August 9: Cedar Island - 1 down. 999 More to Go!

We left Kerr Bay early - leaving behind the 15 sailboats and 2 powerboats. It was again a windless, sunny day. How many of these can we have left???

It wasn't quite the easy getaway we would have liked - the seaweed on the anchor chain was just crazy.

A surprise to see the Kawartha Voyager this far south! I thought it only traveled the Trent - guess that shows what I know :-)

The plan for today worked well: stop at the day docks in Kingston (the marina was full) to do some shopping - and of course lunch out at a great Chinese place Steve found on the way to the grocery store.

This place was CRAZY. First it was a Saturday. Second, it was the second day of the Poker Run.

Basically, 75 go-fast boats left Kingson, flew (literally!) up the St. Lawrence, stopped for lunch and altogether (in two days) five places then came back to Kingston. Get a poker card at each of the 5 stops: best hand wins. Crazy boats flying around ...

The best was My Way - a boat with two jet engines. Look closely and you can see the heat rising from the exhaust vents. Fastest but did they win???

This is what they look like from an aerial view (taken from the Poker Runs America web site) ad these boats speed from one destination to another.

Quite a bit of water security boats out and they worked to keep the onlookers safe!

Can only imagine how much fuel is burned up in just one of these boats!

We left about 3 pm and continued past Fort Henry and the Royal Military College located here at Kingston.

We were looking for a place to anchor - possibly Navy Bay (place where ships were built for the "maybe" war with the US) under the watchful eye of Fort Henry but too many small sailboats out for the day. So we went to the bay next door. As we were turning back to anchor along the shoreline, a dock at Cedar Island opened up!

This is a Parks Canada Island - designated "no generators" - ok by us!

Never expected to be able to tie up at a dock on a Saturday afternoon but we took it.

Met a couple from: Kingston :-) They boat in the area all of the time and very generously shared their knowledge of the Parks Canada islands and docks - where to go on what island and which islands to avoid.

All of these islands have hiking paths so we treked off to see the 1846 Cathcart Redoubt - part of the protection provided for the harbor of Kingston.

Not sure how anyone go into this thing!!

For more info on Fort Henry, click here.

There were even cannons fired and fireworks - every Wed and Sat following the reenactments of military maneuvers.

 I found it interesting that this fort was never attacked :-)



Tomorrow? Travel the Bateau Channel to the Admiralty Islands - about 2 hours.