Day 4-5. 2nd year. May 24-25 Lay day in Cape Vincent and on to Ten Thousand Islands. Trip miles 24.4 Total miles 2878
May 24. Cape Vincent. The forecast called for 90% chance of rain and the weathermen were right. It rained til about 2:30 with some pretty good gusts. We tested out our leak in the rain and it passed inspection. The sun came out but the wind was still very gusty. Thought we would move after the rain but we opted to stay put with the winds. Was a lazy day doing puzzles, reading, planning our next few days. Once the sun came out we got some exercise by walking around the little town.
We were not alone on our boat during the day. We had lots of other boat company, lots bigger boats traveling the St Lawrence Seaway
May 25 Day 5 2nd year On to Alexandria Bay and the Ten Thousand Islands
We left Cape Vincent and it was a bit cool - 48 degrees. It was a bright sunny day as we continued north up the St Lawrence River. Eventually warmed up to 67 degrees!
As we headed north we still had the wind turbines on Wolfe Island to the east and to the west was the town of Clayton and the summer cottages and homes on the heavily forested shores of New York.
Further north we entered the Ten Thousand Islands, which oddly enough has lots of islands, some American, some Canadian. A few of the islands are quite large with lots of homes and farms, some are small enough for one or two cottages and others are just granite rocks.
Approaching the large Wellesley Island, we cruised in the American Narrows and under the International Bridge connecting the US with Canada. In this section we got a boost of 1.5 to 2 knots of speed with the current of the St Lawrence pushing us through the narrows. We were speeding at 9.5 knots or about 11 miles per hour! It was interesting to note that the depths on the narrows ranged from 70-200 feet deep. Apparently this area had to be dug out to accommodate the large freighters and the bottom is quite uneven. As a result water is pushed up from the deep sections up to the surface when it encounters a shallow section, causing eddies to swirl on the surface.
Near the bridge we saw three adult swans, one with cygnets(baby swans).
As we left the narrows, we arrived in Alexandria Bay. We topped off the tanks, trying to avoid buying too much fuel in Canada- its expensive. The marina let us use their dock so we could walk around town and have lunch.
Saw a mommy Canadian goose with her goslings. She did a good job of posing.
Alexandria Bay was first settled by the Iroquois and Algonquin Indians as their summer fishing and hunting grounds. Next the French set up trading posts, some supplying needed resources to the new colonies in America. Ownership of the lands went through several hands before Aziariah Walton purchased the 35 miles of St Lawrence riverfront and it’s many islands during the mid 1800’s for $3000. After the Civil War, wealthy sportsmen and business owners began purchasing the property and islands for private use building large summer homes. People such as George Pullman (railroad), JG Holland (magazine publisher), Nathan Shaw( Macy’s), Frederick Bourne(Singer), and George Boldt ( Waldorf Astoria Hotel) built here. Grand resorts, retail stores, marinas and construction business sprang up in Alexandria Bay to support this influx of people. Today Alexandria Bay is the major tourist spot for people to visit Boldt and Singer castles.
Having finished our tour of Alexandria Bay, we left the marina and headed out to anchor behind Boldt Castle. After we got the boat settled at anchor, we then took the dinghy to visit some of the summer cottages built by those first millionaires on Millionaire Row. Those cottages were pretty spectacular.
