Thousand Islands

We leave Kingston, Ontario after having spent 36 days in Canada. It was quite an adventure and a learning experience. The French and British presence there today, warm weather, clear water, butter tarts, locks, big flies and friendly people. We are ready.

Kingston is on the eastern end of Lake Ontario. Somewhere, invisibly, we cross back into U.S. waters. No need to pass through immigration although we did need to upload our photo ID to a U.S. Customs app the night before. We proceed up the St. Lawrence Seaway into the Thousand Islands. There are actually many more than a thousand and many of these very small, couple of acre properties, have a house on them. I think it could be cool to stay on one for a weekend, but more than that seems like just a hassle. The majestic evergreens, right on the water’s edge make it feel like a northern waterway.

Other highlights of the area include Thousand Island Park which is a community within the town of Orleans. It was established as a religious camp community in 1875. It reminds me of Ocean Grove NJ and Oak Bluffs on Martha’s Vineyard. Very cute Victorian cottage type homes, very family oriented. Another tourist ‘must see’ is Boldt Castle- it was built by millionaire George Boldt as a present to his wife. Construction was stopped abruptly in 1904 after his wife’s death and never completed. It is not as formal as some such estates and the views of the waterway were spectacular on all sides. Jim’s cousin Peggy & husband Michael visited with us for this day.

This brings us to the end of our journey. Yes, we had started with the thought of possibly doing ‘the loop’, but two years ago when we cruised out of Bay Head and spent the summer on Lake Champlain (because the Canadian border had still not opened), we had no intention of continuing for the traditional Loop ‘Year’- just too much time away from home. We spent 6 weeks traveling that summer.

We thought we might have an interest in continuing through to Chicago, over multiple years. However, our desire to have more time with our family and all the other adventures on our ‘bucket list’ that need to be addressed led us to realize that after 27 delightful years of boating this was going to be ‘Irish Eyes’ twilight cruise.

Stats for the total trip (2 summers): Days-84, Segments (no. of stops)-38, Marinas-46, Anchoring-6, Mooring-8, Free wall-19, Locks-63, Miles-1017, Hours underway-108, Average miles/day-27, Gallons of fuel 1,257, Kind boaters- innumerable. (The boaters across from us on this last stop gave us a bottle of wine to celebrate our next adventure!)

We have put her up for sale in the Thousand Islands. It was a sad day, somewhat like when your kids go off to college- you wanted it but are still surprisingly sad. Give us a few weeks and I have no doubt we will be planning our next adventure.

“I don’t know where I’m going, but I’m on my way.”– Carl Sandberg