June 2018
June 6 – Adagio is launched
After the bottom paint dried, Winter Harbor launched Adagio before
we arrived from the campground. The tech
was just leaving after verifying that the generator repairs made this winter
were adequate. Last year’s water flow
problem turned out to be a worn shaft on the generator seawater pump, so a new
pump was installed. Adagio needed to be
in the water to perform the lengthy test.
Ron misplaced the galley faucet sink water mixer, so an overnight shipment
for a replacement from Defender was made. Then we noticed the freezer was not cooling
enough. We added freon a couple of years
ago and all was fine since. The
refrigeration tech came aboard while we were shopping, assume he added freon
again, but not positive. Two weeks later
the freezer failed again, right after we defrosted. This led to further investigation. It turns out a couple of wire connectors to
the compressor were making partial contact.
High resistance on start-up resulted in the freezer compressor not
turning on. After a couple of days
provisioning and checking boat systems we finally got underway on Saturday.
June 9 – underway at last
Within a few minutes of leaving Winter Harbor we reached Erie
Canal Lock #23; we’ve transited this
lock 4 previous times. It’s approach
walls are always filled with people fishing or picnicing. There is free overnight mooring both ends of
the lock.
Completed in 1825, the Erie Canal was
frequently referred to as Clinton’s Ditch or Clinton’s Folly. Clinton was the Governor of NY and the
canal’s most vocal political advocate.
On completion New York City became the major shipping & banking city
in the US, quickly surpassing Boston, Philadelphia, and New Orleans. The canal opened the Midwest to
development. Farm goods, timber,
minerals could now be more easily transported east, manufactured goods and
immigrants could reach their destinations in weeks rather than months of
overland travel.
We had an easy first day, stopping at the free lock wall in
Phoenix NY. This was the first time we
stopped here, though we have passed by several times. Phoenix has one of the best free docks;
picnic tables, water, 15-amp power, restrooms, and showers. Phoenix is well known by boaters as the home
of the Phoenix House Brats, local high school students who cater to boaters. In addition to helping with docking, they
will clean your boat, run errands, deliver restaurant meals, I’ve even heard
they will do your laundry. They do this
for tips only, to raise funds for their high school programs. Unfortunately, the House Brats did not start
until the following week and we didn’t get to meet them.
The next day we locked through 6 times, stopping between lock
7 & 8 for the night. During the
Oswego Canal construction of the 8 planned locks, designs were changed and lock
#4 was eliminated. They didn’t want to
change all the drawings, so left the other lock numbers as planned. Several other boats joined us along the lock
walls. It’s a nice quiet stop after the
lock closes for the day with plenty of green space for Duke. Up early the next day to catch the 0700-1st
lock opening, we found the lock #8 lockmaster had already accommodated another
boater and let them pass early. It only
took a few minutes to fill the lock chamber up, and soon we were crossing Lake
Ontario. It was a pleasant day, only a
few whitecaps and an occasional 3-foot wave.
Arriving in Cape Vincent we found room at the free NY Dept Environmental
Conservation docks. Three other small
trawlers were already in and they helped catch our lines. Again, we had very nice free docks, no water
or power, but very clean restrooms.
Dinner was at a nice restaurant right across the street. We next headed to Alexandria Bay, which was another
short day. AB is a busy tourist town,
with many cruise boats taking passengers around the Thousand Islands and to see
Boldt Castle, right across the river. We
thought Cape Vincent was going to be our last free dock. But the public dock at AB had not yet started
collecting their usual $1.50/ft docking fee. We were too early in the season by
one day. The dock attendant showed up
for the first time the morning we cast off but didn’t ask for payment for the
previous night.
June 14 – checking into Canada
Heading down the main St. Lawrence River shipping channel, we
had an almost boat traffic free day, at least until we arrived at the
Brockville Narrows and Needles Eye Island.
There we met an upbound freighter, so we prudently moved out of the channel
and held our position until he passed.
Using AIS, we had plenty of notice where we would meet. Checking into Canada Customs in Prescott was
an easy 10-minute phone call. We rate
Prescott Marina as having among the most helpful dock staff we have met. Dockmaster Dwaine always had a treat for
Duke. The marina is situated within a
riverfront park. On the weekend we visited, there was a Taste of Prescott event
and actors were rehearsing for their summer Shakespeare festival. Leaving Prescott, we travelled a short
distance upriver to Brockville. One of
the attractions here was the recently re-opened railroad tunnel. To service waterfront businesses a spur RR
line was built underground down to the docks.
Long abandoned it now has music, and a light show as you walk through
the tunnel. Much of this city’s early
history can be traced to the close of the American Revolution. Many Loyalists were forced to leave the
colonies and Great Britain aided them in moving to Canada. Further, the city is named after Sir Isaac
Brock, the British general who defeated the Americans at Detroit in the War of
1812.
June 19 – in the heart of the Thousand Islands
Several AGLCA (America’s Great Loop Cruisers Association)
members serve as Harbor Hosts. They
offer information and help to Loopers passing through their areas. A very few Hosts also offer dockage at their
homes. Jeff & Anne Timmons are among
those Hosts offering overnight dock space, we took them up on their offer to
stay at their Hill Island dock, enjoying docktails before we turned in for the
night. Deciding it was time to take
advantage of our Parks Canada season mooring pass, we headed to one of the
Thousand Islands docks. Many docks were
damaged in 2017 flooding and are still undergoing repair. Fortunately, Parks Canada put out an alert
noting which docks are not available.
We decided on Endymion Island and were not disappointed. The dock was crowded with 5 other boats, but
we all made room for one another. Unfortunately,
most of the island trails were closed due to some environmental issue. Our batteries were running low due to short
days underway and several days without power, generators are not allowed on
most Parks Canada islands. We headed to
Beau Rivage Island where generators are allowed. We expected the docks to be busy, but we were
the only ones there until late afternoon when one other boat showed up. Beau
Rivage also had trash pickup, so we made the most of our two nights stay
there. The east side of the island had
another dock and it was full both nights.
Gananoque was our next destination, a whole 4 miles from our dock on
Beau Rivage. There we found a church for
Mass on Saturday evening, had dinner out, and stocked up with groceries. Gananoque was another town that can trace its
roots Loyalist resettlement from the American Revolution.
After Gananoque we started making our way to Trenton, 1st
stopping for a couple of nights on Cedar Island. All the dock reviews said this was a very
busy dock, but we were the only boat there both nights. A few boats came in for lunch or a swim. No generators are permitted on Cedar Island,
but since we were the only boat there we broke the rules a little to keep our
batteries topped off. Cedar Island is
across from Fort Henry, 1st built by the British to protect Kingston
Harbor from the Americans during the War of 1812. The
island has its own Martello Tower, used as an outer defense to the fort. The fort was rebuilt during the 1830’s and
became known as the “Citadel of Upper Canada.”
As relations improved between the USA and British Canada, the fort was
used as prisoner of war camp in WWI and WWII.
For a time, 1914~1920 it was used to inter Canadian / Ukrainian immigrants
considered to be “enemy aliens.” Today
it is a very popular tourist attraction, cannon fire every afternoon which Duke
did not appreciate.
June 27 – heading to Trenton
The weather was turning, rain & high winds were
predicted. We thought to leave Cedar
Island a day early and get a spot in Picton.
But they were full Tuesday night and we stayed on at Cedar Island. We left Wednesday after first light and beat
the rain to Picton. There was only one
short section on the Bay of Quinte where we were exposed to the full width of
Lake Ontario, so the ride was not too uncomfortable. Coming into Picton we were passed by a
130-foot mega-yacht. They had to anchor
before the bottom of the bay as their draft was too deep to come in close to
town.
Thursday, we made the last leg to Trenton, eastern gateway to
the Trent Severn Waterway. It was an
uneventful day, just how we like; little boat traffics & pleasant weather. Trenton Port Marina is a new facility and
they did it right. Easy to find slips
with wide fairways, club house with boater’s lounge, free laundry, almost luxurious
restrooms & showers. The marina is a
block away from a Metro (Canadian grocery store), and a block away from downtown
Trenton. We’ll be attending an AGLCA
event, a preview of the Trent Severn and Georgian Bay and are looking forward
to enjoying Canada Day celebrations here, just like we did in 2014.
