Tues June 23: Gananoque to Wilton Point Anchorage in Jay Bay ON
Our original plan was to dock for the night in Kingston, but we decided to continue on for a couple more hours to an anchorage to save a day and some marina fees.
Immediately after leaving Gananoque, we saw several Parks Canada Islands.
Just a three-car ferry. Feel sorry for car number four waiting.There are lots and lots of swans everywhere along the St. Lawrence River and Quinte Bay. I thought maybe they were Trumpeter Swans, and I was having the warm and fuzzies thinking about E.B. White. But all the swans we’ve seen are actually Mute Swans, which are an invasive species from Eurasia.We were on the north side of Wolfe Island this time, where we first saw all the windmills as we came off Lake Ontario.We could see Fort Henry in Kingston. It was designed by the British in 1837 to protect the Royal Naval Dockyard and the southern entrance of the Rideau Canal, but it never saw battle, and now it’s a living history museum and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
We spotted all four Martello towers (a type of small, circular defensive fort built across the British Empire during the 19th century). These four were built in the 1840’s to protect Kingston’s harbour and the start of the Rideau Canal. They’re called the Cathcart Tower, the Fort Frederick, the Shoal Tower, and the Murney Tower. The Murney tower has a gray roof instead of a red one.
Kingston Penitentiary is Canada’s most famous former maximum-security prison. It operated for nearly 180 years before being decommissioned in 2013.Kingston Marina was built in 1976 for the Olympics.At Kingston, the Saint Lawrence River turns into the Bay of Quinte. In the bay, we saw what looked like hundreds upon hundreds of seagulls and cormorants congregating in one place. We assumed there must have been a school of fish to feast on.Peter found us a beautiful anchorage in Jay Bay. It took us two tries to set anchor, but it was worth it for this lovely spot.
Jack Tar Adventures 
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