Sunset from Sackets Harbor on Wednesday evening. Things were less calm last night.
We arrived there not long after I last posted here, and headed for a spot that reportedly had good holding. We moved a little closer to shore, since the lake is up five feet. The anchor landed on rock, and we dragged it along the bottom for a hundred feet or so before it caught on something.
The database showed the town has a free wall with a four-hour limit, and we had figured to land the tender there. Unfortunately, that wall is now a foot below water. We managed to land around the corner at the boat ramp, where the concrete dock is still above water (barely), but we had to wade the last dozen feet to land through 8" or so of cold lake water. We had a nice dinner and fresh local beer at the Sackets Harbor Brewing Company.
The local brew is 1812 Lager, after the eponymous war, and a key feature of the town is the battlefield, which we strolled briefly before dinner. The rest of the town is quaint and upscale, and reminded us a little bit of Greenport.
Flux tied up at the boat ramp, near a local fisherman. We had to wade the last 15' ashore.
Not much called us to remain beyond a single night, but yesterday it blew stink out on the lake and it was pouring rain much of the day to boot. We were snug and so we just sat tight; around mid-day two loopers showed up looking to anchor; we surmise they got beat up a bit out on the lake and gave up on making Clayton in the weather.
We ended up with just one neighbor, as the other boat headed to the dock so they could get their dog ashore. I had forewarned them about the wading situation. Today those boats are just passing us, and we'll find them in the Clayton anchorage when we arrive.
Things cleared up enough to get back ashore at dinner time, and we strolled to Goodfellos, an Italian place in historic digs on Main Street. We got ashore with dry feet this time, landing at the stubby remains of a public dock attached to the Anchor restaurant, which we had spotted while dining next door the previous evening.
This morning we weighed anchor and got under way for Clayton, where, with any luck, our mail will be waiting for us at General Delivery. The notice that it had arrived at the post office came via email this morning. Clayton is more or less the gateway town to the Thousand Island region.
Vector in Sackets Harbor. This was more or less our view at dinner, too.
En route we will pass Cape Vincent, where the pilot station is located and which is the start of two-way traffic control on this section of the Saint Lawrence Seaway. We have Seaway Traffic on the VHF to monitor the ships. It is also the start of the river itself, where we have some concerns about current.
If we find ourselves with more than about 2.5 knots behind us, we'll have to cut our cruise short and tie up at Cape Vincent. Beyond that, it will be too difficult and fuel-inefficient to fight our way back upriver from Clayton and beyond. We'd have to take a scooter to Clayton to get the mail. A boat that headed that way two days ago reported just 1.5 knots or so, which is fine. It might be a bit more today with all the rain yesterday.
The story of Thousand Island Dressing, incidentally, involves the Waldorf Astoria and its millionaire proprietor George Boldt. Boldt bought one of these islands to build a mansion, and Boldt Castle is a major tourist destination here. Sadly, the docks are underwater and we can not land there (commercial tours from Clayton are still running). That's fine with us, as we are much more interested in the more authentic Singer Castle instead. No word yet on their docks.
I am really enjoying the geography and history tour I get reading about your travels. I especially like being able to picture where you are, are going, have been, using the Google Map references! Chandlee in GSO, NC
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