Saturday June 11: Trenton, Ontario!!

We left Pirate's Cove yesterday (doesn't seem possible even as I type this!) at 8 am thinking that our destination was 30 miles including 7 locks.

Then on Saturday, cross the 48 miles across Lake Ontario to an anchorage.

Plan B: weather was changing and our window of weather on Saturday was disappearing - chance of thundershowers, winds from the south with waves building to over 3 feet.

So we traveled the 30 miles to Oswego - arriving at 2 pm. Okay - should we just keep on going? Some quick calculations said, "Go".

By 9 pm we were across and nicely anchored in a cove inside the protected area of Prince Edward Island. And still a bit of sunshine!!

I wouldn't describe it as fun - west winds producing waves that hit us almost broadside - not quite broadside, just uncomfortable but certainly doable. Most waves less than 2 feet and the occasional rogue!

But back to Pirate's Cove. We stayed there 4 nights as there were projects that we'd been wanting to get done and we really like the people that run this marina. A great place to relax for a few days! We rented a car to make things easier as well.

Primary project? Install an RV air conditioner in the main cabin. Steve found the Attwood 13,500 btu would run off of our little 2000 kw Honda generator. Since we had removed the giant 7.5 kw Onan generator from the engine area we were able to run the larger air conditioner on the boat only if we had shore power. Which is rare up here on the Trent (we like tying to the lock walls as opposed to going to marinas).

Step 1: mark and cut a hole in the ceiling. We once again were mentally taking advice from Safety Matt: measure twice, cut once :-)  Good thing too since we goofed on the first take! Good thing we have paint to cover the oops purple lines ...

Hole in the lower ceiling cut. Now to the roof.

Two layers: fiberglassed 1/4 inch plywood and the original cored deck of balsa wood.

We were quite pleased with the condition of the core in the flybridge as we redid this 10 years ago when we first bought the boat. It's nice to see a repair really hold up the way it should!!

And we have a place for the air conditioner!!

Meanwhile I was working on painting the wallpaper to help inhibit the growth of mildew when we leave the boat.

It's weird. The mildew will grow on the wallpaper but not if it's painted! Let's hear it for the color matching at Home Depot :-)

Somehow it always takes longer than it should to install something. The second attempt added about an hour to the project! Finally though it was in and works perfectly on the Honda.

So much quieter than the built in air conditioners ...

We waved so long to Jim and Linda on Thursday early afternoon.

They were headed for Oswego to spend the night and then cross Lake Ontario when the weather was good. We were still thinking Saturday.

But then the weather said otherwise. So Steve turned the car in Friday morning and we were off shortly after 8:30.  We came to another turn you definitely do not want to miss!

Looking out of the opening of the cove where we anchored last night.

And so we crossed the lake, woke to rain this morning but no wind.

What a peaceful night after a long 78 mile day.

So glad to be across as now we are again in really small lake and canal areas.

Not nearly as concerned about the weather - except it could be a tad warmer. Getting tired of jeans, fleece and jacket!




Travel to Trenton (50 miles) was so calm it was crazy. What a contrast to yesterday!


And by the time we arrived at the Trenton Marina, the sun and blue skies greeted us!

Turned out to be a really nice day. Lake Ontario was maybe nice enough to cross today - who knows? But with thundershowers predicted - no thanks.

One last tidbit from Steve: if you have a flashlight that requires size D batteries but you don't have any?

No problem! Just use those size C batteries and add a stack of quarters to make up the size difference and viola! Light works :-)

Sometimes he's just too smart ......

Wednesday June 8: Pirate's Cove

So for a quick catch-up of the last week! We have moved from Waterford on the Eastern end of the Erie Canal to Pirate's Cove Marina near Syracuse.

The weather has been very pleasant for the most part but having electric every night has been great as we were running the air conditioner most days in the afternoon.

Locks have been numerous (10 the first day, 7 the second day - with a total of 23 so far!).

I have learned to LOVE the locks that have a fixed pipe or cable because Steve uses a single line around the pipe or cable and from mid-ship he can keep us next to the wall. So it is VERY relaxing for me :-) Get the boat close enough for him to loop the pipe or cable and I'm done!!

I did look over one time to check on him - nowhere in sight. Then I noticed the line running into the cabin! He was just sitting inside holding on. Great idea since it was quite hot in the sun.

If there is no fixed pipe or cable then we each have to man a rope that is attached just at the top of the lock. Makes it very easy for the boat to swing away from the wall - plus the lines are pretty slimy as they are just sitting in the water anytime the lock is filled. Yuck.

Above is a typical dam and lock (left side of picture) on the Eastern end of the canal. This portion follows the Mohawk River so the dams can be quite wide. We were fortunate there wasn't much rain when we were on this part of the canal as the river floods quite easily. Three years ago the canal was closed for several weeks - stranding boaters who were unable to move either direction. A number of dams were severely damaged.

Little Falls was a nice stop as there was a car show the evening we stayed. Fun to walk around and check them out. This picture is for my brother Pat. He has an old truck or I should say he has the pieces of an old truck :-) One of these days it may get put back together!!

The marina there is really a nice one. It's an old refurbished canal terminal with very well landscaped grounds. I suspect it is a gathering place for the locals for various events.

Once past the head of the Mohawk River, the Erie Canal becomes much more of just a straight man-made waterway.

So easy to travel along but not a great deal of wildlife along the way. Two turtles, one osprey and one muskrat was the sum total of what we saw (other than small birds flying around) and half a dozen cranes.

To spice up one of the really long travel days (I think it was the one where we went through 10 locks), Steve brought out the secret surprise lunch: minion mac and cheese!!!


How fun they were! But we both agreed that the regular macaronis are better. The minions required so much extra pasta to make the figures that it as almost too much!

However it still made for a fun lunch :-)  Bonus was a finger puppet that could be made from the box. Steve did most of the cutting and I did the final arm :-)



And we're not the only ones going north - lots of flocks of Canadian geese going that way as well. It's so fun to watch them fly as the V shifts left and right as the lead birds change their flight.

Several days of low or no winds made for some really pretty views down the canal....

The last travel day wasn't so nice. We decided to cross Lake Oneida a day earlier than planned due to the change in weather. It's a lake that is 20 miles long and not very deep - which is the perfect recipe for not very fun waves - up to 6 feet at the end of the lake if the wind is blowing the whole length.

So we scooted across (at our usual high speed of 8 miles an hour :-)  ) and did fine. Rain on and off until we were within 4 miles of the entrance back to the canal. This is when the two weather fronts decided to come together.  The result was probably the worst rain/wind combination we've been in for quite a while. It didn't last but 10 minutes or so and then it was gone!

That was a couple of days ago. We're been here at Pirate's Cove for two days now getting a few things done before we head over to Canada.

After dinner with Jim and Linda from Edisto Island, we were rewarded with a very cool sunset and rainbow. Difficult to see in the picture but a very vibrant colored rainbow in the center of the picture.

Murray's stored their boat nearby here for the winter and will be traveling to Montreal and Quebec this summer. It was, as always, great to see them.

More on the project at a later date!

Tuesday May 31: Waterford on the Erie Canal

After spending two nights in Kingston, we planned to travel the remaining 60 miles to Waterford and the start of the Erie Canal. It was to be another nice travel day but then we remembered we would be arriving at the Erie Canal on Memorial Day!

Not the best plan as Waterford is a busy port for boaters as they head toward either the Trent Canal or Lake Champlain.

Instead we stopped after a relatively short 23 miles at Catskill and spent the night at the Catskill Yacht Club. Very friendly people but then it seems most boaters are :-)

What happened to our cool days? Quite hot today so no biking around for me. Steve, however, walked the mile to Walmart – TWICE. And uphill to boot. Downtown was across the river from us. Cute town though – stopped here five years ago.

Our last day on the Hudson was amazing.

No wind to speak of. Catskill Mountains behind us.

Once past Albany (the present capitol of New York), we anchored for a short time in order to take the mast down. The mast is 21.2 feet. The bridge up ahead is 20 feet as are the majority of bridges on the Erie Canal.

Not a hard thing to do. Steve is bolting the hinged railing back is place as we continue on. Removing the lines and stays and storing the mast and boom will happen once we are tied up for the night. No rush on that.

Finally! The sign and turn you don't want to miss :-) We went left …

No problem finding a spot – there were a couple to choose from – in and tied up. Now traveling on fresh water and no tides. It's wonderful :-)

Once again Steve was off to the grocery store with GREAT success: live lobster for $5.99 a pound! So he picked up a couple of 1 ¼ pounders – perfect size for dinner.

A well done Visitor's Center – complete with an Erie Canal mule!!

So since leaving New York City behind, we traveled another 160 miles north on the Hudson River before turning West.

Many small towns along the way (locks as well :-(  ) so it will be quiet travel.

Tomorrow: after breakfast out, we'll start West on the canal …..

Sunday May 29: The Best Laid Plans

It was the perfect plan. Leave our anchorage at Cornwall-on-Hudson about 2:30 pm, catch the current going up the river and arrive at 5 pm at the dock at the restaurant. Just in time for dinner. Already knew what we were going to order.

And then we turned toward the restaurant – Mariner's on the Hudson. Mmm.... we couldn't see any docks. Looks the place isn't even open! No cars, no people. No longer any restaurant. Bummer. (We found out later it has changed owners and is undergoing a renovation!)

Not much to do but continue on up the Hudson. Beautiful day – neat scenery. Nothing wrong with that! Destination was now Kingston – the original capitol of the state of New York.

We stopped there five years ago so knew there was a great maritime museum there.

Passed some really incredible light houses along the way. Some of these were home to the light keeper and his/her family. Although most of the light keepers were men, occasionally a woman would end up being the keeper upon the death of her husband.

One (don't recall which one) was home to a family and when the father died, the mother took over. When the mother died, the daughter ended up taking over! Talk about keeping things in the family :-)

The boat in front of us at the dock was very familiar – it was a 1991 Albin and looked exactly the same as ours. I thought ours was in at least as nice of shape so that was kind of fun!

The other LARGE boat – covered in shrink wrap – was a wooden sailing vessel that is being restored. We were permitted inside to see the work that was being done. Can't remember the length of it though. Tons of work to replace many underwater planks. It was scheduled to be finished up in the next month but to me it doesn't seem like they could possibly make that deadline.

The covered sailboat (it's actually sitting on a barge) is docked just before the bridge.

On the right is the dockage along the Roundout Creek – right in front of the museum!

Which was again great! I had an opportunity to practice driving a tugboat out of the channel and am glad to report that I did not run it into any rocks :-)

Ice boat racing was a popular hobby for the rich that lived along the Hudson. The collection of racing skiffs and equipment was quite impressive. The skiffs could weight as much as a ton and had to be hand carried onto the ice. Guess it's a sport where you invite lots of friends - or in the case of the wealthy, just pay for lots of help!

And my favorite pastime in a museum: the videos! This one had several – quite well done and really gave a perspective of the area over time. It included some of the pictures of the flooding in the past – Irene and Sandy included.

The couple in our 'twin boat' had their boat on land and blocked up during Hurricane Sandy. The tidal surge was 11 feet. Their boat would have come out of it unscathed except for the damage done by a boat that FLOATED into theirs! Fortunately, their boat did not float off the jack stands as the surge of water was only 4 feet deep where their boat was sitting.

These are pictures for my brother Tom. We found a Mexican restaurant named Mole, Mole. Sauce is in the left picture.

Steve's chicken wrapped in a corn husk with mole in the right picture. He said it was very good. I passed on it :-)

The last steam powered tugboat is right next to the museum – currently being prepared to be exhibited. It's crazy how much a a tugboat is under the water and no wonder then how it can push the huge ships around!

Steve is dwarfed by the size of the rudder alone!

Tomorrow: the Erie Canal!!!