Wednesday
July 1 is Canada Day. Unfortunately, the forecast is for
thunderstorms and windy conditions. Not good for crossing the 60 mile open
stretch of water on Lake Ontario. However, Thursday is supposed to be a perfect
day to cross. No or low wind, clear skies and calm water.
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| The entrance to the 6 mile Murray Canal |
Therefore, we decided to move the boat to a staging area
near the entrance to Lake Ontario at the end of the Murray Canal. It’s supposed
to be a safe, protected wall that we can tie up to so we waited for the fog to
mostly lift and left around 10:00
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| This swan family was also headed into the Murray Canal |
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| 1 of 2 swing bridges on the Murray Canal |
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| Fishing at the bridge |
In spite of the less than perfect weather, there were a number of people enjoying Canada Day fishing at the swing bridges on the canal.
As it turns out, the wall at the end of the canal where we planned to tie up was more like little chunks of walls so we sort of tied up between 2 of the chunks.
Except for a few boats going by, we had the
whole place to ourselves. Jim spent much of the afternoon fishing – or at least
trying. He caught some tiny bass and weeds - no fish dinner tonight.
Though we had some drizzle and pretty good wind through the afternoon, it
never did rain. Still, high wind is not so good on Lake Ontario so we’re glad
we stayed put. As the sun began to set, the clouds parted and the wind began to
lay down. Carol took advantage of the nice evening to catch up on her
journaling on the boat’s top deck.
It ended up being a picture
perfect evening with clear skies and a full moon. Should be great for fireworks.
Though we hoped to be able to see the ones in Trenton, about 10 miles away, we
finally gave up around 10:00 and went to bed, knowing we would be up early for
our Lake Ontario crossing.
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| Moonrise through the trees |
Thursday
We were up at 5:00 and took off almost immediately. The
winds were down and we could sort of see the buoys marking the channel to
leave. Our goal was to get to the United States, check in with Customs at
Oswego and then make the 24 mile trek through the 7 locks of the Oswego Canal
to Oneida Lake where we planned to leave the boat for a couple weeks as we
headed home.
As we would discover later, Mother Nature had other plans
for us.
It was several miles from our wall mooring to the open lake.
The dawn sky was quite a fabulous show we enjoyed all the way. Notice the trail
of buoys in our wake.
We were about half way out of the bay when the sun made it’s
appearance.
Even the full moon was still out. What a great morning to be on the water!
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| The lighthouse at the entrance to Lake Ontario |
This ended up being the perfect day to make the 60 mile crossing on Lake Ontario to Oswego, New York, USA.
As we approached the Port of Oswego, we called the marina to
confirm they had the required video phone we needed to check in with US
Customs. The manager confirmed we could tie up at their fuel dock while we made
our required call. Then she casually asked where we were headed.
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| The entrance to Oswego, NY |
When we told her our destination she said that wouldn’t be
possible. They had totally shut down the Oswego Canal and many portions of the
Erie Canal for the next few days due to rain and high water. Oooh, this is not
good!
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| The old lighthouse standing watch at the entrance to Oswego Harbour |
While we were checking in with Customs and taking on fuel, the marina manager was able to find a place for us to keep Samba for the next 2 weeks while we traveled home. Yeaahh.
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| Samba sitting in the Oswego marina |
Though not a great place, it was some place and that is a good thing. PTL.
So ends the first leg of our great adventure. 776 total miles and 40 bodies of water!
Stay tuned as we pick it up again in a couple of weeks.
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| The view from the back of our boat. Notice the flooding river and submerged dock! |
