We
continued north on the Oneida River.
Small homes with docks lined the shores and fishermen in small boats
were anchored along the way. We
approached Lock 23 of the Erie Canal at 9:55 am and were out by 10:17 am. Since there were only 2 of us, Captain Randy
had to grab the stern line rather than stay at the helm to control the boat.
Canadian and American boats travelled in both directions, enjoying the perfect weather. We passed the River Edge Mansion Bed and Breakfast and bridges 70 and 71, the last bridges of the Erie Canal for us.
Three
Rivers Point marks the confluence of the Oneida, Seneca and Oswego Rivers. The Seneca goes west to Buffalo (192 miles)
and the Oswego goes north to Lake Ontario (28 miles). We entered the Oswego Canal with 7 locks,
numbered 1-3 and 5-8. We’re not sure
what happened to #4, but assume it was taken out at some point. The Syracuse Canal Maintenance building is
just past Three Rivers Point. There is a
speed limit between 5-10 mph on the canal, so we knew it would take us most of
the day to get through to Oswego.
We
entered Lock 1 at 11:30 am, after waiting a few minutes, and were out by 11:50
am. The lock is at the town of Phoenix,
a very clean, neat looking town with a “Duck Hut” and an ice cream store called
the “Scouper Doupers”.
It
was 10 miles to the next 2 locks at Fulton.
We entered Lock 2 at 12:47 pm and then went right into Lock 3. There were no mooring lines in Lock 3, which
was a surprise. We knew this would
happen on the Trent-Severn, but were unaware of it on the Oswego. So instead of hooking a line with the boat
hook and bringing it up to hold onto, we had to hook fixed lines or cables and
wrap a line from the boat around it to hold the boat to the lock wall. Luckily, the lockmaster helped me out. Lock 3 was the same and I was able to manage
this one on my own.
We
reached Lock 5 at Minetto at 2:07 pm. By
now the wind had picked up and so had the current. The lock did have lines so I grabbed mine and
held on. Captain Randy decided I should
also use a “walking fender”, so I held the line of a fender in my right hand,
with the lock line in my left. The wind
and current pushed the boat away from the wall as we were descending and I put
the line of the fender under my right foot so I could grab the line with both
hands and hang on tight. The Captain
told me to pull the boat back into the wall but it was all I could do to hold
on where we were. Right about now I
wished I had a few extra hands! We
exited this lock at 2:20 pm.
Two
eagles flew in front of us as we proceeded to the last 3 locks. One dove for a fish, caught it, and then
dropped it. The two of them flew off
over the treetops. The last 3 locks of
the Oswego Canal are in the city of Oswego.
We entered Lock 6 at 2:45 pm. The
lockmaster showed me how to wrap the lock line around the mid-ship forward
cleat and then pull up. This method made
it easier for me to keep the bow into the wall. We were through Lock 7 and 8 within the hour
and saw Lake Ontario ahead of us. To our
port, the water flowed through the dams and created waterfalls. We arrived at Oswego Marina, the last stop
before Lake Ontario, at 3:45 pm. There
was no docking help from the marina, but we managed to get the boat in the
slip. A fellow boater came over and
grabbed our bow line to walk us forward.
After
tying lines and checking in, we enjoyed a cocktail on deck. We took a walk into town, crossing over the
river and Lock 8. Oswego is a port city
and is a good sized town. A branch of
SUNY, Oswego, is located here too. Two
small motels were on the river next to the marina and a cruise boat, the Grande
Caribe was docked next to one of them.
For dinner, we tried GS Steamers at the Best Western for their “Seafood
Sunday” menu and ate out on the deck.
This was our last day in the US before crossing Lake Ontario to Canada.
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