Day 283, 6/25 1000 Islands, St Lawrence

Coming out of a lock on the St Lawrence







Singer Castle in the 1000 Islands






Singer Castle located in the 1000 Islands on the St Lawrence Seaway






One of Hundreds of Beautiful Homes in the 1000 Islands






A freighter we met on the St Lawrence







Another Island with structure






The navigational aids along the way on the St Lawrence





Another freighter we met on the St Lawrence








The Canadian National Park Island. We are tied to a provided dock at the park tonight. Is is beautiful.




Our books tell us to be prepared for a 1-4 hour wait at the St Lawrence locks so we have been happy that our longest processing was 1 hr 15 minutes. The Canadian locks provide pleasure boat docks at the lower and upper gates of each lock, which are multipurpose. You tie up; climb stairs to a booth, use a credit card and pay $25 to $30 for your lockage, find out the wait time, return to the boat and wait until they call you. The benefit is that if there is a wait, you have a convenient, safe place to wait your turn for locking through these busy locks. Saint Lawrence Waterway lock usage is not included in your Canadian Canal seasonal pass; however staying at a Canadian National Park is included in the Canal fee. We are capitalizing on that privilege and using a Canadian National park tonight located in the 1000 Islands. Actually there is 1800 islands but who’s counting? A nice facility and very quiet.

We anchored Sunday night at mile 151.6 at Baie St Francois and Monday at mile 77.4 which is an abandoned canal that used to by-pass some St Lawrence rapids. This cruise up the St Lawrence to Kingston, Ontario has been more pleasant than we anticipated. The waterway is beautiful, void of industrial and commercial development and very scenic. The 1000 Island area is spectacular and we are happy we chose this optional route. I know we missed the Ridaeu as well as the Ottawa River, but we are not disappointed. The number of islands is mind boggling and I have yet to see one that didn’t have a unique house on it.

And how about this castle??? We didn’t find out about a tour until we were settled in a marina and I searched for information on the intranet. Singer Castle on Dark Island is open to the public who wish to have a guided tour of the intricate architecture, beautiful furnishings and puzzling secret passages of the magnificent 100-year old Castle. Tons of granite quarried from nearby Oak Island were brought over ice and water in 1902-1904 to construct the “hunting lodge” of Commodore Frederick Gilbert Bourne. Mr. Frederick Gilbert Bourne from New York City was a self-made millionaire who expanded global production as well as international sales of the Singer sewing machine. Singer Castle is the only castle on this river to be completed, fully furnished and resided in during the heyday of the 'great builders' and industrials in New York.