We left the dock in Oswego, NY at 8:00 am, and headed up the Oswego Canal. It was hazy at the dock, but there was fog out on Lake Ontario. The further we got away from the big lake the better the weather got. The trip included 7 locks on the Oswego Canal and one on the Erie Canal for a total lift of about 130 feet. The photo at right is of Lock O (for Oswego) -5. All of the other locks are on the side of the river. At this lock there is a power plant with a discharge on the right and a dam with its spillway on the left. Thus, entering this lock there is turbulence on both sides of the channel, which makes for a more difficult entry/exit of the lock.
We have come through the Oswego Canal before on Day 2-203 on our way from the Eastern Erie Canal to Oswego and Lake Ontario. So, the views were something of a repeat but in the opposite direction with different sun angles. After about 23 miles and 7 locks, we reached the Erie Canal and headed west to Buffalo 192 (canal) miles to the west. We got a kick out of the speed limit... Since we were going upstream against a fairly strong current, our cruising speed of 8 mph was often 7.2 mph or less. The current was stronger than normal due to recent rainfall while we were on our weather delay for 2 days in Oswego.
Once we made the turn to head west on the Erie Canal, the scenery was new and at times quite "unusual". For example, the photo on the right shows a life size pirate on a rope up in a tree.
After seeing this pirate, I thought that I would make a comment about "red necks" in New York, but in all honesty, there were no junk cars in the yard, no over-stuffed, living room couches used as lawn furniture and the house was not a mobile home...
Well, we did see some really beautiful things as well. For example, we passed slowly by these three swans who seemed quite oblivious to our presence. This is only the second time that we have passed swans in the wild, and as you can see, we were really close.
In case you have not noticed, sights like this are just one of the many things that I love about this trip!
Okay, it is now time for a picture for Grandson Will who likes tugs. Here is some of the traffic that was tied along a lock wall. This is about all of the commercial traffic that we saw today, but we did pass numerous cruisers and trawlers and one classic, 85 foot Burger motor yacht. Absolutely beautiful!
We went about 12 miles west on the Erie Canal to Baldwinsville, NY. The Erie follows relatively flat terrain in this region. For example, our trip tomorrow covers 48.6 miles with only 2 locks with a total lift of only 12 feet. That's pretty flat! We are moored along the town dock (wall). The dock is free, but we do pay a modest ten dollar fee for electricity. Quite a bargain, but the small towns along the canal have learned that the boaters staying overnight buy meals, groceries, fuel, etc. Tonight there were 8 boats moored along the town dock, and the picture at the left was taken from Lucky Us looking back at the lock (far right), town park(left) and the historic downtown in the background.
All in all, it was another great day on the water!
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