KINGSTON TO PICTON, ONT.

DAY 27 THURS. JUNE 30, 2011
CLEAR, DRY COOL. L60/H75 WIND W 10-12K
DEP. KINGSTON 08:10 ARR. PICTON 1:20
D 39.6SM/545.1
As I write this we are on a mooring at the Prince Edw. YC in Picton H. The harbor is long and narrow, fjordlike, and the town, much larger than we expected, is a short walk up the hill. We had to stop about a mile from Kingston H at the Portsmouth Olympic H. Marina to pump out. Kingston H. didn't have a pumpout and while the Canadiens make a big deal about sealing your holding tank and not discharging black water overboard, they make it very inconvenient (and expensive, $20.) to pump out. I couldn't believe a marina with some 300 slips doesn't have a pump out.
The cruise from Kingston to Picton is really pretty easy. The widest water is about 3 m. and the whole route is inside, the N. Passage, Adolphus Reach, and Quinte Bay. Very well marked and over 200' deep in most places. The surrounding Islands are mostly farmland with a lot of summer homes along the shores and a lot of undeveloped waterfront. Tomorrow we depart for Trenton, Ont and the famous Canada Day Celebration on July 1. Cousin to our July 4!



CROSSING THE BAY OF QUINTE

HEAD OF PICTON HARBOR

PAT, PETER, MAUREEN (DUDDEN PILOT) DOWNTOWN PICTON

PRINCE EDWARD YC, PICTON, ONT.

KINGSTON ONT HARBOR

DAY 24  MON. JUNE 27, 2011
CLEAR, SUNNY, WIND 0MPH
DEP OSWEGO 06:50  ARR. KINGSTON 2:00
DIST 51.5SM/577.5

It was worth the wait.  After 3 days of blowing in Oswego we finally got a good, if not perfect day to cross the big "O". Waves less than 1', cloudless sky, almost unlimited visability.  Nothing to do but set the auto helm and watch for boats. Met with Dudden Pilot, Pilgrim, Scarecrow, and Reality check.  Went on the 4:00 trolley tour.  Wouldn't do it again.  Had dinner with Cei & Ron at a mediocre beer pub.
DAY 25  KINGSTON H.  Cool and WINDY!
Did the laundromat, grocery shopping (we still have to eat you know) and mostly chilled out.
DAY 26 KINGSTON H.  Cool and WINDY!  See day 25.
DAY 27 KINGSTON H. Cool and WINDY! We didn't want to stay, but the winds were blowing and discretion being the better part of valor, stayed in port. I found out from Verizon, contrary to what I was told, that data was at the rate of $2.05 C, per mb. With average usage of 2G per month, that works out to about $4K. Maureen, from Dudden Pilot found a way to make it more affordable, so we hiked up to Rogers Stores and purchased a "Rogers Rocket." This gives us the privilege of purchasing a data plan which allows us 1.5G for $150, plus the "rocket" which is sort of an air card.We need this because you can't do your banking on wi-fi. Speaking of which, these blogs may get scarce if wi-fi becomes scarce. Tomorrow they throw us out, wind or no, but the forecast is good.

KINGSTON ONT. HARBOR



KINGSTON LIGHTHOUSE


Entering Kingston,Ont. CA


Kingston City Hall



Waiting for the train.......................to be restored!





BREWERTON TO OSWEGO, NY



DAY 21 FRI. JUNE 24, 2011

AM Showers, PM showers L65/H80

Dep. Ess-Kay Marine12:20 Arr. Oswego 6:30

Dist. 33.8sm/526.5m

We were ready to go at 8am, unfortunately, the boat wasn't. Just a few more details like securing the spare prop and covering the access holes we made while installing the hose. We left Ess-Kay happy to be under way again. Ten miles later we departed the Erie C. and turned north into the Oswego Canal at the junction of three rivers, the Mohawk, Seneca, and Oswego. The locks on the Oswego were newer and in much better condition than the Erie, and I must admit, the Oswego R. was much nicer. We went thru 7 locks and 22 miles and would have arrived sooner, but just our luck, that day they put lock #7 on an opening schedule instead of on demand as the were reparing it. We made the 6pm opening with time to spare and tied up for the night on the east wall between locks 7 & 8 just before a bridge. We thought it was just for the night, so we settled down for a nice quiet sleep, and awoke the next morning to high westerly winds and high pitched noises which turned out to be workers on the bridge above us grinding, jackhammering and just making a lot of NOISE!


DAY 22 SAT, JUNE 25, 2011
Windy, cool.
Distance. 0sm/526.5m
Restocking day, groceries, milk, etc.
DAY 23 SUN. JUNE 26, 2011
Windy and cool

I TOLD YOU SO! We should have replaced the microwave last week, but we didn't, so now we had to walk 2 miles to WalMart, buy one we didn't like, buy a jigsaw I don't need, and pay for a cab back to the boat. On Sat nite a nice friendly couple from Vinyard Haven pulled in and came over to meet us when the saw the Falmouth Hailing port. Mike Strada and Jennifer Stix aboard NOVA, a Northern Bay 36. As luck would have it Mike was a retired contracter and he gave me some ideas as to how to make the new microwave fit. Instead of enlarging the whole oening, I simply cut notches out for the feet to slide in and it worked. Not very pretty, but nothing a piece of molding won't take care of. Tomorrow the winds abate and we plan to leave as soon as the #8 lock opens at 7am.

LEAVING OSWEGO HARBOR

 

ONIEDA LAKE, HAUL OUT, SALT POTATOES AND MORE

DAY 17 MON.JUNE 20, 2011
L61/H85 Clear, calm, sunny.
Dep. Sylvan B. 09:15 Arr. Brewerton, NY 12:05
21.7sm/492.7m
The trip across Onieda Lake was calm and eneventful. Right down the middle with a shoal to port which seems to harbor some fish because that's where the fisherman were. The only odd thing we ran into was one red nun bouy that seemed off station. The charts showed 18' of water to the right, and only 8' of water to the left, which is the correct way to pass this bouy. We passed to the right as the channel was deeper and wider.   Keep a couple of islands to port, go under a couple of bridges, and there lies Brewerton.  We stopped at Ess-Kay Marine, one of 3 highly recommended boat yards within less than 1 mile.   Later that afternoon they hauled the boat to reveal the damage from whatever we hit.   There were a couple of dings on the prop, and except for the slight leak, the rudder looked good. My sister Pat picked us up, we visited Mom, and spent the first of 3 nights with my sister. Tues we borrowed (more like commandeered) her car and I drove the prop to the only repair shop around, in Canandaigua, NY., and left it with them for a Thurs. delivery to Ess-Kay.

DAY 18 TUES. JUNE 20 2011
The rudder was removed and I was hanging around, so they sent me to Syracuse to find 4 very large ss screws they didn't have. When I got back with slotted screws, they said they had those, they wanted phillips head screws. I think they just wanted to get rid of me as they had the rudder all apart when I got back.

DAY 19 WED. JUNE 21, 2011
Did I mention the microwave on the boat stopped working? We went to Lowes, WalMart, Home Depot, and Best buy. No one had a microwave less than 10" high which is what we needed to get into the existing opoening. The only alternative was to make the opening larger, so we went back to the boat and Pat said, maybe the problem is just the outlet. Natrually I said the light comes on so it can't be the outlet. With that she plugs the old one in and VOILA!......................it works! When I explain it probably started working from all the bouncing around it had Pat said I told you so.  So we returned the new one and re-installed the old one, and needless to say, 3 days later it stopped working. See, I told you so.
That night my sister served us "salt potatoes" with dinner.  Salt Potatoes are a curious dish nobody outside of the Syracuse area ever heard of.   They are served in resturaunts and sold in supermarkets. They were originated by the Irish salt miners. Seems they didn't have much time for lunch while they were boiling the brine to extract the salt, so they would cook their potatoes in the brine vats. This very high concentration of salt raised the boiling temp. which results in a very creamy texture, but you must have small new potatoes. They are, surprisingly, not salty, and the best part is, the next morning you take the cold potatoes, flatten them with your hand, and fry them in oil for breakfast. The recipe is simple, 5lbs. of small new potatoes boiled with 1.25 c. salt.

DAY 20 WED. JUNE 22, 2011
See Tues June 21, 2011.

DAY 21 THURS. JUNE 22, 2011
The prop arrives, the boat goes back in, but we need a few more things done. Remember the hose from the head. It takes 2 of us 3 hrs. to replace.
Tomorrow, we leave.


Islands in Lake Onieda

Nice Cottage for Upstate NY


Entering Brewerton, NY, Erie Canal

SYLVAN BEACH, NY

Day 16  Sun. June 19, 2011
Clear, drty, cool.  L 60  H 78
Dep. Rome 10:40  Arr. Sylvan Beach 1:10 
D14.6m/471.0m
Today we traversed 2 locks going down for the first time heading for the resort town of Sylvan Beach. I'm sure this town looks desolated in the winter, but today it was jumping. We tied up at a free wall with electric within walking distance of the Town and several resturaunts There is an amusement park nearby and the beach was packed. We were at the eastern end of the Lake, and the boat traffic was very heavy, but surprisingly considerate. No wakes!
  

Crowded Sylvan Beach



SOME PRETTY CLASSY BOAT TRAFFIC

Not much to photograph when I have to get into a picture.

WHEN IN ROME...........................HAVE A PARTY!!!!!!!

Day 15  Sat, June 18, 2011
Eary AM fog, 09:00 Sunny & warm  L62 H87
Dep. Illion 07:05  Arr. Rome, NY 11:05

Rome is another upstate NY depressed city.  Closed factories, empty factory parking lots.  We visited Ft Stanwyx, a Rev. war Fort restored with Federal Grant money, back when it was available.  Someone here said they were so depressed the didn't even feel this recession and there doesn't seem to be any hope in sight.
Well, we invited a few Loopers for Happy Hour, and had an instant party. Check out the pics. Tomorrow, Sylvan Beach.
 

Little Italy in Rome NY

Inside Ft Stanwyx

Closed factory, empty parking lot.

Impromptu party on GLORY DAYS.

This is the wall we had to tie up to.  It was free and so was the electric.

A CALL TO ARMS

Day 14 Fri. June 17, 2011 
AM showers, cloudy, PM sun L61/H85
Dep. Little Falls09:20  Arr. Illion 11:00
Dist. 9.1sm / 429.1sm

Another easy lazy day, thank you.  Illion is the home of Remington Arms, the oldest gun manfacturer in the country, and we wanted to see their museum.  Of all the villages we have stopped along the Mohawk R. Illion seems the most prosperous, no doubt due to Remington.  Their factory is huge, and unlike most factories we've seen, their employee parking lot was full.  Good sign.  Interestingly, the dockmaster at Little Falls told me her house was accessed for $80K and her taxes, state, city, school, & county come to $3600 per year.  "That's why everybody is leaving NY."
We spent the night at the Illion Marina & RV Park.  Friendly dockmaster, a few RVs water, elec., showers, wifi, etc.  all for $1 per foot.
Nav wise the only issue we ran into was a green bouy very close to the north shore. Fortunately the lockmaster warned us of this as it appeared to be way off station since the daymark was very close to the south shore. It was shoaled in on the s. shore. 

Ever present work boats 

The Town seemed prosperous.

Remington Arms

One of many displays

LOCKED OUT!

Day 13  June 16, 2011  Sunny  L 65 H 85
Dep Lock 17 11:10  Arr. Little Falls 12:15
Dist 10m/420

Some days you just can't win. We got up early, had a nice breakfast and prepared to negotiate the fearsome LOCK 17! Fearsome because there are no cables or pipes to slide your line around, just ropes hanging down 40.5'. This is the biggest rise in the yhe canal, and...............it was broken. We debated going thru the night before after the Herkimer House, but decided to wait until morning as we were tired. Now we had to really wait. Since we weren't in any hurry we made the best of it and hiked up to the top to watch the repairs and chat with the crew. I offered my ex spurt opinions on how to fix it, but they seemed to think they knew better. Typical engineers! It was fixed by 11AM, we entered, made it thru with no problems and spent the afternoon in Little Falls doing laundry. The dock at LF was very nice and the dockmaster, Chris, was very friendly and helpful. And, only $40 including elec. and water, and the use of their nice building.


This is a deep one. Note this one has an overhead lift door as opposed to the swing open doors.



Hold that line!








GENERAL HERKIMER

DAY 12  June 15 2011  Clear, sunny, warm.  L 65  H 80
Dep Canajoharie:11:05  Arr. Lock 17 2:30  Dist. 25.6m

WARNING! Nothing exciting happened today. We had a nice leisurely cruise today. We went past the Gen. Herkimer House to the south wall just east of lock 17, tied up the boat and took the dinghy back 1.5m to see the Herkimer House. The place was closed, but some fellow Loopers managed to have them open it and we had a great tour.

 

CHANGE OF PLANS, GUEST, NIGHTMARE IN LOCK 13!

Day 11, Tue. June 14, 2011
Cloudy, AM showers, L 60 H 70
Dep. Lock 8 Schenectedy, NY  09:00  Arr. W. of  Lock 14, Canajohrie, NY  3:30
Dist. 47.1m/384m.

I guess I was having so much fun I forgot to mention we have had a change of plans. The original plan was to take the Champlain Canal to Lake C, north thru Montreal, Ottowa, Rideaux Canal then Lake Ontario and on the to Trent Severn.  For several reasons, the most important one being , Lake Champ. is still flooded, we have decided to take the Erie C. to the Oswego C into Lake O.  This route is considerably shorter but will allow a visit to my mother, sister, niece  & nephew.  Another factor is there are 3 top quality boatyards in Brewerton, NY and Glory Days is in need of a repair.  Last Wed. when the temp. on the bridge reached 106* we decided to run from the down helm where it was only 92*.  Due to being hot, tired, and the lower visability at the down helm, we struck some unseen floating debris seriously enough to shut down the engine.  After restarting I checked for leaks and vibrations, and much to my surprise there were none.  The next day I noticed water in the bilge and discovered a tiny trickle of water coming from the rudder shaft housing where it comes thru the hull.  While I don't get more than a gal. of water a day, I wnat to have it checked out, and the best places to do that are in Brewerton, NY which is where we are headed.  I'll keep you posted.

On the brighter side, cousin Jean found time from her busy schedule to ride with us from Lock 8 in Schen. to Lock 12 in Scohari where she departed around 12:30.  She was very helpful in holding lines and locking thru.  She's a natural boater, a quick learner, and enjoyed the trip as much as we enjoyed having her aboard. 
I made an observation in an earlier blog, that the shoreline appeares largely undeveloped because, as you can see from the pictures it is lined with trees.  Any homes or buildings that are visible are usually much further back.  The reality is, the shore is highly developed.  We are sitting on the southern shore just east of Lock 14 with Conrail on the north shore, and the NY Thruway on the south shore.  Trains rumble by every 15 mins. and cars and semis wizz by less than 150 yds. away. We occasionally see a barge, but the only kind of transportation missing is aircraft.  So much for pristine!
Lest you think boating is all fun, there is occasionally a lesson to be learned, and such was the case in lock 13.  The first thing that was different about lock 13 was the current going in.  It seems there was construction on the dam which is on the north side of the entrance.  There are usually around 10 to 15 spillways that allow the water to flow over a very wide area.  All but the 2 closest to the entrance were shut down, so the current adjacent to the ent. was white foam and swirling.  We made it in with no problem, and Pat put a line around the pipe to hold us there.  I stopped the boat to help her tie off the line, and the lockmaster starting closing the gate behind us before we were secure.  This caused the stern to swing out with such force that Pat could not hold onto the line or tie it off.  She did manage to get to the bow and pick up a line from the wall and tie it to the bow.  Unfortunately, the current was so strong it swung the boat crosswise in the lock and we were stuck with our anchor wedged into the north wall, and our dinghy up against the south wall.  We managed to get a line to one of the lockmasters from the stern, and he pulled us over alongside the wall.  There was no damage to the dinghy and there is a very slight bend in the anchor, but other than bruised egos and loss of confidence everything else is good.  We have studied the error and will make some changes to our proceedure to ensure this dosen't happen again. 
We pulled into a free dock in Canojaharie and went for a walk into town to relieve the stress, and  another thing we learned, when you read the guides, you have to read between the lines.  For example, "The Village of Canajoharie has, "architecturally, the most original, intact Erie Canal commercial district found on the Mohawk R.", really means, it hasn't been fixed or repared in at least 150 yrs.  

Entering Lock #9 westbound

Jean, a big help and a fast learner.

Pat, happiness is having a secure line!

A work boat and pleasure boat exiting.

A not so natural water front.  Trains to the north, Thruway to the south.  Noise everywhere.

GLORY DAYS tied to the float in Canajoharie's Riverside Park.

EIGHT LOCKS.............NO BAGELS!

DAY 10
Mon. June 13, 2011  Cloudy, cool, light breeze  L 50*  H 67*
Dep. Waterford; 08:00   Arr. Schenectedy, NY Lock *  1:20

After a restless night replaying all the horror stories we've ever heard about locks, we dragged ourselves to the helm and faced our fears. The first five locks on the Erie, called the flight of 5, raise you 169' within 1.5mi. Talk about baptism by fire! As usual, once you face the issue, it turns out to be not as bad as you thought. As we slowly pulled into lock #2, which is the first lock on the Erie C. the walls towered above us dripping with slime. There are many vertical channels formed into the concrete walls that house a taught vinyl coated steel cable about 1" thick. The trick is to get a line behind the cable and tie it to the midship cleat so it holds the boat close to the wall. As the water level rises, the line slides up the cable with the boat and that's it. The gate opens and out you go to new heights (in this case. It could also be new depths when "locking down.") In any case, we were "ex spurts" up until lock 8. Not only does lock 8 have no cables, but the lock tender tells us one of the doors is broken and doesn't open This is going to make for a very turbulent ride, but he will do it slowly to minimize the turbulence, thereby prolonging the agony!  After surving that, we had to squeeze a 14'2" wide boat thru a 14'3" opening. Since we were meeting Pat's cousins and Aunt at lock 8, we tied up the boat to the wall and I changed my underwear. We survived a lock "HORROR STORY".  Cruising between the locks, about 23 miles, went thru areas with steep granite walls, areas with a lot of summer cottages, and finally an area of natural beauty with trees and islands on both sides.  In fact, Pat's comment was I didn't know the Mohawk R. was this pretty. It looked just like it must have to the original inhabitants, and, if not for the charts and bouys, we felt like Lewis & Clarke on an expedition.

NOW WHAT????

No

This one speaks for itself.

Hold on for dear life!



APPROACHING A LOCK

Cousins Jean & Paul, and Aunt Irene with lunch from SubWay

GLORY DAYS moored for the night at Lock 8.

ALBANY YACHT CLUB TO WATERFORD, NY

Day 8,
Sat June 11, 2011. L 65*  H 68*  Rain.
Dep.  Albany YC 10:37  Arr. Waterford Visitor Center 12:50  10.6m

We woke to heavy rain and thought we would have to spend the day in Albany.  Joe Henkel, Pat's cousin (and Godson) arrived for coffee at 7 AM and we had a great reunion.  We haven't seen each other in years, and it was just a delight catching up on families, careers, triumphs and, unfortunately tragedies.
The rain subsided around 10 AM and we decided to head for Waterford, a village next to the Erie Canal. Much to their credit, Waterford has set up a really nice Welcome Center for boaters where there is room for about 20 boats to tie up, FREE for 48 hrs. incl. electricity and water. It is staffed by experienced (read Senior) volunteers who really make you feel welcome. They have free wifi, computers, coffee, book exchange, showers and pumpouts. Boaters love it there as did we, and plan to stay for the full 48, as do we. The Village is just a short walk and compared to where we stayed in Rennselear, appears to be doing quite well. As you can see from the pics, the place was full, and everybody went into town to restock supplies. It is a great meeting place and we have met a variety of people. Behind us, a young (compared to us) man, Heinrich, from Hamburgh, Germany who sailed his 30' sailboat from Falmouth Eng. to the Bahamas then north to here. A wonderful couple who bought a sailboat in Wareham, MA and are taking it home to Duluth, MN! A couple from Hungary & England, another lovely retired couple from Astor, Eng. (Jeanne & Brian Orr, Spirit of Whitby) and of course people from all over the US. All with one thing in common, they all love the cruising life. In fact, we have met several people whose boat is their only home, and they cruise year round. They are also friendly and most helpful. Well, we got the groceries in today, and it's raining again. The one thing I love almost as much as a beautiful sunny day on the boat, is a rainy day on the boat.

WHICH WAY TO OSWEGO????

PAT IS SMILING BECAUSE WE MADE IT TO THE DOCK WITHOUT CRASHING
(Note how tight it is)

GLORY DAYS IN HER GLORY DAYS
AMONG OTHER LOOPERS
WATERFORD, NY

Sailboat waiting for the lock to open

THE BEGINNING OF THE ERIE CANAL

LINED UP AT "THE WALL"

GLORY DAYS & SPIRIT OF WHITBY (JEANNE & BRIAN ORR)
(Whitby is the birthplace of Capt. Cook as well as the boat's Admiral)

A DAY OFF AND A CRUISE TO ALBANY

DAY 6 Thurs. JUNE 9, 2011     L 70*  H 90's HHH Eve. Tstorms
Layover in Kingston, NY
DAY 7 Fri. JUNE10, 2011    L 65*  H 80   Sunny, clear, dry.
Dep. Kingston 06:55   Arr. Albany YC   3:10  50.66 m.

Thurs we layed over in Kingston.  It was so hot we turned on the a/c and stayed in the boat. When we discovered we had no clean underwear Pat braved the heat and took the laundry to the laundramat.  That night a cold front came thru with t'storms and brought relief from the heat.  Tomorrow, we leave.
Fri. we departed for Troy, but around 3PM with another hr. or 2 to go, we tied up at the Albany YC in Rensselaer, NY. The trip north was pretty as the river changes from very wide to more narrow with islands along the way and finally, near Albany to very commercial. There were also many interesting lighthouses along the way one of which is pictured above. They are all similar in style, but different in design. Upon arrival Pat called her cousin Joe Henkel whom we haven't seen for several years and made arrangements to meet him on Sat.



So this is where they get all that stone from.



Lighthouse at ent. to Kingston, NY



WOW! A real PT boat! Funny, we didn't see this on the way into Kingston.



Commerce near Albany