Marina price list

Docking layout

Docking reservation
form

accommodation

Accommodation
reservation form

Activities

Race or Cruise
sign up form

For sale list

During the summer months, when the marina is in full swing, it is like a small community. Two to three hundred people can be on-site at one time. French and English is heard. Children are fishing, swimming, riding bicycles and playing on the swings. Sail boats quietly glide through the waters. Sheep and lambs can be seen running up or down the road, when the local farmer takes them to or from Waupoos Island on a barge. The sheep dogs are especially interesting to watch as they work the herd.

 

Come and Join us in the County!

 

The Story of Waupoos Marina:

The marina is on the site of the old Waupoos Canning Factory. Over 100 years ago barrels of apples were shipped by schooner to Montreal where they were transferred onto Clipper Ships sailing to England. The apples sold for about $40.00 a barrel. In those days, apples trees were over 40 feet tall and long ladders used for picking can still be found throughout the County. A gigantic mural based on a 1903 photograph of the Cannery was painted on the doors of the butler building a number of years ago.

The Cannery was a major economic driver and seasonal employer in Prince Edward County until 1985. Often there were two or three generations in one family would be working at a Cannery related job at the same time. Farmers brought produce for processing by horse drawn wagons until tractors took over. The transportation of goods made a transition from shipping to trucking which required the installation of a weigh station next to the office. A group of Oblate Fathers who farmed on Waupoos Island would start barging their vegetables at 3:00 a.m. in order to be at the factory in time for the start of the day's activities at sun-up. From the fifties to the early eighties hugh greenhouses on site were used to start tomatoe seedlings. Ladies from the County worked on the lines sorting peas and peeling tomatoes with special wooden and metal peelers. Waupoos Peas and Waupoos Tomatoes were a unique label of the time. The Cannery also labelled canned vegetables for major food chains - Dominion, A&P.

In the early days all buildings were made from wood. Over the years silver coloured metal cladding was added to the outside. There are many stories about time time when the workers pestered Jay Hepburn, the owner of Waupoos Canning Co., to change the colour. He resisted for a long time, then finally relented. He had the main canning building painted bright orange. Some say he got a deal on some orange paint. Others say he mixed a batch of left over paint and it came out orange. Still others say it was done as a navigational aid to those bringing produce by boat and barge. Whatever the reason, it has been a topic of conversation ever since.

Sadly, Jay Hepburn closed the Waupoos Cannery in 1986 after a major U.S. food processor dumped peas or beans into Canada and undercut the price. Waupoos was the second last Cannery operating in the County. Colby Foods closed down a few years later.

Linda Bell and her late husband, Ian Kennedy, purchased the Cannery from Jay in 1988. Ian was a diver, loved the water and any kind of boat. He had spent nine years in the Canadian Navy and his vision was the establish a marina. The site had originally been a harbour and Waupoos Island sheltered the shoreline from Lake Ontario. It was a perfect place to create his dream. Linda, on the other hand, who had spent time visiting family in the County for many years, thought he was crazy. Many of the locals thought the same.

However, Ian carried on. He remember reading an article in Popular Mechanics in the sixties where Goodyear had developed a floating tire breakwater. He contacted Goodyear and obtained the blueprints. The tires float because foam is sprayed into a section of the tire rim. The tires are set into a certain pattern and strapped together, 16 tires in a section or a pad. The sections are strapped together to create the necessary width and length and anchored to one ton blocks of contrete by chain. The wave action going through the tires dissipates the kenetic energy in the wave to create calm water inside the breakwater.

In addition to creating a safe harbour, the breakwater is a natural fish hatchery and habitat. Since big fish eat little fish, the fishing is great for both the sports fishermen and the herons. The snorkelling is fascinating and because a currents runs through the water all the time, the water is clean and clear. In fact, the Ministry of Environment has said that Waupoos Marina is the cleanest harbour on Lake Ontario.

In 1989 six docks were built . Over the years new docks were added and today there are 120. The marina has about 85 permanent boaters, and the remainder of the slips are available for transient guests.

Lori and Bill Markland live on site and both work at the marina. Lori bakes homemade muffins every morning and serves them hot, with coffee in the cafe and store. At the marina everyone is a multi-tasker. One morning when Lori was handling the gas pumps a sea plane came in for a fill up. The St. Lawrence II, a brigantine, often comes into port under full sail. It is a spectacular sight and looks like it came right out of the movie Pirates of the Carribean. It is like history repeating itself to see the Tall Ships returning to the Waupoos 100 years later.

The marina has many events in the summer. It is a destination point for a number of yacht clubs, sailors and power boats from around Lake Ontario. The Waupoos Wabbit Wace, a sailboat race from Picton to Waupoos is an annual event that starts every season. For five years people watched in amazement as Sven Petersen, starting with two saw horses and a plank, built a 52 foot catamarand and then sailed off to the Carribean.

Ian lived his dream. When he died in 2000 this Lake Ontario property had emerged to become a serene and enchanting harbour, and the original buildings and warehouses had renewed purpose.

 

The Fire of 2005

In January 2005 a fire destroyed 12,000 sq. ft. building at the marina. The building housed the cafe, office, shipwrights shop, mechanic's shop and the machinists shop. The lounge in the loft and the party room were also lost. It was a huge loss.

While it was the coldest day in January with high winds, the winds in fact helped to save further destruction to boats, docks, breakwaters and other buildings. The wind blew the fire away from the boats stored along the shoreline. A telephone booth remains standing right beside the burned out building and is operational with a new line from Bell Canada.

The Fire Fighters were outstanding. Prince Edward County has a Volunteer Fire Department and trucks arrived from four districts Napanee, Milford, Picton and Wellington. The Wellington Fire Department used their aerial truck for the first time and it helped to save the day.

The restoration of the Marina began with Drew Harrison undertaking the clean-up from the fire. The restoration process will take place over the next few years.

Restoration 2005: The cafe has a new home in the little grey house on the shoreline. A sleeping cabin, The Quarter Berth, has been moved close to the gas pumps and become the new store. A new pump out system has been installed. A new shore well provides lake water to ten outlets along the docks for deck washing. The washrooms and laundry are operational. And the hot tub is sitting along the shoreline. The Marine Mechanic and the Machinist shops have new location. The gardens are being expanded under the care of Peter.

Restoration 2006: The sauna has been closed and the room now holds an expanded and upgraded water purification system. Washrooms and showers will be expanded with the installation of external doors to the bathrooms in the East and West cabins. The East cabin has been turned into an office for the Marina manager, Rick Verschoor. During July and August the West cabin will be a sleeping cabin only.

Home