The Thousand Islands
Every year is different. Some years the water level in the river is high, some years not. The river is fresh water, so we have no tides. Good thing for him because we have high water this year.
Life
in the Rift
As
is obvious by now, we live on a private island. This is about how we get there.
In our area, there are two fairly large islands, one is called Wellesley Island (US)
the other Hill Island (Canadian). They are
joined by 3 bridges crossing both islands, linking the Canadian mainland to the
United States. They are the only bridges in the area to do so. One of the bridges crosses from the US mainland to Wellesley (US) island. The second is a stone bridge that crosses what is
a narrow International Rift in the river between the two large islands. The middle of this bridge is the border between the US and Canada. The third completes
the link crossing from Hill (Canadian) Island to the mainland. The only two other possible crossings are in
Ogdensburg NY, which is 46 miles (75km) to the north, or Niagara Falls past
Toronto at the other end of Lake Ontario, some 258 miles (415km) to the South.
The International Rift
Our
Island is in that Rift, a narrow waterway between those two large islands, all
of which is surrounded by the St Lawrence River. We jokingly call it our
private driveway as ours is the only inhabited dwelling in the Rift. We park our
car and dock our boat on Hill Island and from there, it is about an 8-minute leisurely
boat ride home. In different areas, the river is anywhere from a half mile to over 3 miles wide (1-5km). The entrance of the Rift is as little as 50’ wide (17m) at its narrowest,
making it quite challenging for boats of any size. A child could throw a ball over it. With our boat, I have to pay
close attention when navigating. Our nearest neighbor on the US side is 250' away (80m).
This stone bridge links Wellesley Island to Hill Island. The border runs right down the middle of this Rift and the bridge. The right half is in the US, the left half is in Canada. This is part of our 'driveway'.
The
Rift is pretty special. Navigating it is often compared to the Disney movie, Pirates of the Caribbean.
Tree branches overhang the waterway; wildlife abound everywhere and there is an
eerie calm with the slow current flowing. In this area, it is the dividing line between
the Unites States and Canada, so the middle of the Rift is the border. In our
boat, guests on the starboard side (right side for landlubbers) are in US
waters. On the Port side (left), they are in Canadian waters. Technically, the
border runs right down the middle of the boat. With new guests, I never miss
the opportunity to joke about the fact that even to first time visitors, the US side is obvious. With tongue in cheek, I point out that on the US
side of the boat the water is cleaner, the trees are taller, the leaves are
greener, the sky is bluer and the air is fresher. Canadian friends don’t aways
share my sense of humor.
We never grow weary of the lifestyle. Occasionally, someone will ask "You HAVE to take a boat to your island?" "No" we say, "we GET to take a boat to our island". It's all in your attitude.
Retirement
Every afternoon before dinner, we go out and get lost in one of dozens of bays in the area, drop anchor and have a cocktail, read and solve the world's problems. I don't care what anyone has ever told you about retirement; it's not true. It is much, much better.
When we talk about going boating,
this is NOT what we mean.
This is.
This is one of many bays in the area off of Dear Island where we like to anchor. Owned by Yale University and home of the oldest and most secretive senior societies. "Skull and Bones", is often linked to high-profile power networks and conspiracy theories. The organization famously selects 15 rising seniors each spring during "Tap night" and gathers for highly secretive meetings in a windowless campus building known as "The Tomb." Deer Island is one of their summer refuges.
Aside from captains of industry, their alumni have served as U.S. President: William Howard Taft, George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush among them.
Visit of the month
This month, we spent a day getting lost on some back roads just North of the Islands to see what we could find. Most of Canada's population is concentrated in a 100 mile East-West belt of sorts from the US border going coast to coast. Once you go past that general area, in many areas the population thins out quickly and you might see few people until you get to the North Pole. No, we didn't go that far.
What we did find was the delightful little village of Delta. It is what we would describe as a two-horse town, where if you blinked you would miss it. We toured its incredibly sophisticated historic grist mill built in 1796. It features a functional waterwheel, vintage French burrstones and hosts milling demonstrations during the summer season. We were given a personal 1-hour tour by the curator and shown all of the functioning displays. The mill predates the war of 1812 and is one of the oldest surviving mills in Canada.
The functioning waterwheel
A new career?
Having run out of things to build and planes to fly, I am enjoying spending much more time reading and lounging about. Not ready for the rocking chair, I have started pursuing more intellectual activities. Like debating with a Liberal daughter and bamboozling my way into writing for my favorite online magazine "Thousand Island Life". I love covering stories about interesting people and subjects in the area. Being interested in absolutely everything, no subject is too off the wall to capture my interest. Well, except for sports in general and fishing in particular. Somehow, I just can't wrap my head around grown men fighting over or chasing a ball, or spending $100,000 + for a boat and a truck to pull it, in order to catch a $2.00 fish that they throw back in.
But I digress.
My first assignment was to interview and write about a local fellow who runs a moderate sized tour boat company. He had just purchased two pontoon boat sized Polynesian styled "Tiki" boats to add to his fleet for waterborne parties or tours of some of the local islands. He has even had a wedding on one and a celebration of life.
Interested? If you like, you can read it HERE.
Then I wrote an off the wall story about an incident we had here this month.
Land acknowledgement
In closing, we want to acknowledge that we are on the traditional homeland of the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee and the Huron-Wenda people. While we are eternally grateful for their care, love and stewardship of the land, let me be crystal clear that we have no intention whatsoever of giving so much as an inch of it back.
