It was a quick trip to Brockport.  It was merely 8 miles from Spencerport.  What a great port to stop at. It is very clean, and has water and electricity.  Brockport is the home of the “State University of New York” nick-named SUNY “soon-ee”.  Brockport is definitely a college town.  What a fun place to visit. We visited with some new friends last evening for a few hours. While we visited with them, the Village of Brockport had a 16 piece orchestra playing on the patio near the boats. They played a variety of music.  Later after we left, we took an evening walk through town and munched ice cream cones.  The town bustled with college kids.  Lots of places to eat here.

Remember yesterday when I said we had something like 16 horizontal lift bridges to go through? This is the lift bridge at Spencerport as we left.

This is another Lift bridge at Adams Basin (Bridge E-178). The bridge operator asked if we were headed to the next bridge in Brockport and if we were planning to stop between the to lift bridges in the Village of Brockport? We answered yes, if there was room for us. He said of course there is room. I will be down there too to lift the next bridge for you.  Some of the bridge operators control more then one bridge. Notice the stairway at each end and walk path that allow you to walk the bridge while it is raised.  It is so cool to walk up on the raised bridge and watch a boat pass underneath.

The river continued to twist & turn.  This is one of the many fixed bridges over the canal.

Here is a marina we passed along the way. You can stop in and rent water bikes, paddleboats, canoes and kayaks.  Not sure if the marina was deep enough for deep draft boats.   In any case, we were headed for Brockport.

This was weird for me to see cars on one side and a bike path on the other.  I felt like I should be back on the Intracoastal. Maybe just for a day.

We made it to Brockport. This is the Park Ave Lift Bridge (E-181). See how low they are to the canal?  These older lift bridges are 100 years old!!

We took a place to tie up for the night at Brockport.  As you can see, it is very clean and well manicured.  The Erie Canal towns provide some of the nicest places to tie up that we have seen on the complete trip.  And often, it is free or low priced. You know, one thing I haven’t said…. is that you can do laundry here too; for free.

The Village of Brockport also has FREE bikes you you to ride. It cost us $15 for the night. Very little for what all we get. The price goes down for boats under 40 feet.

This is Carl & Linda Griffith they are from Saskatchewan Canada. What a nice couple.  They had a nice aft cabin power boat. The invited us down for cocktails. We listen to the orchestra while we visited with them.  You can see the orchestra in the background.

I felt bad for this Orchestra.. It was so hot in the sun and the small breeze kept blowing the sheet music.

Later that evening, we took a walk around town and had an ice-cream.  It was a great night for a walk.  Here you can see Beauty floating calmly in the canal.

The Lift Bridge Book Shop is known as one of the best book stores in western NY.  This picture shows the huge mural painted above the store.

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Well we are headed to our next set of locks E-32 (Pittsford) has a 25 foot lift and E –33 (Henrietta) has a 25 foot lift and they are only 1 mile apart. The sun is shinning today so I think it will be a good day. After going through these two locks we have 64.4 miles to the last two locks 34 & 35.  They are called the staircase locks, which I will go into more detail when we get there.  I think it’s funny that there is so much difference in the levels of water between the oceans and the great lakes. We had I am thinking 2 or 3 locks in the middle of the canal system that we went down in the lock. Probably had something to do with coming out of the Appalachian Mountains area. For the next 64 miles we have 16 horizontal lift bridges to go under. We will have to have them lifted for us even though our mast in down.  These bridges are very low.  Even lower than “Low Bridges”.

We said our goodbyes to Edie & Eddie at Bushnell Basin

As we headed up the canal, I noticed someone carved a tree out of a tree.. something good came out of a dead tree.

This is probably a day park.  Boaters are allowed to tie up for the day to have lunch or take a walk.

There are so many neat towns to visit along the Erie Canal.  Unfortunately, we cannot stop at all of them.  But we are taking our time to avoid “CanalFest” at Tonawanda.  We understand there is no place to stay due to the huge influx of boats.  And we need to put our mast up near by.

Passing through Pittsford,NY, we can see the available dockage. We wanted to visit but we needed to get some mileage in today.

Yet there is always a way to explore the canal.

As we came upon lock 32 it was a bit nerve racking to see water bubbling next to the lock.  It looks like an underwater pipe bubbling under the water.  Apparently the ducks like to play in the bubbling water.

We waited for the lock operator to open the lock for us.We will have a 25 foot lift in this lock.  Boy..Look how big the water fall is inside from the water leaking in from the far gates.

We had about a mile to go to reach lock 33. They are very close together. This will be another 25 foot lift. They were doing construction on the bridge the runs along the lock. They had the doors open waiting for us. But look another pool of bubbling water!

Talk about gushing water!!  Maybe a good white water kayaking place.

As we reached the top of the lock there was a sign that read “westbound traffic 64.4 miles before you reach lock 34 & 35”.  Lock 33 had cables to use for the springer cleat. That is always nice. Not as good as the floating bollards that we had in the Mississippi locks. But it was nice they had the cables.  Bryce is holding the bow away from the wall with the pole and pulling in with the line.

Look at this dock walk up in the air.  It must get lowered for a boat?? I don’t see any clear path to walk up the hill…

So I am thinking they might be getting ready to start dredging the canal.  This is an unusual suction type dredger.

Not far after the lock we started seeing lots of bridges.  This was Rochester, NY.

Passing through Rochester, NY.  No real place to stop though.

Seems near the cities we see more canal construction.  But no canal work only bridges. LOL

Maybe they are building a new bridge?

I found the construction zone ends… Now we can speed back up to 5 miles an hour; our normal speed.  LOL

What.. I thought we were done with locks.   When we looked closely you can see bridge after bridge after bridge. And these aren’t even the 16 horizontal lift bridges yet.

As we approached the gate closer we got a better view. Ok.. just a double gate.

I like the design of these concrete bridges.  These are apparently a bit old.

This is another photo that reminds me of the barges lining the canal in the Illinois Canal.

Another head chopper!!! Or maybe in this case it’s a boat chopper. But it is really a gate that they close when the drain the water out of the Erie Canal for repairs or in the winter.

OM… I think some locals are having some fun under this bridge.

This was under one of the bridges we passed under. Several nice paintings of the Erie Canal early years.

We came in nose first. But had to turn around to reach the electric connection.

We took a walk and found the local stores. They are really only a hop-skip–and-jump away. We ran out of our collection of grapefruit juice and had to restock.

As always thank you for following us.

OM! The funniest thing happened to us.. We made it I think 5 miles further up river. We found the cutest place to stop at. We bypassed it and people were waving and trying to talk to us. Bryce asked if I wanted to turn around. I smiled and said I think it is a good idea. Boy, it truly was. Remember yesterday when I said there was no diesel fuel anywhere around? This is no joke and why you should carry cans with you. Right up the hill maybe 200 feet is Hess gas station. They are the only place around with diesel.  So make it on your map that if you need diesel. This is the place. Hess gas station is also where you pay for the dockage. $ 11.00 for us overnight with water and electricity and pump-out. You just cannot beat it.

Hess gas station 200 feet from the boat perfect. Great reason to carry diesel cans with us.

It’s so hard to believe that these gates block the water from flowing down river.

I think it would be so neat to decorate this dock.

I just love seeing people riding there bikes and walking. Not always, but I think for the most part, people are friendlier when they are doing some form of activity.

I was thinking this little boat would make a good day boat.

As we traveled up the river we waved at all the people. I love to see them smile.

We passed under this bridge just before the dock.

This is a restaurant just across the road from the dock.  They had small bon fires and a huge gathering of people just before dark.  We wished we had waited to eat here rather than a late lunch on the boat.

This is the name of the area we docked at.

And here we are. It sure is a pleasant place to visit..

The bike and walking trail follows the Erie Canal.

Bryce and I took a walk on the trail path.

It is funny; we heard music and followed it through a path. We stumbled into a antique car show.  But the music playing was incredible. The group is called “It’s My Party”.  The singers are backed by an eight–piece ensemble.  This is a 1960’s girls group.  Their clothes are tailored to the 60’s.  Notice the go-go boots, mini-skirts and hair style.

Here are a few cars from the show that was on display. We arrived late. I love it when that happens. I don’t really know what these cars are they just look pretty. Bryce said this is a 39 Ford.

A Chevy Ambulance.

A 1957 Willys Jeep.

A 340 Duster.

An MG

This is an early to mid-30s Ford IIRC.

Then we enjoyed our walk back to the other side of the canal.

I do believe they are practicing for a race. They didn’t even crack a smile!

Bryce just finished up with his custard root beer float. He said it was delicious.

We enjoyed incredible evening with our new friends  Edy & Eddie (sp?). They are touring the canal on a rented canal boat. They are from Brooklyn, NY

We watched the Colonial Belle pass us by as it was giving a tour of the canal.

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What another good morning.  Bryce is working and am talking to you. It couldn’t be any better. Okay, maybe I could have my toes in the sand. LOL This afternoon we are going to explore town. I have a few things I want to pick up. This is really a cute place. We have 82 miles left of the Eire canal. So I am thinking by next weekend our sails might be back up and we will be sailing Lake Eire.  Okay, our boater friends! One thing you must all know; there is no diesel around for miles. We tried to find diesel at the local gas station to fill our cans; but No diesel only gas. We have enough to make the next 82 miles.  Actually we have nearly full tanks, but we like to keep our cans full too.

Right here in town, in front of us, is a bridge. It rises up and down to let boats pass.  It is about one hundred years old.

This is so cool. You can actually still walk on the bridge after it rises up. See the stairs going to the top.  The stairs allow you to walk on the raised bridge.  This is very unique for a raised bridge.  You can also see the Colonial Belle (boat) approaching the bridge.  Also unique for the bridge is that it tilts down on one side and the two ends are not square, nor parallel.  So no 90 degree angles on this lift bridge!!  Apparently unique in all the world.

This is the home of the Bridge Master. He controls the up’s and down’s of the bridge. He also blows a loud horn when the bridge is going to open.  You can see the stairs on the other side that allow you to walk up to the raised bridge.

Look… Beauty has a dirty nose again.. I will call it the Eire Canal smile..

So this is some of the stuff that was in our package that we received yesterday that I told you about in the last blog. I am going to go use a few of these coupons. Ice cream Factory I will see you soon. We got a 10% off coupon on any order of $ 5.00 or more.  There really is a lot to do here and on the Eire canal. It is an interesting adventure spot.

It rained most of the morning so I stayed in and did laundry. Then sometime around 2 o’clock we went out to the Irish Pub and had lunch.

After the rain stopped we were able to go for a small walk. This is SAL. Do you know the song of Sal? on the Erie Canal? “She’s a good old worker and a good old gal.. 15 years on the Erie Canal..”  Bryce is feeding her a bit of ice cream.

This is the walking area on the bridge. We were able to walk on it in the raised position; but dummy me forgot to take a picture.

This is Fairport village. The Red Bird Market is the closest market to pick up food. They have mostly specialty thing such as noodles and Dry herbs. They did have basic items such as ice cream and milk too. I cannot believe how early everything closes up.   However, the Red Bird Market is open till 7 pm.

This is the other part of town.  Many of the stores, restaurants and bars  are underneath the buildings.

As we were drinking our morning coffee, we heard the horn blow from the bridge. It was one of the rental canal boats going under the bridge or the bridge was going up for the canal boat…LOL  If you look close, you can see a person just left of the sign in the middle.  Again, this is unique that you can walk the raised bridge.  We also did it!!

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What a fabulous day. It’s very warm today. After a good breakfast in Newark NY, we headed to Fairport.   It was a lovely day motoring up the canal. I should add that with out using charts on our Garmin, Bryce has done a great job.  He is using the satellite of the area on Google maps just to get an idea how the river curves.  He also uses the paper charts.  When we arrived in Fairport, I didn’t think we would find an available spot.  I was ready to ask other boater to move their boats closer. There was so much room between them but not enough for us. Then we noticed a spot big enough.  I was so happy.  This seems like a neat place to explore. We are on the wall in Fairport New York. We have water and electricity. It coast $ 11 dollars a day over 40 feet. Tomorrow we are supposed to get thunderstorms and winds from the North at 14. So we are going to stay an extra day.   We will leave on Tuesday. Hope you all are enjoying your summer.

After leaving Newark the river widens up for a bit.

Another great straight away.  Cool view with the reflections.

I like seeing what other people do to enjoy the water.  These guys have a nice setup.

In this dam picture, there are three guys fishing off the side of the dam.  I am thinking they might catch a log.

This couple was having a great time fishing.  But they said the weren’t caching anything.

Look… there appears to be a fuse sticking out of that plastic jug hanging from the bridge!!!  Welcome to Palymyra. Why do and how do people hang things from the bridges? It’s a baffling thought in my head!

This poor boat is becoming a planter.  See the tree growing out of it.

I keep asking these Canadian geese if they have a US passport but they keep squeaking and walking away. LOL

We came upon lock E-29 near Palmyra.  Bryce hailed the lock operator and requested the lock open for a lift. As always they responded back and said it would just be a few.  He would get the lock ready for us. There was a little fishing boat going through with us. Notice the water bubbling by the door? That is the water coming out as the lock is being lowered. After the bubbles disappear, the doors can be opened.   Must also be a good place to fish.  We seem to see a lot of people fish near the locks.

To our surprise when the door opened I noticed a lot of paddling going on. I started to laugh. Of all our locking we have never seen kayakers come out of the locks.

We waited for them to get out of the way before we entered the lock. They were quite the chatter bunch too.

My loving husband didn’t do such a great job at slowing us down. My arms are getting a workout.

Every time a boat goes through the locks, the lock master has to record the number from your permit.

Every lock has these signs for boater info.  We are Westbound so we only have 3 miles till our next lock E-30

This is the old lock 60 off in the distance.

We came across this cute little dam while heading to our next lock.

We had to pass through two more bridges before we made it to Lock E-30 at Macedon.

Boy… one more nice thing about the Erie Canal they have an awesome bike/walking path.

Okay notice people walking up to the lock? They are coming to see us get lifted up. 7 more miles to Fairport. That is where we will try and get a place to stay for the night.

I said smile You’re on Janie’s camera…LOL  We always talk to people as we lock through.  They are often full of questions.

Although he doesn’t look so friendly he is.

This fisherman followed us through two locks.  He said he was finally at his home port.  We talked to him in the locks.

I call this the liquid lunch bridge because its tilted on the right side.  I think when it came time to pour the concrete for the right side of the bridge, someone had a one to many at lunch time.

Once again, we saw one of these canal boats.

I have to laugh.  We travel so slow even the bikes are beating us.  These bikers are riding on the bike path at the edge of the canal.  The guy in blue was waiting at Fairport to help us tie up!!  He had already finished lunch.

The train tracks run near the canal.

I wouldn’t call this a mural but I guess someone had something to say.

This is Doug; the Fairport Dockmaster.  He brought us a package with coupons, maps, and a tinny flashlight in it.  Thank you Doug. That was really nice. OH.. See the purple sticker on the window that is our Eire Canal pass.

This is the overview of what the wall looks like. A few more little boats came in and a few more cruisers had to continue on. One thing to remember to all our friends who have tall antennas on the bridges.. fold them down. We watched a fellow boater come under the bridge and his VHF antenna snapped.

What a cute Dockmaster station.  This is where Doug is stationed.

Thank you for following us Hope your having a great summer.

What a nice cool day it was. We sat on the bow this morning having our coffee with our jogging suits on. We left Clyde and ended up in Newark New York. It was really a nice day to motor up the canal. As we arrived, we were greeted by several men who helped us docked up. It was fun just to stand around and shoot the breeze with them. This is yet another free place to dock up to with electricity, water and pump-out. Arriving here at Newark, I found out some of it’s history. Did you knot that Newark was once the “Rose  Capital” for the flower industry?  Now I will tell you a little bit about our adventure here.

Modern day Erie Canal River boat.  You can rent these boats.

No steering wheel in this boat.  It’s a tiller!!  These types of boats are very popular in England because the century old locks are so narrow there.

I think this is funny. Bryce loves to jump in the water with a rope (Tarzan).  On the TVA lakes down south, Bryce would watch for these ropes or cliffs to jump from.  If he had the opportunity to stop here, no doubt he would have swung from this one.

This is the oddest thing. I am not sure if some homeless lives here or if some kids are playing here. Can you see the potbelly burner?

So my bet is it is a local hang out. But when we took a walk into town, a guy hung his head out the window and told us to watch out for the aliens.

This was the view the aliens have. Just passed there homestead. We are thinking it was once a bridge.

This is a multi-track bridge with a train passing over.  We just missed going under the bridge while the train was passing.

Lock E-27 (Lyons) had dockage on both sides of their canal. There are nearby shops, and restaurants, and the fire department above the North wall offers complimentary, clean showers, and rest rooms.  Apparently there is free WIFI.  The floating dock has no services, but the wall does. It was quite full as we passed due to the “Peppermint Festival”.  Fireworks were to be this night.

After going up in the Lock at E-27 Lyons-  Bryce and the lock operator started gabbing. He was a nice guy.  He mentioned that this town was once the peppermint capital of the world.

I kept looking to see if we had enough clearance to get under this bridge. We did not hit, but not to much extra. LOL

It looks like it would be a nice area to stop at.

As we cruised up the river, we noticed two sunken barges on our starboard side on the Erie Canal.

As we came around the corner, we could see Lock E-28 A.  It is an area full of tugboats that perhaps need repair.  This has a huge dry dock area to work on the boats.  This is a quite big tug boat!

Here you can see a small tug boat out of water near the building.  It seems apparent why the canal needs to be quite deep.  This small tug probably drafts 8 feet.

This is a picture of the entrance to the lock.  The lock master is watching us from the left.  I generally gab to these guys as we come through.

This picture shows a huge dry dock area next to the lock.  It is quite amazing that the state of New York manages their own dry dock and fleet of boats, barges and dredgers!  The boat here looks like a 100 some odd footer that is apparently being refurbished.  There are also a few other tugs being repaired at the same time.

A crane or dredger is apparently being worked on also.

Here are the gates that control the water in the dry dock.  This would be a fascinating area to explore.

Here is a tug that perhaps is going to go in for refurbishing.  Although hard to tell, this boat is probably 70-80 feet long.  It appears that all the tugs in the New York fleet are quite old.  Some perhaps nearly one hundred years old.  Amazing they keep these boats in working order.

OM! this railroad bridge has 4 train tracks and cannot even imagine 4 trains at one time…

This area is really pretty too.  As you can tell this once was a bridge.

Coming up to lock E-28 B Newark.  The lock master is monitoring our progress.

Once we passed through the Newark lock, about a 1/2 mile up river was the town.  As we docked up, we could see the murals on the concrete walls. This one is so cool.

They also have a vine growing mural going up the stairs.

This is a mural of a canal boat. It is painted on the wall under the Bridge in Newark, New York.

This mural on the wall reads:  “Jesse Hawley (flour Merchant) While in prison for debts,because he could find an economical way to ship his goods, he published four-teen essay from the Hudson River to Lake Erie. Hawley’s essay were to prove immensely influential on the development of the canal”.

I am not sure if you can read what the mural on the wall says so I typed it out.

“The Erie Canal The 363 mile long canal took 8 years and over 7 million dollars to build. From the beginning, the Erie Canal was an Unbridled success as raw materials and agricultural product from the new settlements moved eastward, finished goods and newcomers moved westward. By 1855 cross-state travel went from six weeks to six days, and freight cost fell from $100 to $5 per ton”.   Compare this original $7 million dollars to the current operating budget of $55 million today.  Not a cheap project to operate.  And the budget is continuing to be cut!  No wonder they have 100 year old tugs!

This guy is moving supplies stored in barrels and bushels.

And for every worker, there is a manager.. LOL

This is Don & Kathy Olszowka. Their vessel is called the “Last Rambler”. Don was one of the nice people who came over and helped us dock. Thank You Don.  It was a pleasure visiting with you both.

This is Captain Cantankerous also known as Dick.  He also came and assisted in helping us dock. He showed us the inside of his boat.

This is one of Captain Cantankerous trawlers.  His other boat 40 foot trawler is down south.

This is Scott & Rhonda Joiner. They are from their 38 Lagoon Catamaran.  We gabbed with them for a few hours. The two of them will be passing through our home state in Michigan on their way to Chicago.    Have a great time.

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Well we made it to Clyde. It’s amazing all the free dockage there is on the Erie Canal. Here in Clyde we not only received free dockage but free electricity and pump-out along with water. We wandered into town last night after we tied up and had dinner. It is sad to see these older towns lose some of their businesses.  Especially considering the waterfront area the town occupies. We ate at the Brick Oven. It is listed as an Italian restaurant, but it had a wide variety of food.  And very good food!

We passed a local Sheriffs boat that was apparently patrolling the canal.

Bryce sat down for a bit while crew member Otto Pellot drove the boat and I took pictures.

We passed a grill/restaurant along the river.

Everyone needs a little bit of Paradise and its clear these people found theirs!!

The Erie Canal winds its way as we cruise up stream.

As we came up to Lock 25, we noticed a boat already in the lock.

After we stopped in the lock, we noticed it was a real paddle wheeler.  We took this picture as we passed it.  You can see the chain drive from the engine to the paddle wheel.  It was powered by a 1.8 L engine.

These is an unusual place to store someone’s propane tank??

The dockage at the town of Clyde is quite nice with water, electric pump out and a nice park like setting.  Everything was free!  We ran our air conditioning in the 90 degree weather which was great.  There are many marinas we have stayed at that did not provide this nice of a place.  This is easily one of the better stops we have had.  The Save-a-Lot grocery was only a short walk away, so provisions are very available here.  We don’t normally come to Save-a-Lot, but this one was a particularly nice one.

It was a short walk across the bridge from the dock to town.

We ate at Brickoven Restaurant.  The food was excellent and very reasonably priced.  They had everything from sandwiches for the more frugal budget to full meals.  They served breakfast lunch and diner.  One of the better places we have ate at on the Erie Canal.  They served some of the best sweet potato fries that we have had on the complete trip.  If you stop in Clyde, you must eat here.

The ambience was really great.  Nice metal ceiling and early era pictures of the Erie Canal and town.

Apparently the restaurant gets its name from this original two story oven that must have provided meals in the early years.  It has a huge rotating platform inside to allow cooking of a huge amount of food at once.  A series of belts and pulleys rotated the platform.  The lower story below floor provided the stoking area for wood or coal to heat the oven.

Here you can just see the huge rotating platform inside the oven opening.

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Good morning everyone. I feel so refresh after spending the night on anchor. Well, we left Baldwinsville yesterday and made it nearly ten miles up the canal. LOL  It was so much fun. George was able to run around on deck last night. I was able to sit in my floating chair and Bryce took a nap. LOL We are headed up to Clyde today. That means we will pass through two locks E-25 (Mays Point) and E-26 Clyde.   The book says that there is a grocery store along with the Galen Museum on the Erie Canal.  I will keep you posted on the excitement of our quest.

I spent two hours floating…..Without worrying about sharks.

Along our path yesterday this was one of our starboard turns.  Another example of why our mast has to be down. (Duck)    I get a kick out of the sign it reads: 10 MPH and No Wake. Well, the problem with that is; I don’t know of a boat that can go 10 MPH and not be throwing a wake.LOL

Just on the other side of the bridge we noticed a few people fishing. I asked if they were catching any thing. All their heads shook no. Maybe it was just to hot for those fish to want to eat. I know when I am hot, I can’t eat. Unless I am in air conditioning of course.

This a picture of a man made cut in the canal that they made during the building of the canal.  When I look on the chart, It appears this cut was easier to dig rather than dredge a huge loop that was part of the original river.

This is one of the yards we passed.  I really like the thought of my own beach. With colorful furniture and of course  one of those umbrellas that has the Tiki stuff on it.  Now, I really want my own beach. I love dreaming LOL

Just turning into Cross Lake to put out the anchor. The lake is clean and we anchored in 19 feet of water in the WSW corner to help protect us from the winds.

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Well, We had a great night last night. Bryce and I even danced. (Tuesday) We are trying to decided if we stay one more night or go to the next place. I think that will depend on the accessibility of electricity.  At 95 degrees, I am loving air conditioning.  It’s pretty bad when you are on a boat and you need air conditioning. I took my morning walk today. Already at 9:00 I had sweat rolling off my neck! Yuck…

Here at lock 24 the Baldwinsville lock it is so cute they even have a book exchange

Walla…. go to the back of the Little Free Library and you can take a book. But it is nice if you leave one too. Most of mine are all digital.. What is this world coming to. LOL

I like the view from our boat.  The flowers are so nice.

Well, maybe the electric isn’t free, but the dockage is. At 5 dollars a day for electric, I think it is worth it.

I like the little sitting area they provide too.

I smiled as we were lifted up in the locks.  This is the first time it lifted us up into a town.  It was quite the surprise.

John and Dianne were getting lowered into a new dimension of the Erie Canal.  It is amazing that each lock lifts or lowers you into a different view. I will think of it as the twilight Zone…

Do you see how their view is already changing? They really don’t have a view other than the boat in front of them. The door is a big curtain. Soon the curtain will open and their new panoramic view will begin.

I smiled.  I too waved goodbye to our new friends. Enjoy your new adventure on (Quintessential). They just purchased this boat in Michigan and are headed toward Florida.

We decided to spend another day here in Baldwinsville, NY.  This afternoon we met another couple: Jeff & Chrissy Moulton along with their puppy Magnus. They are from Georgian Bay in Canada  We spent the evening at Lock 24 Restaurant  and then came back to our boat for a few more cocktails.  Magnus sat in the cockpit with us. I think he could smell George who was resting inside the boat.

S/V “Altera” is a Hallberg-Rassy 34.  Bryce heard Jeff hail the lock operator for a lock through coming up. So he went down and took a photo of Jeff and Chrissy’s boat.

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Well, I guess you cannot have a perfect day every day. Bryce and I have a 740 S Garmin we will be approaching  lot 28 on the Erie canal soon after that till we get to Buffalo New York we have no charting software for our Garmin. I spoke with Garmin this morning and they had no answer of why there is a large hole in their charting software. I am thankful that I ordered the Cruising Guide to the New York State Canal System. It cost me 25 dollars but has the paper charts of all the Erie Canal. Back to shooting compass course.   Neither Active Captain nor OpenCPN has this region either.

So eventually we started our day going forward and making our way to Lock E-23 (Brewerton). It was only 4 miles away from the Free dockage.. I have to laugh having the guard gate in front of the lock remains me of a head chopping block. LOL    That they used in the French Revolutionary war. That was suppose to be kinder than using an ax. Anyways that is what the guard gate reminds me of…

The lock operator told me as we motored out of the lock that there was an other vessel coming around the corner. The Orange Caribe. He wasn’t joking. It was a cruise ship. I didn’t know they had such small cruise ship. I went to www.blountsmallshipadventures.com I had never heard of the small ship adventures and they started in 1966.

Look how low this ship is.  It can make it under all the bridges. Now, I don’t think it will have to share a lock with any one.  The locks are not wide enough. I wonder if they have to hold on to any lines in the locks or if the are a perfect fit? LOL  Notice they do not even have any bumpers!

If you don’t have a boat and you want to see the Erie Canal and all the places that the Small Ship goes check out their website. I’ll even give it to you again.  WWW.blountsmallshipadventures.com  or call: 1-800-556-7450

The State of New York is pulling out downed trees. Keeping it open for us boaters. We are so impressed the way they take care of the Erie Canal.

We are now headed to lock E-24 Baldwinsville.  Bryce noticed this sign on the water as the canal turned. In case you are not able to see it; the sign reads: “Erie Canal”: to the right is “Oswego 24 Miles” to the left is “Buffalo 192 Miles” and that is where we are headed.  (Buffalo)  Interesting to note that none of the miles in Erie Canal, Intracoastal Water Ways and the Mississippi are “Statute” miles rather than Nautical miles.  For those of us on the Great Lakes, Statute miles has always been the measurement of choice.

A man and his dog! And it is said that “A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more than he loves himself.” by Josh Billings That could be true. George well, he is a cat.. LOL

I like these signs…They are so helpful indicating which way to go at river connections.

Well, I am not to sure about this poor boat! It is so sad to see this happen…

We came upon lock E-24 (Baldwinsville) See the bubbles in front of the doors? That means they are lowering the locks prior to opening the doors for us. This is an 11 foot lift.

We are now going back up in the locks. Lock-21 we started going lower in the lock now we are getting lifted up again.  I am really not sure which way I like: going up or down. But then again, it really doesn’t mater; I have to do it both ways. One thing I must admit, the gloves really work well. The lines can be a bit slimy so it helps to wear gloves. Just the other day a lady said “ I hate holding the lines” I don’t think it’s that bad . You just have to be prepared.

This is John & Dianne StAubin.,  John was kind and came over to see if Bryce and I needed any help docking up. Later the 4 of us got together and enjoyed cocktails on each others boats. We finally decided we needed dinner. We took a walk and found a bar that was still opened and had a hamburger. Ok, John had a hot dog. LOL

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