Boating Trips

So this is our new boating blog.  After almost 10 years of hosting my site on Yahoo Geocities, Yahoo pulled the plug on everyone in October, 2009.  So I've got a new hosting service and a new blog to post our trips on.  I am working to publish some of our old trips that we have taken over the last 10 years.  The blog format will make it alot easier for me to publish new information going forward.  Kinda cool, I hope to keep the content fresh and exciting as I journal all of our cruising adventures on the Missy.

Anyway, I do wish everyone fair winds and calm seas!  

Our Website:

RochesterBoating.com

We spent the weekend of 1/20-1/23 in the beautiful city of Toronto.  Stayed at the Sheraton Hotel right downtown.  First stop was in Port Credit for a beer and some wings at Harps, then onward to the big city.   Friday night was party time in our room.  Dave, Jeanne, Leo and Kathleen all joined us for beer, wine, and a great spread of munchies.  We went swimming at around 8:30, Sheraton has a great indoor/outdoor pool.  Really cool swimming outside in 80 degree water with air temp just barely above zero!

Saturday we all hit the show, bad news this year was no Henry's Fish.  Big disappointment!   We did enjoy the show regardless, got to see Duma the waterskiing/boat driving dog and Abby Sunderland, who at 16 attempted to sail around the world (she didn't make it).

The girls left early and went shopping in downtown Toronto while the guys hung out and checked out all the good stuff at the show.

Saturday night found us having dinner at the Keg restaurant, great steaks and really good service.  We finished the night with another party in our room and swimming again.  Made the long trip home on Sunday, a great time was had by all, and we are really psyched now to go boating!

Duma the dog waterskiing:

The Boys:

Abby Sunderland:

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Dinner at the Keg:

This is the mother of all boat shows for us in the snowy north.   Looking forward to a great show and a few nights in Toronto.  Great way to spend a winter weekend.  Nothing like the smell of new fiberglass in the morning!

http://www.torontoboatshow.com/

Jane and I took back to back cruises this fall after the big wedding.  First up was the NCL Sky out of Miami for a 3 day cruise to the Bahamas.  Really fun trip with our friends.  After the cruise we stayed in Fort Lauderdale for a few days and got to see the last of the FLL boatshow from the water.  It was like mega-yacht city!  I'll get some videos up of them soon.  

Here is a video I created of our Sky cruise, check it out:

After the Sky cruise and Fort Lauderdale, we hopped aboard the NCL Dawn for a fantastic 11 day southern caribbean cruise.  Ports visited were Samana, DR, Totola, St. Martin, Dominica, Barbados, Antigua, and St. Kitts.  I am working on a video, in the mean time you can see our photos here:

Cruising on the DAWN

Jane and I "monkeying" around in St Kitts:

On October 22, Rob and Julie got married in beautiful Ellicott, NY.  We are very proud of both of them and wish them all the best!

Photos from the Wedding

Our season came to an end this year on October 8th.  One last weekend in Tonawanda and what a beauty it was.  80 degrees and wall to wall SUN!  We had a blast partying with all of our boating friends.  Looking forward to a great 2012 season, hopefully we will have a mild winter and early spring.

Docked in Tonawanda on our favorite wall:

Jane and I spent a few nice days over Labor Day weekend cruising to Brockport and back.  Met our good friends Dave and Jeanne in Brockport and enjoyed a really nice time with them.  Did some dingy cruising to Spencerport, and basically just relaxed and enjoyed the nice weather.

I guess we were relaxing so much I forgot to take any pictures - and that's my story!

We spent the weekend docked at Bluewater marina on the Niagara so that we could walk over to the Buffalo Launch club and see the Antique Boat show - and what a show it was!  Some really great looking old boats along with classic cars and some gorgeous weather.  We really enjoyed this weekend and hope to do it again next year.

Antique Boats Racing:

Jane, Kathleen and Leo at the show:

Found my first boat at the show - I owned an identical 1957 15' MFG when I was 16:

Had a great weekend in Tonawanda.  Our daughter-in-laws parents joined us for dinner, and our good friends Leo and Kathleen came down with thier boat.  The highlight of the weekend was the Kiss band, got mixed reviews from us, I thought they were pretty lousy, Jane said they were ok.  Name of the band was Mr Speed..go figure.

Docked in Tonawanda:

Gateway Harbor - really nice weekend!

Leo, Jane Kathleen:

Janet and Kathleen getting ready for the concert:

Jane and I had a great weekend with my sister and brother-in-law in Annapolis.  They took us out in the Chesapeake Bay in their beautiful 30' Hunter sailboat.  Winds were ripping, and the boat was flying!   A really great time and a nice change from our usual Erie Canal and Niagara river trips.

Thanks Chris and Eileen!

No sign of the Santa Maria, but pretty cool to see these replica tall ships tied up in our marina:

We had modest plans again this year, as I only had one week of vaction to use this summer.  Jane and I took off on Thursday evening June 30th heading to Rochester, NY for the annual fireworks display.  This year we took our 12 year old niece, Alana with us.  She was a great crew member and really enjoyed herself on this trip.

Our first night found us tied up in Middleport, about a 4.5 hour run from our homeport of Tonawanda.  Chicken wings from Pony's made the crew very happy. 

Canal was like glass, weather perfect.

We got an early start Friday, left Middleport at around 7am.  Another great day for cruising, we made port in Rochester at about 2pm.  We got a nice spot on the wall in Corn Hill right in front of the tour boat, Mary Jamison. 

We had dinner at the famous Dinosaur BBQ, great time but a long wait for a table.  Got talking to some of the bkers who frequent the place, pretty cool.  Had a few Blue Moons and then enjoyed a great dinner of ribs and fixins with Jane and Alana.

On Saturday we rented a car and took Alana to see High Falls and Ontario Beach.

After the beach, it was time to take a spin on the Merry Go Round!

From the Ontario Beach park we traveled west to my all time favorite hamburger stand - Schallers.  Wow, what a treat - nothing compares to their burgers.  Alana agrees with me, she ate a full size burger with fries!

On Sunday, we took the car and did some shopping, went to a grocery store, gas station (dinghy gas!) and a stop at Big Lots for miscellaneous junk.   Returning to the boat, Alana and I did some serious dinghy cruising down the Genesee.

Alana made a friend later that day:

Also on Sunday our friends from Pennsylvania showed up, Rob and Marie in their boat "Kimberly Rose II"   They rafted off us as by now there was no space left on the wall with power.

On Monday we took the car back and got ready for the big show.  We had our friends coming, Dave and Jeanne and Dan and Anita.  Also, our son Kyle and his girlfriend Ariel and father Leon were driving up from Buffalo to catch the show.  And what a show it was!  The City of Rochester knows how to do a fireworks show.  By the time it was done, we were all in awe.   Our party broke up at around 11:30, and everyone made their way home while Jane, Alana and I crawled into our berths for a great night sleep.

On Tuesday, we cast off and headed east on the canal to one of our favorite spots, Fairport.  We met up with Rob and Marie here, they left real early.  Got a great spot on the wall and Alana had a ball feeding the ducks.  She gave them all names, don't ask me how she could tell them apart...

Alana had plenty of ice cream in Fairportm and also enjoyed going to the car show with Ron on Tuesday night.  I made her pose in front of all the Mustangs!

On Wednesday we just hung out on the boat and enjoyed the day in Fairport.  Alana and I went fishing, we caught 2 large catfish and 2 carps.   Wednesday eve we took a long cruise down the canal in our dinghy to Macedon, where we had dinner with our friends Dan, Anita, Dave and Joanne.  Great night, great friends, excellent dinner.

Cruising back to Fairport:

On Thursday, we left Fairport and started heading west back to Buffalo.  We made port in Spencerport early afternoon.  They have put in all new docks with power and water on the east side of the bridge, south side of canal.  Spencerport is really a top notch port now.  They have new restrooms with showers, a small museum, and best of all, a brand new Tops supermarket.  And all this for free! We did some reprovisioning of the ships supplies here and also did some more fishing.  Caught some nmore catfish and carp, Alana found that she loves netting them.

This old woodie pulled in behind us for a short break.  They were on their way to Buffalo to deliver this boat.

We left Fairport at around 9 am bound for our last stop of the trip - Medina.  We got to Medina at around 2pm, perfect day for cruising.  While in Medina, Alana and I broke out the bikes and took a ride around town.  We saw the "big apple", the falls, and an old WWII artillery gun.   Also made a stop at a playground so Alana could check out the old time rides.

We had dinner that night at Zambistro, a really great little restaurant right across from the boat docks.

After dinner we checked out the cars, another Cruise Night was happening here.  Alana liked the "Pink Panther" car.

So Saturday morning we packed up and headed back to Tonawanda.   Really a great trip, wonderful weather and good friends made everything picture perfect.  I am hopeful we'll get Missy out again this year for another trip, in the mean time we are enjoying our weekends on the Niagara River.  We've found some great places to hang on the hook, soaking in the sun, swimming and enjoying life.

Click here for all of our 2011 Boating Photos

We spent quite a bit of time this year at Beaver Island.   Really cool park, nice beach with a boarwalk and a great little marina.  It's about a 12 mile trip for us, makes for a nice cruise and an enjoyable little weekend getaway.

Missy and Fishtales at dock:

I saw these on the Mainship board and once I showed Jane she insisted I order them.  These are fantastic, they install in about 10 minutes, and allow you to keep the portholes open even when it rains.  They are about $25 each and the owners of the company are great, I screwed up the install on one of them and they sent me more tape to do it over, no charge.

Highly recommend!! 

www.SeaWorthyGoods.com

Jane and I took the Missy from Buffalo to Brockport via the canal for Memorial Day weekend.  Left Thursday eve, made it to Middleport at about 7:30.  Of course, it had to start pouring once we got in the locks.  Bought a canal pass, unbelievable but they are still the same cost - our season pass is only $75.  I wonder how long before our new Guv realizes this and decides to stick it to the boaters?

Made it to Brockport by around 2 pm on Friday, rained all day and foggy.  Drove the whole way from the lower station, nice and toasty inside. 

In Brockport we had a wonderful dinner with our good friends Dave and Jeanne, my friend Jeff also swung by.  While in Brockport we got to try out our new dinghy, it's great to have some room now.  Our new dink is 9.8' long with a metal floor and fiberglass transom.  She is really sweet.

Took a short video of us bombing down the canal to Spencerport:

Docked in Brockport:

We left Brockport on Sunday, went to Middleport on Sunday, them home on Monday.  Except for some iffy weather on Friday, was overall a pretty good trip.  Boat ran fine, company was good, and beer was cold.  Life is good!

Click to view all of our 2011 photos

We got out last weekend and went to Tonawanda ( a whole 1.3 miles away!)   Spent the weekend on one of the walls there, it rained cats and dogs.   Our friends Leo and Kathleen came down by car and had dinner with us on Saturday.   A wedding party came down later in the day for photographs, they were having lots of fun, drinking champagne and beer.

This weekend was much better, we went down the river and tanked up the Missy.   She took on 113 gallons of sweet diesel at the eye popping cost of $505 - ouch!!   Was a great weekend, lots of sun and warm, which we have not had much of this year.

The Wedding party:

Jane and Coco:

Kathleen:

Watching the wedding group:

Tonawanda:

Cruising down the Niagara River:

Jane enjoying the nice day:

Wow, what a spring we have been having - can you say COLD COLD RAIN RAIN and more RAIN?   Anyway I was able to get the Missy washed waxed and ready for the water.  She got wet on May 4th, and all systems are go.    We are staying at Smith Boys this year, and will do some jaunts out to Lake Erie with any luck.  We are also looking forward to a Rochester trip via the Canal, hopefully to see the 4th of July fireworks. 

We got a new dinghy this year, but still waiting on the paperwork to register it.   Will be really nice to go for a ride without bailing water all the time.  The old dinghy took care of us for 15 years, but she is ready to retire now.  Will be giving it to Rob to use when he goes camping.

This bad boy is docked behind us - 3X300HP outboards on her:

Jane and Sheri:

Click to view all of our 2011 photos

Spring is almost upon us, although you would never know it from the crazy weather we are having.  Snow this morning and temps in the 40's   Crazy.    Went down to Smith Boys today to pay for our dock, we are going to be staying on the Niagara River this year.   Ice was flowing like mad down the river, I guess they just pulled the ice boom off Lake Erie this week.   We go in the water on May 4th, have a lot of work to do between now and then.  Hopefully it will warm up some so I'm not freezing my butt off washing and waxing the boat!

Talked to Rob today, he was at anchor in Portland Maine aboard the USCG Tahoma.   He posted some neat photos on Facebook, I've clipped them and attached below.  He is doing very good in the Coast Guard and we are all very proud of him.

Sunrise on the North Atlantic:

JayHawk Helocopter landing:

Rob on the Helo Deck:

And they even find time to go fishing!

After 8 grueling weeks, Robert Lord has graduated from Coast Guard Boot Camp in Cape May.   We drove down to see him graduate, it was a frigid cold weekend but a happy one none the less.  Rob has made his parents very proud and we wish him the best of luck on his first assignment aboard the 270' Cutter Tahoma out of Portsmouth, NH.

CONGRATULATIONS ROB!

Our boating season came to an end on October 27th.  They hauled the Missy and put her in the parking lot where I finished winterizing all her systems and engine today.  Next week they will put her away for the winter in one of the big rack buildings.  We love the indoor storage, no worries about snow or high winds. 

Until next spring, I wish everyone fair winds and calm seas.  Stay warm!

See all of our 2010 picture here -->  Boating 2010

The Missy has been at Smith Boys now since September 25th.  We had a really nice trip back to Tonawanda Island the week before our cruise.  So this weekend Jane and I took the Missy out for one last short cruise.  Took Friday off so I could start winterizing her, bought all my supplies and changed the oil while Jane went to work.  When she came back, we made the short trip from Smith Boys to Gateway Harbor.  Had a great time there, met our friends Leo and Kathleen who just sold their 30' Trojan and bought a beautiful 1981 F-32 Trojan.  Some of thier friends stopped by and a great time was had by all.

Sunset at Smith Boys:

Jane and Friends:

The week of October 1-10 we spent traveling to Florida and taking a great cruise on the brand new NCL Epic.  Fantastic ship, great time.  We traveled with some friends of ours, and a great time was had by all. 

Created a 14 min movie of our trip here:

http://RochesterBoating.com/Epic10.wmv

All of our photos are here:

http://travel.webshots.com/album/578760946iyJFKM

We brought the Missy back to Smith Boys on September 25th.   We will stay in the water here for one month before getting hauled out for the winter on October 27.  Took this short video of us approaching Locks 34/35. >

Jane and I took a short trip over Labor Day and the following week to Medina, Brockport, Spencerport, Fairport and Middleport.  Weather was up and down, we had 90 degree temps, 40 degree temps, sun, wind, rain and everything in between.  I caught some really nice cats and carp on this trip. 

Here is a video Jane shot of one of the bigger carps:

Sunset in Brockport:

Caught this big cat in Fairport:

Fairport at dusk:

Ran into these firemen playing on the canal:

We met up with the 1800's Canal boat replica, the "Lois McClure"

Back at the marina:

Our last dinner - steak, lobster and the works!

Overall we had a very relaxing trip.  Covered about 150 miles and put about 25 hours on the engine.  Not much traffic at all on the canal, we had no problems getting spots at any of the ports.  Spencerport has a brand new Tops supermarket, other than that, not much changes that we saw in any of the ports we visited. 

View all our 2010 Boating pictures here:

2010 Pictures

We have about one more month of boating left this year, our next trip will be to take the Missy back to Tonawanda on Sept 25th for preparations for winter storage.  Great year of boating so far!

Jane and I took the Missy to Tonawanda this weekend.   Left Friday and spent Friday night and Saturday on the north side.  Tonawanda is a really cool place to stay, all sorts of action including great restaurants, shopping and bars to visit.  We had dinner at "Crazy Jakes"  Great dinner and pretty reasonable.  It turns into a night club after dark, of course Ron met up with some fellow boaters and had to check it out.

Beautiful weather for the 4 hour ride home on Sunday, sunny and a light breeze made it a picture perfect long weekend.

Docked in Tonawanda:

Jane:

Pooped Pup:

Tonawanda at night:

We took off early Friday afternoon to get a head start on the weekend.  Absolutely beautiful weather, and our good friends Leo and Kathleen made the trip down the canal from Grand Island to join us.  Jane made her world famous ribs on Friday along with some fresh sweet corn and salads.  Wonderful dinner with good friends, life is good. 

Leo:

Kathleen:

Leaving the marina:

Took this little video on Sunday of a train passing by our marina.  The trains leave Medina on a sightseeing trip to Lockport and pass right in front of our marina.

Jane and I took of the week of July 4 to do some traveling on the Missy.  We left Gasport Thursday evening, July 1 and headed to Albion.  First time we have ever stayed here, and really not a bad spot.  There is a police station right across the road, so we felt pretty safe here.  Had a great marinated flank steak dinner cooked over the grill and watched a gorgeous sunset unfold:

We awoke early on Friday and after a light breakfast, cast off to head to Rochester.  Our plans were to get a spot in downtown and hang out for a few days and watch the fireworks over the city on Sunday.  We made Rochester in a little over 4 hours.  Wow, place was already packed - we were able to split the power connection with the boat in front of us so all was well.

This was the view of downtown Rochester from our boat:

On Saturday, I rented a car and Jane and I took off to do a wine tour around Seneca Lake.  Only problem was Jane had a bit too much wine the night before partying with our friends and was not in the mood to do too much tasting.  I did some, found a really great winery that I enjoyed - Fox Run.   We ended up having a wonderful lunch out on their patio over looking Seneca Lake:

Headed back to the boat at around 3 or so and enjoyed the rest of the day just relaxing and people watching.

On Sunday, we took the car to visit our good friends Dave and Jeanne on thier boat.  They dock in Rochester on the Genesee River, same river we are docked on right now, but alas, separated by 2 sets of falls.  No way to get a boat from downtown Rochester to Lake Ontario.  We had a very nice visit with them and breakfast at a small diner close to their boat.  On the way back, we stopped at the bank ($$) and Wegmans (food!).  Dave also was kind enough to take me to a nearby grocery store that filled propane tanks, got the Missy's 20lb tank topped off for $14.99.

Later that day, the our son's Kyle and Rob and their girlfriends made the trip to our boat from Buffalo to enjoy the fireworks with us.  It was a great show, one of the best I can remember.  Took a short video of the excitiment:

The next day Jane and I cast off and headed back down the Genesee to the canal with plans to head to Newark for a few days.  It was really, really hot!  Mid 90's and high humidity.  We started the generator after the first lock and set the A/C to full blast.  It was great to go down and drive from the lower station in air conditioned comfort.

We arrived in Newark at about 2pm, got a free pumpout and spent the rest of the day reading and fishing.  I caught a few cats, but nothing real big.  We hung out here for the next day as well, still very hot and humid so we never even left the boat.  Oh except to run up to the store for some more beer!

On Wednesday, we headed back west to Fairport, with a stop in Macedon's Mid-Lakes marina for some diesel.  Missy took 138 gallons at $3.29 per.  Not bad considering we have traveled over 300 miles this year and almost 100 last year since our last fueling.  She runs pretty close to 3mpg on the canal which gives us great range on her 300 gallon tanks. 

In Fairport I caught some really nice cats and about 4 carps, none really too big:

Jane had fun feeding the ducks, she made about a 1,000 friends with just a loaf of stale bread!  At one point Coco got so excited he jumped in after them, 15 year old dog thinks he is still a pup.  I ended up fishing him out of the canal with my net!

On Thursday we ventured into town for some chicken wings, the restaurant across from the canal had a 35 cent special.  We ordered 20 wings, Jane had a salad and I had a beer.  Total bill with tip less than $20.  This was the only time on our trip we ate on shore, Jane has me spoiled with all the great meals she makes aboard the Missy.

We left Fairport on Friday and headed west to Spencerport.  Our original plans had us going to Holley, but a huge rain storm (first rain all week, lucky us!) made us stop here before it hit.  Spencerport is a great place to stop anyway, great town with a new welcome center, and it is all free.   Snapped this shot of the pouring rain:

On Saturday we headed back to our marina, about a 5 hour run from Spencerport.  Another nice day, the sun was shining, the bridges were all opening for us and life was good!  Had a great dinner with our marina friends, Dan and Anita.  All in all a great week to be on the water and another nice trip on the Missy.  We really enjoyed seeing the fantastic fireworks show and all the things we did on this trip. 

Click here to view all of our 2010 boating photos

We have really been enjoying the boat this year.  I took everyone I work with out for dinner last week at the Basket Factory.  Nice little ride down the canal to Middleport.  Last weekend Jane and I went to Medina for the weekend to celebrate our good friend Jeanne Alexander's 81st birthday.  Had a great dinner with Dave and Jeanne at Zambistro:  http://zambistro.com/

Met the kids on the return trip, we stopped in Middleport and took them out for chicken wings at Pony's.

Jane enjoying a beautiful morning in Medina:

And finally, if you can believe, Rob bought his Mustang back that he sold last fall.  Looking real good!

One of my staff from NYC was in town this week, so I thought it would be nice to take him and everyone else on our team in Buffalo out for a cruise down the canal to the Basket Factory.  This is a great little restaurant right on the canal in Middleport, about a 30 min trip by water from our marina.  Wasn't the best of nights, really windy and some rain.  But the cruise went just fine and I think every one enjoyed themselves.  Great food and good times, on the way back, I even showed everyone how we go through the lift bridges.  Well, actually we don't go through them, we call the operator and she lifts it for us and then we go under it (of course!).  A new expirience for all on board.

Click here to view all of the cruise photos

Jane and I spent the long holiday weekend cruising on the canal.  Left Friday morning for Brockport, arrived around noon.  Spent the next 2 days in the village relaxing, reading books, fishing and enjoying the company of some friends.  Weather was absolutely fantastic, sunny and mid 80's all weekend.   Caught 4 nice size carp, but didn't land one due to lack of net!   On the way back we stayed in Medina for the night.   Took a few photos and one movie, enjoy.  

Our slip in Gasport

Missy in Medina

Medina Waterfalls

Movie I took of our trip including Ron vs Carp!

Caught a nice size catfish behind our boat on Friday evening.  Caught him on a hunk of cheddar cheese!

We took the long cruise from Tonawanda to Gasport on May 14th.  Windy as heck, lot's of fun locking through the double locks in Lockport.   Took a video of our cruise below:>

Launched on 5/5/10.  Had a crazy weather weekend, 60mph gusts, rain and high water.  The Niagara river rose almost 4 feet.  Spent the weekend adjusting lines and making sure the Missy was riding it out ok.

We head out to our marina in Gasport on Friday, I hope the weather is better!   Took some videos of the Missy on Sunday, but only one came out decent.  



Short video of the Missy

Finshed waxing the Missy this weekend and we are now ready to launch.  I replaced a float switch on the mid bilge pump and installed a new rod holder, other than that just a lot of elbow grease cleaning and waxing.  Bottom paint still looks good from last year, so got off easy on that one.   We'll be hanging at Smith Boys for a week or so after launch and then heading to our marina in Gasport on May 15. 

Let's go boating!

Jane and I took a one week cruise this March on the beautiful Norweigian Jewel.  We've cruised on Carnival, Celebrity, Royal Caribbean and Costa.  Lately we have found that Norweigian has been our line of choice, the Freestyle cruising they tout seems to work well with us.  The ports we visited on this cruise were Roatan, Honduras, Belize, and Costa Maya.  We had a great time and looking foward to our next big ship cruise in October.

Click here to view all of our photos

View from our cabin:

Having a "Life Saver" in Roatan:

Scootering around Roatan:

We got to tour the bridge on this trip, really cool.  The captain gave a little talk about the ships operation, then he let us walk around and take pictures.  I took a short video, the ship was actually underway when were were there.

126.MOV

As everyone knows, winters in upstate NY can be brutal.  We are very fortunate to have inside storage for the Missy.   We usually arrive the second week of October and get hauled out the last week.  Once on shore, the Missy gets a bottom wash, and then I do the winterizing while she sits waiting in the parking lot.  I took this photo 6 years ago as she sat in the lot. 

When I am done winterizing, she get moved into one of two HUGE storage buildings onsite.  They rack over 250 boats on each side, then put the big boats in the middle.  We pay by the square foot for this privilige, not cheap but definitely worth it.  No shrink wrapping or covering of any type needed.  We don't even have to take our bridge canvas down!

On April 15th or there abouts, the marina will move her back outside, and we get busy washing and waxing her for another season of great boating.

Went to the show this weekend.  Great time, we stayed at the Sheraton Hotel right downtown.  Not as many big boats as in past years, but that's ok with us as you can never get on any of them without waiting in line for hours.  We did miss seeing the trawler section, no trawlers at the show this year.  Also, seemed to be many more vendors selling non-boating stuff. 

Had a great party in our room Friday night with our friends.

Dave and Dan:

Had a great Perch sandwich at the show, here's Dave waiting for his:

Met some good boating friends of ours, Rob and Marie:

Ended our trip with an awesome dinner at  Mediterra - would highly recommend -http://www.mediterrarestaurant.ca/

Lady Jane at dinner - great time!

In our section of the Erie Canal, the water is drained each fall.  I took some photos of our docks last year when there was no water in the canal.

The dock where Missy stays:

The floating docks sitting on the bottom:

Jane waiting for me - it was a nice sunny day, so we took the mustang out.

Our Marina website - http://GasportMarina.com

Click here for all of our 2009 Boating Photos

Jane and I were fortunate to have taken a great trip to Florida and the Bahamas the first week of October.  When we returned, it was time to think about moving Missy from her summer home in Gasport on the Canal to Smith Boys marina in North Tonawanda.  We always make a weekend of this trip, and stay in Tonawanda for a night or two.

We arrived down at the boat on Thursday, wow, was it cold!  Here is a shot of the temp in the boat:

Woke up the next morning to 35 degree temps and a chance of SNOW, although it never did snow.  Got a few nice parting shots of our marina:

As you can see, no one else around but us!  We are always the first to arrive and the last to leave.  The cruising was very nice that day, no wind and no other boats.  We started the genny and had 2 heaters going in the cabin, so we were nice and toasty.  I drove from the lower station, really nice to be able to drive in a warm dry cabin when it is freezing cold out.

Here's Jane doing our last locking of the year:

Here is a shot looking back at the guard gates in Lockport:

Lower helm of the Missy:

Docked in Tonawanda - that is our good friend's 30' Trojan in front of us.

We found this old woodie docked behind us when we made it to Smith Boys.  Need some work, but she is floating fine and her owner was down every night working on her.

All in all it was a great trip.  Always nice to return to our "winter home" after summering on the Canal.  The Missy was hauled a few weeks after this trip and is now safely tucked inside, waiting for better weather.

More photos from our trip - Click Here

In October 2009, we took a short 4 day cruise on the Norweigan Sky to the Bahamas.  I took all the good photos from the trip and created this little video.  Not perfect, but not too bad for my first try!

Summer in Buffalo?  We didn't have one in 2009 - seemed like it rained every weekend and was COLD!  However, we did have one brief shining moment, Labor Day weekend was just gorgeous!   Jane and I took the Missy on a short trip to Tonawanda and Beaver Island.  We even stayed overnight at Lock 35, which was kind of cool.  In Tonawanda, we met up with some good friends of ours, Leo and Kathleen who own a beautiful 1975 30' Trojan.

Here is our dock at Lock 35.  This is really a neat place to stay, you can tour the lock and take in the small museum on site.  There is power and water at the dock and best of all it's free.

Stayed at Gateway Habor in Tonawanda.

And of course, no post is complete without a pic of my lovely Lady Jane:

This was a fun year!  Jane and I had planned on going to the Finger Lakes (Ithaca) via the Erie Canal.  But we ran into a slight problem - a sunken dredge that the canal corp decided to refloat.  This would require the closure of the canal for at least 4-5 days, and unfortunately we only had one week vacation.

Spent a few days in Brockport, this is a great canal port, tons of stuff in town within easy walking distance.  Took this shot of the canal and Park Ave bridge.

On our return trip, we had some excitement in Brockport, first I caught a huge catfish, then later that night (much later!) some of the town idiots decided that it would be fun to untie the boats.  We were floating away when one of the other boaters noticed and woke us up.  No damage done, but it sure pissed us off.

Here's a picture of my cat, probably went 4 lbs or so.

So from Brockport we headed to Newark, then got the great news that the canal was going to be closed.  Wonderful, and I had non-refundable slip reservations at Alan Tremain State Park in Ithaca.  So we stayed at Newark for one night, then turned around and started back.  Stayed at Fairport for 2 nights, and did have a really nice time there with our friends Kathleen and Leo, who were bringing home a new to them 30' Trojan cruiser.

Here's a shot of the sunken dredge.

Sunset at Fairport:

 1000 Islands Trip 2008

Click here for Photos of our Trip

Jane and I spent the first 2 weeks of July, 2008 cruising from our marina in Gasport to the 1000 Islands Region. The canal ports we stayed over in were Newark, Baldwinsville, Oswego, Phoenix, Seneca Falls and Spencerport. We visited Cape Vincent, Keywaidan State Park, Alex Bay, Waterson State Park and Kingston Ontario. We also spent 2 nights on the hook, once in the Lake of the Isles, and one night behind Boldt Castle.

We had really good weather for the trip, and no problems crossing the lake. I guess the only bad part about this tip was the price of diesel, we burned 200 gallons and paid $5.34 per gallon.

2007 Finger Lakes Trip

Click here for Photos of our trip

 Jane and I took a 2 week trip this year from our **new** marina in Gasport, NY to the lovely Finger Lakes via the Erie Canal. It was a leisurely trip, most days we were in port and docked by 2pm or earlier.

July 21, 2007 Day 1 - We traveled from our marina to Spencerport, NY today. Nice weather and no problems at all. Not much new in Spencerport from last year, they are renting kayaks from the town dock and the supermarket has closed.

July 22, 2007 Day 2 - We had a bit of adventure today in lock 33, we went through with about 30 canoes filled with exchange students! Today's destination was Fairport, we docked on the north wall. They are letting too many seasonal boats dock here, it is really getting difficult to get a spot on either wall. Another great day, Jane and I spent most of the day relaxing and reading books.

July 23, 2007 Day 3 - Stopped for a pumpout in Palmyra, there was a canal boat here that a family from Boston had chartered. We are noticing quite a few people from out of state are renting these boats and enjoying our wonderful NYS canal system! From Palmyra we traveled to Newark, where we docked for the night. Today was one of the few days that it rained on our trip. Newark as always was great. We did our laundry for free, enjoyed the new free Wi-Fi and walked into town for some groceries. This port has got to be the best on the canal!

July 24, 2007 Day 4 - Our plans today were to travel to Seneca Falls and spend a few days there before venturing out to Seneca and Cayuga lakes. Our long time cruising friends, Dave and Jeanne aboard the Kaleen left from Rochester and were already in port. We squeezed in behind them once we arrived. This port is also getting very popular, it was totally full by the next day.

July 25, 2007 - Day 5 - No travel today, we stayed in port and checked out the area. The IGA has closed and re-opened as an upscale market, but alas, no BEER. We did pick up some wine at the local liquor store. Viewed the Trinity church from the other side of the canal, and checked out the statue of Susan B Anthony and friends.

July 26. 2007 - Day 6 - Took our boats west today to Seneca Lake. We had hoped to get a slip at the Seneca Lake marina in Geneva, but unfortunately they were full. We did take a nice ride out into Seneca, and also made a milestone today by completing the very last section of the canal that we have not been on. The Missy has now traversed every inch of the Erie, Cayuga Seneca, Oswego and Champlain canals as well as the Hudson River! Heading back to Seneca Falls, we found 2 spots on the wall and spent one more night there.

July 27, 2007 - Day 7 - We traveled today to Ithaca, NY at the south end of Cayuga Lake. Cayuga is a beautiful lake, it starts out shallow and then drops to over 400'. We enjoyed our cruise down the lake until we hit a big thuderstorm near the south end. Made it through safely and docked at the Allen Tremain State Marina where we had made reservations. Great rates, we paid $72 for 3 night dockage with power. As usual, Dave and Jeanne scooted ahead of us and were docked and enjoying the park when we arrived.

July 28, 2007 - Day 8 - I rented a car today, as we would be traveling to Rochester for my nieces wedding. Wow, hot day, temps in the 90s. Had a great time at the wedding, arrived back at the Missy at around 10pm.

July 29, 2007 - Day 9 - Wine tasting day! Since we had rented a car, we decided today to see the falls at Taughannock State Park and tour some wineries The falls are taller than Niagara Falls, but not much water flow this time of year. We ran into a whole bunch of greyhounds, they were participating in an annual event called the "grapehound tour"! Jane loved them all. From the park we started north and went to 5 wineries. At each one we sampled and bought some wine. Our favorites were the Americana and Hosmer wineries, although I have to say they were all great. This is a must do if you are ever in the area.

July 30, 2007 - Day 10 - Today we returned the rental car and headed towards home. We traveled to Lyons today, and were the only boat in port there. Had a wonderful dinner today aboard and enjoyed the day.

July 31, 2007 - Day 11 - Traveled from Lyons to Newark today - nice short trip! Did I mention we LOVE Newark??!! Jane and I spent the rest of the day relaxing, doing laundry and reading. Once again, Jane cooked us a marvelous meal to end the day.

August 1, 2007 - Day 12 - We left Newark around 9am and traveled to Faiport. Ended up at the same spot we had on the way out. Fairport upped thier dockage rates this year, but still ver reasonable for us, we paid $9 to stay here. I met a former Buffalo Bill here, his name was Joe, but I didn't catch his last name. Also made friends with a couple from Pennsylvania who we met the day before in Newark. Another great day on the water, the weather this trip was simply outstanding.

August 2, 2007 - Day 13 -Trip is winding down for sure! We headed to Spencerport and docked on the east side of the bridge. Met a nice couple with an older 38' Chris Craft Roamer in really nice shape. I had a few beers with them and enjoyed what was left of the day.

August 3, 2007 - Day 14 - We left Spencerport and stopped at the bridge for a pumpout. Free of course, and a pretty good one. We then traveled to Middleport with the intention of staying over, but decided to go the final 4 miles west to our marina. We spent our last night on board enjoying the memories of another great trip aboard the Missy!

Be sure to click the link at the top of the page to view our photos!

Till next time we travel - fair winds and calm seas....
- Capt Ron and Lady Jane aboard the Missy

 2006 Thousand Islands Trip 

Click here for Photos of our Trip

Jane and I took the Missy this year from her home in Tonawanda to Lake Ontario and the St Lawrence River this year via the Erie and Oswego Canals during the first 2 weeks of July.

We had flooding on the canal, rough water on the lake, wow, what a year!

Rather then bore you with a detailed log this year, I will summarize each port we stayed at and what we feel are the highlights..

Middleport:
What can I say about this port? Great stop that we know and love 30 miles east of Buffalo. Not much new for 2006, Mr Bills, the gas station/convenient store has closed, and Mr Ed's changed hands and is now called "Pony's". I am happy to report that the wings and tenders remain unchanged and still the best anywhere.

Holley: Always a great stop, the restrooms shine and the grounds are immaculate. Beautiful park with a waterfall here. Jane and I found a trail this year that takes up behind the top of the falls. Pretty neat! On the down side, the liquor store on Main St has closed, and it appears the IGA store may be next, as everything was 50% off when we where there.

Spencerport:Nice, nice nice! Lot's of stores and restarunts close by, great dock with Gazeebos. Still no restrooms here.

Fairport:We stayed here 3 days on this trip, 2 days on the way out and one on the way back. The place was packed with boats, alot of it due to the canal flooding and closures. We ended up on the north wall both times, lot's of gawkers here. I would have preferred the other side. No grocery store in town, it is a major bike ride to the Wegmans, which is about 2 miles away. Overall a very nice stop, we paid $8 per night to stay here.

Palmyra:Stopped for a pumpout - you have to have your own fittings, it is a coin-op job with no attached fittings. $2 got us a pretty good pumpout. Nice stop if you have a smaller boat and can tuck in the harbor away from the main channel.

Lyons:
We stayed here on the way home - the canal closed behind us as soon as we left in the morning - over 5" of rain in one day! I took a walk through town and found some really interesting old buildings. Very neat stuff, not a bad stop.

Lock 25:This lock is in the middle of nowhere! We stayed here on our way out, since the next lock is 30 miles east. However, we did enjoy the stay here. We were warned about the mosquito's, but they never materialized. Jane and I enjoyed some peace and quiet here after the 2 busy days of Fairport. No facilities or power here, and not much to tie up to. If you enjoy wilderness, this is your stop..

Baldwinsville:
We waited here for the Oswego canal to open - there were some boats that had been here for over a week waiting. Docked behind a nice Monk 36 on their way from VA to Canada. I wonder if they ever made it?

Phoenix:Home of the Bridgehouse Brats! We didn't get a chance to meet them, although we did enjoy a nice walk through town and admired the old architecture. Jane and I stayed here after a very long day of crossing a very rough Lake Ontario.

Lock 7/Lock 8 Oswego RiverThere is a great wall in between Lock 7 and Lock 8 that we stayed on. It is surrounded by a nice park and is low enough to allow easy access to the boat. Even with no power or facilities, this is a really nice stop.

Cape VincentAfter a 5 hour crossing of Lake Ontario from Oswego, we made port here. GREAT little town! We had only planned to stay one day here, but the annual French Festival was starting on Saturday, so we ended up staying for 3 nights. The French Festival was a blast, we enjoyed the fresh French pastries and bread as well as the parade and fireworks. The town itself is quaint and friendly. Plenty of free dockage at the town dock or the fish hatchery. There are also new restroom/shower facitlites for boaters at the fish hatchery. Nice!

Waterson State ParkThis secluded park on Welsley Island is only accessible by boat, so it is quiet and peaceful. Great dock with plenty of room for 7 or 8 boats. We arrived on a Sunday afternoon and the weekend crowd was just pulling out. By dark there was only one boat left. They charge $15-$19 to stay here, but no one came to collect when we were here. Coco loves this island because we let him run around like a crazy dog..(against the rules, but who's watching!)

Kingston, OntarioOur final stop in the 1000 Islands this year was Kingston. Big city ambience with small town friendliness! We always enjoy staying here, we walked the main drags, but didn't buy much. Had a great dinner at Lone Star. We left here and crossed back to Oswego.
Some highlights of our trip this year:

- The canal was closed due to flooding on the way out AND the way back. We narrowly missed getting caught in the closed section coming homed. On the way out, the Oswego River was RIPPING, had a 3 knot current shoving us all the way to Lake Ontario.

- Lake Ontario was ornery! We had rough water on both crossings, the southbound trip was terrible! We fought 5-7 foot waves the entire trip, the fridge opened and dumped everything all over the floor. Our entire cabin was in disarray. Jane not a happy camper!

- Cape Vincent - GREAT stop, GREAT festival! This was the high point of the trip. To top it off, we had great weather for our stay.
- Fuel - we fueled twice on the trip, once in Oswego, once in Macedon. Diesel was $2.99 in both places, we burned about 200 gallons on the trip for an average of about 2.7 mpg.

Jane and I spent 3 weeks in August of 2005 traveling the Erie and Champlain canals to Lake Champlain from our home port of Buffalo NY. We had great weather and a fantastic trip.

Some stats from our voyage:
Total Miles covered - 1,040
Engine hours - 160
Diesel used - 386 gallons
Total Locks - 88

Photos from our Trip

Log

Day 1, August 5 Destination Middleport

The boat was provisioned during the week, so Jane and I cast off at around 4pm as soon as I got out of work. We had a great cruise to Middleport where we arrived around 9pm. Jane is into the chicken tenders now, which we had plenty of at Mr. Ed's the local watering hole.

Day 2, August 6 Destination Newark

We cast off at 7am heading east on the canal. Long day of cruising, we made port in Newark at around 6pm. We had a nice dinner aboard and hit the hay early. Newark is a great town with great facilities, well worth a stop if you are passing through.
Day 3, August 7 Destination Brewerton

The plan today was to meet our friends, Rob and Marie at the junction of the Cayuga-Seneca and Erie Canal. Rob and Marie are from Pennsylvania have a 24' Bayliner and we cruise with them to Presque Isle every year. They only have a 2 week holiday, so once we hit Lake Champlain they will take off while we take our time.

We cast off at 7 am again and had some excitement just outside lock 27 - I was heading into the morning sun and didn't see a canoe tucked into the trees fishing. Well, the fellas on that canoe must have got some pretty wet feet as our 3 foot wake sent them rocking and rolled into their boat. I made sure they didn't capsize and then slowly continued on our way. I always slow to dead idle for canoes and kayaks, I just didn't see these guys.

Rob and Marie where right where they said they would be, and we enjoyed seeing them again. We both headed east across Cross Lake and into Baldwinsville. We always seem to have to wait in the lock here, the lockmasters seem to be very slow and want to make sure they have every spot on the wall filled. Took us close to 45 minutes this time to get lowered. Once out of the lock, we continued on to Brewerton, where we took on fuel at Winter Harbor, $2.14 per gallon for diesel - yippee!

We made port in Brewerton at around 7pm, our friends Dave and Jeanne in the Kaleen were waiting for us. They had made the trip from Rochester, and planned to voyage with us. We all had a great Margarita reception and enjoyed each other's company before retiring for the night.

Day 4, August 8 Destination Lock 20

ane and I cast off at 6:30am to make the long trip across Oneida Lake. The lake was perfect and 2 hours and 15 minutes later we were cruising into Sylvan Beach. Today we planned to stop at Lock 20 for the night where there is a nice little park. We made the lock at around noon, a nice short day of cruising! The park here is great, the dock is a small floater with room for 2 or 3 boats. We secured the Missy with a spider web of lines and found to our delight that there is 50 amp power here. I split it to 2 30 amps which would give Rob 30 amps for his A/C when he arrived. Dave and Jeanne can get by on 15 amps, so I would just run a cord from Missy to them.

We got a call around 1pm from Rob and Dave - engine trouble. Dave had blown an impeller crossing Onieda Lake and had overheated one of his engines. They stopped in Sylvan Beach to locate parts and fix the problem. Rob is a crack mechanic and had the Kaleen back in order as soon as they got the parts, which was quite a challenge. They both arrived around 5pm, and we all had a great pot-luck dinner outdoors.

Day 5, August 9 Destination Amsterdam

After a light breakfast and coffee, all three of our boats pulled out at 7am to start our eastward trip. We ran into a surly lockmaster right off the bat at lock 20, he made us wait and wait and wait. Took us about 45 mins to get through the lock. It was unfortunate that some of the lockmasters really seemed to have an attitude. We found this to be true on our last 2004 trip, and it seems to have gotten worse this year. I think they need to send some of them to charm school or something for a few weeks for an attitude adjustment!

Our destination today was lock 11, Guy Park in Amsterdam. Kaleen and Kimberly Rose took off ahead of the Missy today and got us a good spot on the wall. Guy Park is on the high side of lock 11 in Amsterdam. They have free tie ups with three 15amp power poles, which was better than no power. If you want more facitlities, you can proceed through lock 11 and stay at Riverfront Park. This is all new, full facilties. They charge $1 per foot here.

We all had another potluck dinner tonight on the bridge of the Missy after our usual happy hour snacks and drinks. It was really really hot today, so after dinner everyone ended up in the water. Very refreshing and a great way to end a long day on the canal.

Day 6, August 10 Destination Mechanicville

We set off at 7 am once again in hopes of making the end of the Erie Canal and Waterford today. Ran into quite a bit of commercial traffic this morning, 2 tows pushing barges passed us heading west. Kind of unusual to see anything other than pleasure boats on the canal, but supposedly the commercial traffic is on the uptick. Luckily, we didn't have to share a lock with the big barges!

Around Schenctedy, we ran into a gaggle of rowing skulls. This seems to be very popular rowing club area, there are at least 3 clubs lining the river here. These things are everywhere here, and they sure don't like to move out of the way. Once clear of that mess we proceeded eastward to lock 8. There is a real nice park and all new wall to tie up to on the west side of lock 8. We will definitely stay here next time through. A few more locks and we were coming into the Waterford Flight of 5. These locks are amazing, they drop you over 150' in less than 1/2 mile. Unfortunately, they were having some problems with Lock 3, and they made us wait on a very high wall with a terrible current. I jumped from the bridge of the Missy to shore and tied us up, then ran back to assist the Kaleen in getting secured. 1/2 hour later we were locking again.

It was around 3pm when we hit Waterford, so we decided to go on to Mechanicville, on the Champlain canal. We did 2 more locks and pulled into Mechanicville at around 5pm. I got a pumpout for the Missy, they have a great free pumpout here. There was not enough open space on the wall for all three of our boats, so Kaleen rafted off the Missy. Plenty of free power here, as well as water. Nice stop for sure.

After dinner, the girls were sitting on the bridge of the Missy when all of a sudden we heard them all screaming - what was going on?? It seems a BAT flew in through one of the open windows and was chasing bugs around inside the bridge enclosure! He soon found his way out, much to the relief of the crew. However, the bugs kept coming, soon there were millions of them! They were coming out of the water in droves, only to fly into the lights on the dock and die. Everything was soon coated with dead bugs - the dock, the water and the boats. What a mess! Within an hour, they were all dead..very strange.

Day 7, August 11 Down Day

Rob and Marie took off early today, since they wanted to get to Lake Champlain today. We decided to take a day off, since we have been really putting in the hours for the last 5 days.
First order of business was to do some laundry. Mechanicville has a laundromat very close to the wall, which was great. Dave and I did the honors while the girls relaxed..what's wrong with this picture?!

After laundry, Dave and I took a walk into town. There is a Price Chopper supermarket about a mile away, nice new store with everything you need to restock your boat. After returning to the boat, we spent the next few hours cleaning the boats and getting things in order.

The rest of the day was spent just relaxing, drinking beer and enjoying the surroundings and good company. We had a nice dinner and then settled in for the "bug show". They weren't as bad tonight, I would estimate only 2 or 3 million compared to the 10 or 12 million the night before! Of course they all died right on cue, and once again made a mess of the boats. Looks like we will be cleaning again before we head out in the morning..

Day 8 August 12 Destination Whitehall

We left Mechanicville at around 8 am under partly cloudy skies. As we continued our voyage north on the Champlain Canal, the scenery continually changed for the better. We passed through locks 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 11. Surprise, no lock 10! Once past lock 9, we could see the Adirondac mountains in the distance. Most of the voyage today was through wilderness and long straight man-made sections of canal. The water turned a chocolate-milk color as we got farther north, presumably from recent rains.

We pulled into Whitehall at around 4pm, there were 2 other boats tied up on the wall. Whitehall has a beautiful wall with free power and water, but the town doens't have much to offer. Most stores are shttered and closed, although there is a nice marine store about a mile away and a Tops grocery store also within walking distance. It was raining slightly by the time we docked, but it didn't seem to deter the CW band from playing a free concert in the park right off the wall. We could hear the music in the Missy as we enjoyed a great dinner.

Day 9 August 13 Destination Cole Bay

We awoke today to overcast skies. There is a Tops supermarket a short walk from the town docks at Whitehall, so we took advantage and picked up some supplies and fresh vegatables.
Our last lock for a long time, lock 12 was soon behind us and we were finally on Lake Champlain!

Lake Champlain starts out not much different than the canal. It is narrow and marshy, however, still very scenic with the mountains in the distance. We passed 2 marinas at the end of this long stretch. This is a no wake zone, we got the blue light salute from the local watercop even though we had the Missy basically idling. He turned the lights off and left us alone after I dropped to dead slow.

We passed Fort Ticonderoga, but didn't stop. We understand you can anchor on the south side of the Fort and dinghy in.

A few more hours and we were passing under the bridge at Crown Point. It is here that the lake finally gets wider, deeper and absolutely beautiful. We set our waypoint to our destination, Cole Bay, which was abut 7 miles north. We made the anchorage at around 4pm and found a great spot on the north side of Cole Island. There is a boys camp on the mainland here, supposedly the oldest in North America. The boys seemed to be having a great time swimming and canoeing in the small bay.

As the temperature was pushing 90 degrees, we all had a great time swimming in the cool clear water here. After our swim, we enjoyed a nice dinner and watched some movies and drank wine with Dave and Jeanne before turning in for the night.

Day 10, August 14 Destination Vegennes, VT

I got up early today to take some photos of the sunrise. I was well rewarded, got some fantastic shots. After coffee was brewed, the rest of the crew started to come to life, and we enjoyed a light breakfast with coffee while discussing our plans. Missy needed a pumpout, so we decided to go to Westport Marina, about 2 miles away.

We weighed anchor and Kaleen and Missy headed out into Lake Champlain. It started raining, I think this was one of the only days we saw rain all day on the trip. What a great summer this was! We headed into Westport, while Kaleen continued on towards Otter Creek.

Westport Marina is a great stop, the people that work here are fantastic. They had me secured in minutes, and pumped out just as quick. We were soon motoring back out into the lake in search of Dave and Jeanne aboard the Kaleen. We located them pretty quickly and regrouped for our trip down Otter Creek.

Otter Creek is a very narrow, but navigable creek off Lake Champlain that is around 6 miles long and ends at Vergennes, VT. The entrance is very tricky, you have to hug the shore, then turn over 90 degrees to get into the creek. Lots of rocks here, so follow your charts and GPS! Once in Otter Creek, the water gets deeper and it is just like traveling the canal.

We arrived at Vergennes and found the docks with power were all full. Dave and I docked at the small floating dock and secured our boats. After talking with some of the boaters, we discovered that most of them were getting ready to leave, as it was a Sunday and they were all local boaters. Great! Once the boats left, we moved the Missy and Kaleen to the preemo docks with power and water (and of course, FREE!)

I took a bike ride into town later that day to get some supplies (beer!). Wow, what a hill you have to climb. I got to the top and thought I was going to die! However, the ride back was neat - 100mph down the hill!

The rest of the day we spend aboard playing games and reading, as it continued to rain all day long.


Day 11, August 15 Down Day

We were enjoying our stay in Vergennes, so we decided today to stay in port one more day. The rain from yesterday was gone, and the sun was out. A nice day indeed. I started the day by giving the Missy a bath, there is great water pressure here and I was able to get her clean and shiny in no time.

We all left the boat at around 10am and took a stroll into town. There are quite a few nice restaurants here, but not much on the way of a grocery store. Dave went in search of a jwelry store to get his watchband fixed while Jane and I got a panini sandwhich from a cafe called "Just Good Food". And you know what? It really was good!

We returned to the boats after a while and spent the rest of the day reading and checking out the falls by dinghy. If you do take your dinghy or boat close to the falls, be very careful, there are rocks just below the surface quite a ways out from the falls. We nicked the prop of the dinghy on these. You can't see them, as the water here is murky.

Later that day a few more boats pulled in, one was a small cruiser from Burlington. The owner told us that they came to eat at the Black Sheep Bistro, which he said was fabulous. Sounds like a good recommendation to us, we decided to check it out. So we made reservations and at around 5pm we headed up the big hill into town. The restuarant was awesome! All the entrees were $15, appetizers were $5. The food was very unique, all signature dishes. The girls had a chicken entree, and I had a wonderful fish. They serve both mashed potatoes and fries to the table, which were also great. A great dinner was had by all of us.

After dinner, we took a walk to the park in the center of town where a band was starting to play. We hung around for a few songs, then headed back to our boats for the night. We really enjoyed the day and our stay in this neat little town.

Day 12, August 16 Destination Burlington and Valcour Island

We bid farewell to Vergennes at around 7:30am and made the 6 mile trip down Otter Creek back into Lake Champlain. First order of business today would be to get some fuel. We found great prices and service at Shelburne Shipyard, which is just south of Burlington. Missy took on about 100 gallons at a pretty fair price of $2.30 per gallon.

From Shelburne we made our way into Burlington Harbor. We raised the Burlington Public marina on the VHF, and they directed us into an open slip. They give you one hour free dockage here, additional hours are $5 or you can stay overnight for $1.50 per foot.

We found Burlington to be very nice, they have a shopping district in the center of town with a road closed to traffic. All sorts of shops and cafes. Of course, Dave and I could care less, we were in search of BEER which we did find at the Vermont Brewing Company, and excellent local brew pub. Had lunch outside on the patio, excellent place.

We left Burlington about 2 hours after we arrived, and headed for our overnight destination, Valcour Island. Valcour is a great destination, the whole island has coves and anchorages, so no matter what way the wind is blowing, you can find a calm spot to drop the hook. We checked out the east side and Smugglers Cover first, however, the cove is really small! I got the Missy in, but was really nervous about being so close to shore. I had a heck of a time just turning around here, it it alot smaller than it appears in the cruising guide.

Heading north, we circled around to the west side of the island and found our perfect spot on the south side of Bluff Point. A word of advice, these anchorages are very popular with the sailboaters! There were about 6 here when we arrived at 3pm, by dusk there were close to 30 of them surrounding us!

An excellent dinner served on the Missy followed by a spectacular sunset made this a picture perfect day.

Day 13, August 17 Destination Burlington

After taking Coco for his morning walk and duties on shore at Valcour, I picked up Jane and gave her a tour around the south side of Valcour Island by dinghy. There is big cliff at the south end with very intersting rock formations. I forgot my camera, so no pictures - sorry!

We had a light breakfast and weighed anchor and headed out with our initial plans to visit Burton Island State Park. We transited "the Gut", which I was told is a must-do for anyone visiting Lake Champlain. Once through the drawbridge, I radioed the state park and asked them about depth. Due to the dry summer, water levels were low this year and I was concerned about the dockage here. The dockmaster stated there was 4 feet in the harbor, but Missy drafts 4 ft, so we decided to change plans and spend the night at Burlington.

Back out through "the gut" we went and headed south to Burlington. Winds were picking up, and we were slogging through a short 1-2' chop. Upon entering the Burlington harbor. we called the boathouse (public marina) and asked them about a mooring. They told us to grab any mooring between 20 and 30. Well, first of all the wind was now cranking at around 25 knots. Secondly, you can't see the damn numbers on the moorings when it is that windy! Jane and I finally located one after circling 3 times. Great, now we have got to catch it! Jane tried and tried, and at last had the mooring on the hook - I ran down to assist here - guess what - we couldn't hold onto it!! Too windy! We bent our boat hook and then actually had to let go with the hook attached. More bad news - I'm drifting into the sailboat behind us! They caught us and held on while we got our senses together. Someone in a dinghy was nice enough to get our mangled boat hook back to us, and we cast off headed into dock. No mooring for us tonight! I called the boathouse and they had a slip for us and were on the dock to help us in. No problems docking and we were soon having a great cocktail hour.

Dinner tonight was aboard the Kaleen with Dave and Jeanne, Dave treated us to an awesome pasta dinner with plenty of red wine. Once again, a gorgeous sunset ended a great day on Lake Champlain.

Day 14, August 18 Destination Button Bay

Today we start our long journey back home. Today would be our last day on Lake Champlain, I only wish we had another week, since we have barely begun to explore what she has to offer.

Jane and I went to breakfast with a Mainship owner, Bill Gilbert, that we had corresponded with before and during our trip. Bill took us to the Oasis Diner, which is a popular stop for all the politicians that visit Burlington. Bill was also nice enough to give us a great tour of the city and showed us things we never would have discovered on our own. Thank you, Bill!

After breakfast, we cast off at around 11am for a slow cruise down the lake to our destination at Button Bay. It is rumored that Button Bay and Button Island are named that on account of the button shaped rocks which are found there. It was fantastic crusing today, not a ripple on the water and temps in the 80's.

We arrived at Button Bay around 3pm, and found a great spot to anchor right off the island. Dave and I took the dinghy into shore and explored the ruins of an old mansion on shore. Not much left besides the foundations and alot of rusty plumbing. Alas, we didn't find any "buttons".

Once again, a great dinner aboard Missy and a picture perfect sunset completed this wonderful day that would be our last on Lake Champlain.

Day 15, August 19 Destination Fort Edward

We have a long day ahead of us today. Our plans were to travel down Lake Champlain to the Champlain Canal, then through 5 locks to Fort Edward. We awoke to great weather, although a bit on the chilly side.

We had coffee, then left our anchorage at around 6:30am. The lake was like glass once again, perfect cruising. We hit the Champlain Canal and lock 12 at around noon. By now the skies were becoming overcast, but no wind. Dave had scooted ahead of us, he would arrive at Ft Edward an hour or two ahead of us and get us a good spot on the wall.

After locking through C7, we made a sharp turn to the starboard and followed the Hudson a short distance to Fort Edward. This is where the Hudson breaks off from the Canal, up to lock C7, you are traveling on parts of the Hudson. After lock C7, the canal is entirely man-made.

The water gets very shallow as you approach Ft Edward, make sure you follow the markers. We measured less than 5 ft in one spot. Dave had a great spot for us on the wall at Ft Edward, and we were soon secured and having a cocktail. It was raining lightly, but nothing major. Dave and I took a walk into town, there is not much here. A convenience store and a restaurant were about it. However, the wall we tied to was new and had free power and water. It is a very high wall, so a bit of a chore to get off and on the boat.

We enjoyed a great dinner cooked on the grill tonight and watched a few movies before retiring for the night. After our 10 hour run today, we were all pretty wiped out.

Day 16, August 20 Destination Waterford

Another early start today - we cast off at around 7:30. It would be about a 5 hour run for us today to the port of Waterford at the eastern entrance to the Erie Canal. Still raining, but more of a drizzle than a steady rain.

After passing through locks C6, C5, C4, and C3, we made Mechanicville at around 11am and stopped in for a free pumpout. The winds had really picked up now, blowing close 25mph. Dave and I both docked with no problems, pumped our tanks and were back underway with no problems.

Lock C2 and C1 were pretty difficult for us due to the high winds. It it tough to hold the Missy in place when the winds get over 15 mph. However, we made it through just fine and were soon approaching Waterford.

As on our trip up, the place was packed with no spots on the dock with power. This place is getting way to popular, it seems that alot of boats are coming here and staying for weeks at a time. Two free nights and then only $10 per night is too good of a deal. I really think the town needs to start charging by the foot after the 2 free nights.

I got a spot on the high wall with no services, and Dave rafted off the Missy. We got lucky and were able to get a good spot in a few hours when a canal boat left, so we were all happy. Once moored, Dave and I took the dinghy across the Hudson to the Price Chopper grocery store. They have a dock on the river which is really neat. We got plenty of provisions here and then took off back to the boats in the dinghy - yes, it was rough and yes, we both got soaked!!

Another great dinner aboard the Missy (Jane made a fantastic Bourbon steak!) made a nice end to the day.

Day 17, August 21 Destination Amsterdam

We caught the first lock today at around 8 am. It was back on the Erie Canal today, and our first order of business was the Waterford Flight of Five. Five locks, 133 feet rise in less than one mile. No problems locking through, each lockmaster had the lock ready and waiting for us. Very nice.

We were soon heading west and through locks 7 and 8. On the west side of lock 8, there is a nice little park with a new low wall at the end of the lock. We debated staying here, but decided to press on to lock 9, where there was supposed to be another small park.

At lock 9, we found the park to have small finger docks only, which were exposed to some pretty rough water. Oh well, keep pushing on! Lock 10 is getting a big damn renovation, so no stopping here due to all the heavy equipment. By the time we got into lock 11, it was getting dark and we knew exactly where we were going to stay for the night - Guy Park. Luckily, there were no other boats there, so we got our pick of spots and power to boot.

We were all pretty tired after today's long trip and 10 locks, so we decided to go out to dinner at Russo's, a local Italian bar and grill. If you like food, this is your place! We could not believe the size of the portions of lasagna, shells and spaghetti we were served! Holy pepperoni! I don't think any of us ate more than half of the meal. I think the total tab with drinks was under $50 for 4 of us - what a deal!

After this belly-busting meal, we all rolled back to the boats and promptly went to sleep - sweet dreams!

Day 18 August 22 Destination Little Falls

After coffee and a light breakfast we headed out at around 7:30am. What a beautiful day! The water was like glass and the sky clear and sunny.

Traveling east today, we passed through locks 12, 13, 14, 15, 16 and finally, the grandaddy of them all, Lock 17. 41' vertical feet later and we were at the top and headed into Little Falls. We both found great spots on the wall. We always enjoy our stay here, top notch facilties and a great view. Tom Ryan, the dockmaster, will bend over backwards to accomodate anything you need.

Dave and I took a ride into town to buy some more wine and a few groceries. I ended up in a liquor store that was staffed by one little old lady who for the life of her could not figure out how to use the cash register. She rang up one bottle of wine for $57,000!! Wowser! She finally gave up and added my purchase up on paper..

We had a great dinner again tonight served by the #1 chef of the trip, Lady Jane. After dinner we watched some videos and called it a night at around 10pm.

Day 19 August 23 Destination Sylvan Beach
Dave seemed to have developed a redness around his ear that was getting worse, so he decided that he would stay in Little Falls until the medical clinic on shore opened so he could see a doctor. Jane and I headed out at 7am and would save them a spot on the wall when we arrived in Sylvan Beach.

The stretch we traveled today has got to be about the most boring stretch on the whole canal. Most of it is man made and straight as an arrow. Not much to see for sure. But it was easy crusing and we pulled into Sylvan Beach at around 4pm.

Sylvan Beach is a really neat little beach town. This was the first time we have stopped here, and really liked it. There is a free wall on both north and south sides, try to get a spot on the north side so you have easy access to the town. There are cottages that are right next to the wall, it feels like you are docking in their backyard! No power or water here, but it is a free tie-up.

In town you will find a little amusment park, some really nice restaruants, a well stocked convenince store with an attached liqour store, and alot of gift shops if you are into souveniers.

The Kaleen showed up around 5:30, Dave was checked out and fine. Dave and Jeanne had their son and daughter in-law and kids as visitors tonight. Jane and I enjoyed a nice dinner on the Missy. We enjoyed our short stay in this little town, and would recommend it to anyone passing through.

Day 20, August 24 Destination Baldwinsville

We bid farewell to Sylvan Beach at 6:30am and headed out into Onieda Lake . It looked like it would be a perfect day to make the long run across Onieda Lake. The sun was coming out and the lake was like glass. 2.5 hours later we were headed into the inlet at Brewerton. We pulled into Winter Harbor for our 3rd and last fill up on this trip. As last year, diesel had gone up almost 30 cents a gallon since we passed through 2 weeks ago. However, still a great bargain at $2.34 per gallon.

We talked to Dave and Jeanne on the VHF, they would head north on the Oswego River today while we headed west towards Buffalo. We said our goodbyes, we will miss them the rest of the trip.

After passing through Lock 23, we sat back and enjoyed a nice slow cruise to Baldwinsville, where after passing though lock 24, we arrived at around 2pm. We found a great spot on the wall and took a walk into town to check things out. The town has really come alive since our last visit here, alot of new stores, shops and restaurants. I picked up some gas for our little Honda generator, and Jane picked up a few groceries before we walked back to the boat to enjoy the rest of the day.

Day 21, August 25 Destination Newark

Check out the pictures in our album of the deep blue skies and fluffy clouds...that was today's trip. Just a great day of cruising, we enjoyed cruising through the Montezuma swamp, through locks 25,26 27 and 28a and 28b. That brought us into our favorite port, Newark at around 2:30pm.

Jane and I took a walk into town and picked up some groceries at a new Sav-A-Lot store. We checked out a local restuarant, but decided to eat on the boat. By teh time we returned to the boat at 5, the wall was totally full. This port is becoming popular, make sure you get here early.

Day 22, August 26 Destination Spencerport

After a light breakfast, we cast off for a leisurely cruise to Spencerport today. Our travels took us through locks 29, 30, 32 and 33. After 33 we will have no more locks until Lockport! Yeah!

We passed through Rochester and across the Genesee River. I was suprised when crossing the river when my depth alarm went off. It was less than 6 ft deep! This junction could use some dredging for sure.

We arrived in Spencerport at around 2:30. Jane and I spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and reading books on the bridge of the Missy. We couldn't believe what great weather we had on this trip! Another sunny and warm day.

Around 5pm, our friends Dave and Jeanne joined us for dinner. They had returned home with the Kaleen yesterday. We had a great dinner cooked by Jane and much wine while we spent the evening talking about our great trip together.

Day 23, August 27 Destination Middleport

Today would be about a 5 hour trip to Middleport. Of course, Mr. Ed's was in order for lunch! Awesome chicken tenders as usual.

For dinner we went to the Basket Factory. The place was packed, and we ended up waiting over 1/2 hour even though we had reservations. I had a Mahi-Mahi that was really good, Jane had a sirlion that she said was only so-so. (It think she was spoiled from my materful barbequeing!)

Our last night of the trip, we went back to the Missy with full tummies and great memories of a wonderful three weeks aboard.

Day 24 August 28 Destination Tonawanda

Homeward bound...we left at around 10am and after passing though locks 34 and 35 we pulled into our slip at around 2:30.

I hope you enjoyed traveling with us on this trip as much as we did. The Erie Canal and Lake Champlain are both wonderful destinations for a great boating trip. Feel free to check our our photos by clicking on the link at the top of the page

Email me if you would like any infomation on cruising New York's great inland waterways...

Till next time - boat safe and think summer!

New York City Trip 2004

The trip of a lifetime! Jane and I took the Missy from her homeport of Buffalo, NY to the big city of New York. Our trip took us through 35 locks on the Erie Canal, then south on the Hudson river to our destination. Along the way we stayed in many ports, met lots of interesting people and just loved every minute of the trip.

Click Here to view our Photos

Friday July 30 2004: The boat is provisioned, everything is packed, all systems go! Jane and I pulled out of port at 6pm and headed east to the Erie Canal. We passed through the 2 locks at Lockport and arrived in Middleport at 10pm. Chicken Wings at Mr. Ed's, these things are deadly. Unlike any other chicken wing in the world!

Saturday, July 31, 2004: Our first full day of our trip. Unfortunately, our plans were already getting crimped. Due to torrential rains on July 26, a section of the canal between Lock 27 and Lock 24 was closed. We had hoped to transit that section on Sunday, it doesn't look like the canal will be open by then. So our plans today was to travel to Spencerport. No locks to go through today, just a bunch of lift bridges. We departed Middleport at 8:30 am and arrived at Spencerport at 1:45 pm. This is a great port, free power and water, and a grocery store within walking distance. Jane made ribs for dinner, slow cooked in the oven, then finished off on the barbeque.

Sunday, August 1, 2004: Canal still closed at lock 27, so we decide to go to Newark, which is another great port just before lock 28b. Left Spencerport a 8am, arrived at Newark around 2pm. Went through 4 locks today. Newark is a fantastic port, free dockage, power, water and even laundry. Restroom shower facilities are clean and top notch. Most people pass up Newark in favor of Fairport. We met a couple here delivering a boat from Ohio to Sodus Bay, we ended up traveling with them once the canal opened. They gave us a tour of the boat, a 37' Silverton named "Survivor". Our friends, Dave and Jeanne Alexander, who we are going to meet on the way down, visited us by car for drinks.

Monday, August 2, 2004: Harbormaster informs us the canal is still closed. Jane and I took a walk up to a small diner about 1/2 mile from the boat. $1.99 for 2 eggs, homefries, toast and coffee. We return to the boat at around 11am, and I decided to call Albany to get

a status update on the canal. Low and behold, the person answering the phone tells me the canal is now open! Jane and I waste no time getting the boat ready and on our way. We pass through locks 28b, 28a, and 27. The lockmaster at 27 warns us of a low bridge right before lock 26- the infamous "Clyde Railroad Bridge". With the high water, it sure was a low bridge! I partially disassembled Missy's bimini top, and we still only cleared by inches. Our traveling partner, "Survivor", had to take thier bimini down. Once past lock 26 and 25, the water was really high! Docks and even some trailers on land were submerged. Tons of debris in the water, we did not hit anything. Saw a bald eagle while passing through the Montezuma swamp. We made Baldwisnville and lock 24 at around 7pm. I called Winter Harbor Marina in Brewerton to inquire about their hours. These people are great, the manager Leslie informed me they would open for us no matter what time we arrived! We went through one more lock and arrived in Brewerton at around 9pm. We took on 158 gallons of diesel at the bargain price of only $1.44 per gallon. We stayed on the Brewerton Terminal wall tonight, no services but it is free. Jane made us leftovers for dinner and we turned in for the night at around 10:30. A long day today, total travel time today 10 hours and 7 locks.

Tuesday August 3, 2004: Left port at 6:30 am today with hopes of crossing Onieda Lake before it kicked up. We had a very nice crossing, 26 miles and 2 hours 15 minutes later we were entering the little town of Sylvan Beach and back onto the canal. Got caught in a huge downpour between locks 22 and 21. Passed Frances Langford's 118' Mega Yacht "Chanticleer" leaving lock 20. Not sure if she was aboard, but WOW - what a yacht. Originally owned by Ralph Evinrude of the outboard motor company. Went through 2 more locks before reaching our final desination, Little Falls at around 4pm. This is a great facililty, totally renovated with full facilites. Our charge for the night was $23, if your boat is under 30', this drops to $13. We finally caught up with our friends, Dave and Jeanne aboard their boat "Kaleen Plus Two". They will continue on with us to NYC. Dave and I rode our bikes up to the liquor store to reprovision our wine supplies and to the grocery store for some ice. Dinner tonight was Jane's homemade lasagna which was excellent.

Wednesday, August 4, 2004: We left Little Falls at 7am. Nice day, sunny, about 75 degrees. Our first lock of the day was Lock 17 - the biggest lift of all the locks on the canal - 40.5 feet. The lock uses a guillotine type door instead of the normal double doors. Jane, on the bow of the Missy, didn't realize she was about to get a shower as we passed underneath it and the water was dripping off it in buckets! After lock 17, we continued on, and on, and on. Reached the Waterford Flight of Five at around 7pm. This is an awesome set of locks, five locks one after another, each with a 30-35 lift. You have to wait for a guard gate to open before entering the first lock on the up side, and once you start locking there is no stopping. You must make all 5 locks, you cannot stay overnight between locks. We did the 5 locks in just a bit over one hour, which we thought was pretty good as the canal literature indicates that it takes around 2 hours to pass through all 5. By the time we cleared the last lock, it was after 8pm and getting dark. We found a spot on the wall in Waterford, no power as all the spots with power were taken. We had started the Missy's generator in Lock 3, and Jane started dinner cooking as we locked. Air conditioning was cooling the salon; by the time we docked, the boat was cool and dinner was ready! A nice bottle of wine topped off the night. Today was the longest day of our trip, 13 hours of traveling and 17 locks. Needless to say, no one had a hard time sleeping tonight.

Thursday, August 5, 2004: No more canal - today we venture out on the Hudson River! Jane was delighted to be free of the locks - or so she thought. We left port at 7 am and we were soon approaching the Federal Lock in Troy. (sorry Jane!) This lock is a bit more difficult than the canal locks, as you must hold your boat against the wall with a single cable, since the spacing of the cables makes it impossible to use two. We used a mid-ship line looped around the cable and tied off to the stern of the Missy. No problems, and we were soon on our way headed south. Passing through the City of Albany, we went by many ship and barge terminals. However, most were empty, I guess it was a slow day for shipping. We continued down the Hudson following our GPS chart plotter. There are alot of shallow areas and weed beds in the Hudson, charts are a must. Scenery was getting better the farther south we got, and we were amazed at some of the commercial traffic we passed. Many tugs with barges, we saw one tug towing 14 barges! It looked like a train. Speaking of trains, they are a constant presence, both on the canal and the Hudson. They seem to run non-stop along the shoreline and can give you quite a scare at times when they sneak up behind you and blow that LOUD whistle
We arrived at our destination, Kingston, at around 1:30pm. We got a pumpout at the Roundout Yacht Basin, a bit pricey at $10, but hey, when you gotta go, you gotta go! We got a slip at the town docks in Kingston, we were a bit diappointed at these. Very short fingers, so you have to back in and then jerry-rig your lines to hold you on place. Dockage fee was $1.50 per foot, which didn't include much. However, I do have to admit the water pressure here is unbelievable, I gave Missy a wash and it was just like using a pressure washer. I would not attempt to hook this water to the ship's system, it would blow something out for sure. We met another Mainship owner here, Bob and Sue who own the "Tom-Kat" We chatted with them for a while (sorry about your lunch getting cold, Bob!). They are doing a mini-loop cruise, I sure wish we had the time to follow them.

Friday, August 6, 2004: We are planning to arrive in NYC today! Jane and I cast off from Kingston at 7am. Dave and Jeanne aboard the Kaleen would leave later, since they can run at around 25mph. We poke along at 8-9 knots, so the Kaleen would leave a few hours after us and then catch us at our destination or before. It was a nice day for cruising once again, sunny with temps in the 70's. Our southward trip today took us through the most scenic parts of the Hudson, we were in awe at the Catskill mountains which towered over us on both side. We passed the Bear Mountian Bridge and West Point, one thing that is neat about the Hudson is that all the bridges are HUGE. They are both long and high...very cool cruising under them. Onward to Haverstraw bay and soon we we catching our first glimpses of the New York skyline! Once under the George Washington Bridge, everything started to change - boats, ferries, condos, the big city was upon us! We pulled into Newport Marina at around 4pm, and the Harbomaster, Iris, was ready and waiting for us. We were just in time to meet up with 8 other boats, all members of the Bayliner Owners Club. My last 2 boats were Bayliners, so I keep in touch with the club, and they were nice enough to invite Jane and I to their NYC rendevous, which was one of the reasons we decided to take this trip. I have never met any of the Bayliner owners at the get-together, but after quick introductions, we were all talking as if we had known each other for years. The internet is a wonderful tool for getting people with similar interests together, I had corresponded with many of these people for years. Actually, I met Jane through the internet as well, but that is another story for another day..
We enjoyed a wonderful happy hour aboard Joe and Sue's 39' Bayliner, the "Green Eyed Lady" Dinner was at around 9pm, we all walked over to the nearby mall and hit the food court. After a few more cocktails dockside, everyone turned in at around 10:30 - the New York skyline lighting the night across the river.

Saturday, August 7, 2004: Today we are going to do the loop around New York City. I never knew it, but you can take a boat all the way around New York. The city is actually an island. I started taking movies of the dock activities around 8am, Capt Wally, one of the Bayliner owers, came out in his PJ's and said I was too loud. It is pretty funny to see this on video, we all got a chuckle out of him giving me sign language to be quiet! We left the marina at around 11am, Jane and I figured there was no way the trawler Missy would be able to keep up with a pack of gas powered Bayliner's, so we hitched a ride with Dave and Jeanne aboard their Maxum. The tour took us past Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty, down the East River, Governer's Island, Manhatten, under the Brooklyn Bridge, through Hell's Gate, past Yankee Staduim, and then back out to the Hudson, just north of the George Washington Bridge. What a great tour! We had 8 boats in convoy around New York, with plenty of stops for Kodak moments.
On our way back into the marina, a 121' mega yacht was pulling in - the name of the yacht was Que Sara - here is their website: Que Sara Looks like you can charter this bad-boy for only 65,000 per week!
We had dinner tonight at the Newport Marina Restaurant, there were about 15 of us and a good time was had by all. Very nice view and the food and service were good.

Sunday, August 8, 2004: The Bayliner Rendevous ended today, and most of the boats that participated left at around noon. Jane, Jeanne, Dave and I had other plans - it was off to the big city for us! We had tickets to a Broadway show, The Producers. From Newport Marina, it is just a short walk to the PATH train which took us to New York. We caught a subway from there to Times Square, where we did the touristy thing. Plenty of stuff to do and see here for sure! We had lunch at a deli, which was delicious, and Jane did some shopping from the street vendors. She bought t-shirts, and a bootleg purse and DVD.
The show was terrific, we all enjoyed it. After the show we toured around some more and ended up going to the WTC memorial, although it was pretty fenced off and you couldn't really see much. We caught the PATH there and went back to the boat for dinner. Rick and Carol, the only ones left from the Bayliner group, joined us for cocktails after dinner and we had a good time talking to them about our adventures. We hope to make a cruise with them someday soon.

Monday, August 9, 2004: The girls wanted to go back to the city today. Dave and I decided to stay back and do some reprovisioing, boat maintenance and laundry instead. So after breakfast the girls took off and Dave and I broke out the bikes. On this type of a trip, a bicycle is invaluable for running to the store and exploring shoreside. We took a ride to Jersey City, which was a few miles south of the marina. We checked out Liberty Harbor and Liberty Landing Marinas, which are much more protected from the constant ferry wakes, but also not quite as convenient to stores and the trains. We could see the Statue of Liberty from the marina, which was kind of neat. From the marinas, we toured Jersey City, which has a few memorials to pay tribute to those who perished in 9/11. You could look across the harbor from Jersey City and see the gaps where the WTC used to be. A sombering sight indeed.
Next stop was grocery store, we bought supplies and of course, more WINE! We sure did drink alot of wine on this trip. After our return to the boat, I met with a co-worker of mine who works in our office in Jersey City. She owns a boat with her husband and they are fishing fanatics. She shared a photo with me of a 600 lb Thresher shark she caught over the weekend. This fish was so big that they could not fit it in thier 31' Luhrs and ended up towing it in!! Wow!
When the girls returned, we had a dinner of shish-kabobs cooked over the barbie. Our last night at Newport Marina was spent viewing the skyline of New York and talking about what a great time we had here.

Tuesday, August 10, 2004: Today we are starting our long trip back home. We left Newport marina at 7am under sunny skies. Dave and Jeanne would leave later, so Jane and I were on our own. In Haverstraw Bay, we passed the Tom-Kat, our friends Bob and Sue with the Mainship 350 like ours. They were heading south to visit New York. I asked Tom where a good spot to get fuel was and he recommended Haverstraw Bay Marina. Diesel fuel was $1.99 per gallon here, I just put 100 gallons in the Missy and planned on filling up again at Winter Harbor in Brewerton. We got a free pumpout with our fuel purchase, which was nice. Back underway, we passed through the scenic section of the Hudson once again. It was a beautiful day, sunny and 70's, a great day for crusing. Not much river traffic today, which was also nice. We arrived at Roundout Creek at about 4:30pm, Dave and Jeanne in the Kaleen were already there and had secured us a nice spot at the anchorage up Roundout Creek. We decided it would be nice to anchor for a change, there is a really nice anchorage about 4 miles up Roundout Creek. Don't go to close to the last bridge, the water drops off to over 20' and the bottom is all rock. After a great dinner cooked aboard the Missy, we all watched a movie and then turned in at about 10pm.

Wednesday, August 11, 2004: - We woke early today after a great night at anchor. Today's plan was to go from Kingston to Waterford, the entrance of the Erie Canal. We pulled the hook at around 7am and headed out Roundout Creek. Dave and Jeanne had to get fuel before taking off, so we headed into the Hudson while they refueled. They passed us about an hour after we left, which was great, since they were able to zip ahead and get us good spots at Waterford. We passed quite a few trawlers today, all headed south. Wish we could follow, hopefully in about 9 years we will be looping with them. There were bass boats all over the river today, must have been some sort of tourney going on. Those things sure do fly, they were passing us doing 60-70 mph. I wonder how they ever find time to catch fish, seems like they spend most of their time just zipping around.
After passing through the Federal Lock in Troy, we pulled into Waterford at around 4pm. Dave, as promised, had a great spot for us staked out. After securing the Missy and a cocktail or two, we all took a walk to the grocery store. It is a real hike for sure, you have to cross bridge over the Hudson to get there. Had a great dinner tonight cooked on the barbie, the girls played some scrabble after dinner while Dave and I discussed our plans for the next day.

Thursday, August 12, 2004: - Our plans today were to do the Waterford flight of five and head west to Amsterdam. We got in the first lock, E2 at 7:50 am and had finished the last by 9:30. Approaching the last guard gate, which was down, we were unable to raise the gatemaster. We continued to radio for almost 20 minutes before he pulled up in a car and opened the gate for us. Never acknowledged our calls, not sure what was up with that. We found this behavior typical of the locks in the eastern part of the state; they would not answer our calls or have the locks ready. Some of the lockmasters really seemed to have an attitude; this was rather disappointing to us. Our normal cruising grounds are the western end of Erie, and the bidgemasters and lockmasters of that region are just wonderful.
Continuing on, we did locks 7 and 8 without incident. However, as we pulled into lock 9, the skies darkened and all of a sudden the winds increased dramatically. Jane and I were straining to hold the Missy, it was almost a losing battle. Soon after leaving the lock, the skies opened, and I really mean opened! Rain so hard we had zero visibility. I switched the radar on and with the GPS and depth finder going dead slow I was able to inch forward. Dave behind me could barely see my anchor light. We found out later that that single rainstorm dropped over 2 inches of rain in less than one hour.
We arrived safely in Amsterdam at 3:30, however, the rain was still coming down. A real soaker of a day for sure. Amsterdam charges $1 per foot to stay overnight, which I thought was excessive for a public facility. On the plus side they do have a nice park, restrooms and laundry facilities. On the down side, the trains run very close to the docks, non-stop. We found later that the lock right after Amsterdam has a great little park to tie up for free, we will stay there next time.

Friday, August 13, 2004: - With the threat of a hurricane remnants (Bonnie) bearing down on us and possibly closing the canal again, we were going to try to get as far west as possible today, with an eye on the weather. We left at 7am under rainy skies. Tons of debris in the water from all the rain. However, as we proceeded west, the weather got better and by the time we reached Little Falls at 2:30, the sun was out and life was good once again. After checking the weather, we decided to stay in Little Falls for the night, as it seemed the hurricane was now going to bear further east than they initially predicted. We love Little Falls, the dockmaster is the best, he took Jeanne in to town to do her laundry. While Jeanne was doing laundry, Dave and I took bikes into town and bought some more wine and provisions. We also cashed in all the beer and pop cans that had been accumulating in our boats.
After dinner, Dave and I walked over to the cruise boat that docks at Little Falls and started listening to the jazz band that was entertaining the people on board. We asked one of the mates who was on the dock next to the boat why they weren't cruising, as this was supposed to be a jazz CRUISE. She stated that their generator was dead, so they needed power from shore for the band. Dave and my eyes immediately lit up - the Honda generators! We both had one on board, Dave volunteered his for them to use. The captain agreed that that was a great plan, so we got the genny and some extension cords and the jazz cruise was back on track! For our heroic efforts, they invited all of us to join them on the cruise. Even Coco the wunder mutt got to come! It was a great little cruise, with the sun setting as the band played on. We all enjoyed ourselves and even got a free glass of wine at the end of the tour, compliments of the captain.

Saturday, August 14, 2004: - Today we planned to reach Brewerton at the west end of Oneida Lake. Nice day, sunny in the 70's. We went through 5 locks today and then it was out to Oneida Lake. But before we reached Oneida Lake, we passed through a HUGE party at Sylvan Beach. There was some sort of Mardi Gras going on, everyone was dressed up in costumes on boats and they were all throwing beads into the crowd on shore. There were boats everywhere in the channel, thank goodness Missy is so big, they all parted for us as we threaded our way through the crowd. Once past that mess and out to Onieda, we had a very calm trip across the lake and arrived in Brewerton a bit over 2 hours later. We proceeded to Winter Harbor Marina for some cheap diesel and found the price had gone up 15 cents a gallon since we came through two weeks ago. It was now $1.59 a gallon, still a bargain. We took on 222 gallons and got a pumpout for $4.
We stayed at the Brewerton Terminal wall for the night, the same place we stayed on the way down. Got pizza and wings for dinner and went to bed early after a 10 hour day on the water.

Sunday, August 15, 2004: - We decided that we weren't going to go very far today, so we all slept in a little late. Dave's son and grandkids stopped in to visit them at around 10am. We got underway at around noon with the decision to go to Baldwinsville for the night. Just past 3 Rivers, we passed another Mainship 350, the EastNor. EastNor is a member of the Yahoo Mainship group so I hailed him and we chatted for a bit. He was taking his boat from Sodus Bay to Cicero, where he had bought a house with a dock. Nice.
We arrived in Baldwinsville at around 3:30. There was a big concert going on in the bandshell across from the wall we tied up on, we got to watch it for free on the bridge of the Missy. Jane served some nice hor dourves and we all enjoyed the bands. A great day for sure.

Monday, August 16, 2004: Time for a side trip! We decided that we would head west today to the Cayuga Seneca canal and then south to Seneca Falls. None of us has been there before, so this would be a nice diversion from our trip westward. We left Baldwinsville at 7:30 and headed west. This leg of the canal goes from fancy waterfront houses to Cross Lake, which is actually a pretty deep, good sized lake. After Cross Lake there are some cottages and then the Montezuma Swamp begins. Not much of anything here, but if you keep your eyes open, there is some neat wildlife to be seen. We saw a bald eagle and a deer swimming across a creek. Pretty neat stuff!
We made our turn south onto the Cayuga Seneca canal and passed through lock C-1. From C-1 to C2/C-3 is about a 2 mile run through a section of wall-to-wall cottages. These cottagers are rabid about their no-wake zone, as we passed, many of them came out on their docks to stare grimly at us. As on many inland waterways, there is an unspoken battle between the boaters and cottagers on the canal. Many of the cottagers despise the boats for intruding on their privacy, and the boaters don't care for the unfriendly attitudes and deathly slow speeds we have to endure. I suppose this will only get worse as the canal land gets developed and the boat traffic increases.
Lock C-2/C-3 is a double lock, similar to the one in Lockport. We were soon through it and passing through VanCleef Lake, a small man-made lake that was built to provide a reservior for the locks. There is a beautiful church right at the waters edge here, one of the only buildings that was not razed to make the lake. The lake curves right around the church, makes for some great photos - see one in my album.
Seneca Falls is a great little port. Free tie-ups with power and water. However, dockage is limited here to about 10 boats (there is some additional dockage for small boats w/ no power) By the time we left here on Wednesday, the docks were completely filled with locals from Seneca and Cayuga Lake. If you plan to stay here, your best bet would be to arrive on Sunday evening toTuesday afternoon.
After mooring, we took a bike ride to the Menonite store which is about a mile or so outside of town. They sell everything from books to groceries to furniture. All good stuff, we did some serious restocking of the boat's stores here. There is also an IGA within walking distance of the docks if you don't have bikes.
We enjoyed the rest of the day relaxing and had a great dinner on board the Missy before turning in after much wine and good company.

Tuesday, August 16, 2004: Today will be a down day for us - no traveling. We have been traveling now for 7 days straight, it is nice to spend a day in port without going anywhere. However, I do have to admit that once you start moving, it is addictive. We found that after 2 days in port we were always glad to be back underway. It always feels great to leave one port for another.
Dave and I started the day by visiting the Seneca Falls visitor center. This is a free museum that has some literature, photos and displays that trace the history of this unique city. As a side note, the building also has nice restrooms which are open to the boaters during business hours.
After the museum, I spent a few hours cleaning the Missy while Jane settled into a new book and Dave and Jeanne took a tour of the waterfront church.
We had dinner tonight at a small chinese restuarant on Main Street, which was not very good. Tonight would be our last night together with Dave and Jeanne, as they would leave from here and head east back to the Oswego Canal and Lake Ontario, while Jane and I would continue west to Buffalo. Next time we will find a nicer place to eat!

Wednesday, August 17, 2004: We bid Seneca Falls farewell at 7 am. A cement truck parked right next to our boat was making all sorts of noise, so not much sense staying any later. Dave had a scare in lock C-2, the lockmaster started shutting the gates as he was leaving the lock! All I could hear coming over channel 13 was Dave screaming "you're closing the gate on me!!" The lockmaster sheeplishly replied "Sorry!" and re-opened the gates. Dave thinks he was just playing games with him, I think he was still sleeping.
Dave and Jeanne headed out to Cayuga Lake for a quick spin at lock C-1 as we said our good-byes. Jane and I continued through the lock and out the Cayuga Seneca Canal to the Erie. It turned out to be another nice day, although a bit windy. We had a difficult time holding the Missy in lock 28a, but we made it to our destination, Newark, without incident at 1pm. A nice short day of traveling, with plenty of sun left to relax in. We got a pumpout before tying up, they have a quarter operated job here, it took me $2 to get the Missy's tank clean.
By 6pm, the docks we full, we were glad we made it early to get a spot here. I met Gary, one of the town councilmen, and I complimented him on the beautiful facilties here. This is a great place, we plan to visit here again if we are traveling through.
Jane and I have a steak and lobster dinner tonight cooked on the barbie. We bought a small freezer for this trip to supplement the Missy's onboard freezer, this was a great decision! We were able to carry more than enough frozen food such as steaks, lobster, shrimp, chicken, to last us our entire trip. The freezer I purchased is an Avanti convertible model, which means it converts to a refrigerator when needed. I use it for a beer cooler when we aren't traveling. Definitely worth the $150 I paid for it.

Thursday, August 18, 2004: Reunion day! My son, Rob, has been working at a Boy Scout camp all summer. Our plans were to pick him up today at Spencerport, where he had returned and was staying with my brother Jeff. We left Newark at our usual 7am and arrived in Spencerport at 2pm. Got soaked in lock 32, but the sun did come out by the time we got to Spencerport. Jeff and Rob showed up (with all his gear and bike) at around 4pm. It was great to see him after 2 months and I think he was glad to see us for about 5 minutes, after which time he inquired as to when we would be home so he could see his friends. Sheesh! We all had a great dinner together and Jeff left at around 7pm while we enjoyed the nice evening.

Friday, August 19, 2004: Our trip is really winding down now. We traveled to Middleport, which will be our last stop before we are back home to Missy's dock in North Tonawanda. We enjoyed great wings and fries at Mister Ed's, you really need to try the wings here if you are ever passing through. They are unlike any other wing, trust me on that!
We rented some videos at the Wilson Farms, this is outside of town, but within walking distance. If you need provisions, this is about it for Middleport, there are no nearby grocery stores.
Good weather prevailed again, Jane and I enjoyed one of the last days of our trip reading while Rob watched the videos. Later in the day we watched a rented houseboat crash one of the docked boats. Found out it did around $1,200 worth of damage to the boat it hit. A word of warning, watch for th the Canal Princess houseboats on the western end of the canal, the operators obviously do not get enough training to handle these craft. This was not the first time we have seen them involved in a mishap.

Saturday, August 20, 2004: Against Rob's objections, we decided to spend one more day in Middleport. We had a great breakfast that Jane cooked us as she cleaned out the fridge, and spent the rest of the day reading and walking about town. Rob was bored silly, but he lived. For dinner we visited the Basket Factory, a nice restaraunt a short walk away. Good food and reasonable prices. Try the coconut shrimp if it is on the menu, they are out of this world. Make reservations if you decide to go, as it fills up quickly on weekends.
Day done, tommorow we go home

Sunday, August 21, 2004: All good things must come to an end. So goes our trip. We made the short 4 hour trip to our home port and then it was time to unload the boat and head home. With our belongings we took memories with us of a fantastic 3 weeks spent cruising and living the life we dream about. We are really looking forward to the day we can do this full time. Until then, there is always next year's trip to look forward to....stay tuned!

July 2004

Great weather and good company were the order of the weekend this year for our July 4th trip. We departed Buffalo at 6am Friday July 2 for the long trip across Lake Erie to Presque Isle. We arrived at about 3pm and got fuel at the state park. Wow - $1.43 a gallon AND a 10 cent Boat/US discount if you purchase over 100 gallons. Needless to say, we filled Missy up. Our home for the weekend was Marina Bay, a lagoon located just outside of the state park. We dropped anchor for the night and our friends, Rob and Marie with their boat "Kimberly Rose II" joined us at about 9pm.

 The rest of the weekend was spent relaxing and enjoying the wonderful surroundings. Presque Isle is a must see if you are ever in the Erie PA area. The bay across from the State Park offers protected anchoring with easy dingy access to the park. Our trip home was a bit rough, small craft warnings were issued 3 hours after our departure. With a steady 15-25 knot west wind, we had 4-5 ft following seas most of the trip. As always, Missy came through with no problems, although Jane was not a real happy camper! Enjoy the photos of our weekend, we did encounter 2 very fierce thunderstorms at anchor which I took some photos of from the bridge of the Missy. -Ron and Jane

Click Here for Photos of our Trip

NOTE - this is my first log from my old website - 10 years ago and we were live on the web before Blogs and easy-peasy positings.  Brought this back just for the fun of it..

A little background:

We found the "Lady Jane" for sale on the internet in February, 2000. Right away we knew that this boat had to be ours. So we made the phone calls and arranged to see her....

Yes!! It was everything we had hoped for....LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT!!So we made an offer and then got her surveyed - all systems go! Soon it was April, and time to actually close and SEA TRIAL our new boat!

Jane and I took the day off from work and packed up the car for the LONG 4 hour drive to our new boat. The sea trial was wonderful, except for the 2 ft waves that had the seller a bit nervous!

So...now the sea trial is done, the boat is paid for, guess what - WE HAVE TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO GET HER HOME!!

THE PLAN...

We decide that we are going to take her home under her own power...GREAT! Except for one minor detail - The Great Sacandaga Lake is landlocked! SO...we contract with a boat transporter to take the boat overland 30 miles to the Mohawk River/Erie Canal.

We will then take the boat through 17 locks on the Erie Canal, through Lake Onieda, and eventually end up on Lake Ontario in Oswego. From there it will be 60 miles to our home port of Braddocks Bay. Total trip distance will be about 200 miles....LETS GET STARTED!!

THE TRIP BEGINS...

May 5 2000 - we pack up the van with food, supplies, kids, dogs and my unfortunate friend, Jeff, who I coerced into coming with us to drive the van back home. We arrive at the boat at around 10pm. Unpack the van, check all systems on the boat, stow our gear, walk the dogs and it's time to tuck in for the night and dream about our trip!

May 6 2000 - saturday morning. We wake up at 6 am and start readying the boat for her voyage - we take down canvas and radar dome. The transporter arrives at around 8:30 and loads the boat on a tri-axle trailer, straps her down and away we go! Jane and I follow behind our boat, Jeff rides with the transporter. The boat launch goes great, Jeff takes the van and we are on our way!!

We start around noon heading for home....

The journey that day is very nice - weather was warm and sunny. We pass through many locks and the villages of Fultonville, and Little Falls. About 3 pm, we are motoring along and the engine all of a sudden revs up...OH-OH!! What could be wrong now?? We stop the boat, check everything and start again. Hit 3000 rpms and same thing...lower throttle to 2500 rpms and everything is fine. We spun the prop hub!! A frantic search through the boat confirms my suspicions...no spare prop! Oh well, 2500 rpms will get me 9.5 mph...good enough for the canal. We decide to carry on and keep on eye on it. If it gets worse, we will arrange repairs, otherwise, we decide to continue and get it fixed when we arrive home.

We tie up for the night at the public docks in Herkimer...free dockage and power, but no restrooms. Beggars can't be choosy! That night we cranked up the a/c on the boat. Jane and Robbie walked to Burger King and got us Whoppers and fries for dinner. We followed that up with hot showers before calling it a night...We LOVE this boat!! A/C and hot showers were something we only dreamed about on our last boat..

May 6 2000 - sunday morning. We wake up once again at around 6 to get to the first lock by 7am. We talk to the sailboat owners docked behind us and they will be leaving and traveling with us today. We both pull out at around 6:30 and head to the first lock.

The journey today takes us through much wilderness. Not much of anything to see but forests on either side of the canal. We pass just outside of Utica, not close enough to see much. Locking is becoming second nature to us now, and the crew is doing a great job of locking us through with no problems. We stop in Sylvan beach for some fuel. Sylvan beach is right at the end of Oneida Lake, and there are boats everywhere here. We are not used to seeing other boats! After loading up with gas and water, we head out to Lake Onieda. WOW, was it rough!! We knew we were in for a ride when the sheriffs boat cruising next to us turns around and goes back in!! 20 knot winds out of the west made for a good 2-3 foot chop. It takes us about 3 hours to go the length of the lake - the boat comes through like a champ.

We make lock 23 at the end of Oneida lake and then make a right turn onto the Oswego River. After going through the first lock, we are out of time for the day (locks close at 5:30 this time of year!) and we tie up for the night on the wall at the second lock in Fulton. That night we have no power, so we walk into town for pizza at the local Pizza hut. When we returned to the boat, we listened to CD's and played a rousing game of Scrabble, Captain Ron beats the pants off the crew!!

May 7 2000 - monday morning. The usual, we wake at 6am and prepare for the day's voyage. 7 more locks to Lake Ontario! We arrive at the first lock right at 7am, where the lockmaster greets us and whisks us on our way. All of the lockmasters on our trip were friendly (or at least smiled at us!). The Oswego River is beautiful, we saw much wildlife here intermixed with huge houses set on enormous green lawns. The river twists and turns, very unlike the straight Mohawk River. After lock 3, we make our approach to the next lock. When I try to hail lock 4 on the VHF, I get no response. Guess what - there is no lock 4! I talked with the lockmaster about why no lock 4, and he explained that when the designed the canal they had built in a lock 4. However, as they began building the locks and damns they discovered they didn't need a lock 4. Since some of the locks where already in place, they decided just to skip the number 4....he said with a laugh that a running joke with the lockmasters is the opportunity to get assigned to lock 4!

After 3 more locks we are there! Beautiful Lake Ontario awaits the Lady Jane! We motor out of the last lock into the Oswego Harbor. At the entrance to the Lake there is a very picturesque lighthouse, which of course, we had to take a photo of. Our GPS reads 60 miles to Braddocks Bay, so we point the Lady Jane westward and begin the last leg of our voyage. Since we are still limited to 9.5 mph, this trip takes us about 6 hours to complete. Halfway home, we a deluged with FLIES on the bridge!! Help!! The captian and crew take quick refuge in the cabin - thank goodness for a dual-station boat!! We continue the rest of the trip below, listening to CD's and talking about what a great trip this has been! At around 3:30, we pull into Braddocks Bay....The Lady Jane is home!!