Little Falls to Catskill - August 27 to 30, 2009

On the way out of Little Falls we stopped at Benton’s Landing to refill our extra propane tank at the lumber yard a block away from the dock. While we waited for Knot-A-lot so we could go through lock Number 17 together we met a couple across the road who are restoring these 150 year old brick and stone buildings. They will use the larger one as their own residence and will build a garden between the two. Lock Number 17 is the highest lock on the Erie Canal System with a vertical lift of 40 feet.

For much of the day the Interstate 90 paralleled the canal on the south side and the CSXT railway track paralleled it on the north. When we travelled o Alberta in July we took the I-90 west to Wyoming and now we were following it east through New York State.

When we stopped for the night at Amsterdam we were about 100 feet from the railway track. Just across the track was Russo’s Grill where we had dinner with Mason and Claire from Knot-A-Lot. If the place had not been given a nod of approval by the locals that Tom traded his last Canadian beers with we would not have even given the place a chance. This little Italian Restaurant has been in business for 90 years and the outside of the building has not seen much upkeep in that time. The windows on the second and third floors have even been boarded up. The atmosphere on the inside is warm and bustling. The food was tasty, portions generous and prices very reasonable. They have a chalkboard on one wall for boaters to leave their boat name and any other details they want to add. Unfortunately, it was too dark and rainy to get a photo.

When we left Amsterdam in the morning it was raining. Another Dubarry day. Our two day canal passes had expired and we had expected to be able to purchase more from the lockmasters as we needed them. Instead we were given an Unpaid Toll Report with an address to send the payment to. There were a couple of delays during the day; one at Lock Number 10 where there was a concrete pour in progress to repair damage from a flood in 2006 and the other at Guard Gate Number 2 which is at the beginning of a flight of 5 locks that were being managed by two lockmasters. They had to drive back and forth between the locks to coordinate opening and closing as we passed through. The shoreline along the canal in this area is quite marshy and populated with herons, egrets, ducks and Canada Geese.

The Erie Canal ends at Waterford where the Mohawk River meets the Hudson. Waterford is very boater friendly with free docks, showers power and wi-fi at the Visitor Center. There is a Price Chopper grocery within walking distance or you can use their dock temporarily while you shop. They don’t mind if you borrow their carts to haul a couple of cases of Budweiser back to the boat. We timed it right for the Sunday farmer’s market at the docks and picked up some garden fresh tomatoes and dried herbs.

Heading south on the Hudson River there was lots of current in our favor once we passed through the final lock plus we time our departure from Waterford with the outgoing tide so were able to make good progress. We were boarded by the coastguard for a safety check just past Troy and passed inspection. They approached us again on a different boat a few hours later but were satisfied with the boarding report from their colleagues. There is much more traffic on the Hudson that we have seen anywhere else so far. We have also seen a lot of commercial development and passed by Albany, the state capital.

We are now sitting at the Hop-O-Nose Marina in Catskill waiting to have our mast put up in the morning. There is only one boat ahead of us sowe should be ready to go before noon so we can ride out on the tide again.

August 24 - 27, 2009 – Oswego to Little Falls

The trip across the lake was uneventful. As there was not much wind we motored around False Duck Island and across the shipping channel with the main up and the boat pointed at Oswego, NY. The CSL freighter, Frontenac, crossed our path on its way to Windsor. We had hailed it the day before to verify if the AIS was transmitting our position and were told that they were not picking up our signal. The Wolfe Island Ferry also confirmed that they could not locate us. More work needed on the AIS. As we approached Oswego a sailboat reported a water spout near Fair Haven to the west of us. We watched the horizon for a while but saw nothing.

We arrived in Oswego early afternoon and proceeded to clear our entry with US Customs and Border Patrol. The videophone connection was not very good and we had a loud diesel truck running a few feet away so we had to repeat everything at least twice. We eventually got ourselves checked in and were in the process of arranging for a US cruising license when the line was disconnected. When I tried to call back there was no answer. While we waited to get through we made arrangements for overnight docking and for Bernie at Oswego Marine to take down the mast in the morning. After several more unsuccessful attempts with the videophone I finally got through and our cruising license was faxed to the office at Oswego Marine.

Tom started preparations for securing the mast on the side deck of Polar Pacer. He had expected to be able to set the mast down on saw horses to remove the spreaders but the gin pole does not rotate so he had to modify his plans. There is a good collection of materials that other boaters have left behind that you are welcome to use so there is no need to bring much with you. Tom was able to find a pre fabricated cradle that fit our mast perfectly. There is also a lumber yard close by for anything else you need. Bernie and his crew were very patient and professional. Within an hour from the time they arrived the mast was down and secured and we were good to go.

Lock Number 8 is the first lock on the Oswego River. We purchased two 2-day canal passes from the lockmaster once we were in the lock and the water level was raised. Two day passes for boats our size are $15.00 each and a ten day pass is $37.50. The second pass is not dated in case we decide to stop for a day or two along the way. There are seven locks on the Oswego River which ends just past Lock Number 1 (There is no Lock Number 4).

Locking up the river was mostly straight forward. For starters there were no other boats in the locks beside us and we only had to be concerned with holding ourselves in place on the wall. In most of the locks there are ropes hanging down the sides that you hang on to in order to keep the boat in place as the water level is raised. One had only cables that you put your own lines around to hold you. The sides of the locks are pretty rough and covered in slime. Work gloves and boat hooks are a must. Tom made a fender board to keep between the fenders and the wall to protect them. The ropes were recessed in slots in the wood so there would not be worn through by the sides of the locks. One lock had quite a bit of turbulence as the lock filled and Tom had to rescue the front end of the boat as I did not have enough strength to hold it. In Lock Number 1 there were large mats of weeds that fouled the propeller and we lost steerage going in to the lock. Tom was able to raise the drive leg and use the boat hook to clear it before we ended up sideways in the lock.

The scenery along the river varies from thickly wooded areas to shallow marshes and summer fishing shacks to large estates. The channels are very well marked but you need to remember to keep the green marks on the right and the red marks on the left. This can be confusing if you are trying to follow the ‘red right returning’ rule. Many of the locks are located near towns where you can buy supplies (like this pickle in a bag)and most have free docks you can tie up for the night. The level of services available varies. We spent our first night in Phoenix, NY where Lock Number 1 is located.

After leaving Phoenix we travelled with Knot-A-Lot, a sailboat from Michigan. When we came to the place where the Oswego, Seneca and Oneida Rivers meet up, we took the Oneida River on our left. At Lock Number 23 the lock master warned us about crossing Lake Oneida as there were thunderstorms in the forecast. When we got to the lake it was starting to rain but there was no wind or waves. Lake Oneida is very shallow and can get very high waves when the wind is strong. It was still raining when we went through the next two locks. We wore our new Dubarry’s and they were wonderful. No wet feet or shoes! Thanks again to Tim and Debbie. We stopped for the night at the wall just past Lock Number 21. There are no services there and it is soooooo quiet. It cooled-off enough during the night that we had to pull out an extra blanket. Summer is definitely on its way out.

With the sun back out in the morning and the mist rising off the canal we continued heading east.

Traffic on the canal was heavier than previous days with a few pleasure boats and several canal maintenance vessels. The banks of the canal are lined with large old growth trees and lots of deadfall. It’s important to keep a lookout for submerged branches and logs.

Little Falls was the stop for the night. The New York Canal System has built a very nice facility here for boaters to stop over. There are showers, shore power, wi-fi, and pump out services. Groceries, drug store, Laundromat and post office are within walking distance.

August 20 – 23, 2009 - Picton and Waupoos

When we arrived in Picton there was no space available at PEYC or the municipal dock. Tip of The Bay had slips for both Chi Chi Maru and Polar Pacer. Tip of The Bay has changed a lot since we first stayed there in 1998 with Opus 1. Unfortunately the changes have not been for the better. When Claire and Tony owned and operated the motel and marina it was well maintained with some English charm and small town hospitality. The new owners obviously are not interested in anything more than the value of the land for some future development. The docks are at the point of being dangerous, the shower facilities for boaters not clean and the motel and restaurant are in a general state of disrepair.

Chef Tri’s last meal for us was Vietnamese BBQ pork with vermicelli noodles and modified cold spring rolls with shrimp, basil, vermicelli noodles, marinated onion and two dipping sauces. Delicious! We had the rest of the carrot cake for dessert and drank another bottle of the Malbec Catena.

Chi Chi Maru left early in the morning for Toronto and we were truly left on our own to begin the adventure. There was room at PEYC so we moved over there for two nights. We spent most of Friday waiting at the hospital to get or final shot of Twinrix. The receptionist at the medical office where we enquired told us that there was no one there who could give us needles and we should go to the emergency room at the hospital and one of the nurses there would do it for us. We were embarrassed to be using emergency facilities to get a vaccination. Saturday was a working day. We had to buy lumber to make a fender board to use in the locks and to make supports for the mast when it comes down in Oswego. Tom was quite a site carrying 2 x 6’s down Main Street while riding the folding bike. I set up the sewing machine and made screens for the two small aft hatches.

PEYC was having a Lady Skippers race on Saturday afternoon. I think some gender testing was in order. We were invited to the after race BBQ and met Bill and Ana on Knot Tied Down, a 40 ft trawler from Melbourne, Florida. They are in the process of completing the Great Circle Route before heading off to places further south. They were generous with information on their experiences up the Intracoastal and told us about the website www.activecaptain.com to get up to date info and reviews on things like anchorages, fuel prices and local attractions. We also met Sarah who was surprised to see a Prout Catamaran. She used to own Madeline, a 33 foot Prout, and had attempted to sail her to the Azores but hit a whale three days out from the east coast of the US and decided to abort the trip. Madeline was made famous by the book A Sailing Promise which was written by a sailor two owners back from Sarah.

We intended to anchor at Waupoos Island on Sunday night and have an early start across the lake. As there were thunder storms in the forecast we opted to take a dock at the Waupoos Marina. While the rain clouds threatened we set out on foot to the Waupoos Estates Winery just a couple of kilometers down the road from the marina. The rain held off, we bought some wine and stopped at several roadside produce stands on the way back to pick up fresh blueberries, corn on the cob and beefsteak tomatoes. We also found the farm that had a poster in the marina office advertising fresh lamb for sale. Like many of the garden stands it operates on an honour system. If no one answers the door, you walk into the back porch of the farm house, find the freezer with the price list posted, make your selection and leave your money in the little wooden box provided. A truly self serve check out! The storm never happenedand we were on our way by 6:15 the next morning just as the sun was rising over Waupoos Island.

August 19, 2009 - Prinyer’s Cove

We were to meet Chi Chi Maru for dinner at Picton but changed our destination to Prinyer’s Cove due to a late start from Gananoque. When we arrived Tri and Sandra had a gourmet meal waiting for us. They had gone shopping at the farmers’ market in Kingston he previous day and brought fresh baby potatoes, zucchini and snap peas from Wolfe island, lamb chops from the organic meat shop, French bread with three delicious dips and carrot cake from the bakery at Chez Piggy and a couple of bottles of Catena Malbec 2008. What a feast! Thanks guys! Happy 31^st anniversary to us.

Prinyer’s Cove has been one of our favorite spots since we first started boating in the Quinte area in 1998. Two of our previous boats were kept in seasonal slips at the Prinyer’s Cove Marina; Opus 1 – a San Juan 23 and Ravenscroft (a.k.a. Sin Cera) – a C&C 27. It was worth putting up with the weekend traffic from Mississauga to enjoy the charm of Prince Edward County. In many ways it reminded us of the Gulf Islands on the West Coast.

The hospitality at Prinyer’s Cove Marina was always exceptional. The current owners, Barb and Don, are keeping up the tradition and have made many improvements to the docks and facilities. Barb is also known to have donated a pair of panty hose to use as an emergency repair for a broken water pump belt! The marina is well maintained and provides a nice range of services for its size; pump out, laundry, showers, barbeques, picnic tables, shore power and a small convenience store. There is no potable water so be sure to stock up before you go. If you need to stretch your legs after too many hours on the boat you can take a walk on the quiet country road that runs along the corn fields.

Barb and Don have also built a beautiful bed and breakfast on the property for those who prefer to keep their feet on solid ground. There is also lots of room to anchor in the cove.

August 19, 2009 - Cruising the 1000 Islands

We have been in the Thousand Islands at the eastern end of Lake Ontario for about two weeks now. There is no internet access on the islands so this post will make up for lost time.

Until a few days ago we were with Sin Cera, Chi Chi Maru and Blue Heron. When Lou and family joined us on board Polar Pacer there were 19 of us altogether, 8 adults and 11 children ranging in age from 5 to 17. What a great send off! We played water volleyball, went cliff diving (well I didn't do that one but Tom did), and swimming during the day, 'name that tune' contests with the appropriate dancing in the evenings (thanks Deb) and various board games thanks to Sandra to fill in the rest of our spare time.

We split our time between Cedar, Milton, Endymion and Beau Rivage Islands. Some of the time was at anchor and the rest tied to the national Parks mooring buoys or docks. We also spent one night at the Municipal Marina in Gananoque so we could stock up on provisions, take showers and do laundry. While in Gan we all went to the Maple Leaf Restaurant that specializes in Czech schnitzel. Both food and company were great.

The weather has been wonderful. Lots of sunshine, air temperatures in the high 20's and water temperatures in the 20's as well. Yesterday afternoon I overheard a scuba diver telling the Parks Ranger that she had been on a dive nearby where the water temperature at 72 ft was 72 degrees farenheight. I don't know what the conversion is but I think it's pretty warm. We did get a little rain last week and caught the edge of a storm that went by but nothing that lasted too long.



We are having some problems with our refrigeration and AIS systems that we hope to get sorted out in Picton later this week. Marvin from EZ Cold will recharge the refrigeration system. He thinks we have gotten some air in the lines that is causing the compresssor to run much too long in order to get the temerature of the holding plate down to -12 degrees. The AIS system is receiving information from other vessels but not transmitting any data on our GPS position. The help desk at Raymarine has advised Tom that we need to upgrade our chartplotter software from version 4.25 to 4.29. We'll try that and if it still does not work we may have to replace the unit.

Tom took one of the props to Gordon Maarine to have the pitch changed hoping that would give us better speed with the new motor. They could't do what he wanted but have done what they could. Tom will install it today and we will check it out on the way to Picton.

All else is wowrking well at this point.

We have already met a number of boats that will be travelling south about the same time as us and expect meet up with them along the way.

August 7, 2009 - Night Sail

The weather called for perfewct conditions for my first overnight sailing experience: full moon, clear skies, 15-20 knot winds from the west, all good for heading for the Thousand islands at the east end of Lake Ontario. We left LSYC with Chi Chi Maru around 6 PM and were accompanied out of the harbour by Mike on Hawley and Dave and Kirsten on Better Still. Thanks for the send off guys! We had a beautiful susnset with the Cn tower in the background and an amazing sunrise at 6:11 in the morning. Except for the wind the forecast was accurate. As for the wind, we had up to 28 knots, averaging around 20 knots with waves up to a meter off our port quarter which caused the boat to be pushed around a lot. The aautohelm didn't like that much. Chi Chi Maru hand steered the whole time and was able to stay with us without any problem. For the majority of the trip we had three sails up; full main, genoa and stay sail. Even in the 28 knot winds we were able to maintain 7+ knots of boat speed.

August 5, 2009 - Families and Friends

After three and a half weeks visiting with friends and family we are back on Polar Pacer making our final preparations before we say goodbye to our son and untie from our slip at LSYC for the last time.

During our time in Alberta we attended several special events that made it possible to see a large number of family members in a short period of time. There were many we had not seen in a long time and some we had not yet met.

Cousin Todd hosted his second annual barn dance/fundraiser on the edge of the Canadian Rockies complete with two live bands playing from the balcony of the barn. What an amazing location. It sure reminded us just how beautiful Alberta is.

We greeted sister Cathy and her horse Rowdy in Beaumont as they completed their leg of a trail ride in support of breast cancer research. See www.wildpinkyonder for more info.

Brother Brian celebrated his 40th birthday in style with a family barbeque at the country property where he lives. Happy 40th Brian!

The Peirson family reunion on the long weekend was once more a well attended success. Thumbs up to cousins Terry and Brad and their families for all the hard work they put into it. We really enjoyed seeing everyone. We were very fortunate to have ony caught the edge of the wind that caused the devastation at the Big Valley Jamboree in Camrose.

In between the special events we were able to connect with some of our other favorite people in the Edmonton area and visit some of the old stomping grounds. Green onion cakes were on the menu at the farmer's market and we washed them down with draft at the Strath.