Oswego to Sylvan Beach

Friday July 25th, 2008

Customs went smoothly for us in Oswego. We then took the locks through to Sylvan Beach which is on the east end of Oneida Lake. On the way we stopped in Phoenix New York for an evening. Very small town but nice. Al feels like he’s in heaven. 30 cans of Molson Canadian for $22. From Phoenix we made our way across Oneida Lake to Sylvan Beach. Sylvan in a quaint community that make you feel like time has stood still. Everything feels like the 50’s in Sylvan: from the amusement park on the waterfront to the Pancake House downtown. There is a long sandy beach with small cottages and very little new construction. We enjoyed two nights in Sylvan Beach.

Trenton to Oswego

Wednesday July 23rd, 2008

We left Trenton on Monday and spent Monday evening in Picton. What a pretty town. It is filled with old architecture and lots of little shops and restaurants. We had planned to spend Tuesday evening at Duck Island which is out a little ways in Lake Ontario and then cross to Oswego on Wednesday but the waters were very calm going out to Duck Island so we decided to make the crossing to Oswego on Tuesday. We ran with our friends on the Steven B. Roman (see picture) all the way across Lake Ontario. Unfortunately they couldn’t get a canal pass for their ship so we had to part ways. Here we are Wednesday morning waiting for customs to inspect the boat. We will start our way down the New York Canal System as soon as we are cleared.

Fenelon Falls to Trenton

Sunday July 20th 2008

We are now 7 days into our trip. So far, so good. We left last Monday July 14th at 1:45 waving goodbye to our friends Tim and Jan and Ron and Jan and Jimmy. We managed to get away a half day early. The past week traveling down the Trent Severn has been great. We had superb weather, the scenery was beautiful and the people friendly and helpful. Although we have done this leg of the trip before, it is still great to be reminded of what a great province we live in and all the beauty that is at our doorstep everyday.

We were met in Peterborough by Al’s daughter, Corrie and little Megan. Megan had her first experience going through locks. It just happened to be the highest lift lock in the world. The pictures are the Voyageur at the top of the liftlock ready to descend and Megan, Corrie and Al on Painkiller also at the top before we descended. Al is trying to train Megan to take over as crew but I think my job is secure for a while. She totally exhausted him in less than an hour.

Our final good bye to family was in Campbellford where my sister-in-law, Cherlyn and her daughter, Jennafer met us for cocktails. An enjoyable evening had by all.

We arrived in Trenton and the Bay of Quinte on Saturday and had a relaxing day washing the boat and swimming.

Boating and bird-watching seem to be a good match. Special bird sightings thus far: a loon with two babies; two eagles; several hawks; two swans with two babies and lots of osprey and blue herons.