GOODBYE NEW YORK......HELLO CANADA

I am pleased to report that the New York Canal System is behind us.  After escaping from the land cut above lock 16, we moved further west and stopped for the night at a dock in Utica.  One cruising guide said it was a free dock.  Another said it was a restaurant dock and, you know what that means:  it's free for the night if you eat at the restaurant.  Well, we were only able to run so many hours that day until we ran out of day light, so we stopped at this dock.  There were signs posted everywhere that said the dock was $1 per foot for overnight stays.  Ok.  I can deal with that.  So, we plugged in and took a stroll up and around the restaurant looking for somebody, anybody to pay.  Unfortunately, or fortunately, there was absolutely nobody around.  The restaurant is closed on Monday night.  So, I guess the signs should read "$1 per foot, except Mondays when there is nobody to collect." 

The next day, we shoved off and headed to Sylvan Beach.  Locks 23-25 and all of the Oswego Canal were still reported closed, so, while we had an opportunity to go somewhere further west, we would.  However, even though we could have crossed Oneida Lake and stopped in Brewerton, there seemed to be more to do at Sylvan Beach. 

 

Of course, there are a bunch of locks between Utica and Sylvan Beach.  As we were going through one of them, we heard our friends Tim and Anne on Ivanhoe calling a lock on the radio.  They were not far behind us.  We kept in touch throughout the several hour run and all agreed to meet for drinks in Sylvan Beach.  Then, all of a sudden, we heard the unthinkable on the radio.  After clearing through Lock 21 and while heading to Lock 22, Tim and Anne apparently realized their cat, Blackjack, was missing.  (For those of you in the know, Blackjack is a distant cousin of our Tarmac, and an even more distant cousin of our friends Dave and Kim's cat Jamal).  I heard Tim call Lock 21 and ask if they had seen a cat running around.  Brenda and I sat in horror knowing how we would have felt if one of our two cats decided to get off at a lock.  What a nightmare.  It turned out that Blackjack managed to get himself into a closed box and the box closed on top of him.  He was basically stuck in the box.  Now, when one is searching for a missing cat, one tends not to look in closed boxes.  So, everyone was quite surprised when Blackjack made his reappearance.  When Ivanhoe docked in Sylvan Beach and no tears were apparent, I asked Tim what happened.  What he told me cannot be posted on this blog.  Suffice it to say, Blackjack was arrested, summarily tried and convicted, and placed on probation.  He'll be ok. 

Tim and Anne toasting with Brenda riverside at Sylvan Beach, NY

The cruising on this section of the Erie Canal is mostly a straight line for miles and miles.  Other than spending time with eyes on the water dodging logs, trees, and other debris left over from the storm, there is really not much to tell.

We met an interesting character on the dock at Sylvan Beach.  He travels alone aboard an old wooden boat he lives on six months of the year.  All he does is travel the canals.  He is basically retired, but goes to work in his family machine shop often enough to have, at one time or another, severed most of the fingers on both hands.  Nevertheless, he plays guitar and sings.  In fact, he is really good.  His repertoire includes mostly American folk classics.  He played for us (Brenda and I and Tim and Anne (and Blackjack)) for hours.  We enjoyed a great sunset on Oneida Lake with drink and music and great friends.

Now the good news.  When Tim and Anne arrived, they announced that they spoke to the Director of the Canal System and were told that locks 23-25 and the entire Oswego Canal would be opened in the morning.  Finally!  So, of course, as soon as the sun peaked over the horizon, we split Sylvan Beach and planned the long day to make it all the way to Oswego. 

Heading out onto Oneida Lake

This is the intersection.  The sign points to the left to continue west on the Erie Canal, and to the right to head roughly north on the Oswego Canal.

Oswego is a city on the shore of Lake Ontario at the end of the Oswego Canal.  There are 8 locks on the Oswego.  Actually, there are only 7.  Somebody decided to merge two of them into a hydroelectric plant and it was easier not to renumber them. No, really.  Anyways, once we crossed Oneida Lake, the current became very apparent.  We found ourselves zipping along down the remaining several miles of the Erie Canal towards the three river intersection where we turn to get on the Oswego river (canal), making high to mid 8's all the way.  It's nice to be able to get somewhere faster and to save fuel at the same time.  There was not that much debris, but the water was high and really flowing fast.  The locks on the Oswego are in better shape than many of those on the Erie.  They are somewhat newer and I think they do not get nearly as much traffic going through.  It may also be that they do not get the same kind of storm damage the Erie gets.  Different rivers, different conditions.

You can see in this image that the canal runs adjacent to the river, separated by a wall.  The current and conditions on the river would be pretty nasty but for the canal created by the system of locks and walls.

Well, after a long day, we made it all the way to Oswego.  First, we got fuel, and then we got to our slip.  The folks at the Oswego Marina are used to transient boats and understand that they are both the jump off point for all boats headed to Canada, and the welcome mat for all those coming back from Canada, or leaving Canada for other places.  The only other alternative would be to get to Lake Ontario via the Welland Canal from Lake Erie in the west, or enter Lake Ontario from the St. Lawrence River in the east.  In the case of Oswego, a travelling boater will enter the NY Canal System and then head for the Atlantic down the Hudson River.  It's a few hundred miles of protected water.  In any event, we were well cared for.

On approach into the City of Oswego.

This is Lock 8 - Oswego Canal - the final lock in the New York Canal System.  In the background you can see Lake Ontario.

Sometimes, you have to stop for a day and take care of boat chores.  Oswego is a very nice place to do that.  The marina was close to town and just about anything you might need is available there, be it groceries or hardware.  So, the following morning, the projects began.  First, I had to clean up some drippage from under the engine.  Nothing serious, and remember, she is a 32 year old boat.  Then, I needed to clean out the anchor locker.  That was one of those things I did not do when we left the boat in North Carolina last year.  To crawl in there and scoop out river mud is one thing.  But to do it when it is 95 degrees and 75 percent humidity like it was in Camden when we left is totally another.  So, I had to face reality and get in there and get it done.  Fortunately, the weather in Oswego was very cooperative and the job was completed.  Then, we had laundry to do, stores to restock, and a little navigating to accomplish.  Getting all this done allowed us to stroll around the town and take a look. 

Oswego boasts a rich heritage that stretches back beyond written history. Iroquois Indians lived here as long ago as 7000 years.  However, it is October 1615 that marks the beginning of recorded history in Oswego.  This is when Samuel de Champlain arrived, the first European.  With his arrival, Oswego began developing into the center of trade facilitation that it became.  The French and the British maintained supply routes that included Oswego and traded fur with the indians.

 

Approximately 12 years after the end of the American Revolution, the British left and settlers from other parts of New York and New England began to trickle in.  The newly settled Oswegonians worked hard to construct their own infrastructure - roads, bridges, and improvements to the river to make it navigable.  Once the Oswego branch of the Erie Canal was opened in approximately 1830, Oswego boomed.  It was a center for the shipping of flour, grain, lumber, iron, salt, and cornstarch from everywhere along the banks of Lake Ontario and beyond.  Again, the Erie Canal was envisioned to be a key to bringing goods and materials to New York City. 

Clearly, the Oswego Canal was part of that, and it is for this reason that the town flourished.  There is evidence of the city's former wealth all over in the form of stately homes and beautiful granite buildings.  It's also a fun town with lots of restaurants and nightclubs.  There are two universities nearby - Syracuse and SUNY Oswego (State University of New York)

On Friday morning, we cast off our lines at 0430 to cross Lake Ontario.  By the time we would tie up in Trenton, it would be an approximately 80 mile day, so it made sense to start out across one of the Great Lakes early.  The weather forecast was about as good as it could get, and looked quite stable.  So, off we went, with the sunrise over our starboard shoulders.  The lake was extremely flat and calm.  For much of the distance across the lake, there was barely a wind ripple.  The last time I saw water that flat was on that very unusual day on northern Lake Michigan when I could see the reflection of the clouds on the water like a mirror.  Well, yesterday's passage across Lake Ontario was even better, because there was not even a single cloud in the sky - just perfect blue.  Crossing the lake was basically a non-event; which is the way we hoped it would be.

Sunrise on Lake Ontario leaving Oswego.

As is tradition, one raises the "Q" Flag upon entering foreign waters - "Q" stands for Quarantine.  This flag must remain on the starboard side until you are cleared into the country by Customs and Boarder Protection Services.

Pretty calm day.

 

One of the key differences in terms of planning to cross a lake like Ontario that shares shoreline with Canada is weather analysis.  It seems the forecasts are a combination of information gathered from the National Whatever Service and Environment Canada.  Whereas the NWS will tell you lots of detail, it seems EC just says things like, "wind light, nice."  Well, alrighty then. With a forecast like that, how can you miss?  No, in all reality, you have to dig a little deeper to get the information you need.  Weather is also broadcast on the VHF weather stations by both the Canadian and US Coast Guards.  The weather comes across in a cryptic number system.  The first number in the list tells you the region, the second tells you the wind, then the direction, then the sea state, and so on and so forth.  It is helpful to make a key in advance so you can listen to the forecast and have it mean something.

There are a couple different ways to get to Trenton, the mouth of the Trent-Severn Waterway.  One can leave Oswego and head north east and then turn west and enjoy cruising in a region known as "Thousand Islands".  The other way is to come up into Presqile Bay and then pass through the Murry Canal.  This is what we did.  It's a very pretty canal and is long and straight.  The charts show three swing bridges, but there are actually only two.  As you approach the bridge, you give the bridge master a call on the radio and let him know where you are.  He assesses a $5 toll which he collects in a pale at the end of a long pole.  Then, you pass.  No toll was collected at the other end.  We weren't sure if the operator didn't feeling like getting out there with his pale and pole, or if the first operator collects for both from eastbound boats.

Brenda snapped this shot in the bay on approach to the Murray Canal.

Once out of the canal, you take a rather circuitous route around the back of an island and then you make a large turn to the left once you have lined up the "racetrack" into the mouth of the Trenton River.  Finally, we arrived at Fraser Park Marina, checked in with the Canadian Border Protection Services, lowered our "Q" flag, raised our Canadian courtesy flag, and settled in. 

The Canadian Courtesy Flag is hoisted - cleared into Canada.  A first for Abreojos.

We took a few moments to straighten out some cell phone and data service issues, and then took a walk around town.  Brenda and I always take a "walkabout" but we really couldn't find anything terribly unique.  We could tell we are not in the US anymore, but other than it being a very nice little city on the mouth of a river that caters to boaters, I could not find much more to say about it without either spending more time here or doing extraneous research.  We decided to have cocktails and listen to the band playing Irish music in the park.  It got quite warm and we were both tired. 

Here are a few images of Trenton, Ontario, Canada:

This morning, we will start the next leg of this journey - the 250 mile passage through the Trent-Severn Waterway.  The Trent- Severn Waterway National Historic Site of Canada is a natural and man made waterway that meanders nearly 400 km across central Ontario linking Georgian Bay to the Bay of Quinte.  Here is what the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada says in its Minutes:

"The heritage value of the Trent-Severn Waterway lies in its legibility and completeness as a transportation route integrated and developed by the Government of Canada early in the 20th century (1882-1920). This is embodied in the many engineering structures, buildings, locks, dams and bridges linked to the waterway, and in those cultural landscapes related to the themes of water power, recreation, natural features and varied uses associated with it.

Specific resources along the canal are of sufficient importance to be designated separately, notably the Peterborough Lift Lock National Historic Site of Canada, acknowledged because it was, and remains, an engineering achievement of international renown because it was the highest hydraulic lift lock ever built and was once reputed to be the largest concrete structure in the world. The Lift Lock was designed by engineers R.B. Rogers & Baird and built in 1904 by Corry and Laverdure Construction (site preparation and concrete work), and Dominion Bridge of Montreal (metal work).

The Lake Simcoe-Balsam Lake section of the Waterway is valued for the high number of surviving unmodified structures dating from the construction period 1900-1907 and because most lock stations in this section retain their integrity from the early 20th-century period."

This next leg of the voyage home promises to be interesting and beautiful.  I will blog about it as we go along.  However, the entries may be fewer insofar as data plans for cellular phone connectivity are expensive and limited.  So, I will post when there is access to wifi.  In the interim, I miss you all back in California and look forward to being home soon.

This is M/V Abreojos signing off.....for now.

Out.