End of the New York Canals

Days on cruise:  86

Distance traveled:  32.4 miles

Travel time:   6 hrs, 11 mins including locking time

Locks:  7 today, 29 total

Total trip odometer:  2,024 statute miles

Yesterday’s oil change didn’t go as expected. We arrived at noon at the marina we’d called the previous day to schedule the work.  Two hours later we left in their courtesy car to run some errands and the oil change had not begun.

We stopped at Corcoran’s Canvas in Brewerton, NY for a  repair to a zipper that had begun to rip out of a piece of isinglass on the sundeck.  30 minutes and $20 later, we left with the repair done better than expected.  Next up a stop for some boating supplies, then we returned to the boat to find Ethan had begun the oil/filters/engine zinc change. Five hours later, at 7:30 at night, he stopped and said he’d return Sunday morning to finish, but it would be later in the morning because it was Father’s Day.  OK. We hadn’t planned to stay here overnight, but we’re captive at this point with a job less than fully done.

Ethan showed up at 9 this morning and finished the job in 2 hours, so we finally got underway at noon.

We traveled the entire Oswego Canal today, turning off the Erie Canal at its’ midpoint, and heading north toward Lake Ontario. We made our way through 7 locks, each one pretty easy, even with blustery wind, as we’ve got the technique down cold at this point. The Oswego is less hilly than the Erie, and mostly more rural with more modest homes.

Boat traffic was busy on the Canal today, a sunny, warm Sunday. That caused us to travel more slowly so as not to rock the omnipresent small fishing boats with a large wake.  But there was hardly any traffic at all in the locks. One lockmaster told us he only had one boat lock through yesterday, and we were the first today. We were the only boat in each of the 7 locks. And we finally saw our first female lockmaster at the next-to-last lock of the day, a grandmother whose son and two grandchildren were watching and waving at us as we passed.

Cathryn had a good Father’s Day conversation with her Dad, Bob got Father’s Day phone calls from all 3 of our children, and we enjoyed a very nice bottle of wine with dinner which was a gift from one of them, purchased at their request back at St. Michaels on the Chesapeake.

Now we’re tied up at a free canal wall in Oswego, NY just before our very last lock of the New York Canal system.  We had hoped to cross Lake Ontario into Canada tomorrow, but the weather looks blustery and unsettled for the next few days, so we may spend more time on this wall than would otherwise be warranted.  Our Jersey shore experience in the ocean has made us more conservative about interpreting the weather forecasts.