March/April '04
Cruising Lake Ontario — One Great Lake

by Rich Critchlow

     We own two sailboats: a Cata-lina 400 (40 foot) berthed in St. Petersburg, Florida, and an O’Day 30 which we keep at the Pultneyville Yacht Club in Pultneyville, New York. The C400 we live on in the winter months; on the O’Day we sail Lake Ontario in the summer. We have sailed all of the lake and as far down the St. Lawrence River as Alexandria Bay.
     Our favorite route on Lake Ontario takes us from Pultneyville to Waupoos Island, Canada. The crossing is 58 miles with 44 miles over open water. We check in with the Canadian authorities at Waupoos by phone. One can anchor out behind Waupoos Island or go into the Waupoos Marina on the mainland. We do both, but most often stay at the marina so we can do the check-in. Besides, they have free blueberry muffins and coffee in the morning.
     The marina people are friendly and unpretentious. The facilities themselves are simple but adequate. The only attempt at luxury is an outdoor hot tub. There is a restaurant/bar about a mile up a country road. The marina is a great place to relax and watch the sunset.
     We usually stay at Waupoos one night and then push on to Picton, Ontario. Picton is a real favorite of ours. This is a village of perhaps 5,000 on Prince Edward Island and thus is somewhat remote. Colonists from Massachusetts loyal to the British Crown settled Picton after the Revolutionary War. It retains some of this loyalist flavor even now. The village is friendly and boasts several good restaurants, two hardware stores, a grocery store, good meat market, laundromat and an ice cream shop.
      The harbor is well protected and has two yacht clubs, a commercial marina and a town dock. We stay at the Prince Edward Yacht Club when they have room. A major benefit of the yacht clubs on Lake Ontario is a system of reciprocal privileges. I believe the number of clubs extending privileges varies, but the Pultneyville Yacht Club has reciprocal privileges with 43 clubs around the lake and surrounding waters.
      Facilities at each club vary, and so what is available varies. Most often you can stay from one to three nights using the docking facilities, showers, bathrooms and picnicking areas. At Prince Edward we pay for one night and get the second night free. The two nights end up costing us about $7.50 U.S. per night. There is a bar at the club and my wife joined a dance class one evening while we were there.
     The club has the added benefit of a physical fitness system. It is located at the water’s edge at water level. The village is located on a bluff some 60 to 70 feet higher in elevation. The driveway leads up this steep bank. I figure six trips up that driveway is all the physical fitness training anyone needs in a day. My limit is no more than two trips up the hill in any 60-minute period. Mornings and late evening trips in the cooler air are preferred. Incidentally, there is a park and rest home at the top of the hill. The local hospital is about two blocks away. I wonder if there is a message here.
     It was during one visit in Picton that we were trapped at the laundromat by a long and heavy rainstorm. One of the townspeople put our laundry and us in their car and took us back to our boat. They would not accept payment of any kind.
     Within three hours by sailboat, there are at least four great anchorages. Hay Bay and Ram Island are north toward Deseronto. Lyon Island is about four miles north then a mile east toward Kingston. Pryners Cove is another eight miles past Lyon Island; Kerr Bay is about three miles past the upper gap from the Bay of Quinte to Lake Ontario. Kerr Bay and Pryners Cove tend to be quite crowded on weekends as they are within three hours of Kingston. Both Lyon Island and Hay Bay offer the opportunity for some great sunsets.
     Another advantage of northern sailing, including Lake Ontario, is that the summer days are long. June 21 has right at 16 hours of daylight; this decreases to 12 hours by September 21. You can start at 5:30 a.m. (gulp!) and still have light to anchor by at 9 p.m. We have done 96 miles in a day arriving at our homeport just after dark.
     Next stop on our normal route is Kingston, Ontario. This is our one capitulation to tourism. Kingston on the Canadian side and Sackets Harbor on the New York side are favorite places to stop. Both have great (but not cheap) marinas and wonderful restaurants. Kingston has many events for the visitor and both Kingston and Sackets Harbor have a history going back to 1812.
     We often stay at the main marina in Kingston, Confederation Basin. Just as often, we will go across the waterway to Wolfe Island. Wolfe Island has the General Wolfe Hotel, which has a coffee shop and an outstanding, if not inexpensive, restaurant with excellent food. There is a 70-foot dock on the waterway across the road from the hotel just east of the ferry landing. Only in very low water do we have trouble getting our 5-foot-draft sailboat to the dock.
     The General Wolfe Hotel is in the village of Marysville. Marysville boasts a small store and a couple of coffee shops in addition to the General Wolfe. The world’s greatest ice cream can be had at the small store. A large (30-car) ferry runs a regular schedule from Wolfe Island to Kingston. If we stay in Kingston, we take a trip on the ferry for ice cream and the view. If we stay at the General Wolfe dock, we take the ferry for shopping. A ride on the ferry at night offers a breathtaking view of the city lights. Oh, by the way, the ferry is free.
     Other attractions in Kingston include a Canadian icebreaker set up as a bed and breakfast and museum, Fort Henry (dating to the War of 1812), and a lovely walkway along the waterway west from Kingston.
     From Kingston, we always head for Cape Vincent on the U.S. side as it is a good place to reenter the United States. A ferry runs between Wolfe Island and Cape Vincent; an international ferry means that both U.S. Customs and U.S. Immigration agents are present in person so check-in tends to be a non-event. Since 9/11 it is good to carry a U.S. passport for positive identification.
     When making the trip from Kingston to Cape Vincent one can go around the island to the north then east or to the south then east. The southern route offers a chance to sail if the winds are light to moderate. To the north offers a more sheltered route. The northern route also offers a chance to go into some of the Thousand Islands, a beautiful place.
     Cape Vincent is another Picton, a small, quiet town with a pleasant awareness of the visitor. Cape Vincent has a town dock near the south edge of the breakwater. This dock can accommodate about ten medium-sized boats. Also there is a New York State fisheries installation just north of the town dock with an enclosed dock for their research boat. Along the outside of this enclosed basin there is room for about four boats. Dockage at the fisheries dock and town dock is free and limited to 48 hours. Power and water are not available but there are lavatory facilities available during the day.
     Cape Vincent has a full-service restaurant, a general store, a laundromat, a beauty parlor, and a couple of bars/grills, a pizza shop and a commercial marina with fuel and a pumpout station. A stop at Cape Vincent is not complete without a dinner at Aubery’s restaurant. There also is a public library with public Internet access for checking e-mail.
     The Tibbits Point lighthouse is three miles south. A walk along the St. Lawrence River to the lighthouse is a great morning or afternoon outing. Take something to drink and maybe some munchies. There is no food or drink available on the route or at the lighthouse. There is a souvenir shop and a bathroom when the shop is open. Take your camera as the scenery and the inside of the “Horn House” are worth more than a few pictures.
     From Cape Vincent, there are several destinations of interest. Down river (the St. Lawrence River flows northeast) are Clayton and Alexandria Bay. Both cater to fishermen and tourist. No free dockage, but Clayton has an antique boat museum and Alex Bay has Boldt Castle. Both are worth seeing.
South out into Lake Ontario, a turn to the east will bring you to either Sacket’s Harbor or Henderson Harbor. Sacket’s has three commercial marinas, great restaurants and a lot of “1812” history. This was the 1812 Lake Ontario base for the American fleet. Henderson Harbor has a yacht club (free reciprocal dockage) and a long walk to the grocery.
     It is not uncommon to get weathered in on the eastern part of the lake. The prevailing winds and storm tracks are west to east. The bad waves and wind tend to pile up on the Sacket’s Harbor, Henderson Harbor area.
     Crossing the lake to the south shore, one can stop at Oswego, Fairhaven (Little Sodus Bay), or Sodus Bay. Oswego is the entrance to the New York State Erie Canal System, which is a cruising story all of its own. Oswego is a mixed bag. Oswego has three marinas. However, they are under one management; therefore, the harbor suffers from lack of competition. There is a city bus service. Historical sites (Fort Ontario), shopping and restaurants are worth checking out.
     I once had a boat battery fail in Oswego; I rode the bus to Wal-Mart and bought a new battery. On the return trip, the bus driver went two blocks out of his route to deliver the heavy battery and me to the boat.
Fairhaven (Little Sodus Bay) is another favorite of ours. The Fairhaven Yacht Club provides free reciprocal dockage. A hotel restaurant on the southeast area of the bay provides dockage for non-club members. There are also good anchorages on the west area of the bay.
     From Fairhaven, we often stop at Sodus Bay. Again free dockage. The Sodus Bay Yacht Club offers free reciprocal dockage along with a restaurant. The village of Sodus Point has at least two good commercial marinas, full dinner restaurants, and what I call a fisherman’s restaurant. A fisherman’s restaurant serves breakfast and lunch but not dinner. Fairhaven and Cape Vincent also have “fisherman’s restaurants.”
     From Sodus Bay we return to Pultneyville from whence our cruise on Lake Ontario started.
     My story of sailing/cruising on Lake Ontario ends up with a comparison of sailing on Lake Ontario vs. Tampa Bay, the Gulf and ICW.
     Sailing and boating on Lake Ontario is different from the waters of Tampa Bay, the Gulf and the ICW. The Great Lakes are fresh water and the sun is less intense; therefore boat maintenance is less burdensome than in Florida. The wave action seems different also. I’ve sailed on Lake Ontario in 25-knot winds in a 30-foot boat; I’ve been on Tampa Bay and the Gulf in 35-knot winds in a 40-foot boat. The Lake Ontario 25 knots was much harder to handle and more tiring. Water depth is different. Not far from shore on Lake Ontario, we are in over 100 feet of water. On a lake crossing, most of the time we are in over 200 feet of water. Except for the ship channel, on the Gulf and the Bay, I’ve never seen more than 30 feet of water and most of the time the depth is eight to ten feet.
     We believe we have the best of both worlds. A 30-foot sailboat on Lake Ontario for the summer and early fall; a 40-foot sailboat on Tampa Bay for late fall (after hurricane season), winter and spring. Sailing in 65 to 85 degree days year round. That’s where it’s at. It just doesn’t get any better.