Boat Trip 2014 - July 8

Well, we finally left Cedar Island, got gas and water at Clarke's Marina, settled on Beau Rivage. 

 

This was our farewell sunset at Cedar.  It was amazing!

I had my farewell chat this morning with the Mama deer.

I think I was boring her!  She yawned in my face!  I eventually walked away from her - she sure didn't seem to mind me being there.

 This house belongs to the grandson of the man who invented those little scented pine trees that you hang in your car.

We weren't disappointed - every year when we come down the Bateau Channel from Kingston to Gananoque, we see this line-up of blow-up toys.  Might be a couple of new ones this year!

This is one of our favorite spots, and for awhile we were the only ones here.

One of the Gananoque tour boats going by.

A lovely heron visiting.

This is what answered prayer looks like.  When we arrived here, we realized that we had a problem with our "house" battery.  The starting battery is fine.  We started the generator so our fridge would not thaw, and as I was praying that we would find out what's wrong and find someone to fix it, a sailboat arrived at our dock.  I said I hope you are a mechanic, and he said he knew a few things.  Turns out he's doing a PHD in Mechanical engineering!  He's also owned a boat for many years, and had to fix pretty much everything.  It seems that we probably need a new battery, which we will get tomorrow at CTC.   When I told him he just might be an answer to prayer, he assured me that his mother would say otherwise.  We have just had quite a storm here, probably not over yet - warm front meeting cold front.  Tremendous rain, but not the hail they were forecasting, and not too much wind yet.  Maybe the worst is yet to come!  Hope not.  Let you know later.

Boat Trip 2014 - July 7

Since we were threatened with bad weather today - high winds and t-storms - we decided to stay put for another day.  It has been as windy as every day since we've been here, and has rained quite a lot, but we saw no t-storms.  The sun even shone for awhile this afternoon, and we took the dinghy for a brief ride.  It's still a little rough for that!  A lot of the day has been spent reading and napping, but I did see the baby deer, took 47 pics and spent lots of time chatting with him.

 He stuck around until I finally walked away from him.  He's a really tiny fellow - only about three feet tall.

There are a couple of ducks that hang out around the docks quite a bit.   

Boat Trip 2014 - July 6

This has been our last day on Cedar Island, at least for now.  Tomorrow, we plan to move on to another island. 

The Wolfe Island Ferry, on its way from Kingston to Wolfe Island.

I saw a deer this morning, and am convinced that it is a fawn from this year.  It is very small, and if you look closely, the spots are still evident.  Paul actually saw 2 together - probably this one and the mom, who stamped her foot at him.

This little fellow is pretty well camouflaged.

Decided I'd better keep moving, since 4 of these vultures were circling!

 We had a bit of excitement today, as a sailboat tipped over between us and the fort.  A man from one of the boats at our dock went to the rescue with his jetski, and was able to help right the boat.

 

There was a 10 year old boy in the water who was exhausted, and climbed onto the jetski.

There was a lovely sunset tonight.

We decided to have a campfire tonight, since someone left some wood behind.  You're not supposed to pick up wood from the islands to burn.

Just happened to have some marshmallows on board.

Chocolate digestive biscuits and  melted marshmallows make pretty good smores!

Boat Trip 2014 - July 5

Well, I heard last night that there ARE deer on the island, so made up my mind I would be going deer hunting today - in earnest!  But I didn't even have to hunt.  On my way to the outhouse, there was a young one - probably last year's fawn - just on a little rise beside the path.  I started snapping pictures, and he just stood there looking at me.  On the way back, he was still there, and I snapped off some more - 45 in all!  And still he stuck around.  I finally walked away from him.

Here he was, just calmly munching leaves off a tree.

Here, we are doing something we rarely do - no, I don't mean reading and drinking coffee - I mean actually sitting in the sun to do it.  It was pretty cool here this morning.

This little fellow was singing his heart out!

Still chasing butterflies - haven't seen a bee since I've been here!

This shot was taken seconds before these disappeared - into my mouth!  :-)

This is an indication of what some of the paths on this island are like - a wee bit treacherous!

There are LOTS of robins on Cedar Island, and they too sing their hearts out.

Boat Trip 2014 - July 4

We've had a fairly uneventful day here on Cedar Island.  I've made a few trips around the island looking for the deer that we have seen here often in the past, but no luck.  It's pretty close to the mainland, and apparently they swim or go over on the ice.

 

Still no bees, but I did find this spider.

This is called the "Cathcart Redoubt", and was built on the island in 1846.  I would LOVE to go inside, but there is no way in.  Rumour has it that there is/was a tunnel from here to the redoubt at Fort Henry.

It was a beautiful day with a brisk breeze, just right for sailing for these folks.                                                                                                   

 
Methinks a raccoon had a feast of duck eggs last night!                                                                                                                  






The Parks Canada people came around today to see if everyone had paid (the boat beside us had not), clean the outhouses, etc.

One of the big tour boats that go by here from Kingston.

It has been quite windy all day, but tonight was fairly quiet, and we had just put the motor on the dinghy to go for a ride, when all of a sudden a big wind arose, and lots of dark clouds came, so we cancelled our plans and closed up the boat.  It blew over, and now the sky is brilliant blue again, but it's still a little too windy for us to dinghy.

Boat Trip 2014 - July 3

Yesterday, July 3, we began our summer journey with an uneventful trip from Trenton to Cedar Island, near Kingston. 

Cedar Island, one of the 1000 Islands National Park islands, is right across from Old Fort Henry, and we were greeted on arrival with the noon cannon booming.

This is the Royal Military College in Kingston, where I believe cousin Rick attended.  Correct me if I'm wrong, Charlotte.

This is a fascinating rock we found near a campsite - so many different rock layers!

Couldn't find any bees to chase, so settled for a butterfly.







              




 This little snail was making pretty good time!




Someone made this little inukshuk near the docks.

I guess you call these dock flowers - don't know how they grow out of rocks!

One of the tour boats out of Kingston that makes us rock a bit.

This little fellow lives nearby - we see him a lot!  As long as he doesn't find a way to get in the boat, I'm happy!