Kingston, Ontario

Monday, June 11 - Monday, June 18, 2018

We finally made it to Canada!  An easy 3 hour cruise from Clayton NY brings us to Kingston, Ontario.  We plan a week's stay here as there is lots to see in this area and the city marina has a great weekly rate.

Kingston, ON

Our first order of business is to check in with Canadian customs.  The "master" of the boat is the only person allowed to leave the boat to check in for himself, the boat and everyone on board.  He has been instructed to use a phone at the marina for this purpose.  And here is the location of the phone!

Kingston ON customs check-in

Its a pay phone!  We don't even have any Canadian money!  Robert is just about to return to the boat to use his cell phone when he learns the call is free.  Customs prefers he use their pay phone as they have cameras to allow them to view him.  So a quick phone call and we're approved!  We were sweating getting clearance for the boat as the Canadians (and US) have a long list of limited and prohibited items, like food and alcohol.  Since we live aboard, we have lots of items on their lists.  We have been using up our provisions for the past few weeks, but we can still be boarded and searched, at the whim of the customs agent.  They can choose to make life difficult for us or give us a pass.  Fortunately, we get a quick approval and a customs number to prove we have checked in.  We must display the customs number in our boat window and we are good to go!

Canadian customs phone

Kingston is a lovely, historic town, fronting on the north shore of Lake Ontario.  A popular tourist destination, the marina and city park are focal points of the waterfront, across the street from City Hall.

Kingston ON City Park

I quickly hear about a nearby farmers market, held 3 days per week, and today is the day!  Its still a little early in the growing season, but I find some excellent greens, beets and local strawberries.

Farmers Market at City Hall, Kingston ON

We are invited to dinner on another boat in the marina, visitors like ourselves, from North Carolina.  We had fun comparing notes on all the places we had both been.  And we got a dog fix, too!

Dinner on board Esther Girl

Edith and Bee

We took a trolley tour to see the sights in town, driving past lots of historic homes. 

Historic home, Kingston ON

We're still finding War of 1812 history in this area as major battles were fought here between the US and British forces (Canada was, of course, still a British colony).  The Canadians of the day feared the US would use the war as an excuse to invade Canada so the shorelines of the Great Lakes were heavily fortified as a defense against an invasion that never came.

Historic home, Kingston ON

We toured Fort Henry (built for the War of 1812) and a museum dedicated to a large, maximum security prison located in Kingston and in active use from 1835 to 2013 - very unique.

This tourist town boasts lots of shopping in a very walkable downtown area.  We are still trying to adjust to the sticker shock of prices in Canadian dollars.  Converted to US dollars, prices are quite reasonable (1 C$ = $1.30 US), but the 13% sales tax charged on almost everything except food, is hard to swallow.

We decide to rent a car for a few days and do some sightseeing to areas we won't have time to go by boat.  One area of interest is Trenton, about 60 miles west of Kingston.  We are considering taking an inshore route west toward Toronto, and want to get some local knowledge about transiting a shallow bay just beyond Trenton.  We also want to tour a rope factory in town.  We met the owner at the boat show in Annapolis last fall and would like to follow up on his invitation to visit his factory.

So here we are in Trenton, getting the grand tour from Norm, the owner.  Norm once owned several large rope factories, supplying rope to most major distributors (West Marine, etc.).  He sold out and retired several years ago, then started this small factory when his wife told him he needed a job.  Norm sells only to individuals, due to non-compete agreements, and sells mostly online.  If anyone needs very good quality braided rope, his web site is http://www.onlineropestore.com/

Rope factory, Trenton ON

At the risk of boring my readers, we found the manufacturing process fascinating and will share the steps here.  Feel free to skip this part!

All steps of the rope-making process are mechanized.  Norm was making double-braided nylon rope the day we visited.  All thread used in the rope starts as these large spools of very fine nylon or polyester thread.  Machines twist varying numbers of fine threads together to make heavier thread used in the rope.

Rope factory, Trenton ON

The fine threads are spliced together using compressed air and this tool.  This allows an essentially unlimited length of thread to be made.

Rope factory, Trenton ON

The resulting rope thread is wound on these spindles, which are mounted on another machine to braid the rope core.  Note the finished white core spooling up.

Rope factory, Trenton ON

Here's the core coming out of the machine into a storage box.

Rope factory, Trenton ON

Similar spindles of colored thread, made the same way as the white core thread, are fed into this machine.  A colored cover is braided over the white core.  Norm can program any color combination and pattern ordered by a customer.

Rope factory, Trenton ON

Here is a solid color finished rope feeding into its storage barrel.

Rope factory, Trenton ON

And here's a multi-colored one.  Notice the white core feeding up from the center and the finished rope rolling off the top.

Rope factory, Trenton ON

Of course we had to buy some ropes for the boat.  Norm is splicing a loop in one end of our rope.  This is a very difficult task to do well and, of course, Norm does it in just a few minutes while we watch.

Rope factory, Trenton ON

Here's the final step in the loop splice, showing his retail store at the factory.  Our ropes are black as this is the most UV stable color he offers.  Its hard to believe black is the least likely color to fade from sun exposure, but Norm assured us that is due to chemicals unique to the black color (carbon black, if I recall correctly).

Rope factory, Trenton ON

We have one more day to sight-see with the car and decide to drive to Ottawa.  Our other option was Montreal, about a hour further, but lots of people recommended Ottawa as the best choice of the two, so off we go.

Ottawa is the capital of Canada and is in Ontario, the province where we will spend our entire time in Canada.  We arrive to this lovely War Memorial, honoring those who died in all wars since WWI.

War Memorial, Ottawa ON

We take a trolley tour to get a quick overview of the city, since we are only here for the day.  The Parliament buildings lie at the edge of downtown Ottawa, overlooking the Ottawa River.  Quite impressive!

Parliament, Ottawa ON

This imposing hotel was built by the Canadian Railroad and finished in 1912.  It overlooks the Ottawa River, Parliament and the Rideau Canal.

Hotel Fairmont Chateau Laurier, Ottawa ON

Across the street from the hotel, we get a glimpse of the Rideau Canal.  This historic canal is now a national park.  Many pleasure boats cruise the 126-mile long canal in the summer between Ottawa and Kingston, where our boat is docked.  Unfortunately our boat is too large to transit the Rideau.  In winter, the Rideau becomes an extended ice rink.

Rideau Canal, Ottawa ON

Our tour trolley crosses the Ottawa River, giving us this great view looking back at Ottawa and the Parliament buildings fronting on the river.

Ottawa from the Ottawa River

After our tour, we have time for one museum visit and choose the National Gallery, housing a very nice traditional art collection.  A different museum is dedicated to modern art.

National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa ON

Another view of Parliament from the National Gallery.  What a spectacular city for architecture!

Parliament, Ottawa ON

The Rideau Canal begins just below Parliament, at the junction with the Ottawa River.  Here is the first of a series of 47 locks, still operated by hand.  The Canal has been in continuous use since it was built in 1832!

Rideau Lock 1, Ottawa ON

The Rideau starts with this series of locks.  While in Ottawa, we notice that the folks we toured West Point with a month ago are en route on the Rideau (based on a location map used by many Loopers).  We call them to see how they are doing and learn they have had a difficult and tedious trip so far with several days to go before reaching Kingston.  We are relieved we are not doing the Rideau and agree to meet when they get to Kingston.

Rideau Locks, Ottawa ON

We enjoy our last few days in Kingston, stocking up on groceries and boat supplies while there.  Our last weekend at the marina, we realize there are quite a few loopers docked and invite the group for "docktails".  We also include some local boaters who have been friendly while we've been here.  We end up with 12+ people on board and have a fun evening comparing notes with fellow cruisers.

Lunch overlooking City Hall, Kingston ON

Based on what we learned in Trenton about the inshore route heading west, we have decided to take the longer but safer route back across Lake Ontario.  We will make a couple of stops on the US shore before crossing back to the Canadian side to visit Toronto.