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St. Lawrence Islands by Water 2008 Home
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Summary:

When: Summer 2008

Where: St. Lawerence River, Gananoque - Dark Island and back

How: We rented houseboat 'Moonchild' from the company Housboat Holidays Ltd. in Gananoque, Ontario and went down St. Lawrence River (east). Our most eastern point was Singer Castle on Dark Island. We stayed overnight and sometimes at daytime in St. Lawrence Islands National Park of Canada and visited Alexandria Bay, NY, USA and Boldt Castle on Heart Island as well.

Why: See these pictures and you will understand the reason.

Who is who:   crew

George, Anton, Valentina, Natasha, Eugene
Crew Members:

George
captain
New York, NY
Valentina
cook,
camerawoman
Rotterdam, NY
Natasha
senior mate
Fort Lee, NJ
Eugene
first mate
Fort Lee, NJ
Anton
second mate
Marlboro, NJ

Abstracts from the Diary.
Days
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

Day 1 – July 26, Saturday
We woke up at 7a.m in Albany, New York. We ate breakfast which was very delicious. We finished packing and left the house at 8 AM. The car was full of people and luggage. We hardly closed the trunk. The first stop was near the toll booth on Route 90; to throw out the trash that Anton had carried on his lap. We had nothing extra so we took off ahead full of hope for our upcoming trip. In 3 hours we reached the Canadian border. There the crew was given some time to spend time at the Duty Free store in America. Then we crossed the border and it seemed as the GPS had wanted us to go home. It did not give us the right directions. We crossed the International Bridge without help from the GPS. As we passed over the magnificent 1000 islands, we gazed upon the many islands we would soon travel on by boat. We finally arrived and saw our small but boat named Moon Child. She was waiting patiently for us at the dock. Quickly we loaded our boat with food and luggage. After that, we sat down for our first lunch. Our instructor gave us a tour of the boat and showed us how to operate it. Then, our boat took off! It was raining but hat did not stop us from driving around our new boat. Navigating with our compass and map, we tried to find a spot to dock for the night. At first we could not get used to the scale of the map, we had circled the same island twice. Finally, we found a spot for the night with the help of a volunteer on a motorboat. Carefully we had moored on Beau Rivage. Quickly we had pumped up our rubber boat and cooked up some dinner. During that time Anton and Eugene went fishing. Eugene caught a smallmouth bass that was 14 inches long. Anton caught several medium-sized fish. We put the fish in the bucket and left it outside. To our despair we had made a huge mistake.
Day 2 – July 27, Sunday
As we woke up in the morning we checked for our fish. We were ready to clean our fish but there was no fish in the bucket. We were confused. We were thinking what happened to our fish. Then we figured out that the raccoons have eaten our fish, we were very disappointed. We had eaten breakfast and started to explore the island. We found a better spot to dock which was on the other side of the island. While we were walking we picked mushrooms and berries which we were going to eat for dinner. We moved our boat to the other side of the island. There we swam, fished and had lunch. After lunch we took our small boat and fished some more. More boats came for the night. It got dark so we played poker and went to sleep. George felt sick after we fought on our rowboats.
Day 3 – July 28, Monday
We woke up at 8:00 and Anton started to fish then we ate breakfast. We had gathered some blueberries and made jam out of it. Then we took in the direction of Alexandria Bay. We stopped at Georgina where these Canadian people helped us to dock. We decided to spend the night there. It was a beautiful island. The only problem was the waves almost flipped the boat over. We explored around the island and picked mushrooms. Then we came back and went for a swim. We had jumped from the top layer several times.
Note: below are two video (.mov) files (left and right). To play them, click on it and then press 'Enter' button. If you can not play video files, please download and install Apple's QuickTime player

Then we ate lunch and swam again. Then Anton and Eugene went to fish, Anton caught a small fish so we let it go. When it was getting dark we watched a movie. At 11:00 we went to sleep.
Day 4 – July 29, Tuesday
Anton and Eugene woke up with water in their pants. George had shot them with the water gun. We got ready to swim. Valentina had an infection so we rushed to Alexandria Bay to get medicine. As soon as we reached Alexandria Bay our fond memories came back to us. George and Valentina went to go get groceries while Anton, Eugene and Natasha played chess and shuffle. When George and Valentina came back we checked the price of minos but the store did not have any in stock. As we filled out boat up with gas, the old man working there gave us a lesson on how to steer a houseboat using the wind. Using our new pivoting skills that we recently learned we docked at Boldt castle. Valentina was so tired that she stayed behind while the rest of the crew went on for an adventure at the castle.
Mr. Boldt had built the Boldt castle for his beloved Mrs. Boldt. Mr. Boldt a millionaire had earned all his money by managing and profiting from his hotel in New York City named Waldorf-Astoria. He also owned the Bellevue Stratford in Philadelphia. The Boldt Castle is modeled after the many castles in Prussia where Mr. Boldt lived. After visiting the castle we sailed to West Grenadier there we docked and stayed for the night. We made an anchor for our rowboat. We cleaned out big fish, which was 16 inches long. Then we ate it and went to sleep.
Day 5 – July 30, Wednesday
Anton and Eugene woke up with wet pants again. We ate breakfast. Then we headed out to Singer Castle. The distance was 10 miles to the west, on Dark Island. It took us about 30 minutes to reach it. Eugene found a shortcut using the map. When we arrived there was no space to sock so we had to wait. The biggest boat finally moved away and we docked in its place.
After we explored Singer Castle, we sailed all the way back to Alexandria Bay. We filed up with some gas there while Valentina and Natasha went to the hospital. We found out that Valnetina’s disease was a chicken-pox type thing. We bought the medicine at the pharmacy that the doctor told us to get. Then we went looking for a place to stay for the night. We looked on Hill Island and on Georgina and Constance Islands as well. Everything was full. Finally we found a spot. There we moored and Valentina almost fell into the water. 30 seconds later our neighbor had fell into the water helping us dock. He was socking wet from head to toe. Then we watched a movie and went to sleep.
Day 6 – July 31, Thursday
We woke up with our pants dry because we hid the water gun but Anton got the gun and sprayed Eugene! We ate breakfast and then sailed off. We found another place to dock. There a lot of big boats came and surrounded us so we decide to move. We sailed over to Constance Island and we stayed there for the night. When it was getting dark, we watched a movie and then went to sleep.
Day 7 – August 1, Friday
Today is our last full day! We finally woke up with our pants dry! We found our that there was no propane left. This means our refrigerator and barbecue did not work. We had to heat up our meals the old fashioned way: on a fire. Luckily there was a shelter using an oven so they helped us. We ate breakfast and then we swam. We also heated up our lunch there. Anton, Eugene and Natasha watched 'A Knights Tale'. Then they all attacked George. Natasha had betrayed them and went over to his side. We played water basketball outside in the water. Then George and Eugene heated up dinner outside on the fire. We cooked up hotdogs and eggs and we ate well. Then we played poker and went to sleep.
Day 8 – August2, Saturday
Today was our last day. We had returned the boat at 9a.m. George woke up at 6a.m. We found out that our blanket was on the water floor. Then we took off in reverse and George steered all the way to the marina, while the rest of the crew was still asleep. At 8a.m. everyone woke up and was excited that we were almost there. Then we finally made it! We unpacked and drove home.
Recorded by Eugene and Anton.
Pictures made by George and Eugene.
Food and moral support provided by Valentina.
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