Day 86 Monday Sept 16

Day 86 Monday Sept 16 – A dark cold day on the Erie Canal

We were up just before 8 as we want to get an early start.  Our goal today is Baldwinsville a village about 55 miles along the canal.  This is about 15 miles more than what we have been doing.  Our push is so that we can cross Lake Oneida tomorrow.  The lake is the largest stretch of open water on the canal and has been known to swallow a mast or two if the wind gets up.  For the last week the forecast for Tuesday on the lake is 1 to 3 knots with sun so we are pushing to make it.

Julie in full rain garb

The day starts off overcast and cool by the first lock it is raining and has gotten cooler.  Both of us are in our rain gear and warm jackets, we share the 1 pair of mitts we brought with the person on the helm getting them.  We have 5 locks to do with the first one (Lock 28B) within 1 mile.  We are getting quite good at our locking with no incidents as of yet.  The key to good locking is to be prepared, we learned this on our second lock where we were in the middle of lunch (an excellent soup) and had stuff all over the cockpit.  Now we have everything put away well before the lock and boat hooks out and ready.  Today travels had no lift bridges.  In total; locks and the 55 miles, it takes us just over 8 hours of motoring.

Blue heron, sometimes we see 3 at a time

The countryside is mostly forest with the occasional village, with a number of cottages along the way.  We are just starting to see some change in colour on the trees and have been picking poplar leaves off the deck for the last 3 days, fall is here.  We have been surprised by the number of Great Blue Herons along the route and usually have one insight 50% of the time.  Although there is the possibility there are only 3 birds, leap frogging us down the waterway.  Julie thinks they may be part of the US Border Patrol; drones that look like herons.   There is also a number of Belted Kingfisher along the route although not as plentiful as the herons.

Bridge where sailboat hit centre abutment

We past only one small fishing boat today and are alone on the canal.  This makes locking easy, we get excellent service and the whole lock to ourselves, but it is somewhat lonely as we thought that there would be a herd of sailboats running for the south.  You do have to pay attention while at the helm watching for floating debris and the bridges.  Today we pass the bridge where a sailboat hit the middle abutment and sank about 2 weeks ago. (in their defense, most bridges do not have a centre abutment and the visibility from the mast on the deck is very reduced).  They just got the sailboat raised a couple of days before we arrived.

Couple of comments for people thinking of doing the canal:

1)      Inexpensive - $50 for a 10 day pass for 40’+ boat, most dockage is free including water and power

2)      Service at Locks and Lift Bridges is excellent – we’ve had limited wait time with almost all locks and bridges working/waiting for us.

3)      Supplies are easy as all small towns have dockage and the stores are located next to the canal as the towns were all built around the canal.

4)      Access to the Finger Lakes via a short canal.  The Finger Lakes have a large winery industry which one could visit.

Hydro electric dam

5)      Gas/Diesel fuel – is the only thing of concern, there is minimum gas and diesel available along the canal.  It is not a problem as long as you plan ahead.

We arrive in Baldwinsville just after 5 and head into town for a walk and to run some errands.  We pick up some silicon at the Ace Hardware store, enjoy a local beer at the craft beer house (across from a hydro electric plant while listening to Pink Floyd), and walk about 6 kms to the local grocery store.  We are back at the boat for an 8 oclock  hour dinner of chili complete with fresh mushrooms and green pepper (picked up during our walk).

 Cheers

Dawson and Julie