Trip on Lake Ontario

love2cruise

Hey Guys, My fiancé and I want to plan our first boating trip this summer but don't have any experience on planning one. Our boat is docked in Toronto and was thinking of taking a 4 or 5 day trip on Lake Ontario in July. Does anyone have any suggestions or tips on where to go? Are there anything that I should consider? My rough plan was maybe take 2 days and head east to Kingston area (1000 Islands) staying overnight along the way, 1 day there then head back. Is it worth the long cruise out that way or should we go west to Niagara On The Lake area? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks,

MarkB

I think a 4 day trip may be a bit short for a visit to 1000 islands. 5 days might just do it.

You have to count on doing 20 mph average - so 2 days to get there. Then you want to spend at least 1 day there and then 2 days back. But then there's weather.  That could delay things.

So, as you pointed out, Niagara is the other option.  A half day there, a half day back with good weather. Spend time at Niagara on the Lake for a couple of days.  It's an easier trip, but there's not as much to see as 1000 islands.

My call is you would need at least 5 days to go to 1000 islands and if you can afford to take more time off in case the weather is bad, then that would be the better trip for me. 

Do you have good charts for the 1000 islands area, there's a lot of shallow rocks (hence the 1000 islands!).

 

Black_Diamond

Mark makes an excellent point: weather. Never get too hung up on a schedule for a trip like that, Mother Nature will mess it up for sure. I always buffer a few days extra just in case.

love2cruise

Thanks Mark for the info. After thinking about it, I think it might be a wiser decision to head west to Niagara on The Lake as our first trip as it's much closer. Do you have any recommendations on where to stay for the night and what to see? Would love to have dinner downtown and enjoy the city if there's a transient slip close enough downtown. Unless there's another destination that you can recommend or up to 6 day trip fromToronto. Many thanks guys for your help thus far.

MarkB

Depends on how much you want to spend. We sometimes treat ourselves at the Prince of Wales. It is an awesome hotel, but frigging expensive. Queen's Landing is across from the marina, I've never stayed there but i have heard good things. Maybe worth doing a review on line. Depending on when you go they have many festivals there. The other thing to do is to cab it to Niagara and spend a night at the casino, they also have shows there. There is also a VERY good dinner show called "Oh Canada, Eh". I've been twice, highly recommended. Need to book in advance.

love2cruise

Thanks for the info Mark.. Great advice. Cheers,