St. Lawrence and the Thousand Islands

I know we haven’t blogged for awhile but we have been busy (and loving every minute) with the kids.  Here is what we have been up to.

Sunday we left at 4:50 am, not quite as early as the Captain had hoped for but  I changed my mind and wanted to shower, oh well.  When we got out of the harbor it was not quite as wavy as yesterday but by the end of our first hour the waves did pick up and were probably at least two foot, they were on our port beam (that means on the left side) and not fun.  Captain John did pick up speed a little and also adjusted the course so both of these maneuvers did help.  As we got closer to the East shore of the lake the waves died down and the ride became more comfortable. 

We are in Clayton NY It is along the St.Lawerance River and in the 1,000 Island area of New York. We did have some difficulty getting tied up today.  We had called the Municipal Marina and were told to pick any spot along the wall by the boat launch, no offer to help with lines at all.  When we got our fenders and lines ready we went down a narrow fairway with boats on either side, our plan was to turn Passport around and tie up along our port side.  When we were ready to start our turn with the help of the bow thruster it all of a sudden sucked up a bunch of sea grass that was floating around and stopped working.  Well if it were not for the help of some friendly boaters who helped us get tied up it could have been very ugly. 

When we did get along side the opposite dock and tied we found out we were on the side of the small channel that was Islander Marina.  As it turned out the marina is very nice with a great lounge and very clean bathrooms.  Sometimes things turn out for the best.

 

We walked around town a bit and had a great lunch at a place along the river by the name of Bella’s.  The weather is cooler with some rain so we headed back to the boat to get caught up on a few things, including the blog.  Tomorrow we will go to the Antique Boat Museum, that Clayton is known for.  I also pl to hit a few more shops while John putters on the boat.  We forgot the camera today plus it turned very gray, hopefully tomorrow I can get some shots of Clayton.  It is a neat little town and is doing well, which is nice to see after seeing so many depressed towns along the way.

Great sunset at Clayton.

Monday we awoke to bright sunny skies after a night with lots of wind and rocking and rolling.  Unfortunately, the sun didn’t last and the skies turned gray with on and off rain all day.  We did have a few bright spots.  The first was the Antique Boat Museum which was VERY impressive. 

Boldt's houseooat.

This is just like the engine in our old wood Chris Craft, Tiger.

Unique running light

It seems he found a way to pay the bills before writing books.

The second bright spot was the restaurant we found for lunch the Koffe Kove.  The third bright spot was Kelly, Don, Owen & Izzy arrived in the early evening.  They had had a lot of rain while camping and decided to forgo their canoe / camping expedition and meet up with us a couple of days early as more rain was predicted.  After catching up we all went back to the Koffe Kove for dinner.


Tuesday it was still very windy.  It has been windy at this marina since we arrived, rocking and rolling all day and night.  We found a GREAT park for the kids to play, it is just two blocks from the marina.  The kids were having so much fun that Kelly & Don went back to the boat and put together a picnic lunch so the kids could play longer at the park.  The wind died down a bit after dinner and we spun the boat around so it would be easier to leave in the morning.  Due to all the wind we lost one of our bath towels that was on the clothesline.

Wednesday it was still windy but with Don’s help at the stern we were able to leave the dock without any incidents.  We had a slow cruise through the islands and as we got further North and closer to the islands the wind settled down a bit.  It was bright and sunny and the scenery was beautiful.  Just like the North Channel but with LOTS more houses.

The kids helping Grandpa drive.

We got into our slip at the Thousand Island Club ok after we called them on the phone for directions.  This is primarily a seasonal marina and a marina across the river takes care of the transients.  They have a strange way of running their business here.  We had three calls asking for credit card information which we gave when we made our reservations. We were told to hail the club on channel 78, no answer when we called on the phone we were told “yeah they forget to turn on the marine radio all the time”. Like I said strange way of doing things.

Kelly stayed behind to have a run and go to Watertown to pick up some prescriptions we will need while we are in Canada.  She then drove the rental and met us after lunch.

The seasonal boaters seem very nice, Owen has hooked up with a boy, Cooper a few years older and they are both having a ball.  Coopers mom said he has an older brother and all the things the older brother did to Cooper he is having fun doing to Owen.  Nothing bad he is just liking be the top dog for once.  Owen is having a ball having some one to follow around.

Thursday we all went across the river to Alexandria Bay, some by dinghy and some by car.  Grandma had given the kids each a five dollar bill and it was quite an event to figure out how to spend it.  On the way back by dinghy John & Kelly found a nice little beach and playground that they stopped at with the kids.  Mary and Don stopped at the grocery store on the way back by car.

It seems like we were ther only yesterday!

Our plans are to only move up and down the river about 10 miles over the next few days.  We will anchor once or twice which with the kids we all agree is most likely going to be enough.  Lots of dinghy rides have been had and will continue.  It is a great area to explore by dinghy.

Friday we took Passport across the river to top off the fuel tanks and get a pump out.  Our original plan was to then stop at Boldt Castle and move to Keewaydin State Park Marina.  Well all of the lack of naps finally caught up with Izzy and after a bit of a melt down she went down around 10:30am for what turned out to be over a 3 hour nap.  So plan B will be to stay here for two nights.  We will visit the castle via dinghy tomorrow and move down river to an anchorage on Sunday.    We have a great spot here with lots of boat traffic going by.  There is also talk of a bonfire and as Owen would say “farshmellows” after dinner.

Grandma and Grandpa

AKA  Mary and John

Erie Canal Day Three and Four

When we left early Friday morning the temperature was only in the mid 60’s and the skies were overcast.  Happy it was not as warm.  We went through four locks  and planned to stop Sylvan Beach just before Lake Oneida.  It was early when we arrived and we had read the lake could kick up in a west wind (which was predicted for Saturday) se we decided to cross the lake and ended up at Winter Harbor Marina in Brewerton NY.  We traveled 63 miles today and tied up at around 3:30pm The marina was right on the Erie Canal and they were very friendly and even offered a courtesy car and would you believe it was a Mercedes, a vintage one, it was a  1987 Mercedes with over 200,000 miles on it.  We had to take advantage of the car so we drove to a high end grocery store by the name of Wegmans, it was about 7 miles out of town and it was very nice.  We bought some already prepared Chinese food for dinner along with other staples that were needed. 

One of many old railroad bridges.

A few of the many work boats used to maintain the canals.

The admrial waiting to be lowered.

Sylvian Beach.

Sunset at Winter Harbor.

Saturday morning was not as early of a departure, we left at 6:45 and cleared the last of the locks #23 that we needed to traverse on the Erie Canal and made our turn to start the Oswego Canal.  We did 7 locks before we ended the day and arrived in the town of Oswego NY, that is right on Lake Ontario.

Both John and I agree it is easier to lock through a lock that is going down as opposed to being raised, the ones today were all gong down.   We have not enjoyed the Erie Locks as much as we did the locks we had done previously on the rivers as we headed south last fall. 

Since it was only 1:00 we decided that we would try and go another 50 miles and go on to Cape Vincent which is the beginning of the St. Lawrence River.  We listened to the weather and the waves on Lake Ontario were less than one foot today and forecast to only keep increasing over the next few days.  When we got past the break wall for the harbor and were out several miles we both came to an agreement that it was to uncomfortable for a five to six hour trip and came back into the Oswego Harbor and tied to the city dock where you only pay a fee of  $20 for the night.  The dock was floating and old and the water was pretty bumpy but once we were all tied up I sure did not want to move again.  The way I think of it we had already docked 8 times before with all of the locks we went through, so I had had enough, after all I am the Admiral and that counts for something. 

Sunrise Winter Harbor.

The highway bridge which was just past the lock.

Lock Doors closing behind us.

Waiting to go down.

Once we got down the lock was leaking a bit.

Small rapids just past the lock.

Entering the last lock.

Our last lock.

We took a walk into town and John went to visit the Maritime Museum while I checked out the town and shops.  John said the museum was interesting and I enjoyed the town although it was mainly composed of bars.

New York Canal system.

Looking at the Lock 8 from the land side.

Looking at the our last lock from a bridge we passed under.

The orginal Oswego Canal.

Some neat painting's from 1936 depicting American History in the region

Did not expect to find one  that mentioned Fort Mackinac here in Oswego.

1943 Tug that saw action on D-Day in WWII, still operational.

Tug is mostly original, one improvement was Radar that was
installed in 1967, it took up a good portion of the pilot house.

The Pint Replica which we last saw in Frankfort, MI on day 5 of our Loop

Looking out to Lake Ontario.

After dinner on board we were off to bed early because we wanted to go back out into Lake Ontario early am in hopes that even though waves were forecast to be 2 foot tomorrow, they would be less.  Quite often it is calmer earlier in the morning.  Keep your fingers crossed for us. 

Time for bed,

Mary & John