Farewell Erie Canal, Hello Canada!

Little Falls to Sylvan Beach, NY

Catching up to Misty Maiden and others

It was a rainy morning, and Heather, our First Mate, decided to wait a bit longer, hoping the rain would ease up before we left. "Misty Maiden" stuck to the plan, but we pushed off late, around 7:15 AM. We made our way through E18, the Jacksonburg Lock (20 ft), without any issues. Once we were through, we kicked it into gear and soon caught up to Misty Maiden, along with Wood Knot and Faith.

As we approached E19, the Frankfort Lock (21 ft), we were met with a maze of debris that had flowed down the rivers from the rain. Cam wove through the debris while Heather pushed some of the stubborn branches out of the way. There was room for all four boats in the lock, with two on each side. Luckily, two boats wanted to tie starboard and the other to port, so we lucked out with a port tie and everyone was happy. After passing through the lock, we encountered two dredges on the water. We had to navigate to starboard around the first one, then made a tight turn to port to squeeze past the second one. It felt like threading the needle!

With the next lock in sight, we saw dark clouds moving in, so we quickly suited up in our foul-weather gear—complete with pants. Lock E20, the Whitesboro Lock, would bring us to the top of the Erie Canal, raising us 16 feet. That brought our total for the day to 57 feet up, and 421 feet total for the entire Erie Canal journey! The rest of the locks will be down as we work our way toward Lake Ontario.

Next, we made our way to Lock E21, the New London Lock, where we began our first descent on the Erie Canal, dropping 25 feet. Going down is a whole different story. Instead of the lines being beside and above us, they were below us and Heather had to reach down with the boat hook to pull up a line. In this lock, the location of the second line was a little too far forward so Cam just held it as it didn’t quite reach the cleat until we dropped part way. Halfway through the lift, the bow started swinging out, and Cam quickly cleated his line and dashed to the bridge to manage the bow thruster to keep us from swinging into Faith.

At Lock E22, the Sylvan Beach Lock, we descended another 25 feet, wrapping up the day with a total of 57 feet up and 50 feet down. In the last lock, we noticed that the Zebra mussels that were clinging to the lock wall were squirting water out. We think it's because they are filter feeders and they are still filtering some water even though they are no longer under water. It was funny watching them squirt.

Sylvan Beach free dock

We were super tired after our last lock. The locks were a lot of work today and the constant drizzle didn’t help. When we arrived at the Sylvan Beach free dock, there were lots of helping hands to help us bring the boat in. There were no cleats to tie to, just steal rings that were spaced rather far apart, but we were secure and we even saw a security guard walk past all the boats shortly after we arrived, which was reassuring.

After securing the boat, we decided to stretch our legs and walked into town to grab some supplies at Circle K. Later, we met Jim and Lisa from Misty Maiden at the Lake House for dinner. The evening turned out to be the perfect end to a long, but fulfilling day on the water.

Sylvan Beach to Oswego, NY

Foggy Oneida Lake

We were up early and enjoyed a hearty breakfast with eggs before setting off. We needed to use up our eggs and poultry before returning to Canada, so any leftover eggs would have to be hard-boiled. After breakfast, we crossed Oneida Lake, mostly at speed, and found the waters to be much calmer and more comfortable than the previous day. Unfortunately, the air was thick with smoke! We both wore our NK95 masks for a while, as the wildfires in Canada were still affecting the air quality, depending on the direction of the wind.

Once across the lake, we pulled into Winter Harbor at Brewerton, NY. We picked up a package that was shipped there for us, pumped out, topped off our water, and filled up with diesel. Unfortunately, the marina was extremely busy, and it took more than two hours to get everything done. While we waited, we watched some large Lake Erie Water Snakes that had pushed their way through holes in the retaining wall. We also met some other Loopers who were wearing the AGLCA 2023 Fleet shirts. We only had the 2022 ones but our boat name was listed in the fleet of Looper boats for 2023 and we were happy to see it. We finally managed to leave by 11:25 AM.

Lock 23 - Last on the Erie

We arrived at Lock E23, the Brewerton Lock, just as the gates were closing, so we had to wait for the next cycle and we were separated from Misty Maiden. Once we were in the lock, we could see another boat coming behind us, so we moved forward in the lock to give them room. The lock operator spoke with them on the radio, but they never approached, so he finally closed the gates and shrugged, saying he didn’t know why they hadn’t come in. No matter—this meant we had the lock all to ourselves for a 7-foot drop. That brought our total drop for the Erie Canal to 57 feet.

Erie and Oswego junction

About 6.5 miles later, we reached the junction where the Erie and Oswego canals meet, and we turned north onto the Oswego Canal, heading toward Lake Ontario. As we neared the O1 Phoenix Lock, we spotted a sailboat trying to manoeuvre along the wall before the gates opened. We later learned this was their second-ever lock transit, and they were struggling to figure it out. We entered the lock together, descending 10 feet. Once the gates opened, the lock operator moved ahead to open the lift bridge for us. It is the only lift bridge on the Oswego Canal. The sailboat encouraged us take the lead, and we were happy to be in front while they seemed relieved that we were out of the way when they exited.

At Lock O2 in Fulton, NY, we had to stay at the south end of the lock because of a bridge with only 5 feet of clearance. After the lock lowered us 18 feet, we easily cleared the bridge. While we were descending, the lock operator chatted with us, sharing the area’s history. He told us there used to be grist mills on the west side of the lock, where farmers would bring their grains by horse-drawn wagons to the factories, which then turned them into flour.

When we exited Lock O2, we faced a strong current, which should not have been a surprise since there was a waterfall beside us. The current intensified when we left Lock O3, where we could feel the pull of the whirlpools. Lock O3 was the deepest drop of the day, at 27 feet.

There’s no Lock O4, but we encountered another strong current both above and below Lock O5 (18 feet), at Minetto, NY.

We were rushing now, knowing the locks would stop operating at 5 PM. We radioed ahead to the O6 Lock at Oswego, NY, but the operator didn’t respond. He locked us through but never communicated with us and it seemed like he was taking his time, so by the time we finished the 20-foot drop, it was already 4:55 PM. We hailed the O7 Lock that was less than 650 yards away, but again received no response. With no other option, we tied up to the west wall just south of the O7 Lock. We were completely alone in this section of the canal. We could hear another northbound boat behind us hailing the O6 Lock, so we gave them a heads-up about the situation and told them where they could tie up for the night. It wasn’t a bad spot for us to stop, though when I woke in the night, I could hear the water rushing nearby, and it suddenly struck me how surreal it was to be docked below a waterfall!

In total, we descended 100 feet today in 6 locks, crossed a 17-mile lake, stopped for fuel, finished the Erie Canal and started the Oswego Canal. It was a long, challenging day, but a rewarding one. One thing we noticed about the Oswego Canal was that the water levels in the locks were higher in the full position, which meant we had to reach further down for the lines. Heather managed to cut herself on the window frame while reaching down to grab a line. Cam teased that she should be careful not to bleed on the boat! The cables could only be used from the stern, and in one lock, Cam had to jump off the boat to reach down and loop the stern line!

We were disappointed to be separated from our friends, who were so close, yet out of reach. We could see about a dozen boats waiting between Locks O7 and O8—including Jim and Lisa aboard Misty Maiden—all waiting in anticipation of a good day on Lake Ontario the next day. We set out to explore on our own, taking a stroll across the gates of Lock O7, peering 14 feet down into the empty lock which remained in the lowered position for the night. Seeing the lock from this vantage point gave us a whole new appreciation for its engineering.

As the day wound down, we enjoyed a relaxed dinner and checked the weather, eager for the next day’s journey back into Canada.

Oswego, NY, USA to Belleville, ON, CANADA

We were up early and noticed that the lock had filled overnight. The lock likely leaks through the stonework and below the bottom of the gates with the pressure of the water from above until the level equalizes with the top. You can see it in one of the above photos. There's no doubt that it leaks out the bottom into the next lock too. Opening hours started at 7 AM and Cam hailed right away, but the operator wasn’t responding to Cam. When he finally responded, he mistakenly started lowering the water, assuming we were a southbound vessel. After realizing the mix-up, he brought the water back up, and we locked through with a 14-foot drop.

Canadian Shoreline on Lake Ontario

With so many boats waiting below, we expected a delay at the second lock, but to our surprise, we got right in alongside Misty Maiden. The first locking of the day in Lock O8 saw six boats go down. Then one came up just as we arrived. We locked through for a final 10-foot descent, 24 feet total for the day, and we were officially in Lake Ontario!

Oh Canada!

The lake greeted us with calm waters but a thick haze of smoke. Our run started out smooth, and we called Canada Customs right away. With Nexus, we could clear up to four hours before arriving. We were on hold for a long time but then we cleared easily with a very helpful agent. Once we had the green light, we throttled up to 14–15 knots. Misty Maiden chose to go directly to Trenton, ON, so we made plans to connect in a couple of days. The ride got a little beamy, so Cam adjusted our course for a more comfortable run. As we neared the Canadian shoreline, we turned to starboard around the point and eventually into protected waters. Given the heavy smoke, we decided to head straight to Belleville, ON to run the AC and enjoy clean air.

On the way past the anchorage where we originally planned to spend the night, we were surprised to spot Red Rover on the water. We first met them on the Tenn-Tom, then travelled with them for a bit in the Bahamas. We hailed them on the radio and learned that we could reconnect in Trenton in a couple of days!

Several years ago, we bought a boat named Grand Finale that was in Crate Marine in Belleville. Ryan Crate, the manager, had been very helpful and he and Cam had been loosely in touch over the years so we were eager to say hello. We had ordered a new door latch to be shipped there and stopped by the marina store to pick it up. We also needed a new Navionics Canada chip, as our Raymarine ran out of charts just a couple of miles from the marina, which was disconcerting but at least we still had Navionics on our iPad. Ryan didn’t have one in stock, but he generously loaned us his truck to visit another store—almost all the way to the start of the Trent-Severn Canal! While we were out, we grabbed some groceries too. We couldn’t believe how much prices had gone up since we left Canada!

Cam celebrated his own milestone as we arrived in Belleville. He had captained our former boat, Grand Finale, from Belleville, through the Trent-Severn Waterway, and back to Wiarton so he technically crossed his wake in Belleville. Heather was only with him for the middle section of that journey so she would cross her wake later, before our official joint wake crossing.

That evening, we had leftovers for dinner before setting out to find fellow Loopers on ChipMonk, but they weren’t at their boat. Instead, we wandered into the boater’s lounge and ended up having a fun game of Foosball before heading back to Sea Clef to collapse for the night.

Canada Day in Belleville

Saturday, Canada Day, we finally slept in after 30 locks in 6 days—ah! After a leisurely breakfast, we sent photos and greetings to friends and family for Canada Day, then got to work scrubbing off the remnants of the New York Canal system and tackling laundry.

Around us, boats were being decked out in red and white, and the festive energy was contagious. A band played across from the picnic tables, and the marina offered free drinks to seasonal boaters—though they kindly let us indulge as well. We enjoyed the music, chatted with other boaters, and soaked in the Canadian pride.

A surprise encounter made the day even better—Wayne, the previous owner of Grand Finale, our former boat, was in town! We thought he had given up boating, but he confessed he missed it too much. It was great catching up with him.

Later, we grabbed our own drinks and headed to see a second band while enjoying a free meal from a food truck. The music was fantastic, and after some time taking in the amenities at the marina, we set up chairs on the dock waiting for the fireworks. With drinks in hand, we visited with our boat neighbours, who kept a boat both in Belleville and Florida—so they were familiar with many of the same cruising grounds we had explored around Stuart and we enjoyed swapping stories.

Small fireworks from some locals lit up the sky around us, but then the big show began. From our spot on the dock, we had a perfect view of a spectacular Canada Day display—a dazzling end to a truly great day! What a great welcome back to Canada!

Click on the photos below to view the images in slideshow mode. You can also watch our videos on the area including Crossing a Smoky Oneida Lake and Entering Canada in a Smoky Haze. Next up, we head to Trenton, ON and start the Trent-Severn Waterway.