Kingston,Ont. to Trenton,Ont.

Thursday - June 28, 2018

Well after yesterday's rain and wind today is much improved. No wind but overcast sky. I am good with that for we are looking at a 61 mile run to Trenton, Ontario and the beginning of the Trent Severn Waterway/Canal. We got underway at 9:15 AM and after Lou Ann has retrieved and stowed all the dock-lines and fenders we get Zoey's Adventure headed toward Trenton. Our course today is a bit of a zigzag and toward the end we actually slow way down for two different areas called "The Narrows".  Both areas are well marked but when in a tight channel always best to be sure .

Long about 2:15 pm we reach Trent Port Marina and request a slip assignment. I always ask what side of the boat will be against the dock and if we are bow or stern into the dock. We prefer to back into the slip because our electrical and water connections are in the stern. Once Lou Ann has prepared all our 4 dock lines, a bow and stern plus two spring lines, and place the fenders we then proceed into the dock.  Lou Ann does all the hard work and I sit on the bridge and move two little knobs. "A GREAT CREW" always make a mediocre captain look good.  Port Trent Marina is huge, 300 boat slips and is only 3 years old. Their dock house offers 8 private bath and shower rooms, 3 sets of washers and dryers free including soap. They also have a beautiful meeting room and snack bar that serves ice cream, so GOOD! We have been invited to a reception this afternoon sponsored by the marina in honer of some special  "Clean Marina" award they just received. At this reception we met a couple from Wellesley Island near Alexandria Bay, NY.  Rusty and Melissa are still working but are planning the Loop in about 6 years. They recently purchased a boat in preparation of their adventure. Rusty and Melissa, as well as us, and maybe 25-30 Looper boats are here in Trenton for a special briefing on what lies ahead in the Trent-Severn Canal. Hosted by AGLCA (Great American Loop Cruisers Association) this 3 day event will feature a full day talk on cruising the Trent-Severn Canal and when we finish the canal we will then cruise both Georgian Bay and the North Channel. These two bodies of water are each bigger than Long Island Sound and filled with big rocks. Next time you look at a map of the Great Lakes, these two bodies are located to the north and east of Lake Huron.

Chad Buchner, Head of the Canal System for Parks Canada 

Room of Loopers, or are they Loopey

Our plan is to stay at Port Trent for 5 nights, Sunday is July 1st, Canada Day, like our July 4th and there is a big fireworks display plus being a holiday here, the Trent Severn Canal will be extremely busy. We decided to enter the canal on July 3nd after the rush.

During our extend stay we walked to the 1st lock on the canal, a bit further than expected on a very hot and humid day. Well worth the walk because we met the lock staff and got a bit of additional info on the canal as well as seeing it in full operation. On the way back we stopped for some Canadian beer for the boat. Then lunch at a local fish and chip place, neither of us had fish and chips, not keen on fried foods you know.

On one of the nights our new friends Rusty and Melissa invited us to dinner aboard their boat Providence. We had a great time and a great dinner. We introduced them to Butter Tarts, more about them in a different post.

On Sunday we took the shuttle to a park just across the harbor that we were told was real good for the holiday celebration, but did not turn out that way so headed back to the boat.  Our new friends from Texas, Mark & Lezlie on Antonia invited us to dinner.  We also introduced them to Butter Tarts. We went and had a great dinner and stayed and watched the fire works from their boat.  It doesn't get dark here until late so the fire works did not start until 10:00 pm, way past our bed time.

On Monday it was another hot day so we decided to take in a movie at the local theater. Adrift was playing. A true story of a young couple sailing a boat from Tahiti to the west coast and all the trials and tribulations that happen after encountering a severe storm.  In all Trenton was a good stop. We met lots of Loopers and exchanged many boat cards during the 5 day stay.

Our home away from home

Blog Breaking News  - Ok, Ok, so we are a little behind.

Some of you have asked what our floating home is like. So, as we sit in the rain in Kingston, ON, I thought it would be an opportune time to take you on a little tour of our boat, our home for the next 10 months, already been aboard for 2 months.

Our boat is:  a 1999, 45-foot, Carver Aft Cabin. The overall length including the bow pulpit and the swim platform is almost 50 feet. Seeing we pay by the foot to dock we use the manufacturers advertised length of 45 feet. This boat was built in Pulaski, Wisconsin.  She is powered by a pair of 450 HP Cummins diesel engines, giving us a cruising speed of 16 knots or about 18 mph. We only run at cruising speed in open water, all the canals have a speed limit of 8 knots and sometime less.

Let’s take that tour.

Our dinette or office where Lou works on the blog. We never eat here as the view from the aft deck is always much nicer.

The galley, where Lou prepares our meals. We eat in most nights so the full-size refrigerator comes in handy. There is also a small 3 burner electric stove and oven. No dishwasher, so Lou cooks up some great meals in this little kitchen and I do the dishes. See no slacking here I work for food!

The living room or salon.

Forward cabin with an offset bunk, for those that may want to come join us on our journey.

Aft cabin, our stateroom. It has lots of storage for all our cloths. We brought way more than needed!

The aft deck or back porch. There is a little bar area with a small refrigerator plus an ice maker and sink. This is where we host our docktail parties. We tend to have our meals here balancing the plates on our laps enjoying the harbor or anchorage view.

Swim platform. This comes in handy to carry our little dinghy and also to get on and off the boat as most docks, so far line up with the swim platform for easy step on & off.

The helm. On those long running days we have spent as many as 7 hours behind the controls and diligently watching the paper charts and GPS chart plotters.

The basement or engine room. This is located under the salon floor and is accessed through the galley stairs. Can’t quite stand up in there. This is where those Cummins engines are located as well as the generator, hot water heater and a host of other mechanical equipment, fingers crossed that nothing breaks.

Not shown are the 2 heads (bathrooms) complete with sink, toilet , small stall shower and the stacked wash & dryer.

In all, Zoey’s Adventure affords us with a lot of creature comforts insuring our year long journey on the Great Loop as enjoyable as possible.

Clayton, NY to Kingston,Ontario, Canada

Monday - June 25, 2018 - Happy 80th Birthday Mom!!!

A bit of a late start today.  We had a couple of things to tend to before we departed the USA for Canada. Keep in mind we arrived in Staten Island, NY on June 1st and now it's June 25th and we are just leaving New York. One errand was to the post office and the second was to the hardware store to find a hose fitting to fix our clogged fill pipe on the water tank.

We have our flag and are ready to enter Canada

Today, it's only a 18 mile run to Kingston, Ontario and would only take 1 1/2 hours at normal cruise speed. As we approached the big Kingston City Marina we hailed them on the VHF radio for a slip assignment and directions to enter the marina through the man mad breakwater . Wow, is this marina ever big and our slip is located about as far out as possible from the main entrance, a real hike to the secure entrance gate. Another little issue being this far out is there is little to no WIFI.

Kingston, Ontario Skyline

That said, we are instructed by the dock hand that we must check in with Canadian Boarder Patrol. This process is discussed on a regular basis on the daily Loop forum . So, this is what I did. Left Lou Ann on the boat and took our passports and walked to the main entrance of the marina. There is a single pay phone and a sign with a 800 number to contact the Customs Agent. I picked up the phone and dial the number. The agent answers and ask for my name address passport number same with Lou Ann, the boat registration numbers and asked a few questions, guns, fruit, liquor. Within 10 minutes she gives me a number to post on the inside window of the boat, simple as one, two, three, we're in!

The marina is located in the very middle of Kingston historic district. As we stepped through the marina gate there is a beautiful park with a fountain, gazebo, and an historic old steam train. And just across the street is City Hall.

Steam Train and Visitors Center

Kingston was once Canada's Capitol before moving to Ottawa. Once the capitol was moved the government decided that they needed a better means to travel to the Port of Kingston so they built the Rideau Canal.

This first day we walked the downtown area first to get some Canadian money from the ATM and secondly to get a fell of what there is to see, we plan on spending 3 nights in Kingston.

The second day we chose to get tickets on the Hop on Hop Off Trolley. First stop is the historic Fort Henry that guards the entrance to the port. The trolley drove through their equivalent of our West Point or Navel Academy. After the fort the two attractions we wanted to visit where closed on Tuesday, the penitentiary and the Bellevue house, an historic home. This was not a total loss the trolley drivers provide a very interesting narration, as we traveled through the streets and neighborhoods of Kingston.

Fort Henry - Kingston Ontario

Royal Military College of Canada

As luck would have it there was an afternoon concert in the park next to the marina so we stopped, sat on the wall, and enjoyed the entertainment with lots of other folks . Lunch on the boat then back to the farmers market, not much left by mid afternoon. We did enjoy a guided tour of the Kingston City Hall. When it was completed in 1844, it not only functioned as city government office, it was also a market place, and jail. In all a very impressive building . Our tour guide turns out to be a boater also so we hit it off. Tonight we enjoyed a wonderful dinner at an Italian restaurant where we dinned outside watching all the locals pass by. Did I say we tend to eat out not more than twice a week.

City Hall

City Hall Prison - Rene is always in trouble

Day 3 in Kingston. The plan is to see if we can get to the Kingston Penitentiary but today it just rained all day, so stayed on the boat, went over the charts for our trip to Trenton and worked on the blog. This is the first day we have had rain during the daytime, oh well we can't complain, we enjoyed our visit to this very historic city.

Sackets Harbor,NY to Clayton, NY

Friday - June 22, 2018 - 3 nights

Oh what a day! Must say for the most part our travelling days have been good but today is exceptional, no wind and beautiful sunshine. Today's run will be relatively short just 36 nm, 2 1/2 hours and we'll be able to again cruise at 16+ knots. Once away from the dock in Sackets Harbor we experienced something I have never seen before....perfectly calm water in the wide open body of water. Even on the calmest of days in New England waters there is always some type of ocean swells, though gentle they still carry the boat up and down, frankly a motion that sometimes does not necessarily agree with Lou Ann.

About an hour into our run we started to make our approach to the mighty, Saint Lawrence River and

Captain Rene

Seaway. This river stretches from the eastern shore of Lake Ontario to the Atlantic Ocean and is the main shipping channel that connects the rest of the World to all of the Great Lakes. Today's destination is Clayton, NY and the 1000 Islands. Our plans are to stay 3 nights at the new municipal dock located at the edge of Clayton's waterfront Main Street. Once tied up and checked in it's off the boat in search of the Antique Boat Museum. This would not be our first visit to Clayton, as we took our 18 foot Chris Craft on a trailer here 20 plus years ago with friends Terry & Lori. Must say that both Clayton and the museum have changed a lot.

Antique Boat Museum

The museum has expanded and added new exhibits along with La Duchesse, an elegant barge built for George Boldt, manager of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in NYC. La Duchesse has a colorful past with several different owners, the last of which is the Rand McNally family. La Duchesse was willed to the museum along with the necessary funds to restore and maintain this truly unique barge well into the future. We truly enjoyed a private guided tour with an outstanding docent. She said she was looking to plan a trip to our Mystic Seaport.

Salon on La Duchesse

Dining Room on La Duchesse

Returning from the museum we walked down the main street taking in all the little restaurants and shops including a stop at the local bakery for a fresh cookie.You know me, I love my cookies! For some reason we decided to have a pizza for dinner so we stopped and ordered one for pickup at dinner time. Shortly after getting back to the marina, Bella Blue, docked right next to us. These are the same Loopers, from Texas, we met in Atlantic City and Staten Island. Apparently on their run from Oswego, NY to Clayton they either hit something or had some type of engine issue as they limped into the dock at 8 knots. We invited them over for docktails, to sooth them and to hear the tales of the sea and before you know it's way past the time to pickup our pizza. LouAnn, runs to the pizza shop only minutes before they closed only to find they made the wrong one, it all got sorted out and finally had our pie late but oh so good!

The next two days called for showers so we decided to do the tourist thing and take a boat tour through the 1000 Islands with a stop at Boldt Castle. Like we haven't spent enough time on a boat. We chose to walk to the sightseeing boat and get a bit of exercise since it was only 2 miles away. What we didn't plan on is the steady showers all the way to the boat, so we where a couple of drenched rats when we boarded. Never the less, we enjoyed the cruise and narration through the islands and narrow passages ending with a stop at Boldt Castle. Last time here, 20 years ago, there where only a few rooms open to the public and all unfinished and truly trashed by locals. Not much to look at. Today the state of NY has done a magnificent job of finishing  many of the rooms as they would have looked had the castle been finished. Oh, George Boldt, was building the castle for his beloved wife " Louise" (Lou Ann get it) when she died.  He ordered all construction stopped and legend is he never stepped foot on the island again.

Grand Foyer of Boldt Castle

Boldt Castle

 

Boldt Castle

Have to say, if you are looking for a nice few days away try this 1000 Islands area as it is truly beautiful. By the way, there are more than 1800 islands. To be consider an island it must remain out of the water and have at least one tree. Wow, feels like I am back at TOD selling tours!

As I recall the last day in Clayton we attempted to flush our fresh water tank.  Lou Ann thought that

since there was slime in the water filter we should use baking soda and vinegar to scrub the bottom of the tank.  Since we had done this in our Viking and it worked well, we gave it a shot.  Lou Ann poured 3/4 of a big box of baking soda down the fill tube.  It all went in will except that the tube is about 12 feet long and somewhere about 4 or 5 feet the baking soda decided to clump up unbeknownst to her.  She pours in the vinegar and all it does is bubble and shoot back out of the tube.  She sheepishly came and said what had happened.  No problem, I can fix it just get a snake and put it down the fill tube.  Nope, packed in there hard.  After discussing the situation between ourselves and the Harbor Master, I decided that I would go to the hardware store in the morning and buy a small hose and a fitting to put on the end and make a jet stream of water.  The harbor master said he had a hose he would bring over and hopefully it would work.  Well voila!!!!! It did.  Thank God, we did not want to pull up the new rug to have a new hose installed.  After the clog was fixed, we got the boat back together and headed for Kingston, Ontario.

Oswego to Sackets Harbor, NY

Wednesday - June 20, 2018    Oswego to Sackets Harbor, NY     


Just one night in Oswego, not much to see or do. It's a good place or the only place to wait for a favorable weather window before heading out on to Lake Ontario. We got lucky as today, although overcast, is a good day with light winds. Most all of my boating years, and there are many, have been spent on Long Island Sound.  Well let me tell you, Lake Ontario is at least  3 time as big and at first a bit intimidating. During unfavorable weather conditions these lakes can pose some serious problems. For the past three years, planning this adventure, I have read numerous times how the Great Lakes can really become very nasty in a short period of time. 

A short run today will take us to the prettiest little harbor we have visited so far, Sackets Harbor, NY. This little port played a big roll in the War of 1812, when  a fierce battle took place and we defeated the British and forced them back to Kingston, Ontario. Seems this little port was also, a ship building harbor for the Navy.  Ships built here would defend our ports in time of war. Today Sackets Harbor, has become a nice quite waterfront village with a few small shops, restaurants and a beautiful village green right on the waterfront.

Shipbuilding History

Just a short run from Oswego just 2 1/2  hours.  After docking and check in we have the afternoon to take a short walk through town to see what's in store. Wouldn't you know there is a brewery just

Sackets Harbor Brewing Company

calling out my name. Had to sample some of the local offerings. LouAnn, has spied a restaurant for dinner, Tin Pan Galley. Dinner was good and served in the garden, but shortly after we where served, they got slammed and some guest where waiting quite a long time. The bus boy suddenly became a waiter. After dinner ice cream at the smallest ice cream shop you could ever imagine.

Tin Pan Galley Restaurant - Outdoor patio

Our second day we walked the grounds of the battle field, visited the visitors center, and did some more walking the streets of the village. Tonight dinner on-board with dessert from the local bakery, so good!

View of Sackets Harbor from the boat

Union Hotel built in 1817 
Now is the Seaway Trail Discovery Center