Canada Highlights/Lake Ontario/St. Lawrence

We crossed the St. Lawrence Seaway into Canada with a little "chart" confusion. There are 1782 islands in the Thousand Islands and they don't have any signs on them telling us which island they are! We perused our charts very carefully and remembered some information that another boater had given us and we were able to wend our way through a couple of islands to the Gananoque Passage and into the town of Gananoque. There was a ferry boat heading in the same direction so we decided not to fight him for the lead into the passage and just followed him in. We called in for directions to our slip and I needed to stay on the boat while Flint went into the marina and called in to check us through customs. It was a very easy process and it was just a matter of answering a few questions and receiving a custom's number that had to be posted in the window of the boat. There were a couple of other looper boats already there and they were going to dinner and to see Les Miserable at the local playhouse the next night so we obtained tickets and joined them. It was an excellent production, although we were not aware that every word was going to be sung and not spoken.

The next day was Sunday and we usually like to scout out a church to attend so we found Grace United Church a couple of blocks away from the marina that looked like one we would enjoy. We also found an advertisement for a church service on Sunday afternoon at 4 PM that was going to be held in a place called Half Moon Bay. This place is on an island about 2 miles from the marina that is a cut in the rocky cliffs of the island in the shape of a half moon. The people of Gananoque sponsor these services each Sunday in July and August for anyone who wishes to attend. You can either go in your own small boat or they will pick you up at the marina dock and take you there. They picked us up at 3 PM in a little runabout and took us to the bay where high walls of rock lie on each side of the cut. We were transferred to another boat so that the boat owner could return to the marina and pick up more people. Eventually there were about a dozen boats in this little bay all tied up to each other and full of people ready for the service. Inside the bay was a large flat rock area that had been transformed into a stage where the choir and rector from Burlington, Ontario Anglican church presented the service. All the congregants in the boats had bulletins to follow which were passed out by three young ladies in a canoe. We sang and prayed and listened to a wonderful homily. At the end each boat took the visitors back to the marina. What an experience! We have included a couple of pictures, but you had to have been there to get the full import of the service. A memory we will never forget.

We left Gananoque with great memories and followed our charts through the Bateau Channel to Kingston, Ontario. There were some extremely deep sections of the channel that went down about 185 feet followed by 30 and 40 foot sections. Flint watched his depth finder go straight up and he wondered where it would end. On the chart at one point, it indicated that there was a cable ferry that went across the channel. As we approached the area, the ferry was leaving from the north side of the channel and crossing in front of us. We looked at the stern of the ferry and there were cables extending down into the water. We came to a stop to allow the ferry to pass and made sure that the cables were well under the water before we passed over. It was a little disconcerting to think that we were passing over cables under the water, but we guessed that they were laying on the bottom after the ferry passed to the other shore.

We arrived in Kingston, Ontario and were docked at the furthest slip away from the marina where they always put the "transients". For those of you who have worried about how we are going to get exercise while we travel, don't have any concern about that. We get all the exercise we need as we walk to the rest rooms and the laundry and into town to see the sights. We also ride our bikes to many of the sights in each town we visit. I think we have both lost weight in the month we have been traveling. Kingston is a wonderful town filled with historical significance in the very old buildings that are here as well as the military forts that were erected to protect them from the dangerous Americans. The picture included is of a tower that had guns and cannons in it to protect Kingston from their enemies. There were four towers surrounding the city. We visited St. George Anglican church, which was erected in the 1700s and has been added to over the years. The founder of the church was a missionary from Pennsylvania who came to this area to minister to the Mohicans. The interior was magnificent. We have included a picture of a steam engine, which was the last one manufactured in Kingston and has been dedicated to Sir John A. MacDonald who was the first Prime Minister. We were going to go to Fort Henry tonight for the sunset ceremonies tonight, but I think we are toured out right now. We are going to make dinner aboard and go to a show at the local Holiday Inn this evening. Not very historical, but it should be fun. Our daughter, Jennifer, and her husband Jeff will be joining us for the next leg of our trip up the Trent-Severn waterway so we will hopefully have internet access along the way and be able to let you know what we are seeing and doing.