2011-09-09 - to Cornwall, ON

It was a great day today. We left Brockville at 7:15am and landed in Cornwall at 4:15. It was a much calmer day, no waves...nice. We also did 3 locks. The first one only dropped us about 4 inches (quite uneventful) but the last two locks dropped us about 40 feet. Connor helped out at the lock wall, fending off the slimy walls of the canal and did a great job. The best part of the day is that we were going about 9-10 knots most of the way. The river, we thought, added about 2-3 knots. The only time that the current did not help us was heading into Cornwall and going up river. At this point we could only do 4 knots....but, we made it. We jumped on our bikes with trailer in tow and headed for the local mall. We were told of the wifi available in the food court (how I am able to post this). As I am writing this, I am hearing Dylan squealing in delight as Kerry is taking him up and down the escalator (who needs Disneyworld?). When we got back Connor took no time to introduce himself to the two little boys in the boat next to us. They were having a blast playing with each other as they offered up a piece of pizza in exchange for some glow bracelets.

2011-09-08 - to Brockville, ON

It was quite a bumpy ride today. We left just after 7am...heading towards Brockville. We ended up checking into Brockville Yacht Club a little earlier than expected. The scenery along the way was wonderful. Lots of nice homes and a few castles. The folks at the BYC were so friendly and willing to let us know where all the local amenities were. We ended up jumping on our bikes and having a tour of the town. We hit the local market, grocery store and then....the laundry mat...oh, and the dollar store in town for some fake blood and vampire teeth. (see pic of Connor).

2011-09-07 - to Ivy Lea, ON

It was a short day on the water. We left Kingston at8am and landed in Ivy Lea (just outside of Gananoque) by 12:30pm. Now, we are in the 1000 islands...so, it is crucial that we watch the charts at all times for markers to guide us through the islands. We needed to get more chart information on this 'part of the world' so Kerry went out to West Marine last night to purchase a new chip for our new chart plotter. We are meeting the brokers, Pat and Grant Bowlby, from Harris and Ellis Yacht sales that sold us this boat. We had contacted them to see if they knew of a place that we could store our dinghy. To our wonderful surprise, they had offered to take our dingy and we would have theirs for the trip. We are so grateful. The reason we had made this decision is that our dingy is a bit oversized for our boat. It was good 95% of the time, but if we got rougher seas than we had already experienced, then we may be in trouble with it. So, we lifted it on our dingy davits and it fit perfectly. This will be perfect for the rest of our trip!

2011-09-06 - in Kingston, ON

Well, pull back out the Canadian money....we are back. Last week, I gathered all the little coins etc and tucked them away. Afterall, we weren't going to be needing them right?

Today, Dana is going home. :( It's been great to have him with us and we will miss him! Sorry, we didn't make it on time to New York!! So, after we said our goodbyes, we jumped in a taxi and headed out to Fort Henry. Connor has been pumped since yesterday when we said that we would be going. He knew a lot of the answers as well as we looked up the Fort on the Internet. When it was time to leave, he didn't want to go and we had to repeat the first half of the tour and watch the rifle firing demonstration for the second time. He had a blast.

2011-09-05 - to Kingston, ON

Great news today! At 10:04am, an alert from the Canal Corportation was posted on their website. This is what it said:

UPDATE: CHAMPLAIN CANAL HAS REOPENED TO ALL VESSELS. THE ERIE CANAL LOCK E2 TO E19 WILL REMAIN CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE Mariners are advised that the Champlain Canal has reopened to all vessels, and the Erie Canal between Locks E-19(Frankfort) and E-2 (Waterford),will remain closed to all vessels until further notice. Hurricane Irene caused record flooding in the Mohawk River and the Canal Corporation is currently assessing damage to several structures. Updates will be provided once the full extent of damage and what efforts are necessary to reopen are determined; next week at the earliest. Updated Monday 09/05 at 10:04 AM

You don’t know how relieved we were. We had so many other alternative plans on the go. Now, we are basically on plan. The detour of the Erie Canal to the Champlain canal adds another two weeks, but, that’s ok. It sure beats any alternative that we were being faced with. With that great news we had a bit of time to enjoy Sackets Harbour. I walked to the Battlefield area to check out the historic houses and Canons! Connor just loves this stuff. We pulled away from the dock at 11am on route to Kingston. There we will head up the St. Lawrence to Montreal and then the Champlain Canal. yeah!!

2001-09-04 - to Sackets Harbor, NY

We left Oswego this morning to Sackets Harbor after sending a few emails to potential crew that could assist on the St. Lawrence route. One of the more favourable options was an couple from Vancouver. They have logged over 50,000nm delivering various boats (even Catamarans) all over the world. They have even battled hurricanes (Noel 2009). I sent them a note to see if they were interested and they were. We are still hopeful that the Champlain Canal system will open to allow us to reach the Hudson River.