Finger Lakes/West Erie Canal Adventure

[gulfcoast john]

Greetings from the Finger Lakes/Western Erie Canal Adventure!

We provisioned at Wegmans Supermarket; they are always crowded, but at least they always have Brie. I suspect Les and Kel have had the same experience at all the Wegmans in Alaska.

I’m surprised at the widespread Verizon 5G coverage everywhere around here. I suspect Les and Kel also...well, never mind.

On NY I-90 we saw our first ever semi rig with over 100 feet of tandem trailers.



Launching at Pirates Cove Marina, mile 158 on the Erie Canal (3 miles east of Three Rivers Junction) is always an adventure. The ramp is off from level by a 45 degree (or more) angle, but is steep. I would have taken a picture, but the owners’ wife was there helping us. We reached our goal for the day, (NOT A SCHEDULE!!! A SCHEDULE IS THE MOST DANGEROUS THING ON THE BOAT!)...Onondaga Lake county park and marina. We love the cute little baby Canadian geese… especially grilled, with some lemon butter sauce.

A 3 mile walking/biking trail runs north along the eastern shore with views of the lake. Despite 80 degree temps, with 42% humidity it feels great.

In Heavy Cruise mode we use two 30qt Engel dry boxes for waterproof dry goods storage for dry goods that otherwise would take up space in the cabin. They are terrible coolers with very thin insulation, but great dry boxes. In our very roughest conditions, they were not totally waterproof, but we keep packaged goods in them so no harm no foul.



The Stats:
Total distance: 8.27 miles (Statute)
Max speed: 26 MPH (in the lake) for 2.61 minutes
Avg speed: 6.79 MPH (on the canal) for 1.84 hours
Total Fuel burn: 2.77 gallons ($3.79/g at Byrnes Dairy and Deli, avg $4.50/g on the Loop)
Total tides, whirlpools, narrows, challenges, worries, concerns, anchoring disasters, breaking waves: ZERO.

I hear your sneers! Tough crowd!
I don’t think I’ll be giving any more Stats on this particular adventure.

This cool machine pulls up and shreds invasive EruoAsian millfoil, which has infested all the NY and Canadian lakes and canals.



I submitted reviews on Pirates Cove and Onondaga Lake marinas (5 stars) and got same-day feedback and a clarification request from Waterway Guide Explorer online. We have switched from using Active Captain to Waterway Guide Explorer with recent marina reviews rather than old 2005 reviews on Garmin AC.

Cheers!
John and Eileen

 

[gulfcoast john]

Day #17

The Erie Canal Museum in Syracuse is worth a visit. The canal there downtown was filled in. You can get closer than the county Lake O marina via a narrow weedy canal to a 30 slip terminus with power but no restrooms or showers. We spent two nights at the county marina, $33 flat rate with power and took a Lyft to the museum.

Be sure to sign up for the NY Canals Notice to Mariners before you start. It’s helpful to reset your odometer to zero at the 3 Rivers Junction where the Oswego canal goes north into Lake Ontario if you use Skipper Bob cruising guides, since it uses mile markers. I must resort to the Users Manual in the Garmin 8212 to do that and we also had other distractions at the Junction, so we didn’t get around to resetting the odometer there. But you should.

Lake O to the Baldwinsville free town wall past Lock 24 (our 167th locking aboard Cat O’ Mine) is an easy cruise at 5-7 MPH.



The speed limit is 10 with minimal wake, but a 255 is climbing up onto a plane at 12-15MPH and making too much wake. 30 amp power is $5/day via envelopes at an honor kiosk. Eileen had the “best hamburger I’ve ever had in my life” at Angry Garlic ($14, we shared it). The restrooms and showers are across the bridge behind the Budweiser Amphitheater (25 cents for a shower, but boaters try to leave the door ajar). Police lock them before dark. There are free concerts on summer Saturday nights, but no docking there then.



The secret to getting a spot on a free town wall is to arrive early, before 2 PM. Try to squeeze as tight as possible to allow the maximum number of cruisers to tie up. They will all help you dock and to get away from the wall when you’re ready to leave, including ‘walking’ boats fore and aft as needed. There is a limit of 48 hours, per boat, per 30 day period. We can’t fathom how this is enforced, and locals say it largely isn’t.

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At first I was surprised at how many over 50 foot multimillion dollar boats prefer a free wall spot, but then I realized that the canal is mostly over 12 feet deep, but many marinas (including this one) are only 4-5 feet or so.

It was a long slow slog from B’Ville to the junction of the Cayuga-Seneca canal, then 3 more locks (now 171 total ) to Seneca Falls town wall. (We decided to cruise Seneca Lake first, then Cayuga).

Trinity is the most photographed church in NY.






This is a famous great stop with free wall and power, clean restrooms and free showers in a cute village. The best spots are on the cement wall by the Visitor Center (register there). There are no utilities on the long floating docks. Across the river there are 9 power pedestals with no water, but it’s a hike over the steel green bridge (the one featured in “It’s a Wonderful Life”) to get to the bath house in the Visitor Center. There is no way to get to the closer cement bridge through heavy thickets.



It’s a 2 mile walk to an Aldi store which requires a quarter to unlock a shopping cart, or .3 miles further to a Tops food market. We spent two nights here.

Cheers! Save this for YOUR cruise on the Finger Lakes and Western Erie Canal, which we hope will be soon!

John and Eileen

 

[ssobol]

We did the Erie from Baldwinsville to Rochester last August. It was great because there were very few boats around. The drawback was that some of the facilities were closed, like the showers at the amphitheater in Baldwinsville. In other places, you had to have an advance reservation for a mooring, even if you were standing there with cash and there were free slips.

We also cruised Cayuga and Seneca Lakes.

The town of Geneva on Seneca Lake is nice and has a free dock with power. There are restrooms on the promenade and at the visitors center, but I don't recall any showers.

Watkins Glen is also nice, but we did not find any free docks.

Because of the prevailing winds and lake depths, there are few places to anchor out on Cayuga and Seneca Lakes

If you end up on Seneca Lake, there is an interesting military museum at Sampson State Park. Apparently at one time it was a Navy Base and at another an Army Base.

Hammondsport is a nice town. There is the Glenn Curtis museum which is also very nice. Hammondsport is on Keuka Lake which is not connected to the Erie Canal or another Finger Lake. (Another reason why a trailerable boat is nice.)

 

[JamesTXSD]

I'm enjoying your Erie Canal cruise - thanks for sharing. It was one of the high-lights during our time with Wild Blue. Your posts here bring back some great memories. I've long considered the Erie Canal a national treasure that every cruising boater should take the opportunity to enjoy. Like you, B'ville and Seneca Falls were two of our favorite stops.

We met some great people along the way, enjoyed the history and architecture, and found some fun Farmers' Markets in many of the towns.

Four years ago, on our way to Acadia National Park by motorhome, we spent a week along the Erie Canal, doing things by land - a whole different perspective. While we had a great time, doing the Erie Canal by boat is way it should be done.

Enjoy the rest of your time there!

 

[thataway]

Thanks for the updates!!! We plan to do the Western part in Sept. as our last cruise on Thataway. Hopefully there will be less crowds--and more available dockage. Maybe take the mini Segway, as a way to get places!

 

[gulfcoast john]

Day # 19

The N.Y. canals will be lonely in Sept and close Oct 13 this year.

We had secured a reservation online for two nights at Samsen Seneca Lake Resorts, previously known as Sampson State Park marina, about 12 miles south of where the C-S canal enters Lake Seneca.



Sessler, a commercial company, bought and renovated the marina with new docks, new power and bath house in a protected basin with great protected rebuilt double ramps. We watched a 44 foot Donzi launch this morning.




There is a huge building, now a museum run by volunteers, that was just the brig on this giant training base!





No long term rig storage here. It has miles of walkable roads, and new cabins with air conditioning overlooking the lake.




It was a military base at one time (Sampson).

https://senecalakeresorts.com/sampson-park/marina/

You can book an online transient slip at the site above. Don’t confuse it with another State Park Marina on the C-S canal at the north end of the lake which is much older, dilapidated looking and smaller. We look for marinas where we can get in our 2 hour/day walk.

Eileen says it’s the ONLY marina she has ever been in where she feels she has to remove her Keen shoes because the (card key) shower is so pristine! (I don’t think she’ll object to me calling her a bit ‘picky’ regarding marina bath houses). Friday evenings there is a food truck and free bands.

Seneca Lake Resorts marina has gas (no diesel) with a large electronic DOLLARS & GALLONS big red numbers that you can easily see from your boat. This is the best marina refueling innovation we’ve ever seen!



Free pump out with new equipment.

There is an old blue barge marked SESSLER about a quarter mile North of the rather narrow entrance channel.



The 6 foot high steel breakwater can make it difficult to see if a boat is exiting as you attempt to enter. No tides or currents to deal with, just wind.

A few issues I should have previously addressed:

I-90 is an electronic toll road in NY. Charges are FAR less if you purchase a transponder ‘tag’ in advance rather than get billed by mail with a trailer. Costs vary by your home state.

https://www.e-zpassny.com/en/home/index.shtml

N.Y outlawed plastic bags and markets charge 5c to 25c each for paper bags. We like Matador mini backpacks that fit in our pockets.

Take your passports, even if Canada is still closed. It’s easy to change plans to cruise the Trent Severn canal. Consider going North on the Oswego canal, across Lake Ontario and into the American side of the Thousand Islands. Allow 2-3 weather days for each crossing.

Safe travels!
John

 

[gulfcoast john]

We cruised 25 miles from Seneca Lake Resort Marina to the south end of Lake Seneca in whitecaps with the usual north diurnal wind. We had some spray on the windshield but we were warm, safe and comfortable. We stayed 2 nights at Village Marina, which is behind a breakwater, but transient slips are near the opening and when the lake rocks, your boat rocks too. At 4 PM in 15-20 MPH gusts, boats were bucking like a bronco, but when the sun got low 2 hours later all was calm. Typical 3 star Erie marina, dim and rustic but clean non air conditioned bathhouse with aging wooden docks, cramped showers but helpful transient manager.





http://www.c-brats.com/albums/CAT-O-MINE/DSC04625.jpg[

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There is a Walmart Supercenter 0.7 miles away. (Sometimes Les and Kel have to hike 450 miles to get to the nearest Walmart in Alaska, and by the time they get back to the boat, the Brie has spoiled).

This is the easiest, least stressful cruising that we can imagine. However, WHEN (not if) you try it, allow every 3rd day to be an ‘option/weather day’. Recent rains dumped so much water in the entire Eastern Erie sector that lock E-2 to E-19 is closed until ‘further notice.’ Loopers are stuck in place. Also, the section between E29 and E30 has been closed for weeks due to a coffer dam failure, and only boats drawing under 5 feet can pass (others are mainly de-masted sailboats).

Watkins Glen is a very touristy area. A massive Cargill salt plant is also on the shore, and multiple locomotives/trains per day go right behind the marina and between hotels at walking speed through the tourist throngs, but only during the day. Weird. 300 million years ago (which is before Dr Bob was even born) there was an ancient sea here that concentrated salt deposits at a depth that makes it cost effective to access and process. In the 1860’s, the area produced 90% of all the salt used in the US, when salt was critically important in preserving food.

[img]http://www.c-brats.com/albums/CAT-O-MINE/DSC04631.jpg

Watkins Glen State Park has a free must-see gorge with wide paved or stone walkway and 332 steps to the top (both my knees kept reminding me that they are overdue for replacement). It was the site of a popular Grand Prix race until, as a local put it, ‘they ran over some youngsters.’ You can still do 3 laps in your Prius for $30, with a pace car.

We had the best pizza EVER at Jerlando’s.

Great deli at the Holy Cow Meat market. The ‘loaded potato salad’ had more bacon than potato.

https://www.holycowmeatmarketanddeli.com/

We usually cook dinner in the cockpit or on the dock using a pedestal connector due the rooftop 15K BTU AC ‘meat locker’ load. During rain, in the cabin we sauteed onions, green and red peppers and garlic sharing a pan-fried filet mignon with Montreal seasoning by limiting the Nu-Wave induction skillet to 900 watts. We like to think that Julia Child would have approved, since we accompanied that with a few glasses of a very nice Chardonnay wine of a great vintage in a box.



I often say that the difference between Ranger/Cutwater people and C-Dory people is that the RT/C folks have an 8-bottle 12v/120v electric wine cooler with a blue LED temp readout and user adjustable high and low temp alarms, while the C-Dory people get a 5 liter box of wine, rip off the cardboard top, pull out the bladder, dump that in a cooler full of ice, and call it good. That’s what we do! No lie.

We stayed two nights and left about 6:30am before the diurnal winds kicked up in earnest, but even so had whitecaps by 8:30, thankfully pushing us from behind in rare winds from the south.

At the north end of Lake Seneca, you re-enter the serene C-S canal.



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This is C-S Lock 4 (#173 for us). Notice the difference between the lighted red/green nav ATONS and the Lock ‘traffic light’ like red/green signals. If in any doubt, hail the lockmaster on VHF 13 ‘Lock 4, ‘this is Cat O’ Mine, Eastbound, I’d like to verify a green light to enter the lock.’

The problem with the pic below is with locking ‘up’. If you chose the rope pictured, and you have a fender nearby, which you would, it could be ‘captured’ by the niche and trapped in the niche as your boat rises. Erie locks fill and drain from the central bottom, so ‘going up’ will press your boat against the wall (and the niche) so hard that you can’t push it off. That’s why you need a pot-line cutter.



We stopped for the night at FLX formerly Fortenac marina, another 3 star with cramped non-air conditioned but clean showers and well protected in a blow.





Cheers to your cruising the Finger Lakes and Erie Canal!

John

 

[ssobol]

When we were in Watkins Glen last August we stayed at Frog Hollow Marina. It is about 1 mile down the Barge Canal (past the Walmart) toward Montour Falls. The place is nothing special, but it was quiet and peaceful. No rocking from waves on the lake, just the occasional passing boat.

When we were on the Finger Lakes, we didn't have any problem with waves on any of the lakes. It was a little choppy in the afternoons, but that was about all except when a front went through while we were in Watkins Glen. Then it got quite windy and caused good whitecaps on the lake. After a half hour or so downpour, things calmed right down again.

 

[daninPA]

Thanks for posting! This trip is definitely on our top 3 list!

 

[gulfcoast john]

Cruising on the Erie canal is pretty much idiot-proof. The Canal Corporation has asked us to do it in order to find out for sure. Unusually heavy rains have closed the entire eastern canal (lock E-2 at Waterford to E-19) for five full days. That is very rare... most closures are mechanical or electrical glitches that are resolved in hours or a day. The Baldwinsville village and lock (E-24) lost power for about 4 hours while we were on the wall there, and a Notice to Mariners was issued immediately and again as soon as power returned. Although the water flow in a lock runs on gravity and the gates run on hydraulic rams, the motors that lift and lower the valves, the hydraulic controls and the traffic lights run on AC power.

A tooth on a nine foot diameter gear that lifts the giant guillotine gate at E-30 broke several weeks ago. A replacement has to be custom fabricated. In the interim a crane is doing the heavy lifting, but the pool is limited to vessels drawing under 5 feet. Those over are mostly de-masted large sailboats (or is it de-stepped?). We’ve seen lots of spots under 4-5 feet, and I personally don’t think the worries would be worth it, esp with a big wing-keel sailboat with the mast sticking out over the side, trying to negotiate the locks. However, 31 flavors of cruising, pick your favorite.

The Cayuga Lake was calm on the easy cruise from FLX marina (E-0 gas $4.95/gal, no discounts) in Union Springs to Allen Treman State Marina in Ithaca. We only saw 3-4 boats, mostly bass boats. The entrance canal became silted in May 2021. There are uncharted ‘danger’ and ‘caution’ buoys between a concrete jetty and submerged rock jetty at an odd angle. It’s a ‘NO wake zone’ although the sign is hidden by overgrown bushes. Review the charts very carefully before you get here. Colby will likely cruise the whole lake at 2.5-3.0 MPH so he’ll have plenty of time to do that. We didn’t.

Like Hontoon, you can only make reservations via Reserveamerica.com. The 1-800 alternative is run by the Bulgarian Department of Motor Vehicles and they are busy helping other customers right now, but ‘you COULD use Reserveamerica.com’.

The only transient slips are those lining the south side. There are choices for boat length, 30 or 50 amp shore power or no power at various rates on the web site. All the fixed finger piers are the same xx feet long, which barely gives us room to step off onto the pier in our bow-in position. This free park has lots of curious walkers, so if you like cockpit privacy more than you like yakking about boats, go bow in...me? Who knew?





Slip numbers are difficult to see for incoming boaters but are on a pdf at the site. The ‘50 foot’ slips just have the pilings set further out. The two bath houses are typical State Park dated cinder block, clean tile floors and walls, SS stalls and quite large. The office/transient building does not have showers, call to get the code from the central office for the shower building a short walk away. It should be in an envelope rack at the un-manned office, but we still don’t have one on day #3 here.


Whoo Hoo! At 7:30 PM on our third night, before we have to check out at 11AM tomorrow, we got our Envelope with the shower code! Perhaps this kind of courtesy is only extended to boaters from Florida, but I am afraid to ask...we don’t want the boat to be set on fire with us on it and floated out into the lake like a Nordic funeral.

New York still requires masks to enter the bath house and quadruple masking if your boat is registered in Florida. You can’t take your masks off in the shower, but you can dry them out purty good in the toaster oven set at 140 degrees. Ice is only $1.25 for 7 lbs with an honor system drop box, the best price we’ve ever seen. Rate is about $2/ft, but there is an additional $7.99 daily fee for using the site, an additional $7.95 fee if you are from out of state, and an additional $500 daily fee if you’re visiting from Florida.

None of our guides had accurate info on availability of showers or shore power. Free pump out. Don’t feed the ducks, or they will surround your boat daily at dawn shrieking and fussing until you give them all your Brie and lobster and Rainier cherries.

There are miles of level walking paths and several along the canal.





Wegmans is 4.4 miles miles round trip. Closest laundromat is over a mile away, get it done at Seneca Falls wall or Seneca Lake resort. Lyft/Uber is widely available in Ithaca. There is a country bus system that we haven’t used yet. The wi-fi falls off line a lot. Hangar Theatre is an outdoor venue with posted events at

Hangartheatre.org

The Teal tour boat is berthed here and keeps the entrance channel well plowed. Alan P, a local Brat , says the sunset cruise is great. It’s full so we couldn’t try it.



Discovercayugalake.org

We were planning to cruise back north July 17 (THIS IS NOT A SCHEDULE!), stopping at the village dock at Aurora (which will increase their census to 726 from 724 today) and Varick winery, which is apparently the only one with a dock on Cayuga Lake. Millers on Seneca Lake has the best dock and best tour according to locals. They don’t box it.

However, we just got a Notice to Mariners that Cayuga-Seneca Lock 1 (which we have to go through to get back into the Erie) has been closed as well as E-24 and E-25 due to high water and debris from recent unusual rains. So we’ll be at Ithica for at least five nights rather than three. Better to be stuck here rather than at FLX in Union Springs!

Our balloon flight scheduled (that word again) for 6PM was cancelled due to more thunderstorms in the area. Tomorrow is also washed out. We were scheduled to take off 2 blocks from where the high-tension power lines cross the canal (what, me worry?). If C-S #1 is still closed next week, we’ll re book (about $560 for two, 15% tip for ground crew appreciated). They drive you back to the starting point and furnish a champagne toast. This balloon landed in a grassy area on the marina property.





Thanks to those who have posted additional comments. We’re hoping that this thread will serve as a starting point for planning your own West Erie canal cruise! (Look under Forums>Grand Adventures, rather than Most Recent Topics).

ESPECIALLY for Bob and Marie Austin in September, when they’ll be here on their last cruise aboard Thataway!

Cheers and Safe Travels to all!
John

 

[ssobol]

The public dock at Aurora is a bit tricky. Not only can the dock itself be crowded, when we were there last year there was a queue to dock. It was FC-FS and people more or less honored the order which boats pulled up. Lots of boats were coming and going, apparently for lunch. Lots of boats were milling about waiting for their turn to dock.

The dock is fixed and quite exposed to wind and waves coming off the lake. The spaces are small and it is shallow and rocky closer to shore. We made a couple of attempts to tie up. But with the wind, waves, other boats, and high windage of a CD22 we gave it up.

We ended up anchoring a little south of Aurora near Lake Glass Beach and wading ashore. It was much easier. The area off Lake Glass Beach is one of the few areas of Cayuga Lake suitable for anchoring.

 

[LesR]

John,
Thanks for the details of your journey - we really enjoyed our cruise from Buffalo to Albany, with a side trip to Ithaca. I can assert that it's pretty much idiot-proof, having been unable to get lost during our trip.

I'll have you know that we can get lots of fancy foods in Alaska, as long as I'm willing to have my broker divest more of my IRA. As a matter of fact, Kel bought some fancy "Champagne" cheddar cheese from the Finger Lakes of NY at the Juneau IGA.

Les

 

[gulfcoast john]

Yesterday we walked to the Ithaca Farmers Market along well maintained, mostly canalside trails. It rained some more. We bought some artisanal Black Pepper Feta cheese and a locust wood coaster that someday I might use to replace the ugly black plastic cover on the hub of the helm wheel. Even more torrential rains. I might get to that project many years sooner than I planned if it keeps raining.



We visited the Commons at Cornell (which Brat Alan P describes as ‘five acres surrounded by sanity’). It rained even more. We now figure that if it takes two weeks for all this water to drain enough to reopen the locks, we had better carefully calibrate our activities and not do everything in a few days. From now on it’s do laundry as one days Special Treat Activity, and go to the food store for the next day’s Special Treat Activity. Puny drainage ditches have gotten big ambitions and egos, with whitecaps.



I discovered that the transient restroom sinks don’t have any hot water for shaving, but those in the shower building do. (You’re welcome). The Teal tour boat makes runs to the Farmers Market on Sat and Sun. Skipper Bob is wrong about it being open on Tuesdays as well. And he had nothing at all to say about the cold water at certain sinks at the marina.

Alan P says get your E0 gas at Finger Lakes Marina.

fingerlakesmarina.com

Today is Happy Birthday for Eileen! In two months she’ll be at SSA Full Retirement Age with extra Boat Unit checks, whoo-hoo! It rained a good bit more. I think I saw some Arks float by. We walked in a huge rectangle for 90 minutes with her cussing like a sailor at the Google Maps directions babe because it (she?) kept us circling the Church of Immaculate Conception, always keeping it exactly 0.4 miles away for the whole hour and a half. I didn’t have my hearing aids in (or they would float out), but I think it (she?) was suppressing giggles. Finally we switched to my Maps lady (thing?) and got there late, in the rain.

I’m betting no one prayed for rain. Eileen said she prayed for my right medial meniscus, which is mostly scar tissue, but it is willing to take any help from any source it can get.

Today they closed the Guard locks around Rochester as well as locks E32 and E33. We figure it’s not worth getting a ride back to Pirates Cove to portage around with such large areas affected. The forecast for the next week is plenty more rain, followed by some more rain. After that, some wet weather arrives.

Montour Falls before the rain:



There is no ‘after the rain’ pic, because that implies that some day the rain will stop, and I imagine you can only get there now by boat.

This is an 1880 abandoned canal section (Mud Lock) back at Seneca Lake. It was designed specifically for the CD22. Imagine using only hand tools to carve and place those stones. This pic was on my new phone, and previously we were too busy to take hours and hours and hours to figure out how to transfer photos...until it started to rain. You Brats with 8 year old grandkids don’t know how good you have it.



I’ve loaded the free Nebo boat tracker app on my Android phone. IF you remember to start and stop your ‘voyage’ on the phone, it keeps an automatic log of weather, speeds, temps etc and then emails you a download of info. There is a $99 option ($79 for AGLCA members) for a small boat-mounted puck that automatically detects the start and stops. There is an option to show your location or not, and an SMS text option. Member boats show as an AGLCA icon. Our closest NEBO target appears to be a 46 ft Kady Krogan stuck on the wall at B’Ville, just past closed Lock E-24. I sent a msg that if they get bored out of their minds enough to give us a call. Since it’s free, you could download it and send us a msg. I could use the practice. It seems to work well, even in heavy rain.

This marina has good launch ramps ($7) and you can park your rig here for $2.50/day at a pay machine with a transient permit for up to 14 days.

Cheers, until the next rains!

John and Eileen

 

[ssobol]

FWIW, you can cruise up the Cayuga Inlet (south from Tremain Park) and anchor for free. If you go all the way to near the railroad bridge, it is very quiet.

We did that last year when it rained.

 

[little wing]

If you're on Seneca Lake, perhaps on your way to Watkins Glen, this is a fun stop. It's a rocky bottom, but there's depth at the dock.

http://mileswinecellars.com/

 

[gulfcoast john]

Locals agree that Miles Wineries, as Little Wing pictured, is the best in the region that has a dock on Seneca Lake. We’ve moved over to Ithaca at the south end of Cayuga Lake.

Well, here’s a Notice to Mariners that beats them all...another complete closure of the entire eastern Erie canal as well as western as well as Oswego canal into Lake Ontario for who knows how long!

Notice to Mariners
Canal System Update – Weather Related Closures
July 19, 2021
The New York State Canal Corporation today announced the following sections of the Canal system are closed due to the recent heavy rainfall, high flows, and extremely hazardous conditions:
Erie Canal
Lock E-2 (Waterford) through E-19 (Frankfort)
Lock E-24 (Baldwinsville) through E-33 (Henrietta)
East and West Guard Locks (Rochester)
Oswego Canal
Lock O-1 (Phoenix) through Lock O-8 (Oswego)
Cayuga-Seneca Canal
Lock CS-1 (Cayuga)
Updates to follow.
The Canal Corporation urges all users to register to receive updates through the "Notice to Mariners" notification program at www.canals.ny.gov
For updates and information, please visit Canals.NY.gov or follow us on Facebook or Twitter
10:56:06AM 7/19/21

The entire eastern canal was shut down for 5 days (locks E2-E19) from July 11-July 16 (opened at 0700), then shut down again July 19 at 10AM.
That puts some boats at lock E14 on a small town wall with no power, no water, no restrooms, no shower and no spot on the wall. If you add to that a nearly full blackwater tank and no pump out, it could make for an uncomfortable 5 or 10 days. There are sections between locks where there are no suitable boat ramps where a trailer boat could be ‘trapped’.

I have never considered this possibility before. I read the Notices for several months in advance of a cruise to get an idea of ‘problematic’ locks and walls with ‘issues’, but I don’t remember any cases of such long sections being closed for 5 days or more.

The Good news is that we are stuckees at Ithaca, at the lower end of Cayuga Lake. It’s a great college town with lots of state free waterfall parks and bike/walking canal side trails with lots to see and do.

The Botanical Gardens at Cornell U is magnificent (as is the size of the U) but is located high up on the ridge. Walk to the Ithaca ‘commons’ then catch the 10 bus to the U and walk 0.75 miles to the Gardens. Masks required at bus stops and on buses. Fare $0.75 each no change. See Tcatbus.com for routes and schedules.



Local RT25 owner 2 slips down has pointed out a very important addition to my July 16 post re making reservations at Treman marina. Reservations can not be made for a same day arrival by phone or VHF or online or any other way, and “NO float-ins allowed.” It’s easiest to use Reserveamerica.com the day prior to arrival. The maximum stay is 14 days, then you must move out for 48 hours before another 14 day stay. There are no other marinas at Ithaca... although you can anchor out further south on the canal, July nights can be hot. This is day #8 here. If there is no indication of a reopening date, we are developing contingency plans to Enterprise back to Pirates Cove, bring the rig here to load and go down the Hudson river as an alternate cruise. The closest marina is Finger Lakes marine, 5 miles north on the east side of Cayuga Lake. You can’t get out of the Finger Lakes without going through CS lock 1.

Next post...The Hot Air Balloon Ride!

Safe Travels,

John

 

[hardee]

John, Well now, That is a real pickle for some. I didn't see any mention of the food stores being open. So, if not the I should pretty much equal the O and the problem may be minimal IF the parties on board are willing to starve. I bet they are not so, , , , we will have to wait to see how things come out :film at eleven . . .days.

Looks like you are in the right place, mostly, at the right time. Seems they would make some sort of accommodation to get those trapped boats out before they set all that closure into concrete. Or give a 24 hour advance warning of closure. S o m e t h i n g :roll:

I am enjoying your cruise and photos. Thanks for sharing, John. I always enjoy your write ups.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

 

[gulfcoast john]

A looper boat stranded within the Oswego canals relates on the AGLCA site that the lockmaster speculated to him that it would be ‘at least a week’ and more likely 2 or 3 weeks before 0-8 would re-open into Lake Ontario.

Long story short, we are preparing to abort this cruise and consider an alternative on the Hudson, perhaps from the Troy Lock area to the Half Moon Bay area (or the reverse of that) with a suitable ramp and Enterprise back. We don’t worry about gas mileage with the 3-5 foot tides in that area.

We would appreciate your input if you already have this under your belt! It would save me some research in muddy Cayuga Lake.

Cheers!

John

 

[thataway]

Sorry to hear that your trip got shut down. It makes us consider an alternate for Sept. Probably be Cumberland Lake and the 50 miles of Cumberland River below (which we did not do 3 years ago.).

Good luck on the haul out and the rest of the trip.. Thanks again for the great descriptions.

 

[ssobol]

Lake George is supposed to be very nice. My brother used to vacation there every year when his kids were younger.

You could also trailer to Oneida Lake.