Lyn's Log, 16th July 2007
Eastern Lake Ontario

Kingston, Ontario.
N44º14', W76º29'
15,336 miles.

Crossing Lake Ontario from Oswego to Kingston on was a memorable day. It began with a slight fog but the wind slowly woke up, clearing the sky and gaining strength until we were sailing comfortably at six knots. As we neared Duck Island, about half way across, we spotted a two-masted ship with a square-rigged fore mast. It was making surprisingly good progress closer on the wind than us until we were close enough to try to photograph it. Then we noticed the approaching thunderstorm. Maybe the other ship did too as it changed course away from the dark clouds. We triple reefed the mainsail and took away the genoa before being battered with 60 knot gusts and heavy rain for half an hour as the storm thundered and flashed overhead. It then disappeared leaving us sunshine and a light wind to complete our journey.

We approached the Olympic Harbour, Kingston around six o’clock on Friday 6th July. Our American phone would not work so we tried the VHF. We could hear other marinas being hailed but there was no response from the Olympic. Eventually we found the way in and tied alongside the nearest dock. The young man in the office showed us where we could contact Customs but otherwise took little interest. Two Customs officers visited us within the half hour to stamp our passports. We were now cleared into Canada.

The 7th was a lovely sunny morning with the marina full of people going boating, yet the office was closed for the weekend! We had no money and no information about the town or where to find things. We walked up the street and although we found an ATM in a very small store where we got some bread and milk, the place was virtually dead. There was no-one to pay at the marina, so we just left. A little further along the coast we checked into the city centre marina, right next to the visitors’ information office, shops, restaurants, etc.

This was Andrew’s birthday. We took a guided tram tour round the town, visited the supermarket and did the laundry. I could watch the television weather station whilst waiting for the dryer to finish. And we ate in a classy Italian restaurant that evening as his treat.

Kingston had been central to Britain’s defence of Canada in the early 19thC The next morning we walked a couple of miles to the citadel of Fort Henry on a hill overlooking the town. This has been completely restored as it would have been in the 1860’s, complete with dozens of ‘soldiers’ in red and black uniforms – students on thir summer vacation. They marched about the fort, performed a gun firing exercise at midday, led guided tours showing how life was for them, and performed drills and displays. They even dressed up some of the small children who were visiting, and tried to get them to march and charge with wooden rifles! The fort was well displayed and informative. We caught a bus back to town in the afternoon and found a lovely coffee shop with free wifi access.

After three days in lovely Kingston we set out to the Thousand Islands (pic above). This is a major holiday resort for boaters where Lake Ontario enters the St Lawrence river. Here the waters are peppered with rocky outcrops, salmon pink, grey and green (from the lichen), with fir trees on the top. Some of the rocks are tall and sheer, and some like a pile tipped out of a truck. If big enough for a house or cabin it would probably have one, though some islands were deliberately left to nature, under the watchful eye of a park warden. A fair proportion of the islands belong to Canada’s parks and can be visited by us boaters. Small docks are provided here and there, complete with picnic tables, and a few areas have mooring buoys. Unfortunately for us, most were put in too shallow and with difficulty we searched for suitable places to anchor. Under the water the land rises and falls very steeply, hence the pinnacles rising above the water forming the islands. It was lovely to be able to swim in the fresh water and walk a few short trails on the islands.

We went as far down the St Lawrence as the island of Adelaide and watched a really spectacular twisting cloud formation prior to a thunderstorm. Having seen it coming, we managed to anchor in good time before the rain. In the morning, another yacht was not so fortunate and tried anchoring in the fullness of the storm. He dragged to within a few feet of our yacht and then spent the rest of the storm motoring in circles. On 16th July we were back in Kingston where we could catch up on the internet.