Back to the U.S.A.

July 31, 2009: Kingston Marina. We've been back to Boston for a week and now return with Sue's parents. The Nason's are staying at the Kingston Sheraton next to Confederation Park and the beautiful City Hall. The rest of us are back aboard the Lucy III for one last night in Canada.

August 1, 2009: Kingston Marina. Perfect weather, 80 degrees with Southwest wind of 10 knots and unlimited sunshine. We prepared to depart with the help of the very helpful marina staff. In no time our fuel tank and water tanks were refilled and our holding tank emptied. We filled the fridge with drinks and some snacks before setting off to join Sue's parents for breakfast in town. The Saturday Public Market behind City Hall was an excellent stop for a few last minute items. We drove around town and the Queens campus before going to the Rideau Canal locks at Kingston Mills. Our timing was great since four boats were locking down to the Lake Ontario level and everyone could view the process in and see this 19th century engineering still working flawlessly. Our next step was splitting the crew up for car and boat. Sue and her Mom travelled by car and two ferries from Kingston to Clayton, New York via Wolfe Island. The rest of us took to Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River by boat. The excellent weather brought out many boaters, both sail and power. There were several sailboat races taking place on our route that were exciting to watch. Kingston Harbor was alive with many sailboats out to enjoy this day. As we motored out to the East in the St. Lawrence river we pasted the Canadian Military Academies and the imposing Fort Henry on the port side. On our starboard side we also viewed many windmills and a beautiful lighthouse on Wolfe Island. The traffic was mainly pleasure boats until we crossed into US waters East of Wolfe Island. Here we encountered oceangoing ships able to fill the 700 foot St. Lawrence Seaway locks, and many power boats. The log indicated our speed at 7.3 knots due to a favorable current.

Our arrival at Clayton was a bit problematic since we needed to clear customs and we had arrived on the busiest day of the year here: the Clayton Antique Boat Festival. Clayton is famous for its beautiful wooden boats and the town docks were full of them. Fortunately one boat freed up a space at the town pier and we made our way to the US Customs VideoPhone check in. The phone is set up in front of the harbormaster's office. We never saw the harbormaster or any Customs people. The phone check in requires everyone on the boat to check in, not just the master (this is different from most rules in entering a foreign port). We rewarded ourselves to Ice Cream after being officially back in the States. The next step was to find the Marina. I had double booked us as the reservation process was lax here. We had both a mooring and a slip. Our Slip at French Bay did work out very well after some confusion as to any reservation.

After settling in, we met up with Sue and drove to Alexandria Bay for a tour of Boldt Castle and an excellent dinner on a barge. The Boldt family built the most beautiful 125 room castle now owned by the State of New York and open to the public. Lucy III is now on the Islander Marina mooring for two weeks as we return to Boston for more work and summer camp.