Our departure time from Clayton was based on our need to add diesel fuel before we left US waters, so we departed at around 7:30am and filled up with fuel at the fuel dock in Clayton. We then enjoyed a beautiful 90 minute cruise up the St. Lawrence River from Clayton to Heart Island, home of Boldt Castle. 

Boldt Castle (http://www.boldtcastle.com/visitorinfo/) is a 1900s era castle that was built by George Boldt for his wife Louise. Unfortunately Louise died before the castle was completed, and after her death Mr. Boldt abandoned the project. So it sat unoccupied for most of the 20th century. Recently the castle has undergone a serious renovation and is now open to the public, although the only way to reach Heart Island is by private boat or public tour service.

We arrived just before 10am and docked at the public dock and were some of the first people on the island. This allowed us to roam around the grounds by ourselves and enjoy the scenery. The island is amazing. The well manicured grounds consist of mature trees, mowed grassy areas, and beautiful flower gardens.

We toured the Children’s Playhouse, which is currently being renovated. It contained a theater, a bowling alley and a kitchen in addition to several bedrooms. The power station looks like a castle all by itself, and was constructed to provide power to the facility. There is a water tower that had a dove house at the top. There is also a boat house that we were not able to tour because of the high water in the region.

Finally we toured the main building. The castle is undergoing constant renovation and was interesting to see the difference between the way it looked when they started compared to the way the renovated rooms look now. It has some incredible views of the St. Lawrence River.

We had lunch on our boat with a view of the castle, and then we departed towards the Canada side of the river. Since it was a Saturday there were hundreds of pleasure boats intermixed with dozens of commercial tour boats to create a diverse field of hostile targets. Some of the boaters were cordial while others were downright rude. So after working hard to stay out of the way of other boats, we decided to stop for the night at Gananoque.

The first thing I had to do was check in with Canadian customs. I This involved calling an 800 number on a public phone, providing our boat information, reading off our passport numbers, and answering a few other questions. They then gave me a number that I was to place in the window of the boat.

We walked into town to find an English Pub for dinner. The town was small and cute. When we returned to our boat there was an orchestra tuning up in the bandstand, and for the next 90 minutes we were treated to a really nice concert as we sat in our boat.