2012-05-26 - to Sodus Bay, NY

Having fun at the park in Sodus Bay

 The mast is back on!  They started doing masts at 7am at Oswego Marina.  We were the second boat of the day to be done and it didn't take too long securing the mast and running all of our lines, etc. ready to sail again.  We headed out again and made a run for Sodus Bay.  It was a lovely, calm day on the water.

2012-05-25 - to Oswego, NY

The gates open on the last lock.  Lake Ontario just on the other side.  We are getting close now!

Kerry started up the engines at 7am...ready to head across Lake Oneida.  Brewerton Lock is just on the other  side and then we leave the Erie Canal to enter the Oswego canal.  The crossing of the lake often makes sailors nervous who have their mast attached to their deck as this mast may end up at the bottom of the lake if it isn't tied down well enough.  Luckily the lake was relatively calm and we weren't rocked by any other passing boats.  We arrived in the last lock at 3:00pm.  This lock was different as the wind had really picked up and was pushing us off of the lock wall.  Just after we grabbed the lines at the side of lock wall, the boat started too be quickly pushed away.  Kerry was at the 'end of his rope' (literally) and needed someone to start the engine and put it into reverse.  (if he lost his rope we could be sideways in the lock....not good!)  I couldn't do it as I was doing all I could to hold onto the line at the bow.  Kerry called Connor out to the cockpit.  He told Connor to start the boat and put both engine into reverse.  I was trying to scramble and think of another way that would work.  Kerry said in an even commanding voice.  "Connor do it NOW!".  Connor, very calmly, turned on both engines, put both throttles into reverse and brought the boat back to the wall.  He stood at the helm and continued to put the boat into reverse every time the boat was pushed off by the wind.   After we dropped about 3 feet in the lock...we were out of the wind and Connor (again very calmly) turned off the engines and went back inside.  I was just so impressed at how he handled himself under pressure and how he handled the boat in that time.  He has definitely learned a lot and grown so much on this trip.  We were both very proud of him.
We arrived at Oswego marina at 3:30pm, fueled up first and then headed for the docks.  They had already stopped doing masts so we would have to wait until the morning to start ours.  We pulled out the hammock and found a nice shady tree to tie to to pass the time. 

2012-05-24 - to Sylvan Beach, NY

The first lock this morning was clogged with large trees and debris just before the gates.   There was one other boat (the only one we have met so far on the canals) that would be travelling with us in the lock.  They too had to coast through the debris.  I stood on the bow and used the boat hook to send some of the bigger ones moving. Kerry stayed at the helm and guided us in with little use of the engines so that our props wouldn't get damaged.     The picture above shows the mass of debris that was trapped under the hull of the boat.  When we stopped to tie onto the side of the lock, this square mass of debris came floating out.   The rest of the day went very well.  We have really been timing the locks well.  Kerry calls ahead and gives them just enough time to drain and open the doors - we just coast in, tie on, and away we go.  We arrived at the last point before Lake Oneida at 5:00om at a place called Sylvan Beach.  It's a 'seaside' resort complete with an amusement park.  This park is different, however.  It looks as if it is a place time forgot.   Everything look original from the 1940-50's.  At first, it didn't look open but Connor was thrilled it was when we told him.  He ended up doing all of the rides including his first time on a big roller coaster and bumper cars!  We basically had the whole park to ourselves as only a handful of people were there.  There were 4 workers for 7 rides.  They just followed him around and ran the rides for him.  He had such a good time.

Connor 'stuck' to the wall of the "Rotor"

2012-05-23 - to Ilion, NY

docked on the wall at Ilion Marina and RV park

2012-05-22 - to Amsterdam, NY

At 7am the Erie Canal opened for the day.  With several boats on the docks for the night, we had expected a rush of boats all jockeying for position on the canal wall.  No one seemed to be awake and ready to go this drizzly morning.  Kerry hailed the lock master on channel 13 to request an opening.  The lock master said that he would prepare the lock for us and open the gates.  On queue the doors creeked open and the green light illuminated.  It was time to start the 'Waterford Flight'.  The Waterford Flight includes Locks E-2 to E-6, providing a total lift of about 170 feet.

We rescued this little guy from being trapped in the 3rd lock...

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2012-05-21 - to Waterford, NY

The mast is down!  We were first in line this morning.  By noon, we headed up the Hudson with mast secured to the deck.  We headed to Waterford, NY, the beginning of the Erie Canal system. Tomorrow we start the first of 29 locks to reach Lake Ontario.  Home here we come!

2012-05-20 - to Catskills, NY (Hop-o-nose Marina)

We arrived at Hop-o-nose Marina at 2:30 pm.  We were hoping that they could have stepped our mast today but, they were a bit behind and we would need to be done in the morning.  We took that time to carefully pull and tie off all of our lines and have everything ready first thing.  We also needed to build a stand for the bow to stabilize the mast forward.  Kerry went off in search of scrap lumber.  Within a few minutes he returned with a smile on his face.   He had located our stands that we left here on our way down.  It was hard to believe that it wasn't broken down for someone elses stand!  So, all was set.  We would take our mast down tomorrow and be off to start the locks in the Erie Canal system.

2012-05-19 - to Poughkeepsie, NY

2012-05-18 - in New York City, NY

We pulled anchor at 9:00am and headed over to the 79th Street Boat Basin.  As we began to enter the Hudson River adjacent to Manhattan, Kerry called me up.  His words were, "can you come up and take a look at something."  We stopped the morning school session and poked our noses out.  Coming at us and extremely high speeds were 50+ power boats - all heading in our direction.  We just stayed to course and watch these boats fly past us.  What we figured was it was boats from a fishing derby and time was a factor.  It was truly a bizarre sight. 

We docked the boat and headed into

 the city.  The subway on 79th street brought us straight to Times Square.  Connor had been dying to go to the Toys R Us since we left last - so that was first on the list. After that we ended up at a large kids park in Central Park. We just wandered around Central Park taking it all in.  We finally ended up at the Museum of Natural History.  It is such a great museum.  We could have probably spent another day in their as there is just so much to see. 

Checking out the dinosaurs at the Museum of Natural History