Oh Canada!🇨🇦

We picked a good weather window to cross Lake Ontario on a day when the Great Lake was calm as a pond.  We selected an anchorage off of a beautiful island near Cape Vincent, NY.  Our calm night at anchor included a pleasant dinghy ride around the island before sunset.  We then swam off the stern of our boat in the cool waters of the Thousand Islands area of the St. Lawrence River.

The next morning we were faced with strong winds and rain coming from the south.  We weighed anchor only to find a 16 inch diameter boulder wedged into the claw of our anchor.  We brought the anchor up to the bow pulpit with the boulder still attached and, after unsuccessfully trying to dislodge it, we left for a nearby marina in Clayton, NY.  While at the marina, we were able to dislodge the boulder from our anchor claw.  After two great sightseeing days in Clayton which included visiting the great Antique Boat Museum, we kept moving northwest on the St. Lawrence River.

After stopping at the 1000 Islands Yacht Club in Alexandria Bay, NY, we took a dinghy ride to visit the well known Boldt Castle.  The castle was built in the early 1900s on Heart Island by George Boldt. He was the proprietor of the NY Waldorf-Astoria and had the castle built as a gift for his wife.  Unfortunately, she died before the completion of the castle so Mr. Boldt stopped any further construction on the project and no one has ever lived in the magnificent home.  It is gradually being restored by the Thousand Islands Bridge Foundation with funding provided by tour proceeds and donations.

On our further journey northbound, we traversed the Iroquois Lock, Eisenhower Lock, Snell Lock, Upper and Lower Beauharnois Locks, as well as the St. Catherine Lock and St. Lambert Lock.   The last four locks have all been in Canadian waters.   It is customary to fly the Canadian flag as well as the US flag when in International waters.  This series of Locks has lowered us a total of 257 feet from the level of Lake Ontario to the river level at Montreal.

We are now at a comfortable marina for several days in the heart of Old Port Montreal where we can easily walk to some great tourist sites as well as fine dining.  We will start heading west again next week to visit Ottawa.