Yes—we're in Canada! We have officially now traveled in our own boat from Eluethera, Bahamas to Canada.
I've been stressing about the border crossing process for days. I've been to Canada by car many times but I've never been there on our own boat and I was getting so many different stories about what you could and could not take across the border that I was stressed out. Add to that, our daughter was detained for an hour and a half while they completely unpacked their van for inspection when crossing through Canada on the way to their new home in Alaska. More stress, especially for The One Who Likes To Be Over-Prepared. Everyone here agreed that you had to declare firearms and alcohol and any currency over $10,000 US, and any cannabis products are strictly prohibited. But when it came to food...brother was there a pile of different answers. Some said no citrus, or apples, some said no potatoes, some said no meat that didn't specifically say a product of USA. In the end, we ate up our stores for the most part and planned to restock in Kingston where we were headed to check in.
Checking in took a whopping 6 minutes and involved our full names, birthdates, passport numbers, boat documentation number, reason for coming to Canada, how long our stay was going to be and five remaining questions: did we have any cannabis (no), did we have any firearms (no), did we have alcohol (yes and I had to specify exactly how much), did we have any currency over $10,000, and did we have any pets (no). Not a single question about food. The agent was pleasant, courteous, and very efficient. I got my report number and off I went to take down our Q flag and hang the Canadian maple leaf.
It's worth a mention here that we were checking in at Kingston, ON because we had tried every other check-in point down the Canadian side of the Thousand Islands and every single marina was full. Every single one turned us down. So we turned around and headed back down the NY side and crossed over to Kingston near Lake Ontario. We had wanted to go down the Canadian side of the Thousand Islands because it's incredibly beautiful and it was a bit disappointing to miss it.
That being said, Kingston is an amazing city. It has a ton of really old buildings and has a very European vibe about it. There are hundreds of little restaurants and shops in the few blocks around the center of the city where the marina is located. We picked a little bar called Kingston Brewery and I had a very delicious pulled pork sandwich and sweet potato fries. We rarely eat out, but this one was worth it.
I hadn't realized until I read a sign in the park that Kingston is on land shared with the Anishinaabe, Haudenosaunee and the Huron-Wendat nations. They have a statement worth reading on their website: thecityofkingston.ca. You could easily spend several weeks exploring the city as well as biking their many trails. But beware—plan on spending a good boat buck because you will be so tempted by the enticing aromas of their many bakeries and street food stands.
Tomorrow we leave to head to Picton then on to Trenton where we will begin our journey on the Trent-Severn Waterway which is supposed to be the most interesting part of this whole trip. Stay tuned!
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