August 7, 2015  Day 48  New York Summer 2015

Free City Dock
Sylvan Beach, NY

We stayed here at the dock at Sylvan Beach again today and watched many boaters arrive for the weekend Canal Fest. We also saw many boats just cruising up and down the canal and out into Lake Oneida.

 
Bill attacked the generator problem this morning and replaced the broken impeller.  We now have a functioning generator - a good thing because this free dock has no power!


We went out for lunch at a nearby restaurant on the water, the Canal Café, and had fish & chips. Then we took a walk back into the center of town, which is all of five blocks away,  andpast the amusement park. We walked through the craft fair area and then came back to the boat to relax for the afternoon.

We had dinner on board – steaks on the grill and fresh corn on the cob.  We will leave in the morning and travel to Ilion, NY and stay at a marina.  We have four locks to transit and about 41 miles to cruise. We will miss the main parts of the Canal Fest, but they need our portion of the dock tomorrow to judge the boat parade. 

 

Zoltar was calling out to us but we kept walking!
Where was Tom Hanks??

August 6, 2015  Day 47  New York Summer 2015

Free City Dock
Sylvan Beach, NY

We departed Phoenix at eight this morning and had a very good cruise today. We left the Oswego Canal and entered the Erie Canal and are now heading east! We only had to transit one lock and it was an easy one. 

We stopped at Winter Harbor Marina in Brewerton to empty our holding tank. Then we crossed Lake Oneida which is about 22 miles across. It was calm when we crossed, but we heard afterward there were six foot waves on it yesterday (the wind is one reason we stayed put)!

We arrived at Sylvan Beach about 1:00 and found a spot on the free city wall.  There are many boats here. Sylvan Beach holds its annual Canal Fest this weekend which includes a boat parade, craft show, entertainment, and more.  Being in Sylvan Beach is like a step back to the 50’s with its amusement park (bumper cars, Tilt a Whirl, small roller coaster, arcades), a nice beach area, cottages to rent, a town square, ice cream and pizza places, and a weekly antique car show.

We were grateful to a local boater for catching our lines. We chatted with him later and he came on board to visit for a while.  We also took a walk around this cute little town this afternoon!

We plan to stay here another night and see some of the activities.  Bill also has maintenance to do tomorrow. Our generator stopped working today and after ruling out certain problems he suspects that the impeller needs replacing. Fortunately we have one!

The scenic Erie Canal



Remember this??



The beach at Sylvan Beach

 

August 5, 2015  Day 46  New York Summer 2015

Free City Dock
Phoenix, NY

We stayed in Phoenix as planned although we did move the boat up a little farther to be able to reach a 30 amp outlet.  We only had 15 amps at the first spot and we are used to having 50 amps!  One of the River House Brats helped us with our lines.

Joyce took advantage of having access to a Laundromat next to our dock. Although she normally does laundry on board, she was able to get everything done in two hours, including bedspreads.

Bill walked down to the bakery this afternoon to pick up the small lemon raspberry cake he ordered yesterday.  We enjoyed it for dessert this evening.

Most of the boats who were here last night left today, but we were glad to remain tied to the dock because of the wind.  Tomorrow looks very promising and we will leave early in the morning. Destination: Sylvan Beach.

 

August 4, 2015  Day 45  New York Summer 2015

Free City Dock
Phoenix, NY

We were very happy to wake this morning to very calm wind and water!  We caught the 0800 opening for Lock #7 which was just a few yards from our dock.  We went through all remaining locks today on the Oswego Canal and had no problems – always a good thing!

We arrived at the small town of Phoenix, NY at 12:30 and tied up on the free wall.  This is the home of the River House Brats, a youth group who greets boaters and will run errands for them for tips. The setting is very nice here - lots of flowers and nicely landscaped grounds, picnic tables, gazebo, and a little museum.

A view down the dock in Phoenix

Such a nice setting

We walked to a small café for lunch and then went to a very nice produce stand and bought tomatoes, corn, peppers, and peaches.  Then we went to a convenience store and picked up milk and a few other items. There is no grocery store in this small town.  Next stop was a bakery where we ordered a small cake which we will pick up tomorrow.



Carried Away in Phoenix

We relaxed the rest of the afternoon and then went out for pizza for dinner.  Even though we had a short day we are tired. We will be glad to spend another day here!

August 3, 2015  Day 44  New York Summer 2015

Free City Dock, north of Lock 7
Oswego, NY

Another brief posting tonight. After looking at the forecast this morning, we decided to stay put here on the free wall in Oswego. We did not want to travel in wind and likely thunderstorms. So, we spent a very relaxing day reading, taking care of email and phone calls.  We had dinner on board and just relaxed.

We will reassess the situation in the morning and leave if possible. We will have to go through six locks to reach our destination of Phoenix, NY.

August 2, 2015  Day 43  New York Summer 2015

Free City Dock, north of Lock 7
Oswego, NY

What a busy day!  We were up before six am to get an early start.  There was such an abundance of weeds on the anchor that it took over a half hour to pull the anchor and get it cleaned and free of debris. So, we finally got underway shortly after 0700.

We entered the St. Lawrence River and had a good cruise in calm water and with little boat traffic – surprising for a Sunday.  Maybe no one else was up that early?  We passed Cape Vincent and entered Lake Ontario at 0930. The wave forecast on NOAA was for one to two feet, but of course we had two to three feet on the bow the whole time. It could have been worse, but it does make us not trust the forecast!  Actually, this was the best travel day as wave heights of at least four feet are out there for the next few days. 

Windmills everywhere on Wolf Island - we were glad
to see they were all turning!

We arrived in Oswego and stopped at the Oswego Marina for water and to empty the holding tank.  Then we entered Lock 8 with one other boat and locked up this time. We exited the lock and tied up on the free wall where we were last week!  The difference was that we were the only boat here when we arrived. Last week it was packed because of Harborfest. (Two more boats did eventually arrive by 6pm.)

Having left Clayton means we are now on our return trip south and are retracing our route. We entered the Oswego Canal today and will be in the Erie Canal in a few days.  We are watching the weather tomorrow with storms and wind forecast and we do not like being in the locks in wind.  So we will make a decision in the morning regarding staying here another day.

We have our antennas lowered again, so no TV for us. But, we are content to read and relax after our long day.  We had leftovers for dinner which was a godsend. We did not want to get off the boat and we were too tired to fix a huge meal.

August 1, 2015  Day 42  New York Summer 2015

At anchor
Clayton, NY

This will be a very short post. We stayed at our anchorage today in the Clayton Harbor, but we did not go to shore.  We relaxed, read, did some cleaning, and worked on hobbies.

This is our last day in the 1000 Islands, and we will leave in the morning to head back to Oswego. We plan to make it in one day, cross Lake Ontario, go back through Lock 8 and hopefully tie up on the free wall where we were a week ago!

Incredible sunset