Winter Harbor had the bottom painted over the weekend and
had pulled the boat onto the paved yard first thing Monday morning in
anticipation of putting us in the water that day. With the Erie Canal closed that plan came to
a stop.
Rusty had a plan and that involved a drive to the Finger
Lakes for a visit to a cheese farm and so we went. For $2 we were able to sample about 12
different cheeses and select the ones we liked.
Of course, we liked a bunch.
We also drove to Lock 24 Baldwinsville which was our next
destination. The water was high and the
lockmaster did not think they would be opening soon. This was confirmed when we received a
navigational alert from the NY Canals.
Over the course of the next day we changed our plans. Instead of heading west on the Erie Canal, we
would head north on the Oswego and cross Lake Ontario to the Trent-Severn.
Winter Harbor told us they could not put us in the water as
transient space was needed for their project boats and for boats being released
from nearby locks. As a concession they
allowed us to work on our boat while on the hard. While initially disappointed, it turned out
to be a good thing. We did have to haul
our stuff on the boat via the pulley system but it enabled me to clean and wax
the hull. We were quoted a price of
$1,400 to compound and wax. So we felt
we came out like bandits being able to do it ourselves. We noticed on another boat that the detailing
crew used 1000 grit wet sandpaper before waxing/polishing. Something to remember. The detailing crew did say my job would have
been much easier if the boss would buy me an electric buffer…
Rusty replaced the stuffing box packing (a first for him)
and the engine/generator impellers without any over the shoulder prompting from
me. As it turns out he did just
fine. Is there a lesson there?
Thursday, May 22, the boat was splashed, groceries were
purchased, and all that needed to happen was the canal to open up to
Oswego. The announcement came that it
would be 2 pm on Friday. It would not
be enough time to get to Oswego for the Saturday morning weather window across
Lake Ontario but we would be on the way.
Early Friday we returned our rental car and another announcement was
issued. The canal was opening at 10
am. We fueled up and reached Oswego
about 4 pm. It was cold and rainy.
Friday at 8 am we were locked through and we were on the
Lake. It was foggy the entire way. The only concern we had was crossing the
shipping lane. Our AIS was still not
working even though we had updated the software so we relied on the Marine
Traffic Positioning App. We could tell
there were a few ships to watch out for and we tracked them until we reached
Canadian waters. Fortunately we have
radar and could monitor them that way too.
We were good to go between the ships.
We knew that one was headed to Picton, our general direction, but was
taking a different route.
Once we got closer to land, Rusty left me on the bridge
while he checked the stuffing box. I
heard a foghorn behind me and noticed a huge orange blob on the radar. At first it did not register. Sometimes images on radar disappear and move
around a bit. But this one didn’t. I thought about hanging in until Rusty got
back but something told me not too. So I
pressed the horn three times. Now you
have to remember it was still very foggy and we could see no more than a few
hundred feet. We decided to get out of
the way; there was lots of water around.
As the ship passed us we were amazed how big it was. It was the ship headed for Picton. We called on VHF and the captain confirmed
that he had seen us on his radar. That’s
good to know.
The closer we got to sheltered water, the worse the mayfly
escort. Then the weather kicked up and
just as we got to Prinyers Cove the rain began to fall. We docked at the marina with the help of a
local boater. We called Customs and for
the first time we were given a bit of a hassle because of the number of bottles
of wine we were bringing into Canada. It
turned out fine in the end. Fine, as in,
we were not charged duty.
Sunday’s run to Trenton was pleasant accompanied by Handel’s
Messiah. Again the weather kicked up
just as we approached Fraser Marina at the mouth of the Trent Severn. We were able to walk to the Bell and Rogers
stores to purchase a sim card for our iPad.
No luck with Bell. Rogers was
promising until they asked for two pieces of Canadian ID and a Canadian
address. So WIFI it is.
After a quick trip to the Dutch store on Monday morning, we
started the Trent Severn waterway. The
first six locks were a bit brutal. Windy
inside the locks. One of the lockmasters
remembered us from three years ago. He
had a poker face when I mentioned, OH, yes, we were really green then.
We tied up at the top of Lock 6, Frankfort, with power. It was a wonderful stop. Quiet.
The town had everything one needed (groceries, hardware, laundry, post
office). We did not need anything but
Rusty thought it might be nice to have a planter on the boat so now we have one
attached to our deck box. Plants to come.
Tuesday was a gentle run to Campbellford. We docked on the complimentary east wall for
a few hours, bought a load of chocolate at the World’s Finest Chocolate outlet,
did our Wi-Fi at the library and bought our first meat pies and incredible
cream filled donuts at the local bakery.
As soon as we got back to the boat, we made tea and gobbled up the
donuts. A mile further at the bottom of
Lock 13 was our stop for the night.
And now it is Wednesday morning and we are headed for
Hastings. The locks open at 10 am and
that makes for a relaxing start to the day.
Did I mention that unsecured wifi is sketchy here?
