July 21. Day 97. On to Boldt Castle Thousand Islands. Nm 9.8. Total

We survived well our first experience of anchoring in rocky terrain, but pulling up the anchor was hard work due to the weeds!

Leaving Picton Island, cruised through some smaller islands and then into the American Narrows part of the St Lawrence. This section of the river is about one half mile wide and up to 169 feet deep. Luckily no freighters accompanied us through this section.

We traveled past Wellesley Island (Am) which is one of the largest islands in the Thousand Islands and along the New York shoreline. Lovely summer cottages, some quite large and other small, many with boathouses lining the shoreline.

Next we go under the Thousand Island bridge which, of course, has to be tall enough for freighters or over 150 feet clearance.

We approached Heart Island and were in awe of Boldt Castle. We slowly motored around the island and docked on their wall.

Boldt Castle was built but George Boldt, hotelier and owner of the Waldorf Astoria. Boldt bought one of the Thousand Islands in 1900 and began construction of his castle as a tribute to his wife, Louise. He had the island rocky bed reconfigured in the shape of a heart-thus the island is called Heart Island. The castle has 6 stories with 120 rooms complete with tunnels, powerhouse, Italian garden, stone gazebo, dovecote, massive boathouse and a drawbridge. Three hundred workers- stonemasons, carpenters and artists worked for four years to complete the castle. But the castle was not finished as Louise Boldt died suddenly and George Boldt ordered all work to stop and workers to leave the site. The castle then sat for 70 years with weather and vandals taking their toll. Currently the site is being restored by the Thousand Island Bridge Authority.

We will spend the day exploring the island and it’s castle and the anchor nearby for the night.

Here are some drone shots Bill took of Heart Island and the castle.

Left Heart Island and anchored about 1/4 mile away for the night.

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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