Our 16'-C-Dory-excursion into the Thousand Islands went like this:
On Sunday, July 29, trailering See-Saw, we drove north to the Tibbetts Point Lighthouse. That's where the St. Lawrence River/Seaway comes OUT of Lake Ontario and starts its journey to the Atlantic. We then drove east along the river through Cape Vincent and on to Cedar Point State Park, right on the St. Lawrence River. Huge freighters, giant yachts, little fishing boats, and everything in between made their way through the river, one of the major passages in North America. At sunset, kayaks appeared, seeming to enjoy the peace and quiet!
On Monday, we drove into Clayton to see the antique boat museum, the largest collection in North America. The museum occupies about 6 separate buildings--some involved with restoration of antique boats, others housing collections of human-powered boats (mostly skiffs and canoes), sailboats, and boats which have won or come close to winning the Gold Cup (the award for the fastest power boat of its time). And there were the first jet-skis, the first outboard motors, dugouts, art about boating, beautifully crafted wooden boats of all sizes--just an amazing collection.
From there we headed toward Wellesley Island. We paid our $3.75 for the toll to the island and hauled See-Saw over the REALLY BIG BRIDGE! The island is about 8 miles long by 3 miles wide, strangely shaped, and oriented northeast to southwest. A large bay (called "Lake of the Isles") within the island runs from the top of the island down past the middle, making the shape of the island like a slanted "H" with the bottom filled in. We drove on to the west side of the island to Wellesley Island State Park, on the northwest corner.
We searched out the marina, to see where we'd launch. The next day, we launched there, left our rig parked near the marina, and motored along the northern shore, veering in and out of Canadian waters, as we watched the charts for submerged rocks and shallows. We had the depth finder and the electronic chart plotter that came with the boat, the paper map of the river, a brochure with a tourist map of the area, the iNavX app on the iPad that brings up all the charts in North America, and "Maps" on the iPad that constantly shows just where the boat AND iPad are in relation to the river. So we were moving along the St. Lawrence with six sources of information as to our location, complicating my enjoyment of the scenery. (I miss the simplicity of canoeing or kayaking with a map and a compass!) With all that, we made it to the Rift, which looks on the maps to be much scarier than it is. It's a narrow passageway that links the northwestern shore with Lake of the Isles, that runs into the center of the island from the northern end. Just as we arrived at the beginning of the Rift, we came upon two men in a bass boat, standing up fishing. One called out, "C-Brat?"
Lyle called back, "Of course. Are you?" We stopped to chat a minute, saw the man's face, and realized this was one of those "small world" events. He was Terry, from Attica, NY, the skipper of Last Dance, whom we'd met last year in Guttenberg, Iowa, at the Mississippi River Gathering. He plans to be at the gathering this year in Dubuque, and we plan to meet him there. The Rift is about 40 feet wide and maybe a mile long, but plenty deep enough for most boats to pass through, though there are lots of algae and other types of vegetation to untangle from the prop every so often. Once into the end of Lake of the Isles, we went north into the St. Lawrence, on the far north end of the island. Then we made our way between small islands, rocks, and an increasing number of boats of all sizes and shapes going in every direction at varying speeds--mostly fast, faster, and fastest! We saw many tour boats, from companies on both sides of the river--American and Canadian. The passengers waved and took pictures of us in our little boat. We had a challenging time, keeping track of where we were on the charts, controlling the boat with all the different currents and wakes from other boats creating turbulence, and trying to enjoy the view. Soon we spotted Boldt Castle, one of the goals for this part of the trip. We could have docked at their free dock, but we didn't plan to go inside, so we just went around the island--Heart Island--dodging traffic, and because of all the traffic, watching the navigation aids.
Still fighting heavy boat traffic, we went on across the St. Lawrence to the east side--the mainland--and into Alexandria Bay, a busy little tourist town--and bay--with an excellent town dock, with LOTS of boats at the dock and many more coming and going. We tied up, walked a couple of blocks, and ate at a sandwich shop with outside tables, where Lindy was welcome. After lunch, we headed down the river--still along the mainland side--a few miles and stopped at Grass Point State Park. We parked in a slip on a dock in front of the campground and soon "battened down the hatches" as a big thunderstorm hit, providing a good start toward helping the area catch up on their annual moisture. We enjoyed the evening, playing a couple of games of Farkle until the storm passed.
Wednesday morning, we made our way back across the river, through the multitude of small islands, as we headed past the southern end of Wellesley Island, over to the northeastern corner of Grindstone Island, the island west of Wellesley. The state park there is Canoe Point, a pretty point with a lot of dockage and a campground for boat-in campers only. So the hillside was covered with brightly colored tents and shelters among the picnic tables. The restrooms do have showers. Large groups of people were staying on big boats, and others in the tents. We were the only ones staying on a boat on our part of the dock. We aimed See-Saw east, so as the full moon came up, it was framed in our windshield, right over our heads when we went to bed. And we heard the loons. A fabulous night!
The next morning, Thursday, we decided we'd like to stay out another couple of days, so we headed east, across to Wellesley Island State Park--completing a circumnavigation of the island--, to our truck and camper to replenish supplies and to the marina to get more gas for SeeSaw. Then we started another circuit of the island--just too much cool stuff to do! From there, we motored to the northeast, along the shore of the island, just a couple more miles to Waterson Point State Park, another boat-in only park, but one that doesn't allow camping on the shore; staying only on boats is allowed there. Several groups were there for just day use, stopping to picnic, swim, play ball, etc. By nightfall, there were five big cabin cruisers and yachts and our 16' C-Dory! We saw little minks there, swimming and diving for fish in the water near the shore and the docks, then running around on the rocky shore with their catch of small fish. The couple next to us--New Yorkers recently moved to Edinburg, TX, except for the summers when they live on their boat in New York waters, invited us onto their 42' yacht for a Pepsi before bedtime and a tour of their boat, followed by stimulating conversation.
Friday morning, several more big cabin cruisers came over from Canada, just across the river from the point. All those people knew each other, all stay at the same marina there, in sight of Waterson Point, and they come over and spend almost every weekend during the summer. We said our goodbyes and took off, headed through the Rift again, and then back into the Lake of the Isles. That time we turned south in the lake, and about halfway down the lake, on the western shore, is DeWolfe Point State Park. It's near the highway that crosses Wellesley Island, so it has a tiny campground with 14 RV or tent sites, 14 small cabins, and room for 12 boats at the dock. We tied up there to spend the night on the dock. Throughout the afternoon, a steady stream of jet skis, ski boats, bass boats, etc., roared up and down the lake. There was a pavilion and many picnic tables in the shade of big trees where we had lunch and took time to catch up on our blog to the folks back home!
Next day, we left DeWolf Point State Park, went back north through Lake of the Isles, and out to the northeastern corner of the island, about 8 miles, to Mary Island State Park, a tiny island, maybe a mile long and 1/4 of a mile wide. It's a boat-in only campground, with camping allowed on the shore--tents and such--and staying on boats on the small docks, which is what we did--the only people on the dock! We went ashore for the afternoon, cooked freeze-dried food on our backpacker stove, caught up on Internet stuff, and worked sudoku puzzles. The view from there was fabulous--with lots of boat traffic on the main channel of the St. Lawrence to the east, including giant freighters and many tour boats--as Boldt Castle was probably only a mile away to the southeast--, and just across on the mainland, a mansion with boat houses.
We planned to head back early the next day to our truck and camper, probably 5 miles back down the western side of Wellesley Island, as storms were predicted for the afternoon. We sure did hate to leave that leisurely life on the water! Not unexpectedly, Sunday's storm predicted for afternoon came in early. Before dawn, the wind whipped up, and See-Saw was rocking, though safely tied to the dock. Lindy apparently noticed it before we did, as she was panting hard when I awoke, chewing her fingernails and wondering what was happening and what we were going to do about it! As the rain began, we comforted her, and Lyle added another rope to the dock lines, just to keep us all from worrying. NOAA weather on our marine radio predicted rain off and on all morning, with strong winds, more rain, and possible hail in the afternoon. The rain was intermittent for a couple of hours, and we were up at 7, preparing to head out. The man who staffed the little park came in from Keewaydin, a park on the mainland over by Boldt Castle, in a little open motorboat, and he agreed with our decision--get out of there and back to Wellesley Island State Park and our truck and trailer as soon as possible. So at 8 a.m., we headed out through a mile of wind-whipped open water, then into the interior of the island, through the north end of Lake of the Isles, back into the Rift, out the other end, and into more open water. There were occasional blue skies, but very few boats were out. In light rain but no high waves, we made our way past Waterson Point State Park, where we'd docked two nights previously. Surprisingly our new friends from the 42-foot yacht were waving at us from the end of the dock. We were sorry not to stop for a brief chat, but we wanted to be sure to beat the brunt of the storm to Wellesley. Soon the marina came into view, and we saw our truck and camper, a welcome sight!
We pulled into a slip, and Lyle hopped off to go get our rig and back it into the boat launch. The wind was really blowing in the little harbor, gusting from one direction and then another. Motoring over to the ramp went well, but it took two tries to get the boat on the trailer. We'd done 8 miles in almost exactly 1 hour, including getting the boat on the trailer! We had spent parts of six days and five nights on the boat, at five different campgrounds, on three different land masses, and we'd never been more than seven miles, as the crow flies--or the osprey or the gull--from our rig at Wellesley Island's marina, going around the island once and all the way up one side again and back. What a cool adventure for our 16'!
Lyle, Janda, and Lindy
