Oneida Lake to the Oswego Canal

Oneida Lake, NY - a slight chop

The first day of summer brought a choppy crossing on Oneida Lake – the largest body of water on the Erie Canal.  It wasn’t too rough and the 20 +/- miles passed quickly.   Before I knew it we were pulling into Winter Harbor Marina, Brewerton NY!  What a great stop for maintenance, a short haul, provisioning, laundry…the fun never stops!

The Lower Place in the slings - all is well...

We have been making a check list of things to review, correct or modify before we enter Canada…most of which we could complete ourselves.  Looking at the boat bottom was not something we could do; Winter Harbor not only hauled us out BUT upon our arrival to the marina – we drove right into the straps!  Excellent service from start to finish and the hospitality was top notch!  Highly recommend the entire staff for any boat work beyond your own capabilities.

Steve from Sanctuary helps Charlie with an A/C issue - fixed (well, "adjusted")!

Our final Erie Canal bridge-hard right turn just ahead!

We docked at Winter Harbor for 3 nights and departed Saturday mid-morning.  We completed Lock 23 on the Erie Canal – for us, it was the LAST LOCK for our Erie travels!!  We are officially on the Oswego Canal – tied to the lock wall – facing lock #1 in Phoenix NY!  That means we are 24 miles & 7 locks from Lake Ontario, YAY!!!

The sign was a little hard to see - happy to have a chartplotter

Phoenix NY is a quaint canal town – filled with hard-working adults and fun loving kids!  As we sat water-side Saturday evening it was refreshing to see several families outside – a true neighborhood-pull-up-a-chair-bring-your-kids kind of gathering.

Sunset at Lock #1 Oswego Canal 6/24/2017

Yes, I took this picture from inside the boat (note the screen shadows). I was afraid I'd miss the wildlife if I went to the bow.

 

The plan for Sunday the 25^th is church at First United Methodist, Phoenix – they have services at 8:45AM! Weather permitting we will be able to leave the wall after church and traverse most of the locks.  The wall between locks 7 & 8 offers an overnight option – perfect!

We have just a few more days in the good ole USA…then we will cross into Canadian waters via Lake Ontario.  And unlike our trip to the Bahamas…we will have telephone service and internet…way to go Verizon!!!

Whatever you do today…make it happy!!

God Bless!