An Introduction to the Thousand Islands

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June 24, 2022

You know that salad dressing? It comes from here, I suppose. Maybe it comes from the chef of Bolt Castle, Mr Bolt, the manager of the Waldorf-Astoria in the early 1900’s. (later in our trip) Not important really, but there are 1800 or so little and big islands in the 1000 Islands located at the headwaters of the St. Lawrence at the east end of Lake Ontario.

Looking out from Sackets Harbor. The labyrinth of islands and water ways is vast. One gets lots constantly in the charts. It takes a while to figure out an area.

Clayton, NY

Today, we are in Clayton, NY. This is a hoppin’ place. Much more like we’d heard the 1000 Islands would be. A “typical” lake experience with lots of boats coming and going; a lively shore scene and in general lots going on. Still, rather serine with the occasional 700 ft long freighter coming by. Somehow, folks on their little boats see to stay out of the way.

Folks think nothing of freighters. I believe we saw 8 or so today. Last night, we saw 3 and perhaps another 3 or 4 during the night.

Canada, Nay, You May Not Stay

We tried to anchor last night in Canada but didn’t. Yes, we anchored in a lovely little spot, Button Bay (isn’t that a nice name?), just in the St. Lawrence on the Canada side. Jim did the “ArriveCan” app deal, got a a number but then thought he was still supposed to call in. So, he did. They said we needed to go to a border check in location. There is one around the “corner” from us (a long underwater peninsula), but we have to take the big boat. AND, it is a ferry only terminal (where would we dock) for a ferry that is not running. Don’t think that will work. Or, go over the river and through the woods to Kingston, about 2 hours to the north to check in. Nope, not today. So we just leave Canada. I don’t like Canada anyway…

My only picture of our cute Button Bay.
This is Canadian War Ship 701. that is it’s official name on AIS. US military just don’t have names. As we were leaving Button Bay, this guy was sailing toward us. We though he was coming to escort us from Canada, or take us to jail! The crazy thing… he was sailing is US waters! I wanted to confiscate him.

Carlton Island

I had 2 alternate locations scoped out that were in US waters, so we forge ahead, down the St. Lawrence. It had been a short day so far so would not be much of an extra haul down river, just frustrating. But I liked our new spot! We ended up on the east side of Carlton Island. A little alcove but sufficiently protected from the winds (of which there were few).

One of our sunset views from our 2nd anchorage of the day.

We washed the boat and did some waxing. I paddle boarded. We watched big ships go by. We chatted with with a guy care-taking his Aunt’s island cottage of which there are 10,000 (that is 1800 islands and an average of 5 per island) cottages.

Aunties cottage. He said we could tie up at the dock and go ashore. But, where to go? There is a little road on the island based on Google Maps, but no cars. No stores and maybe 6 or 8 private houses. Very pretty but the world is water focused. So, we stayed put.

Turned out it was a lovely spot with incredible sunset views, swans and bugs (thus, washing the boat)

The sunset made up for our having to move.

Sackets Harbor, NY

But, I’ve missed Sackets Harbor New York. This was our foray into Lake Ontario (the only day we had in the lake) to what turns out to the the northern front of the war of 1812. Luckily the battles were long fought and it was safe. A major shipbuilding spot during the war where the US was trying to keep the British and Canadians at bay. Sackets Harbor is a cute little town with good food, safe harborage and very friendly people.

The marina had a Tiki Hut. The club house. Folks just bring a bottle to add to the collection. All free for sharing. Bill just finished the Great Loop a couple weeks ago and lives here (not in the hut). He comes around and invites folks for nightly “docktails” as the looper crowd calls them. Sue from Houston and her husband are doing the loop and were there for the night along with several other couples. A lively event that one could not do every night. At least I could not! But, it was lots of fun and it did it two nights.

The Fort(s) here (turns out there were multiple; Pike, Volunteer, Kentucky, Madison Barracks had an interesting history of ship building before and during the War of 1812 and through the early 1950’s when it was abandoned and turned into apartments and a State Park. There were lots of trails and signs talking about the back and forth of the two battles for this location and the ship building here; building a war ship from scratch in 90 days. This was the US ship building capital of the Great Lakes during the early 1800’s.

A modern bench in Madison Barracks in front of the old water tower from the turn of the 20th century. I liked the statement on the bench, ” Don’t take life too seriously, you’ll never make it our alive anyway.”

We also have started riding the bikes more as it provides an opportunity to see more of a town in short order and frankly, we need the exercise.

We had some very tasty salads in Sackets Harbor after a nice bike ride. The restaurant had extensive gardens (for a restaurant) with a fully culinary garden. Our bikes tucked against the tree in the background.

More on Clayton

Back to Clayton. We’ll stay here for another night on their “paid/free/no services” very convenient dock for the antique boat museum and car show tomorrow. Oh… I forgot to mention the 2nd new sport we have been exposed to on this trip while in Clayton . Dog water jumping. Big tank of water.. Dogs run and jump (launch) into the water. They jump 20 – 23 feet! They are coaxed with a toy and I imagine they are often bird dogs. The national event this year is in Nashville the announcer said. There is a hobby for everyone.

This pup, Coco, jumped 23 feet. We didn’t hang around so are not sure if he won. The tug and orange/yellow lift (along with the St. Lawrence behind) are unrelated to the event.
As we were headed into Clayton, we encountered Theodore Too. An interesting Tug. Turns out is from a TV show and an “international” celebrity for water safety traveling the Great Lakes and East Coast of the US and Canada.

Comments

An Introduction to the Thousand Islands — 3 Comments

  1. You didn’t know about Theodore Too? I don’t recall how/when/where I heard about him, so I did a search on children books and tug boats and that is probably what I remember rather than Theodore. Found such little tugs as “Little Toot” and “Scruffy” and “Tuggy” and probably more… who knew!

  2. Dog water jumping? Surprised there’s no mutual wagering on such. Love the sunsets and history.

  3. I feel I may have seen this tug somewhere in our travels. Not sure, but there is something in my brain. Pretty cute though.