Great Escape: June 2011

Saturday, June 25, 2011

June 17th to June 26th - Gananoque Canada, Thousand Islands, Rideau Canal,and Ottawa

     I am behind in updating the blog, but hopefully this will catch us up. From Clayton we crossed the St. Lawrence Seaway to Ganaoque, Ontario, Canada. Clearing Canadian Customs was a short phone call and than we were off exploring. The town was very nice and they had a tour boat operation which took us on a 5 hour tour of the Thousand Islands, including a 2 hour stop at Heart Island where the Boldt Castle is located.
    You will see several pictures below of houses among the Thousand Island and of Boldt Castle itself. Mr. George C. Boldt was the proprietor of Waldorf Astoria in NY as well as several other famous hotels. He purchased the island to build his wife his castle, a true labor of love. Construction began in 1900. In 1904 his wife Louise died unexpectedly and Mr. Boldt stopped all work on the castle. It fell into disrepair until the property was puchased and controlled by the NY Thousand Island Bridge Authority which began restoration. You will see some of the restoresd property as well as some of the rooms that are still a "work in progress".
    From Gananoque we headed west to Kingston Ontario and entered the Rideau Canal. The canal takes one from from Kingston on the north shore of Lake Ontario to Ottawa, about 125 miles inland. The Rideau Canal was conceived after the War of 1812 as a supply route for troops and supplies from Montreal, through the northern settlements to the strategic naval base in Kingston. Construction began in 1826 and it was completed in 1832. Many of the locks that one passes through today are as they were when first opened. The locks are operated by the Parks Canada staff. There are a total of 44 between Kingston and Ottawa and only three are hydraulically operated. In all the others, the staff opens and closes the doors by hand-cranking on a chain system. In Ottawa proper, the last 8 locks are “stair locks” which means when you exit the top lock (#8), you are actually entering lock #7. This continues until you exit Lock #1 into the Ottawa River. We did not take these last 8 locks because the city itself is at the top of the locks and it would have taken about 7 hours to lock all the way down, turn around and lock back up.
     Presently we are in Ottawa, the capitol of Canada. Very different than Washingto DC but very, very nice. We are spending a couple of days here before heading back down the Rideau to Kingston and than on to the Trent-Severn waterway.
    Since our internet access is limited to marinas and Starbucks (where I sit now) updates may be a little infrequent.

A house along the route from Ganaoque to Kingston

The guide said this was the shortest international
bridge between Canada and the USA

The "main" international bridge between Canada and the USA crossing
the St. Lawrence Seaway

Nice little "Summer Cottages" in the Thousand Islands

Approaching Boldt Castle

The main dining room

A gazebo where they hold weddings - three the day we were there

The stained glass dome inside the voyer of the castle

The daughter's bedroom

Outside gardens

This was called "The Playhouse" and is where the
family lived during the summer when the main
castle was being built

The "Power House" at Boldt Castle. This building supplied
all electrical power as well as the water supply

Seagoing ships sharing the seaway with all types of pleasure craft

A sailboat race as we are entering Kingston

Able deckhand Teresa manning the bow line as
we get ready to enter the first lock on the Rideau Canal

Staff of Park's Canada cranking to open the lock doors

One of the old handcranks used to open doors

This is Mara, a summer internee working the first lock. Many
students work at the locks as summer jobs

Different modes of transportation on the canal

Our friends Bonnie and Charlie arriving at Smith Falls on
the canal. They were heading south from Ottawa

The locks are open to all types of watercraft, as long as you pay the
lockage fee

Thursday, June 16, 2011

June 13 to June 16 - Oswego NY to Clayton NY

June 13th - Leaving Minetto, we headed through the last of the Oswego Canal locks toward Oswego and Lake Ontario. We arrived around noon on the 13th, locking through the last lock with a sailboat from Nice, France. We stayed the night on the west side of Oswego Harbor at the municipal dock which had electrical power. During the evening, the winds shifted around and were coming from the north, which meant Lake Ontario was blowing into Oswego harbor. A very uncomfortable night with Donald the only one getting any sleep (that submarine training came in handy). At 7 AM on the the 14th we moved the boat over to the east side of the harbor where there was no electrical power but a much more protected mooring, which meant that Teresa and the Boyz could get some sleep.

On the 14th, we rented a car, picked up our repaired propeller, and finished some last minute shopping.
On June 15th, we were underway from Oswego to Sackets Harbor, NY. It was still quite rough departing Oswego and the Boyz were giving us that look again, but it settled out for a pretty pleasant ride. Sackets Harbor is a charming, quaint and historical community on Black River Bay. When the US declared war on Great Britian in 1812, Sackets Harbor became the headquarters of the US military northern frontier. Thousands of troops and hundreds of ship carpenters poured in to the village, transforming it into a major military outpost and shipbuilding center. Sackets Harbor was attacked by the Canadian Provincial Marines in July 1812. In 1813, it was attacked again by the British and Canadian Forces in an effort to destroy its shipbuilding capability. However, the attack was defeated, but with great difficulty. Sackets Harbor continued to play a part in every major war through World War II. The battlefield and some of the original Navy Yard houses have been preserved. The town itself was very quaint, with several nice restaurants. We stayed at Navy Point Marine which was very nice but certainly a "sailboat haven."

On June 16th we moved on to Clayton, NY. We are now on the St. Lawerance Seaway and saw our fisrt couple of Great Lake carriers, the large ships that ply the lakes. Clayton is home to The Antique Boat Museum. What a find!! We have seen "Old Boat" museums in the past, but none of them came close to the number and diversity of boats that Clayton possessed. You will see lots of pictures below of old boats and motors, but two in particular were "La Duchesse," a 106' house boat that was built by Mr. Boldt of Boldt Castle fame. Although he never finished his castle, he spent many summers entertaining on this houseboat. It never had any means of propulsion and was towed wherever he needed it. The boat sank a couple of times and has been restored in great fashion. The other eye-catcher was the "CANGARDA", which is owned by a couple in Maine. Although it is not part of the Antique Boat Museum, it was moored at their facility. Check out the varnish !!

Tomorrow we are underway for Canada.