8/24/18: Our next planned stop was Oxford, but we had several days of nice weather ahead. We knew there wasn’t much in Oxford so we only reserved one night at the marina. We also wanted to spend a night at anchor before going there. We found a nice little bay along the Trippe Creek, about 3 miles from town to anchor in. We could be to Oxford within a half hour, check in to the marina, and have the rest of the day to explore before moving on.
Continue Reading
Archives
Magothy and Wye Rivers
8/19/18 – 8/20/18: We knew our next marina stop was going to be in St. Michaels, southeast of Pasadena and about 26 miles (for a crow), or 40 miles (for a boat). We saw a couple of good days of weather ahead, so we decided to anchor out for two nights before heading to St. Michael’s. We spent the first night in the Magothy River, and the second in the Wye River. They were both splendid!
Continue Reading
Still Pond
8/15/18: The weather prediction for the next couple days looked pretty good, but another cold from was predicted for Friday. It was supposed to stall, bringing more unsettled weather for the coming weekend. We decided to anchor out for a night and chose a place suited for the forecasted winds called Still Pond. It was only 3 hours south from Georgetown, so it would be a short, easy day. We realized that this would be our first night at anchor since Baie Fine last summer!
Continue Reading
White Sands, NM
1/28/18: On the way from Roswell to Sierra Vista, we passed White Sands National Monument. We wanted to stop and visit the park, but on that day the US government was shut down and the park was closed. Thanks, Washington! When we left Sierra Vista, we debated going up through Santa Fe into Colorado, but since we weren’t able to see White Sands (Thanks again, Washington!), we decided to head in that direction instead.
Continue Reading
Sierra Vista, AZ
1/23/18 – 1/27/18: We arrived in Sierra Vista about noon and planned to spend several days visiting with Pat’s dad and Lin, his wife. We had been there a couple times before, but our last was about three years ago, so our visit was long past overdue. Each time we come, they take us to new and different places, and this time was no exception.
Continue Reading
Bethel, NY
9/13/17: We decided to start our “road trip” in Kingston. We saw on the map that Woodstock was close by, so we decided to visit the location where the famous 1969 music festival was held. Contrary to popular belief, however, the weekend festival was not held in Woodstock, but 60 miles away in Bethel, NY. But it was still (somewhat) on our way back to the Midwest, so we decided to go to Bethel to see it.
Continue Reading
Waterford
8/31/17 – 9/3/17: Today will be our last day travelling the Erie Canal. We will be in Waterford this afternoon, which is the eastern most town along the canal. We cannot believe how fast this journey has gone; it seems only yesterday that we left Buffalo, but it was almost 3 weeks ago!
Continue Reading
Amsterdam
8/29/17: Our next planned stop was at Amsterdam. We really don’t have much to say about this stop. The park along the canal, where we stopped was the only nice place for blocks around.
Continue Reading
Canajoharie
8/28/17: On this part of the canal, due to the sparsity of suitable places to dock, we have two choices for moving from place to place. We can either do 9-10 hour days with many miles and many locks, or we can do 4-5 hour days with less miles and fewer locks. We have so far chosen the latter. With that in mind, we chose Canajoharie for our next stop, 20 miles and 3 locks down the canal.
Continue Reading
Little Falls
8/26/17 – 8/27/17: We had been travelling every day for several days and we felt we needed a break. We had heard Little Falls was a nice place to stop, so we planned on spending two nights there. We were met with a pleasant surprise on our way there and another when we arrived.
Continue Reading
Lock 20
8/25/17: After crossing Oneida Lake, we were now officially in the eastern section of the Erie Canal. Here, the towns become fewer and farther between, and many of those don’t have adequate depth at the walls for us to stop at. We would now have to plan the remainder of our journey a little more carefully.
Continue Reading
Baldwinsville
8/23/17: Baldwinsville was the next stop on our canal journey. It was 49 miles from Lyons, but was the only option we had with plenty of depth at the wall to tie to. We also had 2 locks that day, plus a lake crossing, so it was going to be a long day
Continue Reading
Lyons
8/21/17 – 8/22/17: There were severe storms forecasted for the day after we left Newark, but we wanted to make a little forward progress. We had everything options: Baldwinsville, a 50 mile journey; Clyde, about 10 miles away, or Lyons, only 5 miles from Newark. Our first choice was Clyde, but they only had dockage for 2 boats, and we were concerned that once we got there, there would be no space. We opted for Lyons, and it turns out, we made a very good choice.
Continue Reading
Newark
8/20/17: Fairport was a nice stop on the canal and we enjoyed our time here very much. However, we were eager to make up some ground, but we were also anxious about the engine dying. So we picked a town that was about 20 miles down the canal: Newark.
Continue Reading
Fairport
8/17/17-8/20/17: The next town down the canal that we chose to stop at was Fairport. The trip there was probably the worst day we’ve had so far since leaving on May 21st (even worse than the 8 foot wave day back in Tobermory).
Continue Reading
Brockport
8/16/17: We pulled into Brockport around 3PM after a 30 mile journey from Middleport. We only planned to stay one night, so we did the quick tour of the town.
Continue Reading
Middleport
8/15/17: After a quick trip to Walgreens in the morning, we were ready to head out. We left the wall where we tied up at about 9AM, and Middleport was 30 miles away. We should be there about 3PM. Did we make it by 3? No! Why not? What else – more rain!
Continue Reading
Tonawanda
8/14/17: We were eager to leave Buffalo, as even with our trip home, we still spent about 10 days at the marina. Before we could begin our Erie Canal adventure, we had to have our mast unstepped (taken down).
Continue Reading
Niagara Falls
7/16/17: While at Port Colborne, we took a day and played tourist at The Canadian Niagara Falls. We can think of only one word that can describe this wonder of the natural world: spectacular!
Continue Reading
Baie Fine
6/20/17: All the cruising guide books we’d read, and everyone we talked to along the way told us that before we leave The North Channel, we had to go see Baie Fine. So we did. And we were awestruck.
Continue Reading
Covered Portage Cove
6/16/17: On our way from Little Current to Killarney, we decided to anchor for a night a a bay called Covered Portage Cove. It was a beautiful anchorage, but we had one of our most difficult times anchoring since owning Shanti.
Continue Reading
South Benjamin Island
6/13/17: Our second anchorage in The North Channel was at South Benjamin Island. There were several anchorages, but we chose one according to the forecasted winds. As we pulled in to the bay, all we could both say was “Wow”!
Continue Reading
The Turnbull Islands
6/12/17: The Turnbull Islands are a group of Rocky islands about 35 miles east of Thessalon. This was our first of two anchorages planned before a marina stop at Little Current. The anchorage was beautiful, but maneuvering in caused us both a little anxiety.
Continue Reading
Milford Haven
6/9/17: We spent most of our day in the shipping lanes of the St. Mary’s River. We were headed to Thessalon, but planned to do a quick overnight in Milford Haven, a secluded bay that we read was a good anchorage. Sometime during the day, Kate glanced at the chart and commented, “Do you suppose it’s a problem that it’s right next to a bay called Mosquito Bay?”.
Continue Reading
Whitefish Point State Harbor
6/4/17: On our way from Grand Marais to Sault Ste. Marie, we planned an overnight stop at Whitefish Point State Harbor, as the distance would have made for a 12+ hour day. A short time after leaving Grand Marais, we both agreed upon one thing: one of our better investments was an automatic fog horn.
Continue Reading
Lily Pond
5/25/17: We planned to stop at Lily Pond Harbor of Refuge before going into Houghton/Hancock. This is about 1 mile inland from the lake and about 7 miles from the town. After 7 hours of travel from Ontonagon, we just wanted a quick overnight location. After the hassle we had tying up, we both agree we should probably have just gone all the way to the marina.
Continue Reading
Black River Harbor
5/22/17 – 5/23/17: We arrived at the marina at 6:15AM, after a sleepless night for both of us. We were both anxious to start our journey, and neither of us slept well. As we were getting the boat prepared for the first leg of our journey (Black River Harbor, MI), our slip-neighbor, Bruce, popped his head of his boat. “I don’t have a bottle of champagne to christen you journey, but I do have this!” He handed us a miniature bottle of Heinz Ketchup. It was then we knew our journey would be full of unexpected surprises!
Continue Reading
Final Preparations and Departure
The past two months have been a whirlwind. As we sit in our motel room, contemplating the past weeks and our departure to come, we cannot believe how much work it was to get where we are. We had many long, hard days, some of them so chaotic and stressful, we wondered if this trip would be worth the effort. And saying good-bye to family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers has been especially hard. But here we are, waiting for the weather to clear, planning to leave within a day or two.
Continue Reading
The Apostle Islands
The Apostle Islands are amazing. After we purchased Shanti, we moved her to Roys Point Marina, which sits right among these islands. We spent 5 years cruising there, and cannot express enough how truly incredible they are.
Continue Reading