Thousand Islands, Ontario

June 11, 2011 Liverpool, NY (Onandaga Lake State Marina)

After shopping at a small grocery store about four blocks from the marina, we departed this nice marina at 1140, entered the Erie Canal and headed west for Seneca Falls. This part of the Erie Canal is very rural, with both very modest "campsites" with manufactured homes as well as newer modern homes along the way. We turned into the Cayuga Seneca Canal at 1735 and went through the "mud" lock, and then thru two stair-step locks and into the pool just before Seneca Falls. There were four other boats along the free wall with electricity and water at Seneca Falls, but there was still room for us at the eastern end. We ate dinner aboard that evening, and stayed the next day in order to explore the town and see the Women's Rights Museum.

Trip: 288H 45M - 1903.2SM

June 13, 2011 (Seneca Falls, NY)

We departed at 0900 to head toward Lake Ontario and the main objective of this summer's cruise! We tied up for the night on the west wall (upriver side) of Lock #24 at Baldwinsville. There was an ACE Hardware, Duncan Donuts, and Rite Aid within walking distance so we were able to get a few non-grocery supplies.

We departed the next morning (June 14) at 0930 heading east and entered the Oswego Canal (leading to Lake Ontario) at 1125. We stopped about 1145 for half an hour to take advantage of the free holding tank pumpout at Phoenix, and then continued on to the wall between locks #7 and #8 in the town of Oswego, just before entering Lake Ontario. We ate dinner at a very good Thai restaurant that evening and did some shopping. The next morning we checked the lake and it was rougher than we wanted for our crossing to the St. Lawrence Rive, so stayed another day. Andrew, Avery and Bob toured the fort, and that evening Andrew and Avery took in a movie, while Judy and I found a Cold Stone Creamery!

Trip: 295H 40M - 1937.9SM

June 16, 2011 (Oswego, NY)

After exiting lock #8 we stopped for fuel just before entering Lake Ontario. We were underway by 0825 and crossed the relatively calm Lake Ontario heading north-northeast and into a bay that lead to Sackets Harbor, New York. I was surprised at the lack of commercial vessels - I had expected to see a line of them entering the St. Lawrence Seaway, but there were none in sight and none showed up on my phone's AIS app. We anchored just outside the channel leading into the town, then Avery, Judy and I took the dinghy to the town dock to explore some of the museums and the battlefield (War of 1812). Most of the museums turned out to be closed that day, but we did walk the battlefield, find an ice cream shop, and make dinner reservations at a very nice restaurant "Tin Pan Galley." We then returned to Sanderling where Avery and Andrew went swimming off the boat and we got ready for dinner. The four of us then returned to the dock and went to the restaurant for dinner - dining al fresco with nicely prepared and presented meals.

Trip: 301H 35M - 1980.7SM

June 17-21, 2011 (Sackets Harbor, NY)

We departed at 0850, headed around the headland and into the St. Lawrence Seaway. Again, I was surprised by the lack of ship traffic, but after arriving at Clayton, New York, which sits right off the seaway, we did see (and feel) several commercial freighters pass heading both up and down river. We stayed at the town dock at Cayton for a day in order to explore the town and the Antique Boat Museum - a spectacular collection of early run-abouts, sail boats, and "speed" boats built for racing.

This photo doesn't begin to show all the boats in the multi-building museum.

The next day we headed across the river to Heart Island and Boldt's Castle (Boldt's Castle) where we tied up at the free dock while we explored the castle and grounds. The island was purchased in the early 1900s by a wealthy hotel magnate and the castle was a gift to his wife; unfortunately, his wife died at a relatively early age before the castle was completed; all work stopped at that point and the castle was abandoned and fell into ruin until it was given to a trust which has maintained it since and is undertaking a mamouth restoration project. We took our time walking through the castle and grounds, and after lunch on Sanderling took the pontoon shuttle boat to the boat house (which housed a few of the approximately 60 boats owned by Mr. Boldt, some of the exhibits were on loan from the Antique Boat Museum). The castle did not permit boats to be tied up to the docks overnight, so early in the evening we moved a few hundred yards off the dock, near the boat house, and anchored for the night.

We were underway at 1010 the next morning (Monday, June 20th) and at 1040 crossed the boarder running through the St. Lawrence River into Canada and hoisted the quarantine flag (indicates we had not yet cleared immigration/customs) and then tied to a dock at Rockport, Ontario, and used the free phone to call Canadian Customs and clear in by phone. All that was required was for me to provide information about Sanderling, myself, and the three other passengers; I had our passports with me, but it wasn't necessary to show them to anyone. While we were at the dock we pumped out the holding tanks (not free this time), bought ice, and then were on our way eastward through the small boat channel along the north side of Grenadier Island to Mallorytown Park, operated by the Canadian Park service, where we bought a season pass for the Canadian Parks which permits us to stay without additional charge at any of the Canadian Parks (along the St. Lawrence River as well as all the Canadian Canals). We stayed at Mallorytown Park for one night, and on the 21st cruised 9.7SM around the eastern end of Grenadier Island and west down the main shipping channel to Grenadier Island Central Park.

We met a Canadian couple who had tied up their 32 foot Carver on the "T" head of the series of slips; when it became obvious that Sanderling wouldn't fit any of the remaining slips (we could only get about 1/2 the boat length into the slip), they offered to move their boat into one of the slips so we could take the "T" head where there was plenty of room for Sanderling. As it turned out, they had met another couple we know (who are cruising in a DeFever 40) a few nights earlier and had dinner with them in Ganonoque, Ontario, just a few miles to the west and a town we anticipate visiting in a few days. Small world! Another boat came in last night with a young couple from Montreal who promptly placed a gasoline powered generator on the dock near the land-side and ran a long extension cord from it to their boat; the young man provided us with a sample of some local port produced in a Vinyard near Montreal and showed me some areas of the Rideau Canal to visit on that part of our cruise.

We are staying here for an extra day since it's a beautiful spot, in a small bay protected from the river current, with rest room and picnic facilities in the park. Avery has been rowing the dinghy around the area, Andrew and Avery have been swimming (in the cold water), and this morning Andrew showed Avery how to operate the outboard (Avery already knew how to row the dinghy from his Boy Scout training).

Trip: 312H 10M - 2057.8SM

Photos to follow once we have a WiFi connection.

Lake Onondaga

We arrived at Lake Onondaga a little after noon today and tied up at the Onandaga Lake State Marina about 2 miles south on the east side north of Syracuse which sits at the south end of the lake.

It's a beautiful setting in a well maintained park which runs the length of the lake with bike and walking trails and boat rentals at this well-maintained and friendly little marina.

After spending the night of the 5th at Lock 11, we then travelled about 48 miles to a free dock at Herkimer where we found some excellent locally made corn salsa at a nearby market.

On the 7th we made a short run of 14 miles to a restaurant dock at Utica, where we did a couple of loads of laundry onboard and equalized the batteries, then ate a very nice meal at the restaurant. We were going to walk to an ice cream shop after dinner, but there were some rather unsavory young adults hanging out on the dock near Sanderling and we thought it best not to leave the boat when their intentions were unknown.

On the 8th we found homemade ice cream when we stopped briefly in Sylvan Beach at the free wall, and then continued another 22 miles across Lake Oneida to Brewerton where we tied up at a very nice free dock provided by the New York Canal Corporation. We only had another 18 miles to get to Lake Onondaga, so we stayed at Brewerton for a second night. During the day Judy cleaned the boat to her specs and I changed the engine oil and filters, and before departing this morning I changed both fuel filters on the generator (last night when running the generator the engine had difficulty operating and the symptoms suggested clogged filters).

Andrew and Avery are coming in by train to Syracuse from Salt Lake City and should be here any minute. They will be with us for about three weeks before we're joined by Rebecca and Alyssa for a few days. In the meantime, we're going go be cruising to Seneca Falls and then into Lake Ontario and the 1000 Islands.

Photos: Canal tug with dredging gear, Sanderling at Brewerton, Judy locking, Canada geese family

Into the Erie Canal

We departed Kingston, New York and the maritime museum on Saturday at 0710 and had our first really nice day on the water since coming up the New Jersey coast. There was little wind and the sun was shining, although the tidal and river current were against us most of the way to Waterford, past Albany and to the Federal Lock at Troy. As we left the Federal Lock we noticed for the first time a bridge that was close to our clearance height (21.3 feet), and when Judy checked the tide board through binoculars we realized that we needed to lower the mast to insure we would clear the bridge (with mast down we only need 15.3 feet for clearance). So Judy drove slowly while Bob assembled the tools and various lines necessary to lower the mast. Once that was done (it only took about five minutes this time) we proceeded under the bridge and took a left off the Hudson River and onto the free wall (the floating docks were full) at Waterford where we spent the night.

Today we departed Waterford at 0830, entered the first lock on the Erie Canal five minutes later, and completed the "stairstep" series of five locks about two and a half hours later. We completed five more locks before ending the day at lock #11 At Amsterdam, New York. We were travelling by ourselves all day, although there was a group of six boats that had departed ahead of us this morning.  

We are tied up tonight along the wall of lock #11 on the up-river side along with three other boats that were here when we arrived about 1755. We ate dinner in an Italian restaurant nearby.

We'll depart tomorrow morning at a reasonable time and continue heading west. We hope to make about 45-50 statute miles a day in order to meet Andrew and Avery in Syracuse on the 10th.

Pictures: Waterford dock (2), lock 2 (the first lock), a flood gate raised for us to pass underneath. 

Kingston New York

We had a slight scare during the night at anchor in Haverstraw Bay. About 0100 Judy woke me up saying that the anchor alarm was sounding- never a good thing! We usually set an alarm for 150 feet on our handhold GPS when we anchor so we can keep track of our position as the wind and tide changes during the night; it seldom sounds an alarm. We both got up to see what was happening and checked the GPS where the track showed that we were in a different location than we had been earlier and that the boat had moved in a relatively straight line to our current position. I went topside to look at our primary GPS and it confirmed that we had indeed moved about 200 feet from out earlier position.

After some analysis and checking wind direction (it had changed from south to west to north),  looking at two other boats in the same area, and confirming via GPS that we weren't moving backwards, we concluded that the sudden wind shift to the north and the fact that it was blowing about 15 mph had caused Sanderling to move to the south rather rapidly and that with about 100 feet of chain out the move had triggered the alarm.

On Thursday morning in day light we were able to confirm that the anchor had not dragged; we had simply swung around the anchor on the full length of the chain.

We departed the area about 0730 and soon encountered wind gushing to 25 - 30 mph from the northwest. It didn't create any problems for us, but it was a little rough during the gusts and noisy! It also slowed us down by about a knot, so by 1439 when we reached Kingston and the Rondout River we decided to call it a day (after 55 nautical miles). 

We're currently at a dock at the Hudson River Maritime Museum and have decided to spend an extra night here to wait for the wind on the river to subside a bit before heading further north to Troy. Wind gusts at Troy yesterday reached 45 mph! Tomorrow is forecast to be much calmer. In the meantime we'll do some grocery shopping and tour the local area by foot. We have access to the museum and the Half Moon (a replica of Henry Hudson's boat) is docked just ahead of us and is open for tours.

Trip: 1378 NM; 233H15M underway

Pics: West Point, Half Moon 

On to the Hudson River

We departed Toms River at 0550 Tuesday morning, transited the Point Pleasant Canal with the current running about three knots against us, and exited the Manasquan Inlet at near slack current to a fairly calm ocean. The trip up the coast was pleasant and we entered Great Kills in Staten Island and picked up a mooring arranged through another Defever owner at 1410.

Monday evening we took the yacht club launch ashore to meet a friend for dinner, then he took us shopping to replenish a few groceries. We hadn't seen him since 2008 (although he and Bob are in daily contact as managers of the Trawlers-and-Trawlering list). We had a great time catching up.

Upon returning to Sanderling we learned that the Erie Canal was open, so we decided go depart this morning and continue north.

We were underway at 0735 and passed the Statue of Liberty at 0935! She still looks impressive, even in the fog and haze (pic below).

The tidal current was with us most of the way to Haverstraw Bay where we anchored for the night at 1430 (another early day).

New York harbor was busy as usual and with limited visibility the first hour or so required constant attention with the radar operating as well. The water in the harbor is always very rough as a result of the wakes from so many ships, boats and ferries. The second pic is of a very unusual boat anchored in the harbor. Guess her purpose!

Toms River New Jersey

On Saturday we anchored in a little cove off the Ocean Gate Yacht Club about two miles up the Toms River. Sunday we hailed a kayaked who was paddling past Sanderling and after discussing the area he invited us to attend the Commodore's BBQ at the club that evening as his guests. We dinghied ashore and tied up to the bulkhead at the club, then went inside to locate our host. He and his wife were sitting at a large table with their friends and soon made room for two extra people. We bad a great evening of conversation, mostly about boating, sailing and the local area (all of them had lived here many years). They all encouraged us to dinghy up the river to see the beautiful homes, yacht clubs, and marinas. So this morning, after waiting for some quick showers to pass and the sun to appear, we did just that!

We got into the dinghy about 1000 and headed hp the river about three miles to the town of Toms River, past several nice anchorages, many docks and marinas, and waterfront homes. At the headwaters there was a nice park where a ceremony of some sort was obviously about to take place (it was about 1050) and there was a very nice restaurant with docks just across the narrow river with a sign that said "Grand Opening." Judy inquired of a man cleaning an outdoor bar and was told that the restaurant opened at 1130 and that we were welcome to tie up at the docks.

We walked across a bridge and joined a very small group of people celebrating Memorial Day with a submariners memorial service, heard the roll call of submarines lost at sea, and heard a brief patriotic speech by the mayor. By then it was time for the restaurant to open, so we walked back and had lunch. Turned out the restaurant had been closed for 4 months for a major makeover and bad reopened just three weeks ago as Baker's Waterstreet Bar and Grill. An extremely nice place with good food, a nice view over the little harbor, and decent prices. By the time we left about 1245 there were a number of tables being served.

We dinghied back go Sanderling amidst a big wake-induced chop that seemed to run from shore to shore; all the boaters were out in force and going nowhere as fast as they could!

This is a great place to visit and anchor while waiting for good weather on the ocean.

The first photo is of the Memorial Day service; the second photo is of the restaurant and docks.

Tomorrow morning we're departing early to catch high slack tide in the Point Pleasant Canal and Manasquan River leading out to the ocean. Tomorrow night we should be in Great Kills, Staten Island.

Toms River across from Long Point

We were underway at 0935 this morning heading further up the NJICW. We passed an area that reminded me of Nags Head, North Carolina with streets running perpendicular to the ocean all the way back to the bay with houses lining the streets about as close together as will allow a driveway between them.

We then crossed the length of Barnegat Bay which runs about 15 miles parallel with the ocean, and then turned west into Toms River. We saw a lot of small boats fishing on Barnegat Bay and quite a few sailboats taking advantage of the 10-15 knot winds. When we turned into the Toms River we had many encounters with larger boats whose operators were extremely inconsiderate and discourteous in passing other slower and smaller boats. It seemed that by early afternoon every boat owner in New Jersey was out on the water enjoying the sunshine.

We've anchored on the south side of the river in a small cove hoping to get some protection from the south wind; its still rough, mostly because of the wakes created by small boats.

The second picture is what we witnessed as we were waiting for our anchor to set.