Traveling Home, Wemps Bay and Home.

September 3, 2011 — s/v Black Diamond

Long trek home!

From Leek Island it is a 6 hours trek to Wemps Bay on Amherst Island past Kingston.

We stopped at the Kingston Yacht Club for 20 mins, re-fuel, fill water tanks, hose down cockpit, empty trash bags, buy dinghy fuel, oil. And were off.

Wemps Bay, Amherst Island.

Sun set in Wemps Bay on the west end of Amherst Island, east of Kingston, Ontario

Wemps Bay is our little secret. A very large bay enough room for dozens of boats on anchor. Large sandy beach, shallow enough that you can walk out about 300-400 meters. Soft sand on your toes the whole way out. Every time we have been here, we were the only ones here. Yes, Roxane makes bread here too.

We swam off the boat, had a nice sunset dinner. Then off to our friends boat by dinghy for cocktails.

Wemps Bay, Amherst Island, Swimming

We swam in the bay at sunset before dinner.

We woke at 5:30 am for a 6:30am departure to Cobourg.

We stopped mid afternoon a few miles offshore, and everyone of us on both boats jumped into the lake for a cool re-freshing swim. In 150 feet of depth. I did this in the ocean this spring in 5,000 feet, now that was spooky.

Kids relax on the dinghy on the fore deck during the long ride.

We arrived in Cobourg at 6:30pm, another pit stop, stretched our legs, empty garbage, Dinner out in Cobourg, ice cream and back on the boat. We departed at 9pm and hope to arrive in Toronto by 7am going through the night.

Alex enjoying some down time in the cock pit drawing on the long ride home.

There is suppose to be a storm tomorrow, and we did not want to get caught in it. Besides that I have a couple days of work on the boat unloading, cleaning and prepping for races on Tues & Wed, client cruises Thurs & Friday. What a busy schedule.

Signing off for now.

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Gananoque, Ontario

September 1, 2011 — s/v Black Diamond

 

We spent an evening in Gananoque, strolled the town, had dinner in a Checkoslovakian Resturant, Schnitzel… Not nearly as good as Hungarian. The kids spent the day fishing, and Alex caught a 24+ inch Muskie and a Turtle with a net. This kids played with it for a bit before it was released. I was bitten by the Muskie while trying to remove the hook from his mouth. Believe it or not, it was caught with a small kids toy fishing rod.

Alex's new pet for the next couple of hours, before release.

Luca and Alex fishing in their Dinghy.

Andrew & Alex fishing off the dock.

24" Muskie Caught by Alex with a little kids fishing rod off the dock.

Was bitten by the Muskie while trying to remove the hook.

 

 

 

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Anchored in the Navy Islands.

August 31, 2011 — s/v Black Diamond

 

We dinghy boated, hiked, swam off the boat many times and baked bread! So far we anchored out a couple of nights in some beautiful bays in the Navy Islands. This was the first overnight anchorage for our friends, I showed them how to set their anchor alarms so they could have a good nights sleep without worrying about anything. There are a number of ways you can do this, using your depth alarm, GPS drift alarm or setting up a security perimeter with your radar. If land enters the security zone, it means your drifting into land, and an alarm will sound to wake you from your sleep. The most common one that people use is the GPS drift alarm or commonly called the anchor alarm. I set this to .05 of a nautical mile on the Raymarine chart plotter. This is about 350 feet. Sounds like a lot but not really. If you let out 150 feet of anchor rode, that would create a swing diameter of 300 feet. My friends decided to set theirs to .02, they rather be safe than sorry. In my opinion this will keep you up all night with false alarms and mad dashes to the cock pit to see whats going on. I have done that many a times, that is why I also installed a repeater of the chart plotter on the salon TV, with a remote keyboard, so I can also control the chart plotter from down here, without having to run to the cock-pit.

However, this was a very secure anchorage, no tides, currents, protected and with very good holding. I decided to turn off my chart plotter and save the electricity all together, and get some good sleep. This comes with lots of experience anchoring in Georgian Bay and the Bahamas. You would not believe some of the conditions we had to anchor in. Search Anchoring on our blog for additional stories.

 

Black Diamond anchored in a bay near Club Island.

Roxane made all kinds of amazing bread on the boat.

Thomas and I enjoyed the hikes in the island provincial parks.

Our three boats anchored at the Club islands, Sea Wolf, Fortune's Favour and Black Diamond.

Alex swimming of the boat at anchor.

Thomas also enjoys jumping off the boat.

Our friends the Benninnger's Boat Fortune's Favour.

Sea Wolf's Dinghy going for a ride in the bay.

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Boldt’s Castle on Heart Island in the Thousand Islands

August 31, 2011 — s/v Black Diamond

A view from Alexandria Bay of Heart Island and Bold's Castle

Amazing, 137 room castle, complete with Yacht House, Play House and Power House. To house, Boats, Toys, and it’s own electric generation.

The Story of Bold's Castle.

The grounds and gardening is also a sight to see on Heart Island.

This is the Yacht House....Amazing.

This the boat house for the castle, or should I say Yacht house by its proper name. Mr. Bold had a fleet of 60 boats, as you can see here it can even house sailboats with the mast’s up, just pull in and close the door behind you. Today its also part of the tour, and show cases many antique boats.

The Play House behind Alexander was the play room for the Castle.

The Power House, electric generators and an apartment for the engineer that ran it.

The story of the power house.

Deer on the gates to welcome guests to the Castle which are called Hearts.

The kids loved exploring the Castle.

The grand staircase.

Beautiful stain glass ceiling, measures about 30 feet in diameter.

The dining room.

A view from the Balcony of what I believe is Mr. Bold's bed room.

Another view from the Balcony of what I believe is Mr. Bold's bed room.

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Sailing The Thousand Islands, St. Lawrence Seaway in Ontario.

August 31, 2011 — s/v Black Diamond

Going under a 157 foot bridge in the Thousand Islands.

The St. Lawrence Seaway was even busier than we thought it might be. – But more so with recreational power boaters. They were more of nuisance than the large container ships. In the St. Lawrence Seaway around the Thousand Islands, the container ships seem to slow down considerably, and reduce their wake to a very manageable level. Where as the power boaters are going full throttle in every direction, tossing up the seas to 3-4 feet in some areas, especially around Alexandria Bay. At about the dinner hour the traffic drops considerably, and the wake almost died completely.

There are many islands like this with fancy homes and cottages.

On the US side of the Thousand Islands, there seem to be a lot of these types of little islands, but they are occupied with large mansions and cottages. On the Canadian side, it seems to be more natural, and many Provincial Park islands, you can anchor on and explore.

The Container Ship The Rt. Hon. Paul J Martin.

Exciting Containership passing us on the Seaway.

This is one of the longest container ships we have ever seen. Seems like it was at least a 1000 feet.

Right behind the boat at one point. But did not feel the current from the props, due to the slow speed they travel at in Alexandria Bay.

This is the closest we have come to one of these ships. They slow down a lot in these tight waters, and it is safe to come very close to them.

Skipper Ed

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Alexandria Bay, 1000 Islands

August 31, 2011 — s/v Black Diamond

During the hurricane Paul, the kids and I sat in the out door hot tub and enjoyed the day despite the weather. After the storm, after a whole day of rain, wind and clouds, God allowed a beautiful rainbow symbolizing he would never again distort the world by flood. Although that’s all the Americans could talk about.

River’s Edge resort, beautiful, indoor / outdoor pools & hot tubs, saunas, tiki bar, live band.A bit expensive at $3.50 per foot for docking.

We went to Boldt Castle with our boat. Beautiful.

However the town leaves alot to be desired.

River's Edge Resort, Black Diamond near the front.

Indoor and outdoor pool, sauna, hot tubs, restaurant, live music, great place to stay.

Enjoying great food and great company.

Enjoyed a nice BBQ in a Gazebo right behind our boats.

God's Message through a Rain Bow.

Roxane and Sandra aboard Fortune's Favour with a beautiful sunset.

LIve Entertainment at River's Edge Resort & Marina.

Live Music in Town.

Alexandria Bay has an annual Pirate Party!

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Weathering the Hurricane

August 28, 2011 — s/v Black Diamond

Here we are in Alexandria Bay about 100km east of the eastern edge of Lake Ontario. We have prepared the boat to go through the edge of the hurrican. Tied the boat off on both sides in some webbing.

Have a look at our Sirrius Weather screen on the boat. We are the Black Boat near the top left. The eye of the storm is at the bottom centre of the screen.

UPDATE: Turn out not to be too bad. The media blew the whole thing out of proportions. We had wind gusts of only 30 knots, and sustained of 20 knots.

Skipper Ed

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Cedar Point, New York State Park.

August 27, 2011 — s/v Black Diamond

We were fortunate to get the only 3 large spots on the main wall.

The Beach at Cedar Point.

Here we spent a night at the Cedar Point New York State Park. A nice beach, and a dock with just enough room for three of our boats. We have been traveling with The Benningers of Fortune’s Favour and Ivan Vulicevic Family of C-Wolf.

Thomas loves the water.

The Boy's wrestled in the water for hours.

Fishing on the main dock.

Dinner after a long day.

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Cape Vincent, New York

August 26, 2011 — s/v Black Diamond

The wall at the State Fisheries department that you can dock at for free.

We had a great sail from Sackets Harbor to Cape Vincent, up wind most of the way, and arrived within 4 hours. There are a few free dockets that you can stay out. The village dock has space for about 4-5 boats, but draft near the shore is shallow for keel boats, and half way down the dock the draft is about 6 feet. A few hundred meters to the east you’ll find the State Fisheries department. A 3-4 storey old stone building with free dockage available, with about 8-9 foot draft.

State Fisheries Aquarium and Museum.

At the State Fisheries department, there is a free aquarium exhibit you can go see with the kids. They claim to have every type of fish on display that you might find in Lake Ontario. In addition to that, there are many interesting items on display.

Kids in front of the fisheries, we must move on to find something for these rug rats to do.

Other than that there is not a whole lot else to do in Cape Vincent. It is a good place to clear customs, they have a full customs office. There are a few restaurants within walking distance, like the Roxy. However, I would not recommend Captain Jack’s which is near the docks. Read my review on Urban Spoon if you want to know more.

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Sackets Harbor, New York State

August 26, 2011 — s/v Black Diamond

 

After exploring Main Duck Island, we set out for Sackets Harbour, NY. It was about a 3 hour leisurely cruise, Roxane caught up on some sleep from the night passage the evening before.

Sea Wolf arrived at about 4:30pm, they were pretty tired from travelling all day in the heat of the day. Roxane and I wanted to enjoy a nice dinner out without the kids. Sea Wolf, was exhausted, and decided not to join us this evening. I reminded them, how he asked, aren’t you tired from travelling all night, how can you function the next day. Well as I mentioned before, travelling at night is easy, and relaxing, especially with the kids sleeping. Roxane and I both get about 4-5 hours sleep over night, and a couple hours of rest upon arrival, and then we are fresh the rest of the day. Where as travelling all day in the heat, and then arriving, all you want to do is go to sleep. – So I maintain this as an ideal way of travel especially if time is an issue. We don’t waste any valuable days travelling.

Roxane and I enjoyed ” Tin Pan Galley!” Officially our new favorite restaurant of all time – Tin Pan Galley in Sackets harbour. We ate dinner there two nights in a row, along with the couple from Sea Wolf,  Ivan & Natasha who joined us the next evening. We decided to stay another night, and since everything was superb the night before! We decided to enjoy Tin Pan Galley a second time.

I asked where the Chef was from,I was told that he was a local. I asked where he learned to cook, apparently from the guitar, trumpet, keyboard and harmonica player on stage, who is actually the head chef and the owner!

We had extra time, since we were still waiting on the 3rd boat caught in a storm in Cobourg. They could not get off the wall, the East wind was pounding and had them pinned against the wall for two nights. Their mooring line was shredded, and they had to go out and purchase new mooring lines and anti chaf protection.

Our next stop was St. Vincent where we were hoping to rendezvous with Fortune’s Favour.

 

This town was made famous from various American wars, including the war of 1812, which the American’s really don’t know the history of. They delacared war on the British loyalists, tried to take more land, but lost to what is now Canada. They were pushed back, and almost lost ground in New York State. Their local history only says, they defended their land against the enemy.

17th Century Canon made in France for the British Navy? In the US? Could it be?

We brought 8 bikes on the trip between the two boats! We are able to fit two adult bikes in the cock pit lockers, and two kids bikes on the rail.

Pit Stop at the Icre Cream Shop !

The Vulicevic & The Radonic Family at Sackets Harbor.

The next morning we buddy sailed to Cape Vincent! We sailed the whole way, all sails flying, was an amazing afternoon, arrived in 4 hours. There we had dinner at Captain Jack’s, don’t recommend it. Then our other friends arrived, Paul & Sandra Benninger on Fortune’s Favour. We are now travelling with three boat’s

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