Cruises of the "Bucket List": Kingston, Ontario to Trenton, Ontario

We arrived in Collins Bay, Ontario at the Marina at 3:00 in the afternoon on July 22. We had gone about 52 miles across Lake Ontario in up to 3-4 ft seas. Needless to say we were glad to arrive. Collins Bay is on the west side of Kingston, Ontario. We picked it to arrive in Canada because of it’s location. It was far enough away from downtown Kingston that the customs people don’t normally drive here to inspect the boat when you clear customs. We arrived flying the yellow quarantine flag that you must fly until clearing customs.
I made the obligatory phone call to customs and they took our information; birth dates, whether or not we had firearms (we didn’t), amount of alcohol on board, pets or not, and if we had large amounts of cash (we didn’t). They then gave me a number to post in our window and it was done!!
Then you are supposed to take down the quarantine flag and raise a Canadian courtesy flag. We didn’t have a Canadian flag because I hadn’t been able to find one. I thought sure that the marina would have one but they did not. It needed to be the first thing that we were going to buy.

Collins Bay Marina, Kingston Ontario, Canada

Welcoming Committee

We knew that both Jeff and Grace from Seaglide, and Randy and Vicki from Barefoot’n were coming through the Rideau Canal and should be arriving in Kingston at any time. I got a text from Randy that told me their approximate arrival time. They had no idea that we were anywhere close. We knew which marina they were going to and I called to see if they had any openings for us. They did not! So Cindy and I got a bus schedule and took off to go meet them. Barefoot’n was already there tying up when we arrived. Their dog Heidi was the first one to recognize us and came running down the dock to meet us. We sat on their boat and waited for Seaglide to arrive. They were stuck on the other side of a bridge that only opens on a schedule. We could see them going back and forth on the other side of the bridge. When they did arrive, it was with a bunch of other boats and it was a while before they could get their slip assignment. I couldn’t resist chiding them a little on the radio. They didn’t believe it was us until I stepped out on the bow of the boat and waved to them. We helped them tie up and had a nice reunion. We went to eat at an Italian place and we stayed until it was time for us to catch our bus back to the Marina.

To get from the Marina to Kingston we had to transfer busses. On the way back, one of the busses had already quit running for the day, so we had a long walk for the last part of the trip back to the boat.

Cindy, Jeff, Vicki, Randy,Grace and Larry

Kingston City Hall

Kingston est. in 1673 is the oldest city in Ontario

The next morning we again caught the busses to Kingston to do some more visiting and sightseeing.

Kingston is known as the limestone city with all of the historic buildings constructed of limestone.

One of the several Stained glass windows inside city hall

City Hall with Kingston and Pembroke Railway Station and the Canadian Pacific Railway’s Steam Locomotive #1095

Fire House

Mounted Police

Canada Military College is their equivalent of our West Point

Royal Military College Memorial Arch

A list of names of ex-cadets who died in the First World War are posted here

Military Campus and parade grounds

Fort Henry National Historic Site

The Frontenac County Court House

St Mary's Cathedral

St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church

Ladies and Men's Penitentiary

Penitentiary Museum, Wardens' quarters

We left Collins Bay on the 25th and headed toward Belleville, Ontario. We saw it on the charts and just had to stop there because we live next to Belleville, Illinois. Seaglide and Barefoot’n left a little after us and had further to go, so we were out in front of them all day. They stopped before they got to us and anchored for the night. We stayed in a very nice Marina in Belleville and used their bicycles to tour the city.

Entering Belleville Marina

Belleville (beautiful village) is known as “The Friendly City” est. in 1789.

This town is a bit larger than home.

Down town

Belleville City Hall

Along the bike trail in Belleville

We left the next morning at around 10:30 and were still ahead of the other boats. Barefoot’n has AIS and I can see him on my plotter when he gets within about 10 miles or so. So I knew we were a few miles ahead, and even going slow (7mph) they were not about to catch us. Our next stop was only about 9 miles away, a very short day.
We arrived at the marina at Trenton at 12:15 in the afternoon. Even going slow we got there pretty early. It’s a good thing too, because they had to pack us in like sardines to get us all in. We were closed in a corner when everyone arrived. We were definitely not going to be the first in line when we left!

The Bay of Quinte

Marker

Trenton, Ontario. Fraser Park

The Gateway To The Trent Severn Waterway

Oh No, it’s Norfolk all over again. Crammed into a corner, life jacket on Barefootn’s anchor so the boat doesn’t get scratched, LOL. Pazza Bella has us pinned from the front.

Dinner at the dock by Fraser park. With an outdoor concert playing for our listening pleasure.

Heidi and her mom, Vicki.

All boat dogs should take lessons from Heidi. She is such a good boater.

While we were there, we got the bicycles down and did some riding. We went to the first lock and purchased our lock pass for the trip up the Trent Severn and a long ride to the largest Air Base in Canada to visit their museum.

On the way to the lock.

Our simple bike ride became torturous when we ran out of trail and had to carry our bikes up a flight of stairs to the lock. After we had to push it up a hill past the railroad tracks and back down to get to the stairs. WHEW

View from the train trestle. We were checking the size of the lock for our 4 vessel flotilla. We would have to pair up to meet the 32 foot by 120 length chamber. This will be interesting.

The lock master showed us the bells and whistles at the controls. He explained the Canada Parks staff was cut in half so therefore, when they are done lifting at this lock they will drive to the next lock and man that lock as well. Then back to the previous to do it over again. This will cause a delay of lockage if we do not make the first opening at 9:00 a.m. We will make sure to be waiting on the wall for the first lock through.
He also told me his family taps trees and makes #4 grade dark maple syrup. I asked if he was working the next day to bring a bottle for me to buy, but he would be off. So, no syrup from the lock master tomorrow.