The Erie Canal opened on May 19th after a mid morning opening ceremony celebrating 200 years! We walked up to lock 2 to watch some of the first boats lock through. The first lock of the day was full to the max with power boats. We decided to just hang for another day in Waterford. Once most of the boats had cleared off the wall we moved 2 Outrageous closer to the action just outside the lock and in front of the visitor center. Lots of people attending the opening festivities stopped by to chat with us asking about the boat, where we had been and where we were headed.
We didn't know it at the time but it turned out our decision to stay that extra day in Waterford was a very good one. The boats that left that day had all kinds of problems with two or three of the locks. There were many delays including a situation where only one of the lock doors would open making for extremely skinny passage into the lock.
We got started shortly after 07:00 on Sat May 20. The past two days had been extremely hot ones at 34 degrees and 30 degrees. This day was a much cooler one. In fact, we had to put our toques back on! We had only one other boat with us in the locks. This made for a much more enjoyable journey. The lock that had the broken door was still broken when we arrived but just as we were about to enter the lock it opened! The lockmaster told us that was the first time it had opened fully! There was quite a bit of debris in the water within the locks and in the canal between the locks. We had to be on a constant lookout.
We stopped at Fonda NY that first night and tied up to an old commercial dock that is no longer in use. Locking the boat is a workout so after 10.5 hours on the move, and 10 locks we were ready for a good meal and a snooze! It wasn't long before we realized we were tied up about ¼ mile from a racetrack. You would not believe how loud it was. Oh well, if we weren't so tired we probably would have walked over to check it out. In the end it didn't keep either of us awake so that was good.
The next day we did 8 locks in 12 hours. The day was cloudy, rainy, cool and very windy. This made for some challenging times in the locks. We were on our own for the first 3 locks of the day then were joined by Island Dancer a 63 foot Gulfstar with Bruce, Gina, Mike, Diane and two miniature dachshunds on board. By the time we reached the docks at Rome, NY and there was not enough room for both of us to tie up so Island Dancer went along the dock and we rafted up to them.
Monday May 22 was another cool, cloudy day. The winds were light in the morning but forecasted to increase substantially as the day wore on. We got moving shortly after 06:00. Our goal was to get across Lake Oneida before those winds arrived. We had a good crossing and had our first testing of taking the wake of a large power boat with our mast on deck. No problem!
We almost made through the whole Oswego canal but ran out of time. We had only 3 locks to go. We arrived at Lock 6 expecting to tie to the wall outside the lock for the night but unfortunately the wall was under some re-fit so the wall was full of tugs, barges and construction equipment. Island Dancer was still with us, they decided to tie up to one of the barges and we rafted up to them. This meant that we almost had the whole canal blocked off! I'm sure it would have been quite a sight from the shoreline.
We joined the Island Dancer crew for some sundowners and to discuss some plans for the next day in Oswego. We were planning to have our mast stepped at the Owego marina before crossing Lake Ontario. Island Dancer would do the same before heading west on Lake Ontario to the Welland Canal.
The next morning we fully expected to be awakened at sunrise to a construction worker pounding on our deck telling us to move out.
We were on the move by 07:00 and there was still no sign of anyone on the construction site.
By 08:15 we had made it through the final 3 locks of the Oswego Canal and were tied up to the wall just below the last lock. And 30 seconds later we were visited by 8 Coast Guard officers, 3 homeland security officers and 1 dog. This visit lasted about an hour.
Once the officials were through with us they boarded Island Dancer as well. We spent this time trying to decide what to do. The Oswego Marina couldn't step our mast until the next day. It was flat calm on Lake Ontario with no wind in the forecast.
We decided to motor across the lake with the mast still on deck. We departed Oswego at 11:30 and arrived safely at Loyalist Cove Marina in Bath, ON at 18:35.
2 Outrageous is back home at her slip in Loyalist Cove Marina after an outstanding 2 year adventure covering a total of 8100 nautical miles.