29 June, 2015 Our Last two Locks

      0850, a knock on the cabin door. It's Laurie Ann here to bring us to Boat World! Thanks again Laurie Ann. We pick up a few more items, then head to the grocery, then meander our way back to the boat. Along the way we happen by a Hobbit Crossing. Who would have known.

      Back at the Willie Dawes, we finish up a few things, internet duties, get ice, top off the water tanks, pay the Yacht Club bill, the set out at about noon.

      We wander back out the snaky channel to the ship channel and are soon in the dug Canal de la Riv Sud, sort of a waterbourne 495 around Montreal.

      Passing churches, and Indian Reservation and several bridges, one that we backed thru due to a perception that it was quite low, then on to the first of our last two locks. At the Kiosk we were told that it would be a two hour wait. No problem, take a break. Soon comes along a dark hulled sailboat, and American from Texas. Low and behold another boat sailing the DownEast circle, the first we have encountered. Turns out Hal and Terry aboard C'est le Bon, have been just a week or so behind us, them starting from Jamestown and following the same route as us from NYC.

      We shared the next two locks with Hal and Terry, and a Montreal Cabin Cruiser, 'April Shower”.

      We watched several ships going in and out of the locks ahead of us, getting lifted up, or lowered down, quite an engineering marvel. The ease of which they handle the ships it is as though they were just small bath-tub toys.   They even squeak once in a while as they enter the lock!

      We parted company with our buddy boats as they were headed to the Old Port of Montreal for a few days.

      Just below the Cote de St. Catherine lock we found a quiet anchorage among the moorings just Northeast of “Cap Sur Mer”, looking back at the sunset back-lighting the Montreal City skyline and the Olympic Stadium.

      As the shore of Montreal here is quite an industrial port,  we anchored on the opposite side of the river.  

      We didn't cover much ground today, maybe 12 miles as the crow flies, but transited our last locks and are looking forward to being back in salt water soon.

28 June, 2015, Kathy Returns

      I awoke at Dowker Island to a little taste of what Lac St Louis can dish out. Having become somewhat complacent with all this canal and river navigation I had not listened to a weather forecast, and down the lake came the wind. I really felt I needed to get back to the Yacht Club to pick up Kathy, so I bit the bullet and charged out into it. Well, wind against current, plus lake gave me all that I wanted for waves, a good 4-5 foot chop, closely spaced. As I neared the Eastern shore the “sea” or is it “lake” moderated, and once again it felt good to enter the Yacht Club Harbor.

      I set out right away walking back to Boat World for a few more items, thru the lite but steady rain. I arrived at 1305 and all was dark, had I miss-read the hours, yes, Ferme a 1300 heures. Drat! It's not Samedi, its Dimanche. But a lady was just leaving the dark store and I must have looked like such a drowned rat that she offered to drive me back to the Yacht Club, and pick me up on her way to open the store the next morning. Turns out Laurie Ann owns Boat World so of course yes, we will be ready at 0900. She even stopped at the grocery store for me on the way back to the boat.       

      Turns out Laurie Ann is a member at the club, has a 28 foot sailer and has hopes of soon gaining another older but good looking 37 foot Islander sloop. I dunno Laurie Ann, that boat you already have, the “Thus Far” looks pretty good too me.

      About 1530 Kathy returns with stories of how at the Montreal airport they had lots of questions as to how she is going to get back out of the country, trying to explain that we are sailing on our own boat took her thru several different sections of the airport before she could get someone to understand that we are on our own boat traveling. They wanted either her student visa or to have the cruise ship company get them the right paperwork so they would be satisfied why she intended to stay in Canada until September. Eventually she got thru and finally back to the boat.

      It was a chilly, damp evening, so to warm up a bit we dined on a baked chicken, with mashed potatoes and corn on the cob to warm things up. Comfort food.

27 June, 2015 More projects, stove, cabinet door, bug screen, etc.

      The big job for today is to remove and re-mount the cook stove as one of the gimbel pivots is loose and the counterweights drag against the shelf so that the stove can't swing properly. As usual, more needs to come apart as tolerances are very close. Once apart it is a matter of replacing a split block of wood that is sandwiched between the stove bulkhead and the galley draw cabinet. Of course all hidden from view, because that's the way you do it on a boat. Out of my stash of wood blocks hidden away in the battery box, is the right piece, just needs to be shaved a bit and presto, in it goes, the re-mount the gimbel and re-assemble the works.

      Next on the list is a holder for some small cylindrical galley supplies, olive oil, vinegar, a couple spice jars, and most important, hot sauce!. I angle cut six short pieces of 2” PVC conduit that we picked up in Clayton, NY, and glue the six PVC pieces together, side by side sort of like a small rocket launcher.

      While that glue was drying I filled about an eight foot piece of nylon garden hose, (that I got out of a dumpster in Onset, Mass), with lead shot left over from re-ballasting the Dawes several years ago. The lead filled hose will become the weight which will hold down the mosquito net for our forward hatch.

      Now for the cabinet door. (now Willard owners take note). This cabinet door and casing was I think originally installed 2 inches too low, and when opened, it hits the permanent step to the pilot house. As installed the door can only open 90 degrees, and it would be so handy to be able to open it 180 degrees.  Then you could sit on the step and paw thru the cabinet.

      What to do, remove the whole door and frame and re-cut the opening, and then how to cover the raw opening at the bottom. Nope, cut the bottom of the door clean off, 2 inches worth, make a nice clean cut, then glue the cut-off to the frame, re-mount the door, and presto, now the door opens all the way. Kathy won't even see the cut, and won't she be surprised when the door opens full swing! Wait til you see the picture, I'm pretty proud of this one.

      Now, glue some of the mosquito netting to the lead filled hose, messy work, and then glue the rocket-launcher to the inside of the fully opening cabinet, and voila, a place for six items to be up and out of the way, and safe from falling out or rolling around.

 Phew,  another full day at the boat shop.

26 June 2015, In which Dan tears the  whole boat apart.

      Everyone who has done boat related projects knows that no project, particularly related to the head is a simple one. First off, and most important, while the head is apart there is no using it! Elsewise,  when rerouting a hose going from one end of the boat to the other, there is a lot of stuff in the way, and where the hose ends up there has to be an electric fan, now wiring is thrown into the mix. So first is to move all the living area stuff from any work zone, which in this case is our main-cabin/galley, and nearly emptying the crawl-space below the cockpit sole so I can use it as a crawl-space.

      That done, now several interior access panels need to be removed, which means removing all the stuff that yours truly has built on top of the access panels, and finding that last hidden screw that is holding the whole mess from being pulled apart.

      Then there is drilling two wholes back aft, one in the hull for the head vent to exhaust, the other thru the cockpit seat back, to access and maintain the fan. Lots of thought before doing this, I never like to drill holes in the boat! But after about eight hours, hose re-routed and exhausting out the stern, and but for the open access hatch in the cockpit seat-back, (I bought the cheaper access panel and it is no good), project completed and head operational once again, What a relief! Lesson of the day is: Don't try and save money by getting the cheaper part, because is cheap for a reason!

      Now, all day have been receiving cryptic messages from sailor friend Gerry, at 7;

:30 PM, “I am leaving Beauharnois”, at 8:30 I espy his boat in the outer anchorage, a couple hundred yards from me, next message “I ran out of fuel”, then minutes later “I am coming over”.

When Gerry came alongside, he said “Come on, we are going for a ride, do you trust me?” So off we go in his boat and Northwest to I think the town of Senneville, where the lock to get into the Ottawa River is. This is a popular night spot for boaters as they can tie to the seawall just below the lock, and go ashore to a pub or restaurant, sort of like having half of the inner harbor of Camden lined with seawall and free for the evening.

      The seawall was pretty much full, so we rafted three deep against two power boats. I don't really know why we stopped at that particular spot, but there was one guy and three pretty ladies lounging on the fantail. Gerry said something about that not being fair or something. Words were exchanged, en francais, and we tied up, came aboard, and they brought chairs out for us. We talked for about half an hour, then Gerry asked would it be okay if we left the boat there for 45 minutes and the guy said fine. Of course now they can't leave until we return, so up the dock we go, find an open restaurant, I have no idea what time it was, but most places were ferme (closed). We have a beer and a burger, Gerry does lots of flirting, (he is ten times the flirt I am), and head back to his boat.

      Well, it was a little more than 45 minutes, and the guy on the power boat was not quite as friendly now, (I think he wanted to get his daughters home), so we shoved off, heading back out the winding channel to find the Willie Dawes. When Gerry dropped me off at the anchorage it was 1230, AM! I slept well, dreaming of next day's project list.

25 June, 2015, Thursday, Kathy Flies out

      To Milwaukee for a wedding, so once she has all her travel papers, she calls the taxi, and I ride along as far as town, or the Mall, as I am on a quest to find the marine supply house “Boat World”. Kathy continues on for her four day weekend with wedding, friends and family picnic.

      After looking around the mall, I head West, as my sketchy directions are, “Go straight up to the highway and you will see Boat World, a big building, right there on the frontage road.” So I head West, and I head West, and I head West. Finally the road is within sight of the lake again, and I have reached the next town so I give up and walk the lakeshore back to the Yacht Club. I have a quick lunch on the the Willie, then set out again.

      What me ask directions? This time I head up Rue Dorval to the mall, and turn East, thru some construction and busy intersection with no sidewalks available, and there is Boat World. I am in search of a few key items so I can get to a couple key projects while I am biding my time waiting for Kathy's return. Finally a chance to do some work.

      I return to the Willie and set out Westward across Lac Saint Louis to a recommended harbor in a little uninhabited island called Dowkers. There are a couple boats at anchor and turns out the three nights I am there, there is a steady stream of boats coming and going, some stopping for a few hours, some for the night. One fellow has a 25 foot sailboat tied to a houseboat, which I think may be a permanent resident. Impressive are the number of small cruising sailboats, 25 footers or smaller, with two, three or four people, maybe out for an overnight. One couple on a 20 footer, the guy, a rather large fellow, puts the boat out of trim if he is ever off center. It is a custom here to sit up on the bow while at anchor, maybe to feel the breeze, maybe to watch the sunset, maybe so the mate can use the head! I don't know, but when this couple sat on the bow, the outboard was completely out of water!

      But I digress. I have a supper of leftover meatloaf, mashed potato, corn on the cob and a green salad! My projects can wait!

24 June, 2015, Today is Yacht Club Day

      The Royal St Lawrence Yacht Club to be exact.  

A brisk but fair wind assists us Northeastward in the big ship channel. Where the channel turns more to the East, we continue North into a smaller but well marked seemingly hodge-podge of turns that makes up the channel toward The Club's man-made harbor.

      Approaching a weekend between two Wednesday Canadian holidays there is a lot of boat traffic and we are passed close aboard by several large fast moving power-yachts. Did I say close? We are trying to avoid getting mad each time someone throws a big wake at us from close aboard, so we are rating the ride we get from the wakes. Call it “the fun factor”. We got a couple 9.5s this morning! Kathy suggested a celebratory long blast of our loud electric horns might be in order to signify any wake rating over a 9!

      Both our smart phones guide us right in and we make fast at the service dock. The club is so completely protected that we hardly recall the choppy lake we just left behind. We are greeted by no-one, so while looking around we help a large cruiser tie up at the holding tank pump-out.

      Finally we track down dock manager John, who doesn't find any free nights for any boats from Maine on his list, so we shuck out the $2 per foot, for which we get showers, laundry, and our own slip.

      We want to see about getting into the city, but end up instead going for a long walk down the lake-shore, much of it flat lawned areas, with both bike and walking paths.

     Lots of families are out enjoying the sunny day, bicycles by the hundreds, and everyone getting set up for St John the Baptist Day. Our legs about done in we get back to the boat, ready for our showers and laundry dates. After duties are completed we go to the restaurant at the club for a light supper.

      After supper we head back to our slip, and shortly we get a knock on our cabin, it's Gerry in from an evening of sailboat racing, inviting us over to meet the gang for a night-cap. We head over and see the fleet of Laser-28s, a new to me class, crewed by 6, with a very serious summer long series that stretches into September. All on a points system, they race towards a season championship. The boat Gerry crews on didn't win today, but is ahead in points. Back in the clubhouse, Gerry and his buddies give us some local knowledge tips on the lake and the Lower St Lawrence, well needed.

      After we say our goodbyes, we grab just one more piece of chocolate cake from the desert tray!

23 June, 2015  Beauharnois

      Awoke to a windy day, wind from the west and building white-caps on the lake. Showers threatening. Luckily we are just in the lee of the point that makes the harbor.

      We head ashore after breakfast and a downpour to catch up on business and internet stuff. Cruising must have been some simple before all this communication. Back to Tim Horton.

Tim's internet was either overloaded or just slow, so as soon as the showers let up we set out to find better, maybe at the town library, er, bibleotech. We found the library at the other end of town but deciphered that it did not open until 1:00 PM, so decided to have lunch aboard.

      We had no sooner started walking down the street, not even near the harbor park area and a car pulled up and asked how we were doing. Then he asked if the motor on our dinghy was locked. We said it wasn't, but we had been looking to buy some padlocks, so asked him if there was a hardware store nearby. He started to explain where, then said, just get in the car. So we hopped in and our new friend Ernest took us hardware shopping. We found a nice set of four padlocks, and some citronella candles, and Ernest brought us back to the boat. He asked if there was anything else we needed and I told him I needed a propane tank re-filled, so he said he would come back after lunch and take me to the refill place. We headed to the boat.

      It rained off and on at lunchtime, so we may have missed our meeting with Ernest. We did go ashore and while Kathy found WIFI at a local trade school, Dan talked with an old timer down by the dock, standing by with my empty propane. Kathy returned, having finished most of her WIFI work, so we went back to the Willie Dawes to drop off her computer stuff.

      We came ashore once again, I with propane bottle in hand, Kathy with grocery bag, to meet back at the landing when we had finished our errands. I got back quite quickly and remember how that I said it was windy, well the wind was screeching now, the lake was all white-caps and the chop was wrapping around the point. Willie Dawes was having quite a ride. And there was a dark blue sailboat circling Willie. I set out in our skiff, and the sailboat came right over to meet me. Seems the wind had blown one of our 6 foot lengths of 2X6 overboard, as well as my lifejacket that rides over the back of our helm-seat. Gerry, in the sailboat had recovered both, and offered to help me relocate the Willie Dawes to a vacant mooring way up in the harbor.

      Gerry took the helm while I pulled the anchor aboard, and he conned us up thru the moored sailboats to the new mooring, real nice job. Gerry had been racing earlier up on Lake Ontario and would be racing again tomorrow over at the Royal St. Lawrence Yacht Club, and as we were planning to go there also, (on Ernest's advice), Jerry gave us some info on who to contact. Everyone is very helpful here, very accommodating.

      We had a real good supper aboard, shish-ka-bob chicken, with corn and a green salad. Also still working on that 5 liter bag of wine from Oswego. During supper the wind pooped right out and the sky cleared in the west.

      After supper we took the camera ashore and had a nice long walk, getting some pics of a great double steeple church, and some sunset shots as well some local color.

We also tried out the quad (two facing two) canadian- porch glider, with table and canopy!

      Doubtless, most everyone we passed on our walk was saying, boy that couple from the American boat sure walk a lot!

June 22, Monday

     Underway about 0900 and down the ship channel thru Lake St Francis. Met a freighter at a 40 degree turn, gave him plenty of berth.

     On the outside of the turn low and behold, or high and dry as it were, is the freighter Tundra, about 600 feet, who had completely missed the turn, now about two boat lengths out of the channel, empty of cargo and showing plenty of bottom, including half the prop and half the bow thruster. Both anchors out, but the bow must have been in about 6 feet of water. Seeing as it went aground without cargo aboard, it may be a job to pull her off! Maybe by the end of the summer they will rename Lancaster Bar.

     We continue on, seeing a few sailing yachts drifting around the North East end of the lake. We then enter the Beauharnois canal. It is a wide dredged channel 12 miles long ending with 2 Canadian locks that will drop us 42 feet each. Problem is there are two lift bridges along the canal that we have to have opened. At the first we try several channels on the VHF to no avail and then our electric horn, but no response. Finally after much circling around bells and whistles start going off and they open the bridge, all the way to the top. A little excessive for our little yacht, but enuf to get us thru.

     Next bridge we get an answer on the radio, but not really sure what they said, but we did catch 15 minutes. Then we see the ship approaching from the East so now we know why they waited. We snuck thru before the ship and got a couple photos of her going thru the span. Tight fit!

     Now this whole day we are being inundated with pesky little flying insects, that thankfully don't seem to want to bite, they just land on every surface and buzz about aimlessly. Thousands! Even turning and motoring into the wind we can't shake them. Slathered up with Kathy's homemade blend of Citronella, we prevail. I just hope these are a temporary nuisance for this area because no one deserves a summer of this. None-the-less, there are open boats out fishing all day long on this part of the river.

     Then on another mile to the Beauharnois locks. Just as we were arriving the lock opened and spewed out four West bound motor cruisers. We could have sailed right in, but have to tie at the floats and check in, and pay, at the pleasure boat kiosk. Instead of a man driving to tell us our status, a woman's voice comes over a loudspeaker, “2 minutes”. Cast off the lines, the doors are opening, green light.

     When we get in the lock two gentlemen hand us 50 foot poly lines, their end attached to the top of the lock wall. Our job; pay out the lines as we descend. Here we go down, very gentle but only 2 or three minutes to the bottom. Doors open and off we go to the next lock, about half mile down the “pool”. They were all ready for us at that lock, and two gentlemen, who look strangely familiar hand us lines again. They must hire twins at these locks. Down we go and shortly are spit out into Lake Saint-Louis.

     Just around the corner from the lock is the small town of Beauharnois, where we drop anchor. After launching our trusty skiff, we head ashore to check out the town.

     We spent a little time at Tim Hortons donut shop using their WIFI, then hit the grocery, where Kathy scores some corn on the cob and shish-ka-bob, all ready to grill. Back at the boat we had a restful supper, with the addition of cheese stuffed mini Italian eggplant.

     Later a couple curious boater friends , 4 young gentlemen in a sailboat, and a couple rowing a zodiac, come alongside to ask about our traveling floating wagon. Luckily they knew some English because our French is pretty shaky at this point.

June 21-22     

     We had a nice quiet morning at anchor, a nice respite from the near constant  beehive of outboard motorboat  activity of the Thousand Islands. Not to sound negative but they got a bit obnoxious after a while.  

     Kathy got some artsy shots of the layered mist that was covering some the shores.

About 0930 we hove up the anchor and were on our way to the Eisenhower and Snell Locks. Bill and Kathi on our “Buddy Boat”  Jarana  followed suit and soon passed us by.  As it seemed we were in no hurry to get to the busy lock, we took a couple of side channels and did some sight-seeing.  Seems like we were in the sights of the border patrol, as they did several fly-bys.  Probably thought we were lost, and if we were, so be it.

     We caught up with Jarana at the lock and tied up to await instructions from the lock-master.  We were told that it may be from 2 to 4 hours until they could get us thru.  No ship had been thru the lock since the cruise ship incident.  As we were tying up, the first ship was entering lock “IKE”.

To catch up with the story, Friday nite we learned that a cruise ship had an accident in one of the locks and that the locks would be closed until further notice.  We were still several days from there so we started gathering information.  From Tom Giguere in NH, and Al Pease in Camden, we learned that a small cruise ship had hit a lock, injured numerous people, and that the lock had to be drained to keep the ship from sinking!  We waited for good news, but all we heard was, assessing the damage to the ship, the lock, and how many ships were waiting in line to get thru. 

While we were tied up waiting for the lock I installed our new swim ladder, anticipating water warmer than 62 degrees downstream. Finally the lockmaster drove up and told us to be ready in ten minutes, as they were going to let us thru as soon as the ship cleared the lock. 

When we got into the lock we asked what had really happened with the cruise ship.  He told us that as soon as the ship got into the lock and it should have been slowing down,  it sped up!  It went all the way to the front of the lock and ran up on a concrete wall.  We’re not sure it was leaking, but they were afraid to pull it off the wall and make a bad situation worse.  They took things slowly, and made a plan and eventually got the ship out, inspected the wall, and got things going again.  I suspect next time we come thru there will be a sign saying “CHECK BRAKES”

      As it turned out we were only held up a couple hours. After our drop of 42 feet in the IKE lock,  we pushed on to the Snell Lock.  (Not sure who Snell was, maybe the guy that was next in line to Nixon?) Down another 40 feet and ready for 25 miles lock free on Lake St Francis.  

Badly in need of Ice for our cooler we swung in to a dock on the NY side that had gas pumps and an “OPEN” sign.  We tied up, met a nice man with his dog “Jujitsu”, and went into the store.  The store had a freezer with ice cubes, a cooler with beer and soda by the can, a rack with small bags of potato chips, and 50:1 2-cycle oil!  Great store, we left with four bags of ice and a cold Bud Light. Then we realized we were back on the Etats-Unis side of the river, oh well, needed ice!

     We set back out into the river, met another inbound ship, and started exploring once again.  We set off into some more side channels and after 6 or 7 miles found an adequate spot to drop the hook for the night.

      We are anchored just off the ship channel at “Summers Town”, between Stanley Island and Little Hog Island. We will count the ships that sail past by the number of times we get rocked in the night.

A great meal of meatloaf, brussel sprouts baked with garlic, and mashed potatoes with gravy.  As Kathy would say, comfort food.

June 19 - 20  Thousand Islands to Canada

We cruised some more around the Thousand Islands just for fun and took in the incredible ‘summer homes’ of the very wealthy during the Islands’ heyday - the late 1800s into the early 1900s.  People with more money than they knew what to do with built elaborate, large homes, and some of them really are castles.  Today the castles are tourist attractions, with Canadian and US tour boats steadily toting people over to those islands.  

As we cruised, we crossed back and forth over the border - a somewhat  arbitrary line goes around some islands and not around others - and finally made the call to Canada Customs to formally enter.  They directed us to the Brockville Yacht Club and told us if someone was not there to greet us, we were officially entered.  No one but yacht club people met us at the dock.  They courteously let us leave the boat tied up there for a short walk in town and trip to the grocery store for some ice.  One of the members there has a Willard and we gave each other tours of our boats to compare and discuss.  He told us of a nearby anchorage for the night, where we met up with another American couple from Seattle on their s/v Jarana.

Jarana’s owners informed us of the closing of the Eisenhower Lock caused by a cruise ship accident.  As we cruised onward on Saturday, we passed by several large ships at anchor, waiting for transit.  We heard there were at least 22 ships waiting, and plans were underway to tow out the cruise ship and repair the damage.  In the meantime, we experienced our first Canadian lock - the Iriquois Lock, which lowered us four inches.  This lock and dam basically regulates water flow and the change is usually 1 to 6 feet, depending on the height of the river.  We didn’t even notice it had happened. 

By the time we dropped anchor in the Croil Islands, we’d heard the Eisenhower Lock had re-opened.  We’re hoping to get through it tomorrow;  it will be interesting to see if they get all the commercial ships through before we get there.  

Supplemental Blog:  In Which Dan Goes Fishing

He saw it almost as soon as we dropped anchor at Canoe Picnic Point State Park.  The water was clear and though it wasn’t deep, he could see all the way to the bottom.  The thing was a monster.  How long had it been in these waters?  How many others had seen it and tried to bring it to the surface?  Dan knew it was too big for the gear he had brought.  But he has the mind of an engineer, and he quickly fashioned a gaff and a snare out of materials we had on board.  

It was elusive.  It would take patience and perseverance.  It would take skill, and strength. 

Dan was not going to give up.  He tried once, twice. 

And laid back, waiting, watching for the right moment.  Finally he had it in his snare! 

It was heavy and difficult to bring aboard, but victory was his!

Of course, Dan practices catch and release.  He let it go, back to the bottom, where someone else can have a go at it.  

June 18:  Thousand Islands

After a long walk to ogle the sunset we split some coconut almond ice cream and spent a quiet night at the dock in Clayton.  

We’ve been having some engine trolls (allusion to Sailing Away From Winter, by Silver Don Cameron) and Dan spent much of the morning replacing fuel filters while I ran around town acquiring spare parts at the hardware and auto parts stores.  I also walked the six blocks or so to the grocery store, and when I asked to bag my own backpack in lieu of store bags, they asked if I was on a boat and offered me a ride back to the dock.  This grocery store also will pick shoppers up at their dock - how great is that? While Dan conquered the troll problem I also stocked ice, disposed of the trash and updated our Navionics chart programs on our cell phones.  

We left the dock around noon and spent a wonderful, leisurely afternoon cruising around the American side of the Thousand Islands.  This reminded us of cruising on Penobscot Bay - no real agenda, no real destination.  Even the islands with their rocky shores and trees looks similar to Maine, although there are mostly hardwood trees here and no seals or porpoises, as it is still fresh water.  The water is incredibly clear; we could watch the anchor and its thirty feet of chain drop and lay on the bottom.  How nice it is to be at anchor again!  We haven’t been at anchor since the Hudson River.  

Some of the purchases we made today were River Rat Cheese (great aged cheddar with onions and garlic) and wild-caught haddock.  We had fish on the grill and a salad with cheese for supper, toasting our four-week anniversary since we moved aboard.  (Alright, we didn’t actually leave until Friday, but we did move aboard Wednesday night May 20th.)

NOTE: We will be entering Canadian waters on the 19th, and we’ll be in Canada for the next few months.  Please don’t try to call or text* us unless it’s an emergency, as our phone plan rates go way up.  

You can message us through the InReach system (https://share.delorme.com/danandkathy) 

You can leave a comment here on the blog, or send us an email, or use Facebook (but don’t expect an immediate reply, as we’ll need wi-fi) 

*You can download WhatsApp on your cell phone and text us through that.  That is a free cell phone app specifically for international texting.  Using WhatsApp you can text us anywhere for free for the first year.  (Subsequent years are 99 cents/year.)

June 17  Clayton NY

Clayton is such a cool little town it deserves its own blog.  We left Henderson Harbor around eight am, again facing calm waters but thick fog.  We’ll have to come back sometime to see what Lake Ontario really looks like!

It began to clear sometime after noon and we could see the beginnings of the Thousand Islands and the St. Lawrence Seaway.  The border between Canada and the US runs through here, sometimes around the islands, sometimes right through them.  We arrived in Clayton about three-thirty and tied up at the municipal dock for the night.  We were immediately greeted by other boaters and the dockmaster, all of whom were ready to dispense advice about the town, the River, and must-see places to go.

The Antique Boat Museum is about a hundred feet from our dock and we made it our first stop, as it closed at five.  This museum houses a large collection of canoes, river skiffs, pleasure craft, and racing craft in several different buildings, and was currently hosting a show of small steam boats. 

We gleaned a little of the evolution of boating amongst the islands, which were once famous for their castles and resort hotels for the very rich.  This town was built for tourists, and is very hospitable to boaters.  Everything is within easy walking distance, and there are maps available everywhere.  Anyone doing this Downeast Circle Tour should definitely plan to stop here in Clayton.

June 15-16 Oswego to Lake Ontario

Before we left Phoenix, we heard the water levels were high and that the Oswego Canal might be closed.  We had a decision to make - do we stay where we know we have good dockage and a town with amenities?  Do we go on and take our chances that we can make it to the end of the canal at Oswego, on the shores of Lake Ontario?  The current was strong.  If the canal closed, it could mean we were stuck between locks, where we might not even have a tie-up, let alone any kind of town.  If the canal closed, we had no idea when it would open again - one day?  Two days?  Longer? 

Intrada decided to tie up after the next lock.  We took our chances and pressed on.  The lockmasters kept us informed about conditions: some said we’d make it through to Oswego, others weren’t so sure.  We heard the Western portion of the Erie Canal closed.  Some canoers had gotten too close to a dam and gone over.  Not long after we heard this, we observed two kayakers happily paddling in front of a dam, into the strong current.  Neither of them were wearing life jackets.   

We did make it to Oswego by noon.  We made an afternoon of it walking their rails-to-trails pathway, and shopping for groceries and other things.  It’s a pretty town, with unique architecture and pride in its long maritime history of naval battles in 1812 and being a shipping port.  Their lakeside maritime museum has an Army tug that was part of the Normandy invasion in WWII, the last survivor of its kind.

Monday we awoke to thick, thick fog.  Today was to be our crossing of the Eastern portion of Lake Ontario to Henderson, NY, where my mother’s cousin Thelma and her husband Jack live.  We’d need the radar.  And the fog horn.  And a better radio than the little hand-held we’d been using.  We needed to put up the mast.

So we went through the last lock and tied up on the other side, in the current rushing into the lake, and spent the next couple of hours stepping the mast.  Again, Dan had a system in place, and all went very smoothly.  By noon we were on the great lake, with fully functioning electronics, and sails up to catch what little wind there was.

The fog lifted about four pm.  We arrived in Henderson Harbor around an hour later, and tied up at the yacht club, courtesy of my Schneider cousins, both of whom were commodores at the club.  They came to collect us for a visit at their home and took us out for a fabulous dinner in nearby Sackett’s Harbor.  They gave us a quick tour of the historical buildings and battlefield of that town, which was a prominent site of the war of 1812.  It was great to see them and catch up with them and their daughter Jan who just happened to be in town.  We have been very blessed to spend such time with friends and family on this trip!  

June 12- 13:  Erie Canal to the Oswego Canal

Intermittent thunderstorms followed us (met us?) much of the day Friday as we continued along the Erie Canal from Little Falls to the Sylvan Beach, on the shores of Lake Oneida.  One lockmaster told us we'd had an inch and a half in fifteen minutes.  Nobody was arguing with that - most of our fellow travelers were drenched.  Dan and I got wet, but we also have the luxury of a pilot house, and we made good use of that - standing indoors at the helm while everyone else was right out in it.

We had a couple of lock surprises - Lock 20 had only two lines on one side and three on the other, and nothing for us to tie our own line to.  We were the third boat in and had to make do with one line to steady us.  Good thing there were no other boats behind us - don't know what they would have done.  When we arrived at Lock 22 - the last one of the day - the lockmaster was frantically signaling to us, looking quite agitated.  The storm had taken out the power and the lock couldn't open.  He was awaiting a truck with an emergency generator.  We tied up and waited, along with boat Persephone, with whom we'd been traveling all day.

The heavy rains abated and we gave each other boat tours.  We locked through just before seven pm, and tied up for the night in Sylvan Beach.

Saturday we got an early start on Lake Oneida, which was our first lake.  It's 21 miles long, but never deeper than 50 feet, and with a strong current, we were through by nine-thirty.  A couple miles later we left the Erie Canal and entered the Oswego Canal.  We tied up right downtown in Phoenix, a charming little town with its own lock, and which obviously caters to boats passing through.  We went for a long walk, found a farmer's market!!, and did our two weeks' worth of laundry.  We had a farewell picnic with friends Larry and Debbie of Intrada, who are home now after a winter's stay in Florida.

June 11:  Lock 17 & Dinner on the Dairy Farm

Lock 17 on the Erie Canal has one of the highest lifts of any lock anywhere - 40 feet.  The lockmaster at Lock 16 told us that all boats must enter along on the port wall (we were favoring the starboard wall in the locks) so we had to switch over all our fenders from one side of the boat to the other.  This lock also has a gate raises and lowers as opposed to two large doors that swing open.  It’s impressive to see and more impressive to be inside.  A good thing the water fills slowly!  We entered with our companion Intrada, with whom we have been traveling in the Canal.  

We tied up for the day at a small town-owned marina in Little Falls, NY.  Dan has another friend from his Coast Guard Academy days in nearby Richfield Springs, and Tim came to pick us up for dinner at his home.  He and his wife Sue and their two kids Mike and Megan own and run the TM Cantwell Dairy Farm.  Sue made a great impromptu dinner for us and afterwards Tim and his son Mike gave us a tour of the cow barn and saw how a dairy farm works.  Tim’s 100+ milk cows provide a steady supply of milk that goes to the nearby Chobani yogurt factory.  We’re so lucky to have friends in all these places we’re going, and happy to be able to visit them.

June 9th & 10th:  Into the Erie Canal

Tuesday we walked to town to take advantage of Don & Paul’s breakfast specials - two eggs and toast for $2 - and then set off to enter the first of the five locks that make up what they call the “Waterford Flight”.    These locks are all within a mile and a half - sometimes you leave one and go right into the next one - and each elevates the boat about 35 feet.  Our guidebook says by the time you are done with the Waterford Flight you are old hands at locking, and we found this to be true.  The lock chambers are long enough for six to eight boats side-by-side, but the most we had in any one lock was four.  There are lines to grab or poles to slide your own line around and all you need do is hang on and keep your boat steady as the water rises.  The lock keepers are all very friendly and often give information about the next lock or places or to tie up.

The canal is more rural than we expected - we saw lots of different birds, from bald eagles to blue herons and gaggles of geese - and we really enjoyed slowly motoring along.  Tuesday we had a brief, strong thunderstorm, but Wednesday was hot and sunny.  We were happy to have our bimini and made good use of our supply of sunscreen.  

We visited a historic site showing the older Erie Canal.  In the pictures here you can see the old canal (now with a large tree growing in the middle of it) and the old side-by-side locks where hand-powered machinery let water in to raise or lower barges depending on whether they were Eastbound or Westbound.  

Wednesday my cousin David met us where we’d tied up at a canal terminal in Fonda, and we went to a local truck stop for dinner.  David and his friend Mohannet have been on vacation visiting various relatives, and were traveling across New York state to Niagara Falls on their way back to Wisconsin.  Being part of his itinerary (him being part of ours) was an unexpected treat.  

June 8 - (Monday) De-rigging and Our First Lock

Here we are at Waterford, and what a hospitable place this is!  The guide book said they offered 300 feet of docking, showers, and a quick walk to town for every conceivable amenity, but what it didn’t say is that docking is free, (small charge for electricity) as are all the offered facilities, and the volunteers explain everything you need to know.  Like where to get the best food at the best price, and that you can ask the supermarket to unlock their carts so you can bring the whole cart right back to the dock.  (Presumably volunteers take them back to Hannafords.  Yes.  Hannafords.)

Strong Southerly winds had howled through our rigging all night at Castleton-on-Hudson and we waited a bit in the morning, hoping they would abate, but they showed no inclination.  We gassed up at the local marina, and topped off our water and ice before heading out.  Because they had a rather steep charge for do-it-yourself demasting, we opted not to do it there, intending to find a quiet cove somewhere to take care getting our mast down.  When we found ourselves in Albany harbor facing a fixed bridge with only 24 foot clearance, we had to stop in a tug-and-barge turning basin to get our 31 foot mast down.  Dan had already set up a system to do this, and it worked pretty well, but it was a little nerve-wracking to make sure we got it done before a tug and barge came along to use the basin.  

Sails stowed, mast down, rigging all lashed down, we hauled anchor and continued upriver through downtown Albany, under the I-90 bridge, through Troy and to our first lock.  This is known as the Federal lock, the only one here operated by the Army Corps of Engineers.  We had to ask what to do, since this was our first lock, but the operator was very friendly and let us know every step of the way what we needed to do.  Once through the lock we were only a short ways from Waterford, where we joined about eight other boats and tied up at the dock.  We were greeted by Mary Jane, who directed us to Don & Paul’s restaurant in town where we had great hamburgers, fries, and dessert for under $11.  Promised heavy rains came as we ate, but we walked to Hannafords anyway and provisioned with fresh produce and a steak for tomorrow’s dinner.  We are only feet away from the second lock.  Looking forward to being on the Erie Canal tomorrow!

June 6th-7th  

We awoke in Marlborough to twenty knot winds bouncing us around at the dock and we figured it was easier to face the choppy River so we cast off.  We only cruised about twenty miles North, to Kingston.  Kingston was once the capitol of New York, and the center of River commerce, with the establishment of the Cornell Tugboat works in the early 1800s.  Cornell’s tugs and barges moved blue stone to New York City primarily for sidewalk use, and then brought coal from Pennsylvania on the canal (now mostly filled in) that used to extend the Rondout Creek to Delaware.  We learned this fascinating river history at the Hudson River Heritage Museum in Kingston.  There is still a small shipyard building barges in the Rondout Creek and there are old tugs and barges all along the Creek shoreline leading up to Kingston.

We took in the art walk on Saturday night, poking in the small galleries, and on Sunday morning we went back to town to walk through the neighborhoods to see the old stone houses from the 1700s and the Victorian architecture from the 1800s.  Sunday has been the best day yet - sunny, warm, with just a little breeze.  We set off upriver about ten.  

We passed through a group of swimmers making one leg of their annual River Swim - about a hundred miles spread over five days.  This leg was eighteen miles, from the Rip Van Winkle bridge near Catskill to Kingston.  Each swimmer was accompanied by a kayaker, and there were several other motor boats around to protect them and warn other river traffic like us.  

We made a day of it, dropping anchor across from Castleton-on-Hudson, where many boats stop to take their masts down before entering the canal.  We will take ours down in the morning and continue on up to Waterford tomorrow, hopefully to enter the Erie canal on Tuesday.

June 4-5th  New York City and Hudson River

Thursday morning, with the sun peeking out during an intermittent overcast sky, we set out around 7:45 to finish Long Island Sound.  Dan and I placed bets on when we’d first see the New York skyline - he was closest at 8:45 am, but I was the one who picked it out at 8:10.  (My guess was closer to 9:30 am.)  The seas were higher than the predicted one foot, but Ziggy handled it well as we steadily made our way to the zoo that is New York City Harbor.

We had timed the tide and current perfectly for the East River and Hell Gate, and enjoyed a fast ride under bridges, including the Brooklyn Bridge, and around Battery Park.  We did our best to stay out of the way of the ferry boats, sightseeing boats, barges and tugs, while still ogling the sights and watching helicopters take off from shoreside pads.  It’s quite a show from the water, and makes for an interesting, if tense ride.

The Hudson River was less busy.  We made our way upriver to the George Washington Bridge, where we met up with our friend Capt. Joe McGeady, on his tug.  Joe came aboard for a visit and supper of ham and beans, and then we move on, dropping anchor just North of the bridge for the night.

On Friday we put the city behind us and moved steadily upriver into Pete Seeger country.  What beautiful scenery with the cliffs, rolling hills, and hardwood trees all in lush greenery.  Every turn of the river grew more picturesque.  What a pleasure too, to keep a steady course in calm but fast-moving waters.  (As long as you are riding the tide and current!)  We passed by West Point with its medieval-looking fortress walls, saw the sloop Clearwater getting ready for a sail, and eventually found a nice little marina in Marlborough for the night.  

Marina Night!  We had hot showers, enjoyed a walk uptown for a dinner out, and brought home some groceries.  The marina is only a few yards from the train tracks, and we listened to freight trains rumbling by all night.  Dan said it reminds him of Uncle Dana and Aunt Ginny’s summer camp in Lucerne, Maine.  More character!