Aug 14-16, Kingston, ON

We moved 20 miles west through part of the Admiralty Islands, a part of the Thousand Islands and then through the Bateau Channel to Kingston, Ontario. Blustery day with winds over 20 mph and a resulting one to two foot chop on the water.

One of the docks we passed had all the 'toys'.
We see nine rubber toys in the water, one more on the dock and three boats. We think there must be several children here.
Probably some big kids, too.

Cable ferry. Cables are used to pull the ferry back and forth with no steering needed. Cables are out of the water to the right of the ferry as it moves to our right. We wait until cables sink behind ferry and then motor past.

Fortification out from Ft Henry. Must be a new roof.

Ft Henry, from the 1800's, across the river from Kingston, Ontario.

Royal Canadian Military Academy across from the Kingston Harbor.

Approaching Kingston and the Confederation Basin Harbor.

Kingston is the fourth largest city in Canada and was the Capitol for a while before Ottawa. We are staying at the Confederation Basin Marina at the foot of the downtown. We are within walking distance of many restaurants and the tourist shops. The town is busy today being a Saturday in the middle of summer.

City Hall, downtown Kingston.

Jaguar 140. Pretty. Rare.

Prince George Hotel (1809) is small scale right in downtown. There are several large chain hotels here, too, but they are very large scale and do not have any architectural charm.

St George Anglican Church.

Customs House.

Sunday is still windy (about 20 mph) with scattered showers. About 10:30 am we moved the boat from the protected wall with no power to another slip where we would have power for our last two nights in Kingston. With no protection from the wind, we had a very difficult time as the wind kept blowing us around so we could not gently ease the boat into the slip. We asked for assistance from the marina and they sent out four dock hands to help us with our docking. And we certainly did put on a good show for the 20 or so spectators from the nearby boats who watched our attempt at docking. And we thought they did seem somewhat sympathetic. It was a harrowing experience. But we did not touch any of the adjacent boats. Whew. Probably happens a lot here because the marina is very exposed to the winds but it was a new experience for to us. Took a while to get calm again after we were safely tied up. This spot in the Confederation Marina has power and internet, but is a 'hike' to shore. Nice brunch at 'Chez Piggy'.

Monday we took the trolly tour of Kingston including a stop at Ft Henry. Ft Henry protects Kingston. First built as a blockhouse in 1812-1813 during the War of 1812 after the Americans attacked and burned Kingston, the fort was expanded into the present limestone structure from 1832 to 1837. This was to protect Kingston and the Rideau Canal and the Naval shipyards from the expected attack by the Americans during the time Canada was a British Colony. Ft Henry is large and formidable and was never tested. It was abandoned in 1871 and restoration began in 1931.

English sentry at Ft Henry.

View from Ft Henry.
Hundreds of sailboats are in the bay today competing for spots in the upcoming summer olympics.

Then a stop at Bellevue, the home of John A MacDonald, the first Prime Minister of Canada, now restored as it was in the 1840's.

Linda greets John A MacDonald, the first Prime Minister of Canada.
He is known affectionally as John A.

Bellevue House.

Bellevue House was rented by John A MacDonald for just over one year. Good period furnishings and young employees of the Nartional Park system are in costume.

Loopers Ed and Linda Brennan, who we met in St-Anne-de-Bellevue, arrived today in Kingston on SHORE THING. They had the same very difficult docking situation because of the high winds that we had yesterday. Very experienced boater. Took him three tries. Took me the same.