Mini Vacation!

We finally did something a little out of the ordinary. We took an overnight trip to the Thousand Islands, and it was great being back on the St. Lawrence Seaway after a couple of years hiatus. It was a whirlwind tour of our favorite places, starting with kayaking from Grass Point State Park upon our arrival.

As soon as we hit the water "what to our wondering eyes did appear?" Not Santa but our first ship!

The water was so much lower than previous years, but the current was still cranking. We made it upstream almost to the Rock Island Lighthouse before floating backwards to Dave's wreck.

We were still able to paddle between the ship and the shore and were able to see how the rivets were protruding from the metal hull. Some of the wood planks were still attached near the waterline.

I always say this propeller sure would look good in our yard! 

After paddling, we took a fantastic land tour of Alexandria Bay, across the bridge to the Thousand Islands Park, back to the Boldt Castle Boathouse, and then to Clayton. Later we drove back to Watertown to our motel that was very clean and worked out just fine. Day two was jam-packed with fun, starting early in the morning from Alexandria Bay's boat launch. We had only brought the kayaks for this short two day stay, which worked out quite well. We knew we had to start out early to beat the crowds and we saw lots of wildlife including two black minks racing into the rocks, and this muskellunge that kept lifting its head out of the water.  

As usual we go the 'road' less travelled, which led us to seeing a lone swan.

Another ship passed by really close and headed towards the Thousand Island Bridge.

Dave checked out pirate Bill Johnston's cave...

The boat traffic really increased, including some 'go-fast' poker run boats like this one with 4 Mercury 400 outboards (not surprisingly it had a Palm Beach hailing port).

When this tour boat packed with tourists came peaking around the corner of an island, we knew it was time to get off the water and on to the real reason we came to the 1000 Islands...for Clayton's Antique Boat Museum's 'Need for Speed' event. More on that tomorrow.

😎