6/21/18 Thursday: From Boldt Castle, we tootled across the U.S./Canadian border, and stopped at Rockport to check-in with Canadian Immigration & Customs. We got there about 4:30. This was a whopping 3 mile journey. Rockport is a tiny little town, but our navigation charts showed that it had a Customs office. We found Andress Boat Works, with a long dock that we could tie up to.
The wind was blowing a bit, but Captain pulled right up and the Line Goddess got us hooked, cleated, and tied up in no time. Then I had to quick get back on the boat! Until we are cleared with Customs, nobody is supposed to be off of the boat except the Captain. So he got our little packet of info, with our passports, boat info and so on, and went up to the building. There on the side of the building was a pay phone, with a toll free number to call Customs. Seriously – a pay phone! How long since you’ve seen one of those!? You can call from your cell phone, but they seem to prefer that you call from a known marina location so that if they do decide to send an officer out, your location is readily identifiable. Captain had to be on hold for awhile, but when the officer finally answered, he said that he had an appointment waiting and that this would be quick. He asked for the boat number. Oh. This boat has never been to Ontario? No Sir. OK, this will take a little longer. He asked for all the boat and passport info, did we have any alcohol, liquor, firearms or anything else to declare? No firearms, and just ship stores for personal use on board, nothing to declare. OK – here is your check-in number – post it on your window. TA-DA! All done with Customs. 👍
From here, we had just another three miles to travel to get to tonight’s destination. Along the way, we admired some very beautiful homes on the Canadian side of the St Lawrence River.
And some with some very impressive boat houses!
Our final destination for the day was a dock at a harbor host’s home! Jeffrey and Anne did the loop in 2015/16. They are U.S. citizens who live here in the summer, and live in Ft. Myers in the winter. They have since sold the boat that they did the loop in, and have room on their dock for visitors! They call their home a cottage. Well maybe, compared to the castles around here. It is a lovely home, with at least 5 bedrooms and 3 floors.
They greeted us on the dock, and we visited with them for a few hours on their patio along with Jeff’s mom Joyce, who will be celebrating her 85th birthday this Saturday, and his sister and fiancé (I think). What a lovely setting! They were such nice people, and we really enjoyed the visit. This worked out perfectly for our late start day. There was no power on the dock, but that’s just fine. Island Girl does great living on battery power.
They gave us a tour of their home, and then we gave them a tour of Island Girl. After a very nice evening, we said good night and thanked them for their hospitality. They said they had to be away early in the morning, so we said our goodbyes. It was after 8:00 pm- it stays light really late – it is the summer solstice today! We had Taco Thursday on the boat for dinner, since I can put that together without the stove or generator running. This was our view.
And looking more westerly, our view of the Thousand Island Bridge at sunset.
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6/22/18, Friday, Day 102: After a leisurely morning, we left Jeffrey & Anne’s dock around 11:00. We weren’t going to go far – just to a Parks Canada island to either set an anchor or grab a mooring buoy for the night. It was forecasted to be a calm night, so we thought a day and night at a park would be fun. We saw lots more tiny islands. This one looks kind of like something governmentally official, with it’s green roof and flags flying.
Jeffrey had recommended Camelot Island. There was a nice little bay with three buoys, but they were all occupied. Around the other side there were two, and one was open, so we took it. It was less protected, but it was OK. We quickly learned why it was open. The loop and chain that slides through the middle of the buoy would not slide and lift up for me to get a line through it! It was stuck – at water level. Shoot – now what do we do??! Luckily, a nice fella from a nearby boat was out in his dinghy, and he came over and put my line through the loop for me. YAY!
This is our view – look how clear the water is near shore!
We took Stuart out of his cradle and went for a spin. Endymion Island next door has a large open bay with 5 of 7 open buoys. I guess we could have gone there, too. We had fun cruising around. Back at the boat, Engineering wanted to run the generator for awhile, just because it hasn’t been started for over a month. The chef made a gallon of sweet tea while the stove could be used. The captain really likes sweet tea. We had some lunch and enjoyed sitting on the back patio. Then I realized that one reason we came to an island was to hike around some trails. (Well, my reason, anyway.) It was getting late in the day, and Captain wasn’t so interested – it was getting to be mosquito time. So – I packed up my camera in my little backpack, got a quick lesson on how to drive Stuart, and away I went! Kenny didn’t even get a picture of me on my solo adventure! HA! It was so funny. Of course, on a tiller engine like this, the throttle is on the handle, and you steer by moving the handle/motor to the right or left. Every time I moved the engine to steer, I would braap the throttle. So I was doing wheelies every time I tried to turn! It was really funny, and Kenny just laughed and shook his head in amazement. I pulled up to a little dock and got myself all tied off. It was a fantabulous landing, I must say. 😉
Welcome to Camelot Island. No hable Espanol here – parlez vous Francais?
I hiked around the island and got some pictures of Island Girl. And I saw this black fluffy critter scurry across the path and hide behind a tree. I thought maybe it was a ferrel cat or something. Nope – it was a black squirrel! I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a black squirrel before. We’re in Canada, eh?, and I think he’s probably French speaking, so his name is probably not Earl (the squirrel).
The island had several tent sites, a couple of pit toilets, and a covered picnic area. On the other side of the island where the other boats were moored, there were some tent campers up on the island.
I realized that I had come to the island in such a rush that I forgot to spray down with cootie spray. The bugs weren’t bad, but I figured I better get back to the big boat. We enjoyed a cocktail on the patio, and God treated us to the most fantastic sunset!! WOW! The Thousand Islands is a spectacularly beautiful place. It’s too bad that most loopers do not take this mini side trip!
The weather is supposed to get rainy for the next couple of days, so tomorrow we’ll probably duck into a marina for a place to be. YAY! We get to start discovering quaint little Canadian towns now! By the way, I haven’t told you about Thousand Island Salad Dressing (one of Kenny’s main food groups!). It originated here and was named for this area! There are a couple of different stories and it isn’t completely documented which is true. Allen Benas was a local fishing guide, and he claimed he found the true, original recipe tucked away in a safe at The Thousand Islands Inn – a restaurant that he purchased in 1972 in Clayton. We were there a few days ago. Inside was a single sheet of paper labeled “Sophia’s Sauce.” Sophia was Sophia Lelonde, who was married to a fishing guide at the end of the 19th century. She and her husband, George Lelonde, used to own the restaurant. The story goes that Sophia used to make the dressing for her husband, who would then serve it to fishermen along the river. The Lelondes also served it to May Irwin, an actress who used to vacation in the Thousand Islands region and took fishing trips with him. Ms. Irwin was taken with Sophia’s secret sauce – so much so that she convinced the Lelondes to share the recipe with her. And who did she share it with? George and Louise Boldt, the proprietor of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York. Boldt then directed his world famous maitre d’, Oscar of the Waldorf, to put it on the hotel’s menu at once. Another version says that the Boldt’s chef came up with it. Either way, it was George Boldt who made it famous by putting it on the menu in New York City. He also made the Waldorf Salad famous. Just tidbits of fun trivia.