What a great day back in our own stomping grounds. We are, as most of you know, in Lake Erie. We still need to go back up the Detroit River and to the top of Lake St. Clair. So with that said, you are not done with us yet…LOL The water temp here in Lake Erie is so warm. I think I have done more swimming here then on the whole trip. OKAY….. so I don’t actually swim but I do putts around the boat ladder and float in my chair.  We really needed to provision for the rest of the trip home. Put-n-Bay has a super market we will go to.  I have had nothing to make for breakfast, so I have had to make mac & cheese.  Instead of using milk, I used coffee creamer. It was quite tasty. Kelly’s Island Had a restaurant we could jet-ski to.   Finally, after Bryce finished up with work, we decided to jet-ski over to West Bay Inn restaurant. We needed something other than Mac & Cheese…

Yep… this is me ready to enjoy my day…

It is so neat that they have a nice place to dock up to.

Okay Bryce, put the camera away.  I ordered the coconut shrimp. They came with these tiny little balls deep fried.  So I tried them.  They were small pieces of pineapple breaded and deep fried. I don’t normally eat deep fried foods; but these were good.

We drove the jet-ski over to the beach to relax and enjoy our day before we head to Put-n-Bay.  As Bryce was putting out the anchor, I carried the umbrella and one chair up to shore. “Jane.. Jane is that you?” I heard some one ask.  I turned to see who it was and if they were even talking to me. LOL Well, I couldn’t believe it. There was  Ryan Kelly with a few of his buddies enjoying their day sitting in the water with a can of beer. So we joined them. It was really nice to visit with Ryan and his friends.

Ryan is between his friends. My apologies; neither Bryce or I remember their names. But they are great guys.    Happy anniversary to Jessica & Ryan

Ryan & Jessica have a really neat trailer-able boat “Knot a Call” it’s a 25 footer and it only drafts 2.5 feet of water. They are expecting there first little sailor to start joining them on their cruises.

Well it was getting time to sail over to Put-n-Bay.  We said our goodbyes and headed out. Tonight we will tie to a mooring ball.  It has been a while without using one or getting a slip and this will help using the water taxi to carry back food.

Thanks for following us.

OM!! what a last few days.  Now let me explain, I am not a rollercoaster type of gal. We sailed for the past three days. That was pretty awesome. Although it seems like since we entered Lake Erie, the winds have been out of the North East hitting Beauty in the starboard side rear corner. It really hasn’t been bad out in the lake. But the anchorages inside the breakwaters haven’t been so great with the winds. From Ashtabula, to Fairport, now Kelly’s Island, we have bobbed like a bobber at the end of a fishing line.  During anchorage we bobbed up and down and side to side!!

Pulling into Ashtabula, Ohio wasn’t bad we were so happy to be out of the dancing waves on Lake Erie. We jumped into the bay to cool down a bit.  By morning we were bobbing.. LOL  Here is a picture of Ashtabula.

Ashtabula, Ohio was a great stop over for provisioning and a good lunch out.  They have a nice public dock in the center of town you can use for two hours while you do what needs to be done.  Bryce and I headed into town with the jet ski not knowing that we didn’t have to pass under the bridges to dock up to the free dock.  By the time we got back to the boat, winds were gusting to 17 knots.

They had a great entrance to the breakwater.

When we first pulled into Ashtabula, Bryce noticed this catamaran.  It was some new friends of ours that we met on the Erie Canal.  They are headed to Chicago then down the Mississippi.   Scott & Rhonda have a great voyage.  We swam over and visited with them for a bit. I should restate that! Bryce put his flippers on and I sat in my floating chair. He pushed me over like a queen in her chair. LOL

The following morning we headed into town in Ashtabula, Ohio. This is the public sea wall you can dock on. Bryce is putting his shoes and shirt on.

We had to make it to the post office for a package. When we noticed this was really a cute town. Loved the flowers

As we turned the corner to walk up the street to the post office, all I could smell was the grilled hamburger cooking from the Grind house restaurant on the corner. Yep I had to have lunch there. LOL    They had gourmet burgers so I enjoyed a great burger!!!  This was a snazzy restaurant with a great ambiance and a terrific view of the river through the picture windows shown in the picture below.

Well, we made it back to Beauty and pulled up the anchor to head towards Fairport Harbor, Ohio. What a sloppy mess it was to exit the harbor into Lake Erie. Waves were dancing on the seawall and rushing into the harbor through the opening of the breakwater entrance.  Sailing on a quartering sea, we were reasonably comfortable.

We sailed from Ashtabula to Fairport.  Fairport was just a lay over prior to our push to the Bass Islands.  Fairport was a poor anchorage in NE winds. The waves entered the inlet shown below and bounced off the seawall and hit us from behind.  The eastern part of the breakwater was open to east winds, so we had waves coming from that direction also.  We bobbed like a bobber all night long.  Finally morning came.  Bryce was not able to work more than about 3 hours.  With unsettled sleep, we pulled up anchor and headed out into Lake Erie.  We decided to head across the lake to Kelly’s Island nearly 72 miles away.  Close to Put-in-Bay.  I was so happy…They are indeed my favorite places on Lake Erie.  We traveled about 20 miles off shore on a due West heading straight to the northern bay on Kelly’s Island.

Here is a picture of the sunset at Fairport.

The morning we left Fairport, the sun was rising over the other break water with the nuclear power plant in the background.

Nearly 12 hours later we passed the eastern point of Kelly’s Island.  We nosed in to check out the wave action and decided to anchor right inside the corner of the point to protect us from the waves. They were supposed to settle down as the night went on.  Unfortunately the waves were slow to respond to the direction of the wind change. Bryce got up around 1:30 after hearing me complain that I couldn’t sleep and did something magical to the anchor line caused the boat to head into the waves. That smoothed it out and I was finally snoring logs. LOL

This is the eastern of the bay on North Kelly’s Island.  It is an excellent anchorage with a phenomenal beach as long as the winds are not northerly.  We will enjoy Thursday here and head into Put-In-Bay for Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Thanks for following us

Good morning everyone, sure hope you are having a pleasant morning. After spending the weekend in Erie, PA (Presque Isle Bay),  We headed up to Ashtabula, Ohio. It was a great day of sailing. We had our share of thunderstorms over the weekend. But we were able to get out and explore in between them so I that I could share Erie, PA (Presque Isle Bay), with you all. For those of you not familiar with Erie, PA (Presque Isle Bay),  It is a natural harbor on the Great Lakes. The Erie state park peninsula nearly  encircles Erie harbor. The peninsula connects the mainland by a narrow neck at its west end.  The Presque Isle Bay is 4.5 miles long. and 1.5 wide.  So the harbor is a small lake filled with boaters. The city of Erie lies a long the southern shore.

How about a floating home on the water? Unbelievable.. The only way they can get to there homes is by some foam of watercraft.  There was a small subdivision of floating homes on the eastern side of the harbor in a small protected bay.

You can see some of the folks use jet-skis, boats , kayaks and so on.

We moseyed on over to Rum Runners for lunch. This pirate ship showed up and threaten harm to the patrons.  It started a war.  LOL   Even the kids grabbed a squirt gun and were able to defend Rum Runners in the harbor.  It was tons of fun for all.

We took the Jet-ski out and explored Lake Erie along the shoreline.  What a nice ride it was.  We saw this water fall. But I am sure it has a lot to do with the down pour we been getting.

I don’t think I could do the last part of this staircase. LOL

It appears they are filling in some areas where the shoreline is receding.

Another water fall..

J.S. ST. Huron (Erie) is a dredger. Boy, it looks so narrow.  We are so used to seeing the huge barge dredgers. The next day as we left Erie Pa, this vessel was gone.  Perhaps she was out making a new path for all of us.

Well… I think this sucker upper is very powerful… Looks at rocks..  This is the inlet to the dredger.  It works like a huge vacuum cleaner.

When the tour ships come in to port you can go up this tower and view the harbor.

What a pretty hotel the Sheraton is. The sky walk is about 70 feet. So if you have a lower mast you will make it under it.  Wolverine Marina and a Yacht Club are through here.

Behind the Sheraton Hotel, there is a two hour dock you can use to explore town or go out for dinner.

I was a little late at grabbing the camera.  This bay was loaded with boats. The rain and thunderstorms didn’t bother anyone.

Beauty is anchored and loving it. The water depth is 14 feet. Tons of sailboats and powerboats are able to enjoy this bay. it has to be one of the most protective bays we have been in. We floated in our chairs and just did some good relaxing.

Thank you for following us.

Well, it’s another good day but we did have thunderstorms during the night. With projected storms and winds we decided to stay an extra night here at Erie,PA what a beautiful park. We have been here now by car and boat. It sure is a nice place on Lake Erie; with great anchorage.  Yesterday, on our way here, it sure was a delight to be able to sail.  The light 8-12 mph winds were coming from the North East just off our Starboard rear.  We zipped along at a blazingly fast 5.5-6.5 mph.

Here I am enjoying the sail.

One thing I enjoy doing when we sail only a mile from shore is to view the shoreline.  The tall rock cliffs are so neat.  It would be nice to explore them; but it seems like we are now on a time crunch.

Yes, we are sailing on the lake on a sunny day. This is a view from the cockpit of Beauty.

Just to give you a flavor of sailing, here is a view looking back from the bow of Beauty.  In case you are wondering, our crew member Otto Pelot is at the helm.

The tall smoke stacks I believe are from a power company. First sign that we are getting close to our anchorage for the night in Erie Pennsylvania.  Yes, some where along the coastline, we finally sailed out of New York.

As we came upon the entrance to Erie  PA, I noticed this Kayaker.  He really did look to be having a hard time going against the wind.

It is always nice to see people fishing. I sure hope they are catching something.  This is the entrance to the bay at Erie, PA.

I took this photo after we entered the bay.  It shows the deep water channel that leads out into Lake Erie.  The sun light was better in this direction. LOL

This is the city of Erie PA. There is a huge bay that is the size of a lake. We are anchored in a smaller bay near by that protects us from the winds.

The Bay at Erie Pennsylvania is called Presque Isle Bay.  We are anchored at the small blue dot in the middle of the picture.

Sunset has ended our day.

Thank you all for following us on our adventure

Good morning from Dunkirk, NY. What a night.  We stumbled into a Thursday night music night on the dock with a band called “Town Pants”. I know it’s a weird name, but they were really good. They played Irish music. We had a good day motoring across Lake Erie… No wind.   We did put the sails up once we left Buffalo but had to take them down with no wind. Now today, they say winds should be 10-15 NNE that should make for a great day of sailing. We are planning to make it to Erie, PA tonight.

I had to show you all that with all the cleaning Bryce did, Beauty collected another dirty nose from the Erie Canal. LOL

What a cloudy day we had. There just wasn’t enough sun to burn off the smog.  This is the lake view of Buffalo, NY as we left.

You can tell how hazy it was in the back ground.  Bryce put the head sail on the storm track trying to run very close to the wind; but that didn’t work very well.

So after getting the sails up and getting out into the lake.. only to not be able to sail…. What else was there better to do than Bryce sleep and Jane pilot.  LOL  It was a calm day on Lake Erie.

As we headed to Dunkirk, their power plant guided us into the harbor.

The harbor entrance is right near the power plant.

The closer we motored in, the channel widen up.  This area is really pretty.  It does feel good to be back out into the open again. I enjoy the variety of lakes, oceans, river and ICW. They each had their own flavor.

This band is from Canada. They are called “Town Pants”. Apparently they are real popular here in New York. The will be playing in Buffalo this weekend.

Wow.. we were able to sit on the side of the boat and listen to music and people watch.  Later we walked towards the tents and picked up a Philly Steak & Cheese sandwich.  Bryce had a cheese burger.  Here is a picture from the bow of the boat.

Although boats are on the sea wall, not too many here.  I think it is because there are several marinas within walking distance. It was a fun night several people came by and wanted to know where we were from.  It was kind of hard to hear them with the band so close. We were offered a free night at the Yacht club, but we were already settled on the wall for the night. But a Big Thank you for the offer.

Finally the sun, that wasn’t out until the last hour of the day, came to give us a pretty sunset.

Thank you all for following us.

Hello and good morning.  It sure has been a crazy two days for us. The good news is the mast up and shortly after noon we will be in Lake Erie. For those of you wondering, we had our sails put up at RCR Yachts.  We had great service.  I had my first dream /nightmare of going home.  LOL.. I think my inter soul is tell me that I could spend a few more years out here.  After being on the Erie Canal for 25 days, I must say it was worth the experience.  I had to laugh when we left Tonawanda, NY. We entered the Niagara River.  It seemed so huge to me.  We did have to go through our last lock which was the Black Rock Lock on the South side of Grand Island. This lock allowed us to bypass the fast current and rapids of the Niagara River. It was just crazy how fast that current was. As we waited for the lock to open, we hide by the break water at the lock entrance and watched a few power boats fly down the river in the heavy current.

We are headed to Lake Erie.  Then the Detroit River to Lake Saint Clair.  This sign instructs you to turn left.  If you accidently turn right, you might have a bumpy trip over the Niagara Falls!!

Back to the wide Rivers and lakes now and weather windows to make our crossings.  I am actually looking forward to anchoring out.  This picture shows us headed out into the Niagara River.

Coming out of Tonawanda, NY into the river, this was our first bridge.

Now this is one big power plant off the Niagara River.

The current is really pulling us at this point but Bryce and Beauty did a get job at keeping us safe.  This picture shows the lock entrance to Black Rock Lock.  Bypassing this lock requires a power boat with lots of power to make it up against the heavy Niagara River current.

Our last lock of our trip.  The locks gates are open and we are entering the lock.

Hour of operations.  We just made it to the 6:30 PM opening of up bound traffic.

This is 600 feet in length and 70 feet wide.  The lock gates weighs 480 tons.  Think of how strong that is to open and close with the pressure of all that water.

Yep.. this is me…LOL They only have lines on the Starboard side of the wall. But if you are coming from the North they would be on your port side.  Normally we are on the port wall.

Now… You can tell the different between the Erie Canal locks and the locks maintained by the Army Corp of Engineers.  We think perhaps the ACOE of a bit more money, because the locks are newer.

This is one of two bridges that crossed over the canal as soon as we were out of the lock.  They say 17  foot clearance. We say it was much more like 14 feet.  We only had a foot or so above our anchor light. LOL We read that if the wind is from the South, the water level can change by 3 feet… I must agree.

This was the bascule bridge we had to pass under.  They claim it is 22 feet of vertical clearance.  No way…. it appears we might have had an few feet above our mast. Darn South wind.  These two low bridges are a convenient reason to delay the mast stepping till out of the Niagara River.  Rather than doing it in Tonawanda.  Otherwise you have to wait for two bridge openings.  Chances are the trip between Black Rock Lock and the Tonawanda inlet do not provide a significant use of sails anyway.  After doing it, I would step and un-step at RCR Yachts.

You can see this pathway separates the Niagara River and Black Rock Canal.  I am not sure if you can see the current but if you don’t have a boat that can move faster than 6 to 8 knots they recommend you stay out of the Niagara River.

What a beautiful walk way they are building.

If you look closely, you can see the opening circular hole in the wall they have them about every few hundred feet. I think to let the water from Black Rock canal drain into the Niagara River.  Perhaps to somewhat drain excess water from the black rock canal.

What a great walking path they have between the Black Rock Canal & Niagara River.

These two grey ships were Navy ships.  They appeared to be quite unique jet drive ships.  Perhaps they are testing them in the Niagara River.

Look at the break water (concrete wall). It actually looks pretty against the back drop of Lake Erie.

We passed this light house on our way into the river where RCR Yachts is and where we are getting our mast stepped.

We are not sure what this is; but it looked pretty neat.

Here is a destroyer that can be toured.  This is just down stream from where we are at.

We had to pass all these sailboats down to RCR Yachts and find slip 68. We will prepare Beauty for our next journey on Lake Erie.

Our slip over looks Gold Medal and General Mills.

Bryce woke up early and put our mast top instruments & radar on the boat. Not knowing RCR could have put the mast on the hard for him to do it.

We moved Beauty down to the work area to have her mast stepped.

The RCR team worked hard to get her ready for us and they did a great job.

HUM….What do we do now!!  We better look like we know what we are doing; Jane has a camera in our face…LOL  They slowly and carefully maneuvered the 60 foot long mast into position.  Thank goodness, the RCR crew knew what they were doing.  They do hundreds of boats every year.  They also provide full service.  That is, building the supports and doing everything that is required to step or un-step the mast.  Turns out, RCR was quite a bit less expensive than Wardells.  RCR also has a good size crew to do the job.

She is in the air!!!  Just think only that hook is holding her… Okay my eyes are closed. Let me know when it’s over……

I better open my eyes… They are now putting the boom on.  Soon we will move back to slip 68 for the night and to put the sails up.

Have a great day and thank you for following us.

Well it’s official, we are out of the Erie Canal.  It’s sad; yet good. We enjoyed our visit to the towns and enjoyed learning the history.   We woke up to thunderstorms and high winds; so we waited for it to settle down before we headed to Tonawanda, NY. Our mast gets re-stepped  tomorrow. Then we will sail out to Lake Eire. We are getting closer and closer to the end of our adventure.  With that said we still have a few hundred miles to explore; so lets do that.

As we pulled away from Middleport we noticed a historic spot on the bike path.  It seems there are quite a few of these along the path.

What child would not like to have this in there back yard to play in.  It appears to be on the bike path.

Another source of helping out with the water level.  It was amazing to see all the gates and over flow areas there are on the Erie Canal.

As we came along the bridge to Gasport, we noticed this mural on the building next to the Lift bridge. I love It! “Population: just right”

Don’t you just find it amazing that they put these bridges in and they have to be controlled to let vessels through all the towns.

I think these old churches are so pretty.

As we approached Lockport we reached the final Lift bridge of our journey; the Exchange St. Lift Bridge.

I cannot believe all the ways the different areas of the Erie canal can be explored.

Here it is…. 305 miles of the Erie Canal. We made it to our last two locks. Now these two locks are connected together. We will enter Lock 34 and come out of lock 35. Watch I’ll show you… Now hold on to your hats.

It’s it pretty? This was our approach.

OM! look at the waterfalls next to the locks. How pretty. In reality, these are the old flight of five locks.  Okay, as I said, we will enter lock 34 lifting us 25 feet. Then when those green doors open up we will enter into lock 35 immediately.

Now we are in and the doors are getting ready to close.  Now as I said we are getting lifted 25 feet in the first lock.

After I got the stern settled down and felt comfortable, I looked up and people were waving at us. I waved back.

We did it! As you can see, we now go directly into Lock 35.

So we entered lock 35. Bryce asked how I was feeling. I felt a bit nervous but not to bad.

Now wasn’t that exciting? As we reached the top of lock 35 and the doors opened.  I noticed the following sign…  Well, we are headed to Black Rock Lock 26 miles ahead. However, Black Rock lock in not on the Erie Canal.  It is a lock that bypasses a heavy current area in the Niagara River to Lake Erie. This last lock will raise us another 5 feet.

As we headed out of lock 35, I mumbled “Oh crap”.. I don’t know if you can tell, but that is one heck of a wide over pass of the express way.

It felt as if we were in a tunnel. We had to pass under 2 of these bridges. Seriously when you look at the walls you must wonder what the heck is holding these up.

Okay… I can breath now. Look how pretty the view is…

For the next several miles we had some what of a twisted windy river with high banks of trees/rocks.

These are the rocky cliffs that we passed by.

See this rope hanging from the gate? Now how do those silly kids get out to it to swing from it?  This is the last Guard Gate on the Erie Canal.  We are officially at Lake Erie level.  Minus a small drop in the Niagara River.

I found another waterfall.  I wonder if that is on the Pokemon Go game? LOL

Now, the Waterway Guide says you can tie off to this restaurant and have dinner. Not sure I would tie up at this dock.  But apparently, there is a better dock just around the point.

These two boys were yelling hello to us.. We honked our horn and they cheered.  Well boys will be boys  What happened to the rest of that bridge? LOL

I wouldn’t want to make this neighbor made at me. That cannon could put a big hole in something. LOL

LOOK the GPS is now starting to work again!!  We are no longer lost. LOL

Well, we are pulling into Tonawanda, NY Looks like rain is coming in.

We tied up for the night on the sea wall.  Our boat is in the middle of the picture.  OM.. what is that concrete hanging in the air over the bridge??  Bryce says it is a counter-weight to help the train bridge open easier.  Which makes no sense, since none of the other nearby bridges open!!

Thanks for following us

I thought I would start my blog with an opening joke today, except I don’t know any. LOL  We headed up the canal to Middleport, NY. It started out as a very sunny day and hot temps in the 90’s. The good thing was the clouds rolled in and that seemed to help cool me down a bit. We had another good day traveling up the canal.

We pulled away from the sea wall in Albion, NY and headed to Middleport, NY. The young man operating the bridge was tending to 3 bridges. Depending on the way you were headed after he opened one lock he would drive to the next one.

I sure hope the murals don’t get destroyed by confetti.

This sign read: You have reached the most Northern part of the Erie Canal.

Here is another over flow dam with gate valves.

This is Eagle Harbor bridge.  The bridge operator drove to the bridge to open it for us. We told him how slow we were so he was able to calculate the mileage with our speed.

When I first looked at this floating down the canal I thought it looked like some ones brain; but it was just a melon.

After we passed under Eagle Bridge we found people fishing.

Look a road runs under the Erie Canal!!  Note the bicycle path between the sign and the railing.

And the road comes out here on the other side.  Probably a few drops of water from the canal land on your car windshield as you pass through.

There are big engine powered water pumps that allow the farmer to pump water from the canal to water their crop.

More control gates open. This is good news for us. We didn’t know that we could get alerts on our phone if there is an issue on the Erie Canal.

Well they said no luck in catching fish.  But I see by her shirt she must like to sail.

I think it’s wild how this canal just twist and turns.

LOL… I think they wanted a bon fire so bad they were burning furniture.

There are so many different bridges on this canal.  Some are fixed like this one.

I always thought it would be cool to try this style of a bike.  Maybe it would take the pressure off my butt….LOL

We came up on Medlina, NY.  Apparently there is another water fall here.  But we decided to move on 5 more miles to Middleport, NY.

We could see this mural from a distance.  I am so impressed with the spirit of the town people here on the Eire Canal.  It seems like it just glows with pride from town to town.

Looks like Sal and her friend are hard at work again.

We saw apple trees just about a mile out of town.  It also looks like this area might make wine as we noticed a few vineyards.

Here is the Medina lift bridge.  He had it waiting to go up for us.

Just under the right side of the bridge these two were fishing. Again they were having no luck. I would be starving if I had to wait for anyone to catch fish because it appears no one has any luck. LOL

This is the bridge operator at the Medina Bridge.  He will meet us down at the next lift bridge.

I would think it would be a good guess that these people might have Lamas.

“Hi ladies are you wearing a Fitbit? Are you getting your 10,000 steps a day?”  They started laughing and said no.  I talk to most everyone as we pass by.

This looks like it would be a great place to write or just get away for peace and quiet.

Okay… do you notice that one of the gates is closed?  For what reason, I have no clue.  I just wanted to show you what it looked like. Because it is narrow here and it created a strong current.

This view is from the other side.

At Middleport, we settled in on the south wall with free electric and water, we headed to dinner.

Bryce is standing on top of the dam that allows us to see the water flowing through a few gate valves from the canal to create another waterfall and goes right back under the canal.

I took this looking down. It’s so hard to believe that it flows out to create a stream that passes under the canal.

We ate dinner here at the Basket Factory.  Apparently it is under new owner ship.  The food was very good.

Although it says marina too, I would check the water depth before entering.

Lots of baskets are hanging from the ceiling.

Universalist Church built in 1841 members brought cobblestone from Lake Ontario Shores by using an ox cart.  The walls are built from small stones!

We continued to walk through town and memorial for the volunteers of Middleport fire department.

They also have a cool Time capsule..I was trying to think what a fireman would put in a time capsule. I know… an ax…maybe a hose.

I like to show you all the murals that are along the canal.  This beautiful mural looks like it could use a touch up.

This store wasn’t open. However, I thought the murals were neat above the door and windows.

This is Middleport. This picture shows a small area of it near the water front.  We had a good visit here.  Alan, the bridge operator, came down and greeted us to Middleport.  He was so nice.

Thanks for following us.

Good evening… What a whopping day of travel.  We cruised nearly 9.3 miles to Albion.  It’s not a long day of travel between towns, but let me say each one of the towns have there own personality. We are seeing many of the towns along the Erie but we have also missed a few. We have met many boaters who never leave their boats to explore the towns. I must say; they are missing some great places. Here in Albion, it is full of sandstone buildings. It’s a town of Churches and it is also the town of George Pullman the inventor of the railroad sleeping car. We explored the town, went out for dinner and enjoyed sitting on the bow of Beauty watching the boats pass through the lift bridges. With that thought I must start this blog with a vessel we saw pass through the lift bridge.

The boat is named “Skyview” with Chicago  port.  It appears to be a brand new boat being delivered.

Bryce went up on the walk way as the bridge raised.  Bryce took a few shots of Skyview from Chicago when he noticed………..

“Your boat was taken on water”…..He yelled down to the crew… “Your boat is sinking” You can see the water in the hull access port!  The water was just below the top rung of the ladder.  Then the man yelled back… “That is how we lower the boat to get under these bridges.” Sure hope nothing valuable was down there. LOL

As we left Holly headed to Albion, we passed a few more gates and bridges along the canal.  Just a few weeks back, this gate was lowered because the Erie Canal sprung a leak!!!   Perhaps they brought in the little Dutch boy to plug the hole with his finger.  All is good now!!  Seriously, they needed to do maintenance to fix a small leak.  They expected to take a month, but got it fixed in a week.  The small leak was detected by one of the hundreds of canal watchers who inspect the complete canal on a regular basis.

This is the lift bridge in Hulberton, NY.  The operator, Ron from the Holly lift bridge, had to drive down to Hulberton to lift the bridge for us to pass under.  Talk about a great bunch of people, I don’t think we have yet met a bad person working along the canal.  Everyone has such a personality. Always wanting to help you out.

For all our bike cycling family & friends here is bike repair shop if you need anything along you adventure on the Erie Canal. This one is between Holly & Albion. We also noticed some great places to tent along the canal.  If it gets a bit hot, perhaps a jump into the canal would be refreshing.  Many of the towns have water faucets near the boat docks.

So what happens when one of the walls along the canal starts to leak?  They close those gates I am always showing you and drain the water to repair the leak. This spot was just repaired between Holly and Albion. They give boaters 48 hours to get away from the area before they drain the area.   Perhaps that little Dutch boy is just over the ridge??

Here is a dam with gate valves. See the light green handles? They can turn these handles to open the gates. Whereby they control the water level in the canal and outflow to small streams used for irrigation and such.  This is also how they empty sections of the Erie Canal if need be.

I just love the relaxing view.   The path shown is the Erie Canal Bike Trail.

It appears this young man is canoeing the Erie Canal.   That would be fun too.  Apparently from Canada.

I have to chuckle a bit here.  I was talking to this young man walking the path as we slowly pasted him by.  I said that we never pass anyone because we go so slow. Maybe he should speed up is walking and he smiled. Then I said smile you’re on Jane’s camera….  He did smile. But I think he was thinking that I was nuts….LOL

Just around the curve of the canal was one of the Albion’s lift bridge.  We took hold of the port side dock between this bridge and the next.

Right where we tied up, was this mural on the wall on the outside of the fire department. See the mules pulling the boat? Maybe that was Sal and her friend helping out the tourism back in the day?

I lost my breath at a few of the churches in town. What a great walk we had. If you are a boater passing through these towns and not visiting them you might be missing some great history. This is the First Presbyterian built in 1874.  The spire is built completely out of stone.  All the way to the tippy top!!

This is St. Joseph also built in 1806.  Another cool looking church.

Universalist Church built in not sure. I couldn’t find the date.

The First Baptist Church.  No date on this church that  I could see. But one thing is so neat, they are still standing!!

We continued to walk through town on our way back to the boat. When Bryce noticed the Hoag Library.  Look at all the solar panels!!  Must be a hundred panels.  That’s some serious power!!

An over view of Albion from the lift bridge.  Bryce just loves to go up on the lift bridges when they are up.  Its fascinating that these bridges are a hundred years old and still totally functional.

I guess if your not going to have opening windows, murals are a great choice.

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A short trip of about 5 miles, we cruise to Holley. Holley is a quite nice spot to tie up.  Docking, water, electric and pump-out is free.  Holley has this very unique water falls.  The water comes out of the Erie Canal.  It flows down a short white water stream, then cascades over a 50 foot water fall shown in the picture below.  It then flows in a horseshoe path around picnic area, then flows through a tunnel back under the Erie Canal to the opposite side.

From the Erie Canal above the falls, the water gushes through a gate valve.  An overflow dam is seen just in back of the bubbling water.

The water then flows through a spectacular white water mixing bowl before going over the falls.

Finally, the water flows over the top of the falls.

It’s a bit intimidating as I hang over the falls.

It then hustles down the rocks to the pool below.

The water flows over a small rapids..

Finally the water gurgles past Bryce’s toes.

Lastly, through the tunnel underneath and to the opposite side of the Erie Canal.

The park had this interesting bird house that I thought was awesome.

Holley is a cute town with restaurants and a grocery store.

The dock facilities are quite good.  This path leads to the top of the falls, then around past the old Erie Canal down to the bottom of the falls.

We ran into “Dick” again, who we met a few times along our trip through the Canal.  He has a small trawler up here and a larger one in Florida. Hmm.. looks like these two need to swap shirts eh??

An for those of you that wonder.. Every once in a while, I pilot the boat in addition to my task of giving orders. LOL  Notice George bundled under his towel on the right side of the picture.  It doesn’t matter if it 40 degrees or 95 degrees.  He’s buried under his towel!!

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