More Locks!
04 September 2015 | Lake Ontario to Baldwinsville
We had two quiet evenings on the water after we left Clayton. Whisper anchored behind the breakwall in Cape Vincent the first night. We didn't go ashore and there were only a few boats in the harbor. We had a constant surge off the Lake most of the night, but it was restful. Morning came with fog, but not as thick as the previous day so we were able to cast off fairly early.
The second day we docked on the day wall in Sackets Harbor, a lovely 1800s village that came into prominence in the War of 1812. We walked the quiet streets until we came to Tin Pan Alley, a restaurant highly recommended by Linda Hagemann. We had a fabulous lunch...Bill said the best corned beef ever, followed by a visit to their bakery for supplies for the next morning. Whisper anchored out east of town to watch an incredible sunset. A group of several dozen paddlers (kayak and standup) went out in the bay to watch the sunset... fun for us to watch as well.
We got up early the next day to make the crossing from Sackets Harbor to Oswego. It only took us 5 hours to motor there as water was flat. We were not pleasantly surprised by the locks that appeared before us almost as soon as we entered the Oswego harbor. The NY locks are unlike those on the Trent Severn.... larger, longer and extremely dirty. Instead of fixed cables, many of the tie-ons are pipes or loose ropes which are difficult to 'catch' when you are motoring in to the lock. We had a couple of 'interesting' lock thrus. It took us another four hot and sweaty hours to travel the 7 locks of the Oswego River. We only saw one other boat the entire way!
At Lock #1 there is a nice wooden wall complete with umbrella tables and potted plants for a shore tie. Water and electricity are on the docks and docking is FREE! We were hot and tired and cranky so it was a welcome stop.
We had one more lock and a long motorboat ride in the river to get to Baldwinsville. We tied up at our destination docked next to the graveyard mid-morning and were met by Bill's niece, Betsy, who carted us and our dirty laundry off to her air conditioned house. We'll stay with Betsy for several days waiting for Uproar to catch up to us. Land activities and freeways seems strange after being on the water for so long.