For those who want to dig a little deeper, beyond the blog posts and their associated pictures, the following is a full list of links to Google Photo Albums for each stop on our Trip:
Oswego to Kingston Current Location: Kingston Date: October 5-6 Mile: 2888-2934 Locate: Ramble On Locate: Finnish Line 2.0 Google Photo Albums:
Oswego,
Kingston
Lighthouse on Oswego piers
We arrived in Oswego on Thursday at early afternoon. Our plan was to put masts back up on Friday, and then head to Kingston on Saturday. Earlier, Sunday was forecast to have gusts of 50+ kts, so it was either Saturday, or a few days later. We're all a little itchy to get home, so we're really gunning for Saturday.
We even tried to see if the Bernie, the guy who does the masts (and everything else) could do it Thursday afternoon as the wind was light, but he was too busy with other tasks. The winds on Friday were forecast to be up in the morning, possibly too strong to do masts, and then ease a little in the afternoon, so that looked like our target window.
Nine mile point power station. We
can usually see the steam from Kingston
We've done our masts the "KYC way" for 13 years with Ramble On, but Bernie had his own way. Even though I might have done things differently, he knew what he was doing, and was careful and methodical. Boaters with experience on their own boats get into patterns and habits about how they do things. It is rarely a good idea to disrupt someone's way of doing things unless it's really unsafe. Suggestions and helpful hints are best left until afterwards. So after trying to offer Bernie some suggestions on how I do things, and him indicating that he wanted to do it his way, I just shut up did as I was told. All went smoothly after that!
Bernie was friendly and funny too. In the end all went well, even though I had to lower once and re-hoist because the forestay toggle had flipped in a bad way at the top. It was easy to sort out and we were back in business quickly. Once the rig was on and stays tight enough, we put the bimini back on and then it was just a matter of tightening and re-rigging enough to cross the lake. We didn't rig the sails, but everything was ready for that in case we wanted or needed to do so. It was cold enough, and we were tired enough, such that neither Finnish Line or ourselves really felt the need to sail home.
Departure Day
We knew it would be cold on Saturday, but we woke up to darkness and frost on the deck. We were leaving at 7am, and at 6:45 it was only just first light, and sunrise it at 7:08, so it quickly got brighter as we headed out through the Oswego piers.
Cold, did we mention it
was cold?
The harbour was pretty quiet and it was just a light chop outside the piers, but within an hour there was maybe 15 kts from the east, and a beam-on swell developed that kept the boat rolling around for most of the morning.
Finnish Line comfortably clearing the passing freighter
A motor boat we had chatted with before in the locks, "Sherri Lynn", was also waiting in the harbour to cross this morning. As we were leaving the marina, he shouted from the dock asking if he could radio us about the conditions out there. This was a 50' motor boat, so I wouldn't think the conditions would have bothered him either way given the forecast. I said "sure!" and sure enough he called once we were a hour north of Oswego. The conditions were fine for us, and certainly for him. He would be in Kingston in 2.5 hours. Not sure if this guy was aware of weather forecasts and that you can get wave height info from the weather buoys?
Barge full of what?
As we passed Galloo Island, the fetch for the east wind was reduced and the seas got flatter. They built again a little bit once we passed Galloo, but then the wind began to fade and the conditions became almost flat by the time we got to Simcoe Island. We passed a freighter and a really ugly looking barge heading for Oswego (we had to do a dodge to avoid as they were heading straight to where we came from), and Sherri Lynn and another motor boat passed by, but it was otherwise quite out there.
Home!
As we approached Wolfe Island, we saw a mast in the distance, a tall one! I commented that it looked like a sailboat, and Linda noted that a recent Facebook post indicated that Signature was out for a sail and would be greeting us. Sure enough, as we got closer, Signature was heading our way as we approached the Boat Channel. The wind was fading, so they were slowing down, and we did the same so we could say hi and offer appreciation for their welcome as we passed. Finnish Line did the same. This was a very nice surprise and the warm welcome was much appreciated. We also received a radio call from Valkyre offering welcome back to KYC!
Once we cleared the Boat Channel, we did a pass-by of Valkyre who had a cockpit full of people enjoying a nice sunny sail. Again, nice to see familiar people in familiar waters again.
Finnish Line and Ramble On entered KYC harbour one after the other and we had teams of welcoming hands at both docks to catch our lines and offer hugs and congratulations on our return:
It is certainly nice to be back home. Once docked and having shut the engine down, we headed in for a long anticipated pint of 8-Man to really make it official. We ended up having dinner at the club (no food at home, and not much in the boat) and enjoying the company of friends until we all started to fade out and felt a "nap" calling our name.
We headed home, leaving the boat more or less as it was to see how our tenant had left the house. We were pleasantly surprised and relieved that the house was clean and tidy, and ready to move back into including flowers on the dinning room table. We will certainly have our work cut out for us over the next days as we unpack the boat, and pull all of our household belongings out of storage.
We picked up our little old kitty cat from Andrew, and we'll get Madei back next weekend and then things will really start feeling like home again.
I'll probably summarize the trip in a while, but to be able to do such a trip, while Linda and I are both working stiffs, is a really incredible opportunity. It was a busy trip, and a really great way to explore an enormous amount of coastline. We've seen parts of Canada and the U.S. that we might never have seen, and doing it by boat makes it even more unique. The four and a half months allowed us time to explore many seaside towns and cities, even though there were quite a few places we weren't able to get to. We have made so many wonderful memories that we'll cherish for years to come.
We departed Catskill (Hop-O-Nose Marina) early in the morning as we had almost 40 miles to go, including our first lock at Troy. We exited back through the narrow creek back into the Hudson River and again headed north toward Albany. Lock 1 is located at Troy, and then it's just a little further to Waterford. Here, we can spend the night at floating docks provided by the town of Waterford.
Common lighthouse style
on the Hudson River
At this point, the mast is a new visual obstruction, maybe more for myself than Linda as the mast is at my eye level when I'm standing in the cockpit. This means I have to duck under regularly to be able to see things on each side of the boat. Only a few lumps on my head before I got used to this!
Waiting for the next lock
Often people will use an aft mast support that raises the mast higher so that head clearance isn't a problem, but my mast supports all pre-date this trip. I used them for winter storage of my mast on board, which in turn tents the winter cover. However, it did work out nicely that our new dodger and bimini ended up being below and above the mast respectively. This meant that after the mast was on deck, both could still be used. A quick re-install of the bimini, with solar panels, meant we'll be able to hide from the rain. We wouldn't be able to install the awning, but at least we would continue to have some protection from the sun and rain.
soaring eagle
The day started nicely enough with a little bit of sun and pleasant weather. Our trip up the final portion of the Hudson River continued to offer interesting sights, a little bit of nature and ever increasing industrial development as we approached Albany.
We saw more of these lighthouses that are quite common on the Hudson. They are really houses, typically brick, with light towers extending from them like a church steeple. They are typically on stone foundations that continue to about the high water level mark. But since these are protected waters, there is little protection from waves and seas needed.
bounding deer
Before we got to the dirty metropolis of Albany, we passed some deer playing in the reeds along the shore. There were two of them, and for a while we thought they might have been chased as one of the deer was behaving quite frantically. The other ... not so much. This continued for the entire time we were passing. One deer would bound through the reeds, then along the shore and then back and other times would simply be leaping and jumping. The other of the pair was mostly disinterested, but occasionally would half-participate in whatever game this was. We never saw any hunter (human or otherwise), so assumed this was some sort of play.
By this time, the skies were becoming overcast, and the weather radar told us that we would have a hard time avoiding the oncoming rain. We dug out and donned our foul weather gear and continued north.
Robot buoy/mark?
Things became much more industrial as we approached and passed through Albany. We passed many shore terminals where barges would load/unload. One of these terminals had three automated, or robotic, "marks". Solar panel, computer pack and a light on top. Not sure what they were for, but they guarded a particular terminal that also had orange booms in place. Perhaps the two were related.
Once we were passing through the downtown area of Albany, we saw a large ornate building, looking more like a chateau Laurier type of hotel. It turned out to be part of the SUNY campus. A little further and we passed the USS Slater, a WWII era ship that is now a museum ship.
SUNY Albany Campus
At this point, the day had become decidedly dull and the rain had started.
Ornate chimney is all
that remains of this brick factory
Of course the rain started coming down steadily once we were past Albany, and approaching Troy and our first lock. It's hard to lock through and try to hide from the rain, but Lock 1 turned out to be uneventful.
Once past Lock #1, we just had a few miles to go before reaching Waterford and the next flight of lock (5 of them) that really marks the beginning of the canal portion our return back to Kingston.
And another ...
We continued to pass interesting sights and saw even more remnants of old brick factories. One was particularly ornate in it's brickwork. I suppose that makes some sense .... they obviously had an abundance of bricks, and likely lots of skilled people to build these factories.
Shortly after passing through Lock 1 we arrive at Waterford. This is where the Mohawk river joins the Hudson, and before the locks and canals, would contain some significant rapids. Waterford provides a floating dock along the old concrete wall, but we just barely found space as there were a number of other boats waiting here, like us, to lock through in the morning.
The facilities were quite nice and we were welcomed by a couple of staff who were both friendly and helpful.
Amsterdam (Sep 27-29)
Canada geese in the morning mist
We planned a 7am departure for this morning. We only had 33 miles to go but when you add in about 30 mins per lock and nine locks, then we might need 9 or so hours to be in Amsterdam in good time. While it's just barely getting light out at this time in the morning (now that it's fall!!!) there was a light fog and mist on the water that made the dim morning light very mystical, complete with a gaggle of geese preparing to head south for the winter. (No one told them "you're going the wrong way"!)
Amsterdam dock facilities
The locks are smaller than the St. Lawrence seaway and we were going up hill all day, which will continue until after lock 21, just after Rome NY. Even still, while there was a little buffeting around in the locks as they filled, it was not too stressful or strenuous locking up. By the time we got to the 9th one today we had a fairly well established routine. Though it is hard to avoid getting goo and slime from the lock walls and guide lines all over parts of the boat.
One of the many Guard Gates we passed under
The locks and gates are relatively modern compared to the manually operated Rideau Canal locks, which have wooden gates and all the 180 year old iron work. The NY Canal system locks have steel doors and motorized mechanisms. But much of the equipment and the adjoining dams and weirs look their age (I suspect from the early part of last century when the whole Erie Canal was upgraded).
Stonework from an earlier
iteration of the locks
When not in the locks, we were wandering through some very pleasant winding rivers. The shoreline often showing the rock strata of either limestone or igneous rocks in different places. Lots of marsh lands and their accompanying wildlife. Herons, Egrets, ducks and geese are the most common things we saw, along with a bald eagle or two and a few golden eagles. This section of the canal mostly follows the Mohawk river. There was very little other boat traffic, so it was a peaceful wander through central NY State.
Adirondack Power and Light
No longer in operation
At times we passed through the backyards of towns, old derelict power stations, gravel factories, and old stone remnants of older canal systems. This is reminiscent of the St Lawrence seaway where there are old, for the most part abandoned, canal systems to be found if you look (even the drowned towns from the Seaway construction included old canal and lock system, that are now underwater).
Great Egret
After 9 locks, and a few more miles, we arrived in Amsterdam and docked along the nicely constructed town docks. There was a wedding going on at the site, and the train tracks are nearby, but the noise didn't bother us too much when we were down below.
Shore markings to help
relocate the marks in spring
It had become a very hot day in the end, and we were a little bagged from the day in the sun. I think the temperature, both inside and out was about 33C!
Birthday Trip to Ottawa
Linda's mother was turning 85 on the 29th, and Linda decided to take a short diversion from our trip by renting a car and heading to Ottawa to surprise Gertrud (Otto and Madei too) by showing up at their front door.
Birthday girl!
Linda arranged a rental car, ordered a cake, and we both headed for the border as soon as we were able to pick up the car. We crossed at Ogdensburg and continued right up highway 416. Had we fully explained to the border officer all the details about our trip, where we were and what we were doing, we probably would have received more questioning, but Linda just answered what was asked and offered nothing more and we were on our way in no time.
We knew that Linda's parents were following us daily on marinetraffic.com, so we made sure our AIS system was checking in properly from Amsterdam. The website has an App with which you can augment your position with in case there are no land based AIS stations nearby. Our plan was to turn on this App in the driveway and then call Gertrud and ask her to double check our location as we thought there might be a problem with the AIS system. We did try this, but the App is smart enough to detect that we were no where near water and refused our attempts!
Our surprise was effective non-the-less. Linda rang the door bell with her distinctive ring, and when Gertrud appeared at the door, her jaw could not have dropped any further. As she walked to open the door, she was slightly confused by the bell ring, but dismissed that in her mind as coincidence. Thinking "it's impossible that Linda is here". SURPRISE!
We got a little play time with Madei, who was suffering from a little grandparent overindulgence and had put on a bunch of weight. We stayed overnight and enjoyed dinner and birthday cake before heading back to join Bob and Tarja in Amsterdam.
Our return border crossing was as easy as the first. The officer asked the question as to why we were renting a car, and ended up answering the question himself and then we were through and on our way again.
Upon getting back to the boat we joined up with Bob and Tarja. They prepared an excellent burger dinner and then we discussed our plans for the next few days. The weather was now showing that Sunday could have gusts of over 70 kts! That's certainly more than we wanted to spend any time in. This meant that we would need to keep moving quickly in order to be able to cross Lake Ontario on Saturday. At the same time, the forecasted temperatures were taking a big dip too. For those on land, lows of 2C were forecast. Being on water, which still had a temp of 15C, meant that it wouldn't get into the single digits for us. But it is getting colder and we will have to dig out our warm clothes.
Little Falls (Sep 30)
The next leg of the canal becomes a little more remote. We are still flanked by train tracks on the north side and the I-90 on the south. But most of the shore is tree lined and shrubby. Many sections have been cut or dredged and the shorelines are built of the leftovers of this material. This results in a overgrowth that doesn't reveal much about the surrounding geography. When the cut/canal is a long straight section, it can become a little monotonous.
40' lift with a unique entry gate which requires
you pass under a concrete wall
We passed through seven locks today. The majority were short lifts of about 6-8 feet. The final lock was the most interesting. It had a lift of ~40' and is credited as one of the largest lift heights in north america (though many the Seaway lock are over 40').
Each lock has these signs to
tell you the details and how far
away the next locks are
Non-the less, it is interesting in that the lower entry is not through typical swinging lock gates, but through a lifting gate (guillotine style) that closes the boat entry. Above the gate is a concrete span joining the two walls of the lock. Because of the height limit of vessels in these locks, this concrete span does not cause a problem, and is in fact part of the water retention structure when the lock is full of water.
There is some very unique geology
on Moss Island with "Potholes"
Very shortly after passing through lock 17, we ended up at our destination of Little Falls. The town still has some charm and with many of it's historic buildings mostly in-tact. Many upstate towns, especially along the Erie Canal went into decline once the Seaway was built. Many have struggled, but Little Falls seems to have found a combination for success.
Meeting of the minds?
The Lions Club has built a very nice visitors center and docking facility. An old turn of the century storage build has been re-purposed into a very nice visitors center with excellent washrooms and showers. The shore has been re-build and their docks are very nice.
We would have liked to stay in Little Falls and extra day to explore. Linda discovered it has a little-known geological wonder: Moss Island. You can access the island from Lock #17 and it's popular with climbers. There is evidence of an ancient waterfall larger than Niagara Falls! Check out the video of the potholes.
We had dinner in town this evening and while the Lions Club marina was quite nice, we had a fair walk to get up to the superhighway bridge over the canal and into the town which was on the other side of the canal. It was a strange dinner with kitchen complications and a strange complete lack of available deserts.
Old stonework with modern repairs
Tomorrow we plan to push fairly hard to make good time because there is a nasty system coming that could limit when it's safe to cross Lake Ontario. We had planned to stay here for two nights, but instead we're moving on.
Here's a time-lapse video of the day going "uphill" through the locks:
Whitesboro (Oct 1)
Quiet waters on the canal
Our aim was to make it to Sylvan Beach (our entry to Oneida Lake) for some mile-high pie at Eddie's and to stay the night. This meant five locks over 40 miles! Unfortunately, things did not go as planned and we only locked through three locks (18, 19 & 20) and covered a little over 20 miles instead. We tied up to lock wall immediately after lock 20. There is park on one side of the lock and the wall was reported to be in reasonable condition.
Dredging and canal repairs
Trying to get through lock 19 was a real time sink. It took 2.5 hours to get to the other side. There were a number of factors that caused the slowdown--if it wasn't so annoying, it would have been funny. When we arrived we were advised by the lock master that it might be a bit of a wait, but we weren't expecting it would be hours!
The lockmaster explained that he had to lock some boats down first (a 10-15 min process at our previous locks), and that he was expecting a commercial cruise boat from the east, which would have priority over us if he arrived soon. Upon our arrival, some boats were already in the process of locking up. After a few minutes, we could hear the exchange of a couple of captains as one boat was attempting to exit the lock upstream. He was asking for more room to exit, and the other captain refused! It must have worked out, as the lock master was able to start loading boats wishing to lock down. It was busy and the other boats advised a sailboat was on it's way to the lock. The lock master made a comment over the radio about how slowly sailboats traveled, but decided to wait for the sailboat anyway. (the reason became apparent later) Unfortunately, without our masts, sailboats don't have a long VHF range, so I don't think the straggler knew the lock master was holding up the lock for him. And upon the sailboat's arrival to the lock, the captain politely advised, "no thank you, we won't lock through at this time. We'll just tie to the wall for now." Sigh. Locking down proceeded.
our view of lock 19, as we hover for 2.5 hours
In the meantime, Grand Caribe, the canal cruise boat, arrived behind us. The captain was running early, and advised us by radio that he would be happy to let us lock through ahead of him. The process of locking down seemed to last forever. At one point the captain of Grand Caribe asked the lockmaster about the delay. The lockmaster revealed that the the lock valves were only operating at 60% flow rate (which is why he wanted to pack that sailboat in on the lock down). The Grand Caribe captain did a little mental math and realized that he could not afford the extra time to let us go first and retracted his offer. We would have to wait. Again.
Imagine this thing crowding
from behind and being 50' away!
Not a surprise, but they have priority and this thing is also big, or at least relative to the width of the canal. There were some radio conversations about the length of the cruise boat and whether there was enough space behind him to fit us into the lock chamber as well. We were busily looking up the lock dimensions and the size of the boat to see if we would fit. Though we were all cautious, I figured we could fit in behind and then raft together. After informing everyone of the plan, I inched forward to see if we would fit. The lockmaster seemed indifferent. The Grand Caribe captain was fine with it, but wanted to make sure we were aware that we'd have to deal with the turbulence of his engines (which he needed to maintain his position in the lock). Linda, my "jenga master", was "skeptical" (read "are you crazy?!")
As we got closer, it became clear that we wouldn't be able to grab two control lines (and then have Finnish Line raft to us), without our masts getting too close to the stern of Grande Caribe. So we informed them of this and backed out to wait for the a full cycle of the lock.
This was our track for the 2-1/2 hours of "hovering"
in front of the lock (ignore the fact that my Garmin
had us over land for this and most of the canal transit)
Very strange sign unless
you see it at night.
Meanwhile, we continued to hover just outside the lock. This is a pretty boring activity. Every few minutes you give the boat a very short "goose" of forward with port or starboard rudder in order to keep the boat somewhat square in the canal. Sometimes you reverse a little to try to stay in the same spot. Fortunately, the wind was light and there was little to no current except when they drain the lock toward us (at which point well all drift backwards a little).
Night time view, yet still an odd form of marketing
After we made it through this lock, we made good progress and made it to the other side of lock 20 by about 4:30 pm (locking business hours are 7 am to 5pm at this time of year). On the west side of the lock, we selected the least jagged section of the concrete wall and secured ourselves. Aside from securing the boat to bollards and rings that were spaced at the most inconvenient distances from the boat, we had a quiet night and a good sleep, despite the little bit or wind and rain.
Today would be a long haul as we needed to put in 50 nm to get to the other side of Lake Oneida, and right up to the start of the Oswego Canal. If we can do this, then we will set ourselves up for making a Saturday crossing of Lake Ontario when the weather is good. If we get delayed to Sunday, we wont want to cross then, and will have to wait for Monday or beyond.
Since we were tied to the wall just before lock 20 our only obstacle for departing was detaching ourselves from the bollards and rings we used to tie up. These were spaced too far apart to make tie up convenient as a result I had to coil up about 80' of bow line and Bob has strung his boat to a single ring and lamp post.
Abandoned industry everywhere
Barges would have docked here
It was a few miles to the next lock, we got going at dawn, so we could maximize our progress. The next stretches of canal were mostly dug canals as the Mohawk River took it's own path to the south of us. The portions of the canal that follow the natural course of the river are much more scenic than the dug ditches that compose the rest of the canal.
We're going right ... right!!!
On the final approach to Lake Oneida we passed through lock 21 & 22 (just a 1 nm apart), our first down locks. We then found ourselves entering the east end of Lake Oneida. The weather was cool and there was a light rain most of the day. The breeze was from the north and we hunkered down and motored through the light chop to the other end of this shallow, 17 nm long lake.
We exited out the west end of the lake, into Oneida River, which was quite pretty (again because this portion of the canal followed through natural rivers). The river, just as we exited the lake, was heavily developed with small houses and cottages, and numerous small boats and pontoon craft.
Drop style lock gate
We passed through the final our final lock of the Erie Canal, and continued on a little further. We came to a fork in the rivers (Three Rivers Point, where the Oneida, Oswego and Seneca rivers join), where if you keep left, you will continue on in the Erie Canal, and if you keep right, you enter the Oswego River (and Canal). The fork was well marked with signage. At this point we continued to Lock 1 of the Oswego Canal, and stopped at the town of Phoenix.
The town has decent floating docks located just before (west of) the first lock of the Oswego canal. It was a little crowded, but we both found spot on the floating sections. There are public washrooms as well as coin operated showers available, although not particularly clean.
Another Great Egret
We arrived too late (in the day or maybe in the season) but an old bride operators building that was now a museum was located right by the visitor docks. The building was mostly vertical in design and it's hard to imagine cramming a museum in it, but it might have told a bit of the history of the town and the canal.
Oswego (Oct 3)
Today we would cover the last stretch of the Oswego canal and end up at the Port of Oswego Marina. We are now heading north again instead of west as we were in the Erie canal. The distance is only 20 miles but we have 7 locks to pass through.
Lock 3 turned out to be more of an obstacle than anticipated. We could not raise the lock master on Channel 13 no matter how many times we tried. We even tried boosting the transmit power to 25W. Eventually the lock master from lock 2 replied and offered to drive to lock 3 to see what was up. This took at least 30 minutes as Finnish Line and we tried to maintain hovering position in front of the lock doors.
The last lock, Lock 8, resulted in some delay as well. (I know I said seven locks in total, but there is no lock 4!) There was an emergency in the river beside the lock and they decided to keep us in the lock until emergency services had cleared away. The lock was full and we had a birds eye view of the whole incident.
Rescue crews talking to other fishermen
There were a couple of fishing boats on the river, right beside our lock. One of them was empty and there were two Coast Guard boats and once small Fire Dept. RIB trying to recover the fishermen who had fallen overboard. The rescuers were using boat hooks and we saw an empty life-jacket get pulled from the water. We were trying to piece together the situation when the larger Coast Guard boat took off at speed with one of the crew doing CPR on someone on the back deck. Unfortunately, that generally is a bad sign and rarely ends well. But before we left the lock, Linda overheard a VHF transmission that both fishermen had been revived. This was confirmed by a news article later that day.
The river runs very rough where the incident happened, and apparently something happened with the anchor and one guy became entangled and was held underwater. As the anchor caught, the other guy fell in the fast moving water. The next day we spoke to the locals at the marina and it turns out that one of the two fishermen ended up dying. Sad news indeed.
Old Verick Hyro power house
Downtown Oswego
After getting through the last lock quickly, we found ourselves right near the entrance to the marina. We radioed them and they told us to pick any slip on the north side (the place was virtually empty). We picked the slips right beside the masting crane, and tomorrow's mast lowering activities would be easy to get to.
We spent most of the afternoon getting the spreaders put back on and everything else prepped for tomorrow. We removed most of the straps and left just enough to keep the forestay in place along the mast. Tomorrow we will remove the bimini and the final lashings immediately before the mast goes back up.
We've been watching the weather and the wind is expected to be up around 20 kts tomorrow morning, so we explored the option of raising masts this afternoon. But Bernie, the "mast guy", said there was no way to fit it in his schedule this afternoon.
Here's a short time lapse video of our decent through the Oswego locks:
