Tuesday, June 21, 2016

From the Mohawk to the Oswego on Lake Ontario and then to the St Lawrence Seaway

June 20 and 21, 2016. We have been enjoying the Summer Solstice... longest day of the year... 1st Day of Summer... in Clayton, NY. in the midst of The Thousand Islands in the St. Lawrence River... now the St. Lawrence Seaway!!! On our first night at the Pier 225 Marina, Mother Nature put on a “Sound and Light Show” like none other we have ever seen. For an hour or more, the lightening embedded in the storm clouds flashed and the thunder rolled. Even the local folks claim it was a first for them, too. Incorporated in 1872, Clayton is home to The Antique (Wooden) Boat Museum. Housed within seven buildings, classic wooden boats from the turn of the century have been donated for preservation or restoration. Our hometown in Maine was next door to WoodenBoat School/ Magazine town of Brooklin, so we feel very connected to the displays of boats and stories here. We took an hour-long speedboat ride in a reproduction of a 1920‘s Triple Cockpit 30 foot Hackercraft, a mahogany runabout, this morning. It could have been the evergreen-covered granite islands of Maine’s Penobscot Bay that we were speeding by at 25+ mph. After spending a full day within the Museum Facility, we’ve decided this could be our kind of town. (I’m also on my last of the 10 days of medication for the Shingles... so what’s not to love about that. The rash and blisters are a faint memory!)





























After leaving the Erie Canal on Friday June 17, we tied up to the town dock and visited Phoenix, NY on the Oswego Canal. Although the Bridge House Brats were still in school, we heard the stories of their summer of service that was about to begin. They are local kids have been trained up to provide for the needs of the folks who arrive by water. Tips sustain them and the program. On Saturday morning we (and 25 Canada Geese and their goslings) were ready for the 7am lock opening. Seven locks later we were in the Port City of Oswego, NY, looking out on Lake Ontario. Long-time summer friends Steve and Carol from Lakeville, Maine connected with us. As they headed west on a summer-long RV trek across America on the northern tier, they saw a lock from the highway and remembered we were traversing locks in New York State. A phone call let us know that they were visiting family just twenty minutes away... providential! We had a fabulous time meeting up with all four of them.

f We cruised on two separate days to get to Clayton. On the first day we departed at first light, braving the open water for a 4-hour run off the eastern shore of Lake Ontario, docking at Navy Point in historic Sacket’s Harbor. This village was all about The War of 1812 when Sacket’s Harbor became the major staging base for American operations on the Great Lakes. As we toured the Sacket’s Harbor Battlefied State Historic Site, a young tour guide invited us to join her in the Commandant’s Home as she described life of those days. What a memorable experience she gave us! Another 4 hour run in more open water brought us to the mouth of the St. Lawrence River and up to Clayton.


PLEASE NOTE: We are about to bid adieu to the U.S. waters and cross over to the Canadian side of Lake Ontario. Our ability to post blogs may be hampered by a lack of WiFi. We will take advantage of WiFi as it becomes available. Our phone plan allows for texting at no additional cost. We will place phone calls in clumps at a $2.00/day charge. Our expectation is that we will explore the Canadian shore of Lake Ontario as we travel west back to the 240 mile-long Trent-Severn Waterway. Trenton on Lake Ontario is 243 feet above sea level. Port Severn on Georgian Bay of Lake Huron is 576 feet above sea level. Forty-four locks allow us to traverse the area and move on into the North Channel of Lake Huron. Previous Loopers sing the praises of this remote and breath-taking part of the world. All in all, we will spend the rest of June, all of July and the first half of August... two months... in Canada. We anticipate re-entering the US from Drummond Island northeast of Mackinac Island. The bridge there connects the Upper Peninsula (UP) of Michigan to the larger mitten-shaped part, and also allows us to cruise from Lake Huron into Lake Michigan. Created by Darcy Campbell
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