Our last day of the Erie Canal had us crossing Lake Oneida, in very benign conditions, thank goodness. We then moved into the Oswego Canal, which took us to Oswego on the south side of Lake Ontario.

We checked into the Oswego Marina and were scheduled to have our masts put up the next morning. There was some pretty intense rain the next morning and I was sure we would be pushed off to the next day, but apparently only strong winds and lightning will cause them to postpone. The mast raising was interesting.....the 'mast guy' is an older fellow and he has a female assistant that helps with the remote control. We had to actively participate in the work and after the essential stays were attached he disappeared. In comparison, when the masts were taken down at the Hop O Nose Marina, there were 4 burly guys working and we just watched. And Hop O Nose was actually less expensive....

At 10:30 AM the next day (Thursday) we were back sailing on Lake Ontario. Our destination was Main Duck Island but the winds were blowing in the wrong direction to stay there so we headed for an anchorage on the south side of Amhearst Island. And I'm glad that we did because the wind speed increased overnight.

The next day we were able to sail for a few hours enroute to Sandy Cove, near Belleville, where we anchored again. We were very happy to be 'on the hook' again after having been tied alongside for the last 10 days.

Saturday our destination was Cobourg Marina. The winds were quite light so we took the opportunity to raise the spinnaker. I always resisted putting the spinnaker up but I have to admit that I am starting to get more comfortable with it. We flew it for nearly 4 hours on Saturday (blog image).

On Sunday our trip came full circle with our final stop at Wiggers Custom Yachts in Bowmanville. It is here that we will put the boat to bed for the winter. We spent most of the afternoon removing sails and then took time, with a dinner out, to celebrate our successful completion of the Maritime Circle Route.