Heart Island to Grenadier Island

You can monitor our trip at the link: Second Wind's Progress Live

Day 8: August 17, 2017

We both had a wonderful calm night’s sleep.  We awoke to a bright cloudless sky and cool air.  We fixed pancakes and bacon for our first meal of the day and

Boldt Castle in the morning sun

leisurely prepared for our next adventure.

Singer Castle

We headed for Jorstadt (Dark) Island where there is located another castle that is open for visitors.  The Singer Castle is located about 9 miles downstream from the Boldt castle and with calm winds and following current, we made it in less than 2 hours.

We arrived at about 11:00  as a large tour boat was offloading probably 50 or 60 passengers.  The dock hand, Tom, offered that we could join the large group or we could eat our lunch and go through with a very small group.  We obviously chose the latter opting to eat an early lunch of taco, chips and pudding cup for me and pulled pork and pudding for Janine.

Formal dining room with hand carved Italian marble fire place

Room that had King George's Picture on the wall 

Our guide was truly amazing.  Not only was he knowledgeable but also quick witted and funny.  The Castle was built in 1896 as an impressive summer home by Frederick C. Bourn of the Singer Sewing Machine Company. He called it The Towers and was inspired by the castle in Sir Walter Scott’s book, “Woodstock.” Although it dates from the same era as Boldt Castle, Singer Castle was completed and has been lived in since it was built.  We toured the wonderful house with its 28 rooms, elaborate clock tower, concealed passageways and lovely gardens.  The house has been restored to appear nearly identical to its original condition and many of the original furnishings are still in place. Mr. Bourn designed the house with two secret passage systems the run throughout.  They have secret doors that open, for instance into the back wall of each of the closets.  The maids could exchange clothing in the closets without going into the occupant’s room.  In the magnificent trophy room, there is a large portrait of King George II overlooking the room.  The picture can be pulled open from the inside of one of the passageways so that the entire room can be observed from above. The facility is available for overnight guests who are treated to an extended tour and adventure including period meals.

 

Walk-in closet with secret passage door open

From Dark Island, we headed north into Canadian waters and continued upstream to the head end of Grenadier Island where we pulled up to the dock of the Island’s golf course.  It is here where we were able to officially check in to Canada.  They make it really easy.  You pick up a direct line phone, answer a few questions and then copy a number that they provide which serves as your official registration.

The Clock Tower

The weather forecast is calling for rain and wind this evening so we decided that the cove near the golf course is a good place to drop a hook and ride out the storm.  The bottom of the cove is covered in seaweed and it took two attempts to get our anchor to bite.

We straightened up the boat, performed a couple of minor maintenance tasks before cooking a couple of brauts for dinner.  After dinner, we sat and read for awhile and were then serenaded by a couple of common loons. As the day drew to a close, the sky became overcast and foretold the coming weather.