KINGSTON to GANANOQUE & ADMIRALTY ISLANDS

At 10 am on Monday morning we departed KINGSTON, heading North on the Saint Lawrence River towards the Thousand Islands. After a lot of rain and wind in KINGSTON, our trip on Monday was very pleasant. It is the Labor Day Holiday in both US and Canada and we knew it was a little risky finding a place to dock in the popular Thousand Islands. Anyway, we had to be flexible about our Monday night destination ... The options in the Thousand Islands proved to be full and we activated plan "B": GANANOQUE! 

We called the GANANOQUE Playhouse to see if they had docking available. (A fellow Looper told us that you can dock here for free, if you attend a play.) They had space but it was a "Dark" night due to the Holiday. We docked at the nice Playhouse location by 2:30 pm, secured Thistle and rode our bikes to explore the town. 

Looper Tip: The Playhouse is a great location close to town and it is currently $30 a night play or no play. 

GANANOQUE is referred to as the "Gateway to the Thousand Islands", witch lie next to the town in the Saint Lawrence River. The local town attractions include boat cruises to the Thousand Islands and live local theater. In Eastern Ontario speech, the town name is often abbreviated to "Gan". We liked Gan very much and were disappointed to miss the play. Our decision to only stay one night was because we were very excited to visit the Thousand Islands.  

The Thousand Islands constitute an archipelago of 1,864 islands that straddle the Canadian/ USA border in the Saint Lawrence River. Under sunny skies, on Tuesday morning it took us about 1 hour to reach the ADMIRALTY ISLANDS (A group of five Islands in the Thousand Islands). We checked-out a few docking options and selected secluded Beau Rivage Island for Tuesday and then moved to Thwartway Island on Wednesday night.

The "Big" picture map of where we are ... Beautiful Thousand Islands.  

Monday: KINGSTON to GANANOQUE - Red line.

Tuesday & Wednesday: GANANOQUE to ADMIRALTY ISLANDS - Blue line (3.Aubrey  4.Mermaid  5.Beau Rivage  6.McDonald  7.Thwartway)

The Thousand Island Playhouse Dock. 

Downtown Gan...beautiful old buildings. (The Visitors Center has great wifi :)

Gan..."The Gateway to the Thousand Islands" ... Many tour boats! 

Swim at the Playhouse and Thistle's mast back up after the low bridge in Kingston.

GANanouque Brewing Co.... "Naugty Otter" is a favorite :)

Moon rise over the Saint Lawrence River. 

Beau Rivage Island: Very secluded and peaceful, clean swimming water and a nice island trail :)

Perfect...sun, wild flowers and calm water ... Until... Tuesday evening a sail boat docks with us (that is ok and expected) but their fenders SQUEEKED all night ??? Crazy ... oh well, guess we will move on tomorrow :)

Sunset on Beau Rivage XO.

On a mooring can at Thwartway Island, five mooring cans full by evening. The other trawler from Virginia, USA invited everyone in the cove to their boat for BYOB Happy Hour :) Very nice and fun with 10 of us ... Thanks !

The water here is a beautiful deep blue color ... Yeah, we inflated our SUP's again (Reenie paddling to Happy Hour.)

Captain Greg (and Reenie) are happy and smiling with our new quiet location.

Thwartway Island has a nice sandy beach on the other side of the island (a ten minute walk, once onshore.) This could be a favorite port :)