A landlubber falls in love with a boat
Our friends Peter and Carol, who are sailing a loop from Albany, through the 
NYS canal system, into Lake Ontario, then on to the St. Lawrence River, the Bay of St. Lawrence and back around to their home in Halifax, Nova Scotia, put in at the public marina in Ogdensburg for a few days and came to visit us on the farm.
I grew up in Manhattan where my father took me rowing on the Central Park pond. Over the years, I’ve taken rides on friends’ motor boats, I’ve done a bit of paddling, and I’ve ferried to any number of places when I’m traveling. But sailing? Real boating? No. It’s still rowboat and oars for me.
When we went to pick up Carol and Peter at the marina, it was simple to find them. Not only was their boat the only one with a mast, the mast is 58 feet (the boat about 37 feet long). Everyone who walked by looked up. It’s a lovely sailing vessel. Our friends are lifelong sailors, including cross-oceanic voyages. (They are also world-class pediatric neurologists…in their free time.)
Do you paddle? Motorboat? Sail? What’s your favorite water to put in?
Tags: Bay of St. Lawrence, canals, Lake Ontario, nova scotia, sailboats, sailing, St. Lawrence River
The water transportation method of choice for us is a canoe -preferably on a wilderness lake or slow moving wilderness river (we’re not white water types). We’ve been doing extended wilderness canoe-camping trips for over 30 years – mainly in northwestern Ontario (Quetico Park) – just across the international boundary from Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
Being alone by ourselves for days on end with no connection to the outside world – and frequently not seeing another human for days on end – readjusts our compasses.
Fall trips into the BWCA, Quetico, Or Algonquin Park, have been the ulitmate wilderness canoe camping trips, as “Hank” mentioned. And while you may not see people for days, you will see alot of wild life!