June 13 to June 16 - Oswego NY to Clayton NY

June 13th - Leaving Minetto, we headed through the last of the Oswego Canal locks toward Oswego and Lake Ontario.  We arrived around noon on the 13th, locking through the last lock with a sailboat from Nice, France.  We stayed the night on the west side of Oswego Harbor at the municipal dock which had electrical power.  During the evening, the winds shifted around and were coming from the north, which meant Lake Ontario was blowing into Oswego harbor. A very uncomfortable night with Donald the only one getting any sleep (that submarine training came in handy).  At 7 AM on the the 14th we moved the boat over to the east side of the harbor where there was no electrical power but a much more protected mooring, which meant that Teresa and the Boyz could get some sleep.

On the 14th, we rented a car, picked up our repaired propeller, and finished some last minute shopping.
On June 15th, we were underway from Oswego to Sackets Harbor, NY.  It was still quite rough departing Oswego and the Boyz were giving us that look again, but it settled out for a pretty pleasant ride. Sackets Harbor is a charming, quaint and historical community on Black River Bay.  When the US declared war on Great Britian in 1812, Sackets Harbor became the headquarters of the US military northern frontier.  Thousands of troops and hundreds of ship carpenters poured in to the village, transforming it into a major military outpost and shipbuilding center.  Sackets Harbor was attacked by the Canadian Provincial Marines in July 1812.  In 1813, it was attacked again by the British and Canadian Forces in an effort to destroy its shipbuilding capability.  However, the attack was defeated, but with great difficulty.  Sackets Harbor continued to play a part in every major war through World War II.  The battlefield and some of the original Navy Yard houses have been preserved.  The town itself was very quaint, with several nice restaurants.  We stayed at Navy Point Marine which was very nice but certainly a "sailboat haven."

On June 16th we moved on to Clayton, NY.  We are now on the St. Lawerance Seaway and saw our fisrt couple of Great Lake carriers, the large ships that ply the lakes.  Clayton is home to The Antique Boat Museum.  What a find!!  We have seen "Old Boat" museums in the past, but none of them came close to the number and diversity of boats that Clayton possessed.  You will see lots of pictures below of old boats and motors, but two in particular were "La Duchesse," a 106' house boat that was built by Mr. Boldt of Boldt Castle fame.  Although he never finished his castle, he spent many summers entertaining on this houseboat.  It never had any means of propulsion and was towed wherever he needed it.  The boat sank a couple of times and has been restored in great fashion.  The other eye-catcher was the "CANGARDA", which is owned by a couple in Maine.  Although it is not part of the Antique Boat Museum, it was moored at their facility.  Check out the varnish !!
   
Tomorrow we are underway for Canada.

Sunset on the Oswego Canal

The Oswego Canal had only been opened to boat traffic about
2 weeks prior to our arrival.  The water level was still pretty high
and running fast.

Guard dog

Our tranquil berth the fisrt day in Oswego

This is what the same location looked like the next morning

Oswego Municipal Dock veterans memorial park.  Most towns in upstate New York
had similar monuments to our veterans

Leaving Oswego - Lake Ontario ahead

An historic house by the War of 1812 battlefield at Sackets Harbor

Sackets Harbor battlefield

GREAT ESCAPE in amongst "the sticks"

Downtown Sackets Harbor

A very large wind farm on Wolfe Island, Ontario, Canada seen
as we were passing  in the St. Lawrence Seaway

Passing a Lake Carrier

Clayton Municipal Dock

Grounds of the Antique Boat Museum

Dining room of "La Duchesse"

A Steinway piano in the Parlor

Master Stateroom

The ceiling had gold inlay scrolling

Cangarda

Not quite your everyday engine today

An old Chris Craft - Note the fins

  

Old Evinrude motors

I don't think these sidelights would pass inspection today

The catholic church in downtown Clayton

 

June 10th - June 12th: Brewerton to Minetto NY

We got underway from Brewerton, NY on the morning of June 10th.  We had to figure out what we wanted to do for the weekend as the damaged propeller would not be repaired and ready for pick-up until Tuesday the 14th.  In 2007 we had a great experience in the town of Baldwinsville, NY, which is actually further to the west on the Erie Canal than we needed to go.  But they had an inexpensive city dock ($5 per day) with electric power and water, so we decided to spend a couple of days there, than turn around and head toward Oswego, NY.

Baldwinsville did not disappoint us.  They have improved the facilities since 2007 and as you can see from the pictures, it is still a very popular spot on the weekend.  Unfortunately, the concert series in the amphitheater across the canal did not begin until July, but Teresa and I compensated with a very nice dinner at the local restaurant.

On Sunday the 12th, we awoke to a steady rain.  We backtracked to what is known as the Three River Junction where the Oswego River heads north towards Lake Ontario.  We stayed the day in another nice town facility in Minetto, NY.  On to Oswego,NY tomorrow.

Barb & Jeff Gavan, a nice couple from Toronto who we met in
Brewerton.  They wanted to take Shipmate but we could not
afford the price they were asking.

Brewerton Amphitheater

Brewterton City Dock area

Lock 24 entering Brewerton

The popular dock area in Brewerton

Some of the homes near the Syracuse area of the Erie Canal

Junction of the Erie and Oswego Canals.  One does not want to
take a wrong turn here

Deckhand working the lines in a  lock

Several of the locks on the Oswego Canal have dams that are
used to generate hydo-electric power

Two of the locks on the Oswego Canal have bridges across them
that you clear after you have been lowered

One of the original Oswego Canal locks hidden in the woods

GREAT ESCAPE at the Minetto City Dock

June 4th to June 9th - Canajoharie to Brewerton, NY

Our next stop after Canajoharie was Little Falls, NY.  The town has done a great job with their waterfront facilities.  The staff was exeptional and the town itself was within easy walking distance of the pier.  While here Teresa got a wonderful haircut from a local stylist and Donald was a customer in Rick's Baber Shop.  Rick has lived in Little Falls all of his life and had many tales to tell.

From Little Falls we continued on to Utica, NY where we had great plans to visit the local brewery.  Unfortunately, it was closed on Sunday so we missed out on the free samples.  Once we left Utica we reached the highest point on the Erie Canal.  We've been through 20 locks and at Lock 21 we start to lower until we reach the level of Lake Ontario.

Next was Sylvan Beach which is on the eastern shore of Lake Oneida.  Some where between Little Falls and Utica we hit some debris in the canal and damaged a propeller.  Because of the excessive vibrations, we have been traveling on a single engine for the last couple of days.

Across Lake Oneida we arrived at Brewerton, NY which had several marinas with lifts big enough to pull GREAT ESCAPE and change the propeller.  We had stayed at the Ess-Kay yard on our last trip and decided to stay there again.  The staff was very accomodating and we had the propellers replaced so we can continue operations with both engines.

We will be leaving Brewerton tomorrow, June 10th heading for Oswego, NY and Lake Ontario.

Some rock climbers outside of Little Falls

Entering Little Falls

They said the water level had been high this spring but this is ridiculous

Not a bad summer cottage

Waterfront living in Little Falls, NY

This young gentleman was "Nate" who had a lot of questions
about GREAT ESCAPE.  We gave him a tour which he greatly appreciated

The highest elevationon the Erie Canal.  Note the dispaly at 437 feet above sea level

Lock 21  -  Starting down

Typical of the debris in the canal

The Ess-Kay Marina in Brewerton, NY

This is "Duke".  He had owners on another boat at Ess-Kay

A propeller is not suppose to have that little bend on the blade tip