I can't imagine how I'm going to be able to share with you all that happened this week, but I will do my best. It has been an amazing week of seeing new things and meeting new people and we are in awe of the wondrous things we have seen and done. The last blog ended in Oswego, NY and we were facing a crossing on Lake Ontario. We were encouraged to start early because the winds begin to pick up as the morning passes and we are glad we listened. It was a little rough, but it wasn't anything that either we or the boat couldn't handle.
We arrived in Henderson Harbor and were going to anchor out, but as we approached a mooring area we heard someone on our radio calling the motor yacht in the harbor and we realized that it was us they were calling. The gentleman asked if we were yacht club members and would we like to dock at their yacht club for $25 for the night. We said, "Sure", and he guided us into their club by a very obscure route. It seems that the direction we were going had some pretty significant shoals and we might have gone aground in a couple of minutes. We were only going to stay one night, but they were having a potluck dinner the next night that we were invited to, so we stayed and met some wonderful people. One of the members took us shopping and for a tour of the surrounding area. He took us to a Mennonite store called Sharps Bulk Foods and as we were talking to the owner we found out that his cousin owns a Sharps food store near Lancaster, PA that Flint's sister shops at. Small world!
We left Henderson Harbor reluctantly, because we enjoyed the small town ambiance, and headed for Cape Vincent at the mouth of the St. Lawrence Seaway where we had a "free" dock. We take them anytime we can get them. This town had all the amenities we needed so we got our laundry done, did a little shopping and of course partook of the local ice cream shoppe fare. We called some looper friends we had met along the way to find out where they had docked at Clayton, NY, which was going to be our next stop. They were still in Clayton with three other looper boats, so we headed down the St. Lawrence Seaway, even though the weather was overcast and windy. Initially we had the seas on our beam and we were really rolling a lot, but we were finally able to head in a more easterly direction and the seas were on our stern and the remainder of the ride was a lot smoother. We arrived in Clayton and Flint masterfully put us into a slip with about a foot on each side to spare. It feels good to be able to handle both the boat and the lines with a little more confidence and not to be as fearful as we were initially.
Clayton is a wonderful place to stay and we have had two days full of incredible sights as we have toured like vacationers. I know, I know, we have told all of you that we are not on vacation, we are on an adventure, but we couldn't help it! There is so much to see! We went to the Antique Boat Museum two blocks away from our dock and we couldn't believe that there could be so many beautiful wood boats in one place. They range in age from the early 1900s to about 1950 and run the gamut from Indian canoes to an 80 ft. houseboat that Mr. Boldt, who owned the Waldorf Astoria, built to live on while his castle was being constructed. The houseboat was two-story and had various types of Mahogany that had been used throughout all the rooms. We have included a couple of pictures of what we saw at the museum.
The Boldt Castle is the next attraction that we visited and the trip there was as entertaining as the tour of the castle. We could have traveled in our own boat, as they have docks for visiting boats, but we thought it might be fun to go on the pontoon tour boat that left from Clayton. The ride took about half an hour and the tour guide on the boat told us about all the sights on the way there as there were some beautiful homes along the coast of the St. Lawrence as well as on private islands. People own their own islands here! Some of them have barely enough room for a house and a boathouse, but others have wonderful estates and grounds. One of the islands including a home was on sale for 1.5 million. We have included some pictures of Boldt Castle and one of the island homes that even has a separate little island with a bridge spanning the two islands. We ended this July 4th holiday by grilling a steak on the deck at our marina and watching all the crazy boaters racing in and out of the bay. We will leave you with the sunset view from our current dock.
Well, we are on our way to Canada tomorrow and hopefully they will let us in! We will let you know how that goes on our next posting.
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