Day 98. July 23. On to Singer Castle. 10.1nm. 2055 Total miles

After an ordeal of de-weeding and straightening the anchor swivel fitting which had gotten twisted, we finally left the anchorage by Boldt Castle.

We continued past the north end of Wellesley Island and the Summerland Island group and then the Malomar island group, which are just off the New York shoreline. We also saw two lighthouses along the way.

After these series of islands the St Lawrence River widens with fewer granite islands dotting the seaway and to the east, the New York shoreline is more visible with less islands just off its shore. One of these Islands is Dark Island, named originally for the dense forest that did not let the sunlight hit the ground. One of the northernmost Thousand Islands, Dark Island has an interesting past and it’s own castle.

Dark Island was purchased by Frederick Bourne, the fifth President of Singer Corporation in 1900. Over the next two to three years, Bourne’s castle was completed using the stone masons and carpenters and engineers let go after Boldt ended the building of his castle. The castle design was inspired by Sir Walter Scott’s book Woodstock. The 4 story castle is made of granite with 28 rooms, secret passage ways and stairs, a four story bell tower, powerhouse, ice house and two boathouses- one big enough to house his steam powered launch.

Many conveniences were incorporated into the home early on - electricity, radiators, telephones with a switchboard, film projector, record player and lamp that attracts and catches flies and an electric light therapy box, which Bill had to try!!

Film editor

Old movie projectors

Electric light therapy box

On the grounds are tennis courts, indoor squash court, outdoor shooting area and canoe launch.

Marjorie Bourne, daughter of Frederick, took possession of the property when her father died and lived here every summer until 1966. She was an avid skier, motorboat racer and sports car driver. She sold the property and then the property fell into disrepair. Today the castle is owned by a German who collects castles, Farhad Valdi, who by chance was staying at the castle. We had to the chance to chat with him and thanked him for restoring and opening the castle to the public.

After the tour we talked with the boat operators which ran the ferries to Singer Island. Always good to have local knowledge of the waters. They reconfirmed that the anchorage we chose was good, so we pulled our lines and headed one half mile east to anchor behind Cedar Island State Park.

Cedar Island is in Chippewa Bay just off the New York shoreline. Half of the island is privately owned and the other half is a state park, with docks, rest rooms, and primitive camping sites. We walked the Island and enjoyed listening to a church youth group kids who were camping on the island and obviously having fun.

Enjoyed a beautiful sunset.

Also we’ve cleared the ARRIVE Can app which is required for crossing into Canada. Wish us luck getting through customs tomorrow.

Reflections on the Bahamas

Reflections on the Bahamas Over the past 10 weeks, we have traveled through Abaco, Eleuthera and Exuma Islands and enjoyed the hospitality of the Bahamian people. We have learned all about the islands, its unique geography - limestone, caves, blue holes and chalk cliffs; and colorful history-pirates and rum running, salt ponds and cotton plantations, boat building and wrecking/salvage. Traveling over 1300 miles through narrow cuts and wide bays to vast depths of ocean, we negotiated the islands and found safe harbors, calm coves for anchoring, bays filled with moorings and marinas large and small. This trip required us to pay close attention to the weather, the tides and currents as we traveled between and through the islands. The Bahamian people are warm and friendly, willing to give us rides, advice and directions, as well as some secret recipes!! We enjoyed hiking trails, walking the beaches, snorkeling the coral rocks and reefs, discovering ruins and ol...

June 4-5. Day 63-64. On to Cape May New Jersey. 53.4nm. Total 1534 miles.

Left Delaware City at 5:35am to be able to take advantage of the strong currents going with us while traversing Delaware River and Delaware Bay. The Delaware River goes south about 15 miles and flows into the Delaware Bay. As we travel south, New Jersey is to the east and Delaware is to our west. We are traveling just outside the shipping channel and are really moving at 10.9 knots. That is three knots faster than we normally travel, as the outgoing tides are pushing us along. Nice to have Mother Nature helps us save on fuel. The Delaware River is about 8 miles wide so there is plenty of room for the freighters and the pleasure boats. So far, we have not encountered any commercial traffic, but there is a large freighter behind us that will eventually pass us as they travel at 14 knots. The Delaware Bay proper varies from 23-29 miles wide and 26 miles long. There are five lighthouses on the Delaware marking the shipping channel. We went by Ship J...

Day 98. 2nd year. August 27. On to Manistee. Miles 25 Total miles. 3910.

We weighed anchor on a sunny 50 degree morning. So we put on our sweatshirts and drove from below as we left Frankfort. Going through Frankfort’s channel and breakwater we encountered a few intrepid fisherman and further along as we cleared the breakwater there must have been over a hundred fishing boats. Almost like playing bumper cars, but with boats. Had to negotiate a path between them as the fishing boats were all trolling fishing lines behind them. We were still seeing fishermen 4 miles south of Frankfort. These guys sure take their fishing tournaments seriously! The shoreline that we pass heading south are still sand dunes bluffs some as tall as 200 feet. As we travel, we pass the small town of Arcadia and Portage Lake, each situated on an inland lake which is connected to Lake Michigan by a dredged channel. Interesting to note that the dredged channels were originally small rivers connecting the inland lakes to Lake Michigan. As we passe...

Crustacean Travels

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