September 2, 2012

We left Palmyra at 11:15 am., after doing an oil change on the engine & a pump out.  Only did three locks & ended our day in Lyons, with time for laundry.  Met Baldy Bob & Jack, who greet & promote Lyons to all boaters docking there, even in the pouring rain.  

Tues. we left early for a long day travelling through Montezuma Wildlife Preserve, doing three locks, & ending our day 50 miles later in Baldwinsville.  

We left early the next morning & stopped to get fuel & a pump out at a nearby marina.  Finding fuel on the canal has been hard.  This was our first fuel stop since Buffalo.  We left there & did the 20 mile trip across Oneida Lake to Sylvan Beach.  Sylvan Beach is alot like Sauble Beach & jammed packed - no room at the dock.  Two locks later we tied to a lock wall - in a very very rural setting.  

In the morning we had a late start (7:20 am.) due to heavy mist on the water, making it impossible to see any distance.  We had planned to go to Herkimer to take advantage of a Wal Mart Super store that was within walking distance.  The dock at Herkimer has been taken over by tour boats, so we back-tracked to Ilion Community Marina & RV Park.  We met our first other boat heading south to Florida, called ‘Nautical Dream’.  

We ended the next day in Fonda (birth place of Henry Fonda) after 6 locks & 30 miles.  The Terminal wall we were tied to is inside a locked gate for the New York State Canal system.  So we missed all but the tractor noise from the Fonda Fall Fair.  This part of the canal runs parallel with the I-90 on the one side & a very busy AMTRAK rail line on the other side.  We changed the C-map chip from the Great Lakes chip to the East Coast/Bahamas chip. 

The plan for the next  day was to do a short trip to Amsterdam Riverlink Park Marina & try & get caught up with some stuff.  When we called Riverview Marina on the Hudson River about stepping the mast, they said they could do us Tues. morning.  Therefore, we had to get moving to get there in time.  So 6 locks & 44 miles later we tied up to the wall in Crescent.  We saw about 10 white Herons today instead of the Blue Herons. There is nothing nearby except for a convenience store that did have a really good selection of ice cream.

Sunday morning we did the last 5 locks that are flight locks all in a row and ended the canal in Waterford, New York mid morning. There was a farmer’s market going on at the pier and we stocked up on a lot of fresh foods. We went to the grocery store to pick up the rest of the stuff we needed.  They have a deal with the harbour that you can take the grocery cart back to the harbour & the harbourmaster calls them to come & pick them up when there’s alot there.  It felt kind of weird walking through town with a loaded grocery cart, but was better than a backpack & bags carrying groceries!  We met another couple going south - Diane & George on ‘Polindi’.