The Thousand Islands both failed to meet my expectations and far exceeded them. I guess this is to say that my expectations were all wrong. So what did I expect then? I thought I would be in a rural aquatic area accessible only by boat and largely untouched by man. What I found was just the opposite. Whereas there were at least a thousand islands (I believe Terri read somewhere that there are actually 1800), most of them were completely built out with some homes occupying 90+% of the available land. Homes were big and small. And yes they were islands so boats were the primary form of access, but there were large towns and small cities all around so amenities were never far off.
Clayton NY
In the last post I mentioned we were stopping in Clayton. This turned out to be a wonderful town with great food and a cool wooden boat museum. The area's history is one of wealth and at the turn of the 1900s this was a playground for the rich and famous. With this came racing speed boats made of wood with giant engines and brave (or foolish) soles to drive them.
(Look at some of the names listed here.)
It was a very cool place to visit and the boats were spectacular to look at. That evening, back at our own boat, a massive storm rolled through. Look at the gift it left us!
If you look closely, you can see that it is a double rainbow.
At Clayton, we reconnected with our new French Canadian friends MC and Mario. What a hoot these two were with MC giving me an endless raft of crap for having forgotten the first time we met them. I pointed out that if they only had a "boat card", I could remember them. The next day MC presented us with this:
MC had taken Never Home's card and marked it all up. 10 minutes of laughing ensued.
Boldt Castle
Time to get out to the Islands and see what all the fuss was about. Our destination, Boldt Castle. The Cliff Notes version of this story is that an extremely wealthy American set out to build a castle for the love of his life, his wife. About 75% through completion she died and he abandoned the project. ~75 years later the Thousand Island Bridge Authority picked it up and is finishing construction to the original spec. It is open to the public.
On the way to the castle we passed a lot of islands. Here is what i was talking about them being so largely built on.
Arriving at Boldt was spectacular, so much so that I put the drone up and started taking pics.
Here are some we took of the grounds.
The inside was even more amazing.
To top it off, we went to the Boldt Castle boat house. NOW THIS IS A BOAT HOUSE! Just look at the size of those doors and imagine how big a boat can go in that thing ....
Georgina
That was a great way to spend the morning, but we were here to see the islands. Multiple people had said that Georgina was one of the top spots to anchor so off we went. Together with Never Home and Feel Good (aka MC and Mario), the Shorebilly took off around the maze of islands. Georgina is a gorgeous spot but it's real claim to fame is a natural lazy river. You can walk across the island and jump in the water. The currents carry you around the island back to your boats. Way cool. Time for some more drone shots!
How about a drone video!!!
The three boats ended up staying at another different great anchorage the next night that was as equally as beautiful and it was fun traveling with everyone. The water was perfect for swimming and so clear to the bottom. We ended up really enjoying MC (or is it JC???) and Mario. Real salt of the earth kind of people.
The ladies perhaps had too much fun.
Main Duck Island
When we were in Kingston, I wrote about someone leaving a note on my boat. The guy later stopped by and was fantastic. He highly encouraged us to go to Main Duck Island. This is technically not part of the Thousand Islands but in managed and maintained by Parks Canada. It is located in the middle of Lake Ontario. Feel Good and Never Home where headed their own ways so I talked Terri into going. Jumping out into the middle of a great lake is not something to be taken lightly and the fact that the coast guard was broadcasting squall warnings did not improve her comfort. But, being the sport she is (and the fact that looks can't actually kill), she agreed to go. Thank God we did. It has been the highlight of the trip so far!! Think emerald green waters with ship wrecks in 15 feet of water for snorkeling (we did not have snorkels). Think miles of green hiking trails. Think cliffs facing the water. Just beautiful. Time for the drone to go up again.
In reading up on the island, there was a lot of talk about snakes and in fact we saw many. They were not poisonous and simply scattered when person or dog got near. No issues. However, what we did not expect to see were the snapping turtles. They were HUGE. We saw one with a 3 foot back. They were only in the harbor and not in the swimming areas. The locals learned how to make an adventure out of these things by feeding them sausages on a skewer. The turtles would beg like a dog for the treat.
I fell in love with this place. Here is an attempt at an aerial video showing it off.
Crossing back to the mainland from the center of the lake the next day was effortless. The Shorebilly is the perfect craft for such an adventure. Next up, the Trent Severn. This is endlessly talked about in the loop literature. I can't wait!
Nebo has come out with a new reporting feature allowing me to show our entire trip-to-date. Take a look at this!
Thanks for the look inside and out of Boldt Castle. We’ve been there a couple times but not for 30 or more years now! The restorations are quite impressive now that they are complete. Thousand Islands area is beautiful and I’m glad that you are getting to enjoy so much along the way. Cheers!
January 11 The Everglades Having grown up watching Gentle Ben, I was always awestruck by the very concept of the Everglades. I couldn't wait to actually see it. The idea of boating through it on my own craft was never really a childhood thought. It was too far fetched to consider. I have talked a bunch about the Shorebilly and it's versatility on the trip. Big Ben introduced the world to the airboat and made the shallows of the region notorious. One of the giant advantages of the Shorebilly her draft, which is only ~2 feet. Our first stop was Goodland. Here are two views of the navigation into the area. Dark red means less than one foot. Light red means 1 - 4 feet. These are essentially the same view just one is zoomed way in. Red is bad .... Click to enlarge But the Shorebilly went through without any problems. In the shallow areas I simply tilted up the engines and glided over everything. This from a boat that was able to also tame a 180 miles open water cro
April 11, 2024 Day 330 The InterCoastal Waterway We have really enjoyed the InterCoastal Waterway (ICW). Lots of areas (New Jersey .... Western Florida ...) list waterways as ICW. However, the ICW from the Florida Keys to Norfolk Va is managed and maintained by the Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). Thus it tends to be deep and extremely well documented. For example, in my carting software (Aquamaps) I can overlay the USACE survey to see exact depths. To make this easier, a gent named Bob developed "Bob423 Tracks". No idea where the 423 comes from. Bob423 Tracks presents the optimum path through the ICW trying to keep boaters off the bottom. Almost daily Bob reads the reports of "shoaling" along the ICW and adjusts 1000+ mile route and posts these tracks for free for all boaters. There is great comfort in having an exact route to follow. But that is not the charm of the ICW. We were less than enamored by the Florida ICW. It was opulent and excessive to an ex
March 10, 2024 (Day 298) Finally, a day I can catch up on the blog. I have attempted this several times but the marina wifi was not strong enough to keep a link. Those of you following us on Nebo are probably wondering why we are stuck in Florida so long. Some have asked if we are having boat problems or health issues. No, all is good. The device we use for tracking us, Nebo Link, does not work with the Bahamian network so what it shows is as the last place it could communicate. We are in the Bahamas! The Crossing The crossing ... the crossing ... AGAIN??? Yea, it seems to be that I talk about that a lot. But you know ... heading 70 miles out into the Atlantic Ocean is more than a notion. We staged at Lake Worth near West Palm Beach Florida waiting for the right weather window. This time of year they are few and far between. We waited and waited. The difference between a good day and bad day looks like this: Bad Good The blue i
You’re having soooo much fun! It’s 95 here today 🥵 betcha don’t miss the heat!
ReplyDeleteI had Snapper soup with lunch today. The drone shots are very cool. I think it will be useful fishing on the bay
ReplyDeleteGreat commentary!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the look inside and out of Boldt Castle. We’ve been there a couple times but not for 30 or more years now! The restorations are quite impressive now that they are complete. Thousand Islands area is beautiful and I’m glad that you are getting to enjoy so much along the way. Cheers!
ReplyDelete