Day 9 – July 29

First thing this morning before we headed out, the cruise ship Grand Mariner came out of the Lock. Much like the Kawartha Voyageur this ship is build to the maximum bridge clearance on the Erie. As we continue east the water is becoming the color of chocolate milk as this section is all man made canal and the silt turns the water very muddy as you can see from the water that runs off the lock lines. This area is also heavily controlled by flood gates and at Little Falls we locked through their deepest Lift Lock of 40 feet. There have been some interesting boats including this English Canal boat which apparently is a rental. The water is getting clearer once we entered the Mohawk River which forms part of the Canal. Our day ended again after a gruelling 10 hours of travel and 70 miles covered. Our final stop is in the town of Amsterdam at the River Link Park. Cost is only $1.00/foot and included power, water, pump out and ice. On the down side River Link is right beside the rail tracks which must cross a road and the train can be heard all night.

Day 8 – July 28

Awoke to a drizzly morning but headed out of Fulton at 8:30am. Travelled the remaining 3 locks of the Oswego Canal then met up with the Erie Canal for the trip eastward. By this time the sun was back out, and we were about to head across Lake Oneida but not before a quick stop for Jim, Cathie and Anne to fuel up at Brewerton. Lake Oneida was as still as a mill pond which made for any easy voyage of the 21 miles of lake. We re-entered the canal again at Sylvan Beach were the Saturday festivities were just beginning. Here we met our first Canal Tug, The Urger. As the day wore on the rain returned and was quite threatening at times but luckily the thundershowers seemed to miss us. We are finding that the canal is really quite picturesque with little to show that the highways and trains run not far from the actual canal. The day ended at Lock 20 after 10 long hours of locking and travel covering about 65 miles, which made us all very weary boaters.

Day 6 – July 27

We headed out of Kingston at 6:30am with winds light and from the North creating a calm Lake Ontario. We arrived at the Port of Oswego at 12:30pm with all four boats running without any problems. However we are convinced Bob put on a few extra miles with his zig zag path across the lake. Our first order of business was check into Customs then to fuel up and pump out. Of course in the State of New York, these are duties you need to perform yourself as attends will not come aboard your vessel to fuel or pump out. Soon afterwards we headed to our first lock on the Oswego Canal, requiring the mandatory gloving for the dock lines. Although we had heard many stories of US locking, we found the task very easy. Simply call ahead on Channel 13, ask for the lock, when the light turns green enter and grab one of the slimy ropes to steady your vessel. The water rises very quickly and with none of the turbulence we experience on the Rideau. These locks are attended by one person and there is no help offered for taking lines or pushing you off the walls, just learn to do it yourself. Exiting is real easy as there are no abutments and one simply drives straight out.

As the day was wearing on we decided to make our first stop at the Town of Fulton for their free docks and power. Seems back home we need to learn a few things about making our towns more inviting to boaters. Our only challenge was getting 49 feet of boat onto a 20 foot dock in a 60 foot wide area, and as the pictures tells some fancy piloting and line adjustments we all made it in.

Day 6 – July 26

Rained overnight, and very overcast this morning. Rained on and off throughout the day.

Bob has a mechanic looking at his transmissions pressure concerns, and the good news all seems well. Did a little shopping around Kingston then spent most of the day watching other boats come and go. Installed our new clock and barometer, Jim installed his new radio and Bob installed his new water system pump. Weather looking pretty good for tomorrow’s crossing with winds from the North hopefully calming down the lake and no showers or bad weather expected until maybe tomorrow evening.

Day 5 – July 25

Yet another beautiful sunny day and no wind this morning. Departed Kingston Mills nice and early to arrive for the 10:00 am lift of the Kingston Bascule Bridge. Confederation Basin Marina of the City of Kingston was able to get us all on the K Dock and as a rarity there was no wind for uneventful docking.

Jim has rented a van and we were able to make the obligatory runs to West Marine and Pride Marine for both necessary and unnecessary parts and trinkets.

Now that Bryan and Chris have joined up with us, it only made sense to have another group dinner and this time decided that The Keg was a good choice. This being Wednesday, from the Marina we had a nice view of the Fort Henry fireworks.

Rain has finally arrived and a few showers late in the evening.

Day 4 – July 24

Slept in today following a very hot humid night at Morton’s Bay. We departed after lunch and a few minutes of pulling weeds from the anchors, then headed to Kingston Mills.

As we were the last lock down for the day, we were able to all stay on the Blue Line at the bottom allowing us an early start and no more locking before Kingston.

Day 3 - July 23

Our departure started at 8:00 am from Len’s Cove this morning, where promptly 10 minutes later Bob had to shut down due to a warning light and concern for a pressure gauge reading on his transmissions. So officially Bob is the first to break down and needed a tow from our fearless leader Jim. Once investigated and all was good we were underway again by 9:00. It was a hot day of locking through the Narrows, Newboro, Chaffey’s, Davis and JonesFalls. Due to the fact we are 3 large boats we ended up divided in our locking and all met up at Jones Falls. We also crossed paths with the Kawartha Voyageur at Elbow Channel and thankfully not the Newboro cut. Our only hold up was also Jones Fallswhere we had to wait for the next down bound lock, which gave us an opportunity for a swim and an ice cream stop at Hotel Kenney. Destination for today was Morton Baywhere we have all rafted up for the night, enjoyed supper and surprised Rachel with a birthday cake.

We missed what looked to be a big storm, but heard later that it had hit areas north of us including Manotick and Ottawa. Thankfully all we had were some strong winds, but the evening calmed down nicely.

The day ended with the unfortunate circumstance of Bob winning the first three games of cribbage, but glad to say he was my partner, or better yet Jim insists that Bob was riding on my coat tails.

Day 1 & 2

Stayed in the Big Rideau will we awaited the arrival of Jim, Cathie and Anne in Holidaze to Nobles Bay and then rafted for the night. The vacation is starting off just the way summer has been so far, hot and sunny with great swimming. To ensure us a great voyage we were presented with a double rainbow just after dinner on Saturday. We had a little kick off dinner at The Galley of Len’s Cove Marina tonight as Bob and Rachel are now aboard I Docked’R. Staying in the Marina tonight to top off the water tanks and pump out the holding tanks. Should be heading towards Kingston tomorrow morning where we will meet up with Bryan and Chris of Lionheart on Wednesday.

Only 2 more days to departure now. Boat is all loaded up with the requried supplies.
In a few short days we will be seeing the Erie Canal buoys.

10 days now, and we will be on our way ;-)