Lake Ontario

 TRAVEL DAY 75 - Oswego to Cape Vincent

July 14, 2023

5.72 Hours/48.4 Miles

    After 2 days in Oswego, we waived the port town goodbye and motored past the lighthouse and the long protective stone breakwater that had huge waves crashing over it yesterday. We headed north toward the border of New York and Canada and the St. Lawrence River.

Oswego Lighthouse

    We immediately came upon a large group of boats fishing for Salmon on the calm waters. They trolled downriggers with heavy weights in the 80 + feet of water that continued to deepen to over 400 feet on our route.

Trolling for Salmon

    It was pretty much a straight shot north/northeast to the St. Lawrence River and the 1000 Islands. The 1000 Island region is an archipelago of 1864 islands that straddle the US/Canada border in the St. Lawrence River. To count as one of the Thousand Islands, it must have at least 2 living trees.

St. Lawrence River

     We rounded Tibbetts Point and the Cape Vincent Lighthouse and into the St. Lawrence river. Just a short run up the river, was Cape Vincent on our starboard side. We ducked in behind the concrete breakwater and could see the town dock. There was only a single boat tied there and plenty of room for us to swing Pau Hana around and tie to the new floating dock on our port side.

Awesome free dock in Cape Vincent
   
Downtown Cape Vincent

    The water was amazingly clear and deep with thin wispy plants coming toward the surface. The sun was out and the air was warm, We couldn't help ourselves, we had to jump in!  The water was about 73 degrees but felt very refreshing. I was able to inspect the bottom of the boat, running gear and zincs.


    A short walk across the park to E. Broadway and the shops downtown revealed Cape Vincent Brewing Company. We went back later in the evening and the place was pretty crowded with locals and folks who summer in this area in their "camps". We met a couple whose parents live in Citrus County, an unbelievably small world for sure. The crew and I started up our darts rivalry again. The Captain got off to a good start with point after point but the Chief Engineer overtook me & got the bulls eyes needed to clinch a win.

Nice!
                
Sunset

DAY 2 - CAPE VINCENT

    The next day we searched out the "hidden" Pickleball Courts that somehow eluded us the day before. With the help of Google Earth I was able to spot them. We jumped on our scooters and went to the recreation area and sure enough, they were behind the main building. Surprised no one was there on this beautiful Saturday, we decided to play singles. About 20 minutes later 3 more players showed up. 2 were novices but we were still anxious to play after not having the chance for so long. It turned out to be a great time.

Cape Vincent Pickle Ball

    We returned to the dock just in time to see the last of the "go-fast" high performance boats come into the harbor on their way up the river as part of the Clayton Poker Run.

Poker Run

    The evening brought a great acoustic concert at the park and we enjoyed it with the folks in the trawler behind us.  Fresh fruit, crackers and sharp Vermont Cheddar cheese was the perfect snack. 

Hundreds of wind turbines on the Canadian side

    The weather continues to surprise me. Just before 3 am the boat started to bounce and rock and continued to get worse. The lines were snapping pretty hard and the wind was blowing at an easy 45 mph. I got out of the boat and secured another line to the sturdy dock cleats. After about 30 minutes the rain came in. The wind died down a few hours after it started but the rain continued into the morning.

Cape Vincent Fisheries Station

Oswego to Cape Vincent

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