Across Lake Ontario

Oswego Lighthouse

We departed Oswego Marina at 8:20 AM for our 70 mile run to Picton, Ontario.  We carried a full load of fuel as the price of diesel in Canada is $2 per gallon higher.  The weather Gods cooperated, light wind and calm seas entire 4 hour trip.

Lake Ontario

Like a Mill Pond.

Bryce is experimenting with new sleeping spots while underway

Picton Harbour

We arrived in Picton a very picturesque harbor (Harbour!)

Tip Marina, Picton

Island Hopper can be seen in back ground at the dock.

Brewerton to Oswego, NY

 Oswego Canal Lock

 Island Hopper departed the dock from Winter Harbor Marina (mile 150.2) on the Erie Canal at 9:20 AM.  The skies were sunny wind N-5 and the temperature predicted to be in the mid 70s.  A great day to travel on the water.  We will lock through 1 lock on the Erie Canal and 7 locks heading north on the Oswego Canal.  A total distance of only 32 miles. We arrived at the Oswego marina at 4:00PM.

Arriving Oswego

Historical Note-As the Erie canal began to prosper, the people living along the Oswego River became concerned, that they might be left out of this new economical means of transportation.  Just as the Erie Canal was completed in 1825, the State of NY authorized money to build the Oswego Canal from Syracuse to Oswego NY on Lake Ontario.  

After docking we walked Bryce and enjoyed a Farmer's market on Main Street followd by a great meal at Bistro 197 about a 10 minute walk.

2013 Finishing the Great Loop

We arrived in Brewerton, NY, a suburb of Syracuse, on Tuesday June 11.  We rented a one way mini van loaded to the top with enough stuff  for a few months on Island Hopper.  About 600 miles and 10 hour drive.
We stayed in a Comfort Lodge the first night and then moved onto Island Hopper which was "splashed" on Monday.

I had a checklist of items to be accomplished before we left for Lake Ontario and then Canada.  After sitting in storage for over 9 months they were many items needing attention.

 Winter Harbor is a working marina with two very large buildings for heated storage of large pleasure vessels.

We completed the checkout and repair of various systems by Sunday but the weather has not cooperated.  There was  torrential rain before we arrived and one day we have been here which has resulted in the closure of the Erie and Oswego Canal.  So here it is Monday June 17 and no formal word when it may reopen but it is rumored to be Wednesday. So we have been completing a myriad of chores.  We kept the rental car for an extra few days but are now using the courtesy car from the marina.

I brought 8 batteries from Cincy, each weighs 65 pounds and each had to be lugged to the boat, into the engine room, installed and the old ones lifted out.  Here they sit on the dock.  Six golf cart batteries for the ship's systems and two blue tops for the bowthruster.  I lived on Aleve for a few days.  Not getting any younger, Debbie reminded me.

We will head to Oswego, NY when we are able to leave and then cross Lake Ontario to Picton, Ontario which is a small town west of Kingston.
More on our route back to FL in future postings.

Captain's Log

The Island Hopper Crew, Kevin, Debbie and Bryce, the Welsh Terrier flying the St Pete YC Burgee.

I want to summarize our travels this summer on Island Hopper,  a journey of 2750 miles and 95 days aboard.  I departed May 6 with my good friend and college buddy, Ed Daniel from our homeport of Longboat Key Moorings.  We headed to Ft Myers and the Caloosahatchee River.  Across FL we went through Lake Okeechobee (these Indian names are difficult to spell!), to Stuart, FL on the east coast.  Total mileage 225 miles.  (all miles will be statute miles not nautical miles)

Up the east coast to Charleston, SC we traveled after hanging out in Beaufort, SC for a few extra days as we were ahead of schedule and Tropical Storm Alberto was lurking just offshore, where our wives joined us.  We arrived in Charleston on day 16, May 21, total miles 750.   After 3 nights in Charleston, we threw off the lines and headed to Norfolk where our guests would depart.

We arrived Norfolk on June 1, day 27. Total miles 1225.  We spent an extra night in Belhaven, NC to ride out Tropical Storm Beryl.  It rained all day and blew so we caught up on inside chores.  

After two nights in Norfolk (Portsmouth) Debbie and I headed up the Chesapeake Bay, one of our favorite cruising grounds. We harbored IH on the Chesapeake the summers of 2008 and 2009.  After visiting our favorite harbors we arrived in Baltimore, Anchorage Marina on June 10, day 36.  Total miles 1472.  I had rented a condo dock from an acquaintance for a month so we could return home for a few weeks.  We stayed in Baltimore for 5 days to sight-see and perform engine maintence, returning to Cincy by air on June 14, Day 41.

We flew back to Baltimore with our new dog Bryce, a 6 month old Welsh Terrier, on July 3. We changed our tickets from July 1 as it was over 100 degrees at home and in Baltimore. The entire east coast was in the grips of a terrible heat wave.  We enjoyed the 4th of July in Baltimore including great fireworks which we could see from our dock.  

We departed Baltimore on July 5 heading up the Chesapeake Bay.  After passing through the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal we entered the dreaded Delaware Bay and headed south to Cape May NJ. Luckily the wind and tide cooperated.  We took a cab around town it was so hot, the cab thermometer showed 103 degrees, ugh.

The temperature finally moderated as we headed out in the Atlantic to work our way up the NJ coast.  We arrived in NY harbor, a very exciting experience seeing the Statute of Liberty, (My Dad was an immigrant) on July 10, day 49 and 1772 miles.  We harbored at Liberty Landing in Jersey City, across the harbor from the financial district in Manhattan, what a view.

After a great visit we headed up the Hudson River to Troy (Albany) a distance of 165 miles.  It is tidal until we passed through the "federal lock" at Troy.  Here we entered the Erie Canal, which leads to Buffalo, 340 miles to the west.  We  only traveled 160 miles on the Erie Canal hanging a right to head north to Oswego, NY on Lake Ontario.  We traversed 22 locks on the Erie Canal which lifted us up 450 feet from sea level, and then down 66 feet to the level of the Oswego Canal.   We passed  7 more on the Oswego Canal, which lowered us 118 feet to the level of Lake Ontario.  

Our good friends Ian and Joan joined us from Ayr, Scotland in Brewerton on the Erie Canal.  They helped us navigate the 8 locks to Oswego, NY.  After departing Oswego we steered IH to the St Lawrence River and the ports in the US of Clayton and Alexandria Bay, and then we crossed the river to clear customs into Canada at Gananoque, ON.  We cruised this beautiful area known as the Thousand Islands.

Our final destination was Montreal where Ian and Joan departed for a visit to Quebec City before heading back to Toronto for a plane home.  We had to pass through 6 big ship locks on the St Lawrence to navigate the 200 miles to Montreal.   

We covered 312 miles and 14 locks with Ian and Joan.

After a few days of enjoying Montreal our friends from FL, Kurt and Pam arrived.  We stayed a few more days in Montreal, a total of 7 before leaving for Ottawa.   We had to again pass through two St Lawrence locks but we were not delayed luckily.  We entered the Ottawa River at St Anne de'Bellevue, QC.   After two more locks and 99 miles we arrived at Ottawa where we entered another canal system know as the Rideau Canal.  The Rideau is a 126 mile canal with 46 locks, all manually operated by parks personnel.  It was constructed in the 1830's.  The first 32 locks raise IH 274  feet and the remaining 14 locks lower us 165 feet to the level of Lake Ontario where we exit the canal at Kingston, ON.  

Our friends departed IH in Kingston after traveling with us 270 miles and 50 locks.  We spent a few more days in Kingston to take in the sites and then we headed back to Oswego, NY backtracking on the Oswego Canal to Brewerton, NY and IH's winter home of Winter Harbor Marina.

Summary:

Total miles from FL 2751
Total Days aboard       95
Total Locks                 99 

Brewerton-Winter Harbor Marina

Winter Harbor Marina

 We had a checklist of items to accomplish before leaving Island Hopper for the winter.  Routine maintenance such as oil changes for the two diesels (5 gallons of oil and two oil filters each), generator ( 1 1/2 gallons of oil and one filter) and fuel filters (two filters for each engine), clean the holding tank, add Clorox to the water tanks, etc. Also a complete wash of the exterior was completed.

  Luckily no winterizing of the systems  is necessary because the building is heated.  Usually I rinse the engines and air conditioners with fresh water, but we are in fresh water so didn't have to do that either.

Debbie cleaned the entire interior and the bridge, including the carpet and cushions.  After 4 months of full time use IH was in need of some TLC.

 

We were able to complete our jobs by Sunday so we rented a car for pickup at the nearby Syracuse airport for  one way to CVG.  We rented a standard SUV which was packed to the roof with our stuff including Bryce, the Welsh Terrier.

On Monday I moved IH into the "pit" for liftout by the travelift.  After that IH was blocked so she could have her bottom pressure washed.  No barnacles either in fresh water, a few zebra mussels and some slime but everything else looked great.   She will be moved into the building utilizing a hydraulic trailer, in a few days.

Oswego to Brewerton, NY

 We leave Oswego for the 31 mile 8 lock day to our winter home, Brewerton, NY, a suburb of Syracuse.  We plan to be there 4 nights to prepare Island Hopper for her winter stay.  More on that tomorrow.  We turn to port out of the marina and enter the Oswego River (canal).  A lock is 1/2 mile away.  WE buy a lock pass for two days (the minimum) for $20.  The paperwork is handled while we are tied up in the lock.  The Oswego Canal is 28 miles long, it dead ends into the Erie Canal.  Hang a right and the Erie Canal takes you to Buffalo, NY or  hang a left and your final destination is Troy, NY at the Hudson.  We can not pass further west as the bridge height is 15 feet, IH needs 19 feet.

 Every lock has an associated dam. Some are visible as this one is and others are not.  Many have a hydro electric generating station, especially in Canada.

Link to Oswego Canal Map


 Link to Lock 7 Overview

Another visible dam and associated waterfall.  

For 30 years I have kept a knife handy when locking through in case a line hangs up when the boat is rising or falling.  I used it today.  I eased the line as the boat rose in the lock but the line was jammed in the cable on the lock wall. IH began to list so before damage was done I touched the taught line (it was like a bango string) with a knife and WHAM it thankfully parted.

We spotted an ice cream shop along the canal at a small town.  Also a city dock was available and Bryce needed a stretch so out came the docking lines and we tied up for an hour to walk around and check out the town.

The only lock we passed today on the Erie Canal was number 23.  Nice lock wall for an overnight.

When the deck boss is busy on her duties Bryce is secured on the bridge complete with fan.

Erie Canal

Kingston to Oswego, NY

We watched the weather forecast, Wed called for south winds 5-10 knots, seas less than 2 feet. We had an open crossing of 55 miles the entire width of Lake Ontario on the eastern end.  Our destination, Oswego, NY the mouth of the Oswego river (canal) that we must take back to Brewerton, NY.  We set off at 8:00 AM to take advantage of light winds in the morning.  By 11:30 we were passing the lighthouse at Oswego.  The weather forecast however was not quite accurate.  About 10:00 the winds picked up and whitecaps were common, 15 knots gusting to 20, luckily the seas did not build by the time we arrived in Oswego.  In the afternoon it was dead calm, go figure.

 After arrival we proceeded to the video phone at the marina  that is a link to Border Protection. We had passports and the ship's papers in hand.  We stood in front of the camera and then the officer asked us to put our passports under another camera and voile' we were back in the USA!  I replaced teh SIM card in the IPAD and we were back on Verizon, yippee!

We had stopped at Oswego on the way north over a month ago.  This time we had more time to bicycle around, nice town.  I visited Fort Ontario and the Maritime Museum, both enjoyable.  I also found a nice restaurant for dinner, Bistro 197, it was excellent.       Link to Bistro 197

Oswego Link

 Another fort visit, we had seen many on this trip.  This area is heavily fortified as the Brits didn't trust the Americans and vice versa, for good reason.  Of course the French were stirring the pot as well always looking for an excuse to oppose the British.

Fort Ontario Link

Bike trail and City hall in background

Fort Ontario from our helicopter