TRENT-SEVERN WATERWAY CANADA

CAMPBELLFORD, ONTARIO CANADA

This country is beautiful and the Canadians are very friendly and helpful. The three Texas Boats are a big hit here....alot of questions from the folks and they love to hear about our travels. We are traveling the Trent-Severn Waterway which takes you from Lake Ontario to Georgian Bay. The trip is 240 miles with 42 locks. There are several locks that are hydraulic lift locks. You pull into a "pan", tie your lines to one side of the pan and then you are lifted up out of the water to the higher level of the waterway. It was described to us like sitting in a bathtub and the reason for this kind of lift is to keep the eels out of the lakes above. The other unusal lift is the Big Chute Marine Railway. This is a marine railway which transports boats over land in a huge open carriage. So, our next group of pictures will be of these lifts.

Here is a picture of My Cin on the hard when we were waiting for our prop repair. We slept on the boat like this. A little scary but we got use to it. These are some pictures from the Erie Canal showing a house right on the canal, Patti and Billy Clifford on "Illusions" leaving Lock #3 and passing a lighthouse as we enter Lake Ontario.

Our crossing took us about 7 hours and the crossing was smooth. The next group of pictures are in Canada. Our marina in Trenton was very quaint. We were docked in front of this park. This Rolls Royce was parked right behind our boat. Here is the entry to the Trent Severn Waterway. We went through six locks and here is a picture of the LockmasterHouse, Lock 6 after we were lifted up and our docking on the wall at Lock 6. The locks are very narrow and when "My Cin" and "Whichaway" get in, there is no more room for any other boats to lock up. As they say, "things are bigger in Texas".

Watch for our next blog....should have some real interesting pictures.

Cindy and Jess

HAVE TO BE WITH OUR PEOPLE

ERIE CANAL - DESTINATION LAKE ONTARIO

Troy, NY: This was our last marina stop before we made our turn to enter the Erie Canal. And this is where we hooked up with the "Sarah K", Lucius and Tata Kellam from Belle Haven, VA. The "Sarah K" is a 2002 48ft DeFever. They were several days behind us. Lucius and Tata found out about the two Texas DeFevers traveling together and Tata told Lucius..."we are leaving now, we have to be with our people!" When they pulled into Troy, we found out that the original owner was from Corpus Christi, and the boat was docked one canal over from our house. VERY SMALL BOATING WORLD. We have been having so much fun together and it's sad that they will be leaving tomorrow.

Brewerton, NY: We had to have the boat pulled to have our props repaired. We had some damage when leaving a dock (backed into some big rocks). So far our journey up the Erie canal has been 155 miles and 23 locks. We have 32 miles (eight locks) to go to reach Lake Ontario. Then we will travel the Trent-Severn Waterways in Canada.

Pictures feature the Troy City Dock (big wall), one of the damns at a lock on the Erie, the three DeFevers docked at St. Johnsville and rock climbers on one of the cliffs along the way. On the Erie, they have a series of "guard gates" you have to go through, barely make it under them. Lock #21 is the first one where we start down the canal (see trees behind in the distance). The "Sarah K" and Lucius and Tata, quaint cottages coming into Brewerton and "Illusions". Patty and Billy Clifford are from Texas and will be traveling in our "flotilla" at this juncture. We have known them for over 35 years and are just now catching up with them on the "loop adventure". The last picture is the marina where we are staying now.

It is so beautiful up here and there is more to come. Next entry...pictures from Canada.

NEW YORK.....NEW YORK

What a wonderful town....this was Jess's first time to see and experience the Big Apple. To get there, we cruised the Chesapeake Bay, Delaware Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. We were very very lucky because cruising conditions were perfect. Mild winds and smooth flat water. We arrived in Staten Island on Friday June 27 and stayed at the Great Kills Yacht Club. Super nice folks and the island is very pretty. We toured the City on Saturday and Monday (Sunday was wash day plus rainstorms).

Pictures are Jess and I on the Staten Island Ferry, The "Lady", New Jersey across the Hudson River from Manhatten, new World Trade Center and cruising the Hudson River, West side of New York - heading north.

Cruising the Hudson River is beautiful. The scenery is incredible. Next pictures (in order) is Sing Sing Prison, West Point, several "Beacons - Lighthouses" on the river and the Kingston City Marina where we stayed last night. The docking is very narrow (as you can see) but Capt. Still is the best.

We will be in Troy, NY for July 4th then will start our journey through the Erie Canal to Oswego on Lake Ontario. It's so hard for us to realize sometimes that we have traveled this far.

The trip of a lifetime.......My Cin