  people, especially the summer residents, get around these islands by boat since most of the islands are not accessible by car.  We had purchased tickets for the show that night and planned to staying overnight so they charged us a fee of $30 for the privilege.  We tied up at the outside dock space assigned to us but we were a little concerned because it was very rolly.  But we figured the river traffic would settle down as the day wore on and so it did. 

We had early dinner reservations before the show so we had a light lunch on board before venturing into town.  Gananoque is quite a nice community.  We walked up the hill and over a bridge and stopped at the visitor’s center to get a lay of the land.  The downtown area was appealing with attractive architecture and a nice variety of shops.

Lynn wanted to see the sculpture garden in a nearby park.  In trying to find it we passed the local brew pub three times until Jonny couldn’t stand it any more and decided to stop for a beer while Lynn found the garden.  The sculptures were scattered through a park that overlooked a scenic waterfall.  

After returning to Zendo to change our clothes, we walked back into town for dinner.  Riva was in a beautifully restored historic inn and we had a delicious dinner there.

We walked back to the theatre and saw Harvest.  It was an excellent two person production of a story written by a Canadian about a retirement aged couple who unknowingly rented their farmhouse to pot growers and encountered all kinds of problems as a result. The actors were terrific and the show was both touching and funny.  Apparently this theatre has productions six nights a week all through the summer.  No wonder it was so highly recommended!

All we had to do was walk outside the theatre to return to Zendo.  We went right to bed as we were planning to leave for our last cruise in the 1000 Islands early the next morning.

Grenadier Island, Ontario

We began our day on Wed. July 25 with our little exercise routine, always a good start!  Our plan was to cruise over to Alexandria Bay where Horizon Marina had the best fuel prices.  We fueled up but needed less than expected.  Our diesel usage was much lower than normal because of the slow speed we had to follow on the Rideau Canal.

It was an on again - off again rainy day but we decided to just move across the harbor to tie up at the town dock to explore Alexandria Bay.

We were told that this is a touristy, honky-tonk type of town and our sources were correct!  We stopped for lunch at a local bar and afterwards went to the post office so Jonny could mail a package.  But the signs in town did have an old 1950’s vibe!

 

We then took off on Zendo to travel to Singer Castle.  Lynn was particularly interested in seeing this because it was built by the president of Singer Sewing Machine Company.  Her parents met each other at the Singer store in New Haven where her dad was working as a manager during World War II.  My mother walked in with her sister to buy something and the rest is history!

We tied up at the dock at Singer Castle with the help of one of their staff.

There we participated in a group tour led by a very competent local high school girl.  The castle was not as large or ornate as Boldt Castle.  It was darker and less well maintained but still interesting with lots of secret hidden passages throughout.

 To Lynn’s delight, there were old Singer sewing machines in every room!

The weather finally started to clear as we left the castle bound for our nightly anchorage.  We found a nice one off of Grenadier Island. 

Using the avocados we bought in Cape Vincent, Jonny made guacamole and we had vegetarian chile for dinner.  A big bank of dark clouds was coming and thinking it was going to rain again, we had dinner in the saloon.  However, the rain passed us by and we missed a lovely evening on the aft deck.  

The sunset later that evening, which is usually around 8:30, was particularly spectacular.

Wellesley Island, NY

Our plan for Tuesday, July 24 was to cruise to Boldt Castle and maybe more depending on the weather.  But first, we were scheduled to attend our friend David’s 10 a.m. tour of La Duchesse, a houseboat docked at the Antique Boat Museum.  La Duchesse is a historic two story houseboat from the Gilded Age.  It was built by the hotelier George C. Boldt who also built Boldt Castle.  It is 104 feet long and was used to entertain family and guests by being towed to beautiful anchorages around the 1000 Islands (the boat has no engines).  The boat was magnificently restored, an amazing accomplishment because it had sunk in the boat house for some period of time.

After that fascinating tour we headed over to Boldt Castle on Heart Island where we tied up at the castle’s dock. 

There we took the comprehensive self-guided tour of this incredible castle.  It was commissioned by George Boldt, a self-made immigrant from Germany as a love offering to his wife.  He renamed the island from Hart to Heart and incorporated hearts into the design elements throughout the castle and its grounds which included the entire island.  The castle, an incredibly large and ornate edifice was intended to be a Valentine’s Day gift to his wife.  But, tragically, she died in December and he abandoned the project completely and never returned to the castle after her death.  As a result the castle went into a state of disrepair until it was eventually purchased by the founder of Life Savers candies and ultimately sold to the local bridge authority that has restored it and has opened it for tourism.

We also took a launch over to the castle’s boathouse, a beautiful structure itself, that houses a number of fully restored boats such as those we saw at the Antique Boat Museum. Included in these collections was a racing boat used by Boldt’s daughter who remained in the area but never returned to the castle. Her racing prowess was quite unusual for women at that time. 

As we left the castle’s beautifully manicured grounds and climbed aboard Zendo, it continued to rain on and off.  

We eventually found an anchorage next to the 1000 Island Yacht Club on Wellesley Island.  Prominent families in the area including the Boldts have been members of this club for many years.  We tied up for the night at our cozy and peaceful anchorage, had dinner and continued to watch The Pillars of the Earth to which Jonny is now hooked.

Clayton, NY

We had a short cruise in the 1000 Islands on Mon., July 23 leaving Cape Vincent by 9:20.  David joined us aboard Zendo for the trip to Clayton.  It was a partly cloudy day and the waters were calm as we departed from our snug dockage. We were looking forward to our visit to the Antique Boat Musesum which had been reccommended by so many of our friends. 

We took the established route around some of these tiny islands though we could have taken a short cut based on local knowledge.  Since it was such a short trip anyway, we chose the longer route.  Jonny generously encouraged David to pilot the boat for the majority of the journey.  

Shortly after tying up at the Clayton Municipal Marina, Mary Ann met us. She had driven over from Cape Vincent to ferry David home.  After saying our goodbyes and thanking them for their generous hospitality, we set out to explore the town.  Clayton is a charming small town, very well kept and full of shops and restaurants. 

We ate lunch at a restaurant on the water called Bella’s but there was a wait for a table so we sat at the bar.  This was a good decision because we had a very charming British bartender and Jonny and he swapped stories about London and Cornwall.  Lynn had a surprisingly delicious lobster roll for lunch, overflowing with lobster and not expensive - the best combination.

We spent the remainder of the afternoon at the Antique Boat Museum.  David had given us free passes because he is a docent there.  We loved the museum which is in a group of very attractive buildings along the waterfront.  It houses a collection of the most amazing wooden boats.  Most of them were from 1900 - 1950 and were used for cruising, fishing, and racing in the 1000 Islands.  The majority of those islands are only accessible by boat, even today.  There were fascinating examples of old wooden boats including  canoes, sailboats, and powerboats.  Most of them were meticulously maintained and we were even able to go aboard some of them.  The displays were engaging and informative.  The museum has additional warehouses full of even more boats.  It was interesting to see how many of them still had their registration numbers on them meaning they had been in recent use. 

We spent a good three hours at the museum and on the way back to Zendo stopped at a local pub for a flight of beer and some wings.  We spent the evening relaxing aboard Zendo and skipped dinner altogether.