June 27, 2025 Onward to the St. Lawrence River

Friday June 27, 2025, Sackets Harbor to Cape Vincent - 24 miles and 2.75 hours

Forecast is calling for a wind and rain event to develop later today and continuing into Saturday. But things look good for moving this morning so off we went at 7:30 for a short cruise out the last of Lake Ontario and onto the start of the St. Lawrence River. Heading to another small town we've never visited - Cape Vincent. Easy cruise with overcast skies, light winds, and a very minor chop on the water.

Heading off Lake Ontario and to the entrance of the St. Lawrence

Tibbetts Point Lighthouse protects the entrance to the St. Lawrence River

Cape Vincent has a new town floating dock with water and power. Suggested docking donation of $20/day with a 3-day limited stay. QR codes on the dock lets you pay online or leave a donation in the box at the ramp. Very convenient payment system. Cape Vincent is directly on the river but has a break wall to minimize wakes from passing ships. Still has exposure to NE and NW winds but we'll be getting S and SE winds forecasted at 20-25mph with gusts to 40. While we hoped to have wind protection provided from the town and trees directly behind us, passing ships still managed to leave a few surging bouncy waves.

As You Wish and a classic wooden Chris-Craft on the town dock

Large ocean-going ships pass by outside the break wall

We arrived early enough Friday to get in a good walk of the town before any winds or rain arrived. Pretty small town but locals seem quite proud of it. Downtown consists of just a few gift shops, post office, ice cream shop, 2 restaurants, a brewery/pub and a combination grocery/gift/hardware/fishing tackle store all lined up across the street from a nice village green. Learned of a presentation at the library Saturday at 10 AM by an Erie Canal staff member discussing "Immigrants and the Erie Canal" and also there would be a band playing at 4PM on the village green. In between those activities we decided to explore the aquarium and learning center at the NY State DEC (Dept of Environmental Conservation) building. Made for a nice second day and even the weather cooperated. Rain moved out early providing a nice sunny 70 degree day although still a bit blustery. Decision to stay 2 nights was prudent.

Downtown with brewery and general store

Ship passing by the town

DEC building and research vessel Seth Green. Building has an interesting history.
Originally a grist mill, then a lumber mill, eventually bought by Feds in late 1800's.
Used as a fish hatchery for many years before being turned over to NY State

Saturday music on the Village Green drew a good crowd.
Interesting mix of original music and everything from the 40's to today.

There was an old wooden fishing boat called the Anna which sat forlorn and neglected beside the road leading into town. Subject of several artists work in the local gift shops. Apparently, it had just recently succumbed to age and fell in on itself. Created quite a dialogue with the locals on Facebook wondering why such a landmark hadn't been saved. Was thinking about it on Friday as I passed several wood boats lined up outside this building so grabbed a picture. A bit disheartened to pass them again the next day.