Hello Lake Ontario

25 May 2014

We got late start from Ess-Kay Marine today. It was a sunny day with a forecast of 70F, a great day to go boating.

Soon after departure we cleared our last lock on the Erie Canal, Lock 23. It had been closed for a few days due to the high water levels and the speed of the flow. After clearing it, we took a starboard (right) turn and headed up the Oswego River that is part of the Oswego Canal System.

There are only a few locks and because we were later in the day there was little traffic. We only shared the lock with one other boat.

During the day we noticed the current picking up and the wind was also starting to blow. By the time we reached the last lock (Lock 5) about 2:30PM it was pretty gusty out. There is a power plant next to Lock 5 and you could see the extra water from the river being released over the dam wall. This made for some interesting currents once we left Lock 5 and got into the mainstream of the river again.

Docking at Wrights Marina in Oswego was very challenging. There was a strong wind from the west blowing us away from the dock. If it wasn’t for some help from one of the boaters there, we would still had been trying to dock. I’m pretty good with doing our own docking, but if you are going to charge me $95 to dock, you need to send a dock hand out.

There was very little to see or do in Oswego that was within walking distance other than the Maritime Musuem, but it was closed . Susan made a great dinner, it’s amazing what she does in 8 square feet. We spent the rest of our evening watching TV (yay Internet) and watching the 2.3 million sea gulls wheel around the sky. We did get a pretty interesting sunset on the edge of Lake Ontario.

We will be very happy to depart in the morning. “Caw-caw-caw!”