Lazy days in the beautiful Thousand Islands

Lake Ontario is the smallest of the Great Lakes and is fed by the Niagara River on the south-west shore of the lake. To the north-east it empties into the St Lawrence River; at this point and straddling the Canadian/US border are the ‘Thousand Islands’.

Despite the name there are actually more than 1,800 islands which form an archipelago in the wide expanse of the St Lawrence. They are a popular destination for Canadian boaters and reported to be very beautiful, so we were keen to visit.

Heading east from Cobourg marina on the north shore of Lake Ontario we took the route south of Prince Edward County to anchor at Van Dousens Point in Prince Edward Bay. The passage was quite a long one at 67 miles and the light winds were not quite strong enough to give us good speed, despite hauling up the colourful multipurpose genoa for light wind sailing, so we compromised and motorsailed for much of the trip in order to arrive at dusk.

There was only one other yacht in the anchorage and it was easy to find a nice spot to drop the hook. It was wonderful to be out on anchor again and we spent a few peaceful days just relaxing and taking in the scenery. The evening light on distant