LAST LEG OF TRENT-SEVERN AND HELLS GATE

This was our last leg of the Trent-Severn Waterway. We had so many pictures and experienced so many things, we needed to share with you. With the help of "Illusions" Capt. Billy Clifford (and computer guru) I'm giving you a little different format of my blog. I have 14 pictures for you to see. So just keep on scrolling down. Canada is just beautiful. The folks are so nice and friendly. We were very welcomed in every town we passed through. In some of the small towns, the canal went right through the middle of all the action with locks. If you can picture this, all three BIG Texas boats would enter a lock and all the locals would run up and talk to us before the lock took us down. It was as if were were in a parade. We finished the Trent-Severn and are currently in Georgian Bay. We will enter Michigan Lake in about 3+ weeks and head to Chicago. It has been an incredible journey and certainly more to come. Here is a picture of one of the many beautiful homes on the waterway system. Hope you enjoy this format.



We are entering the Peterborough Lift Lock. This lock has two "pans". One goes up as the other one goes down. It's like a bathtub....you pull in, tie up on one side, then the lift takes you out of the canal, lifts you 65ft. up to the next canal. Unbelievable! It's like being on a Disney World ride only in your boat.



"Illusions" is in the "pan" with us and we have just reached the top (65ft. lift).



We have reached the top of the lock and I'm looking down at the other "pan" that has reached the bottom.



We are entering Hells Gate area and we all got a laugh out of seeing this neat little church on an island of 'rock'. Well, we shouldn't have laughed and should have lit a candle instead. See picture below!



Greetings from Hells Gate. This area is very rocky on land as well as under the water. You have to really watch your markers and stay in the channel. No fault of the Captain, but we did get out of the channel - cruising right into late afternoon sun and we both thought the marker was green. WRONG SIDE - and hit big rocks hard. A boater came over and pulled us off. Picture was taken by Capt. Billy Clifford "Illusions" (under water). We had the boat pulled and discovered three other big "chunks". So...ching ching ching from Hells Gate.



Just one of the many many beautiful homes on the canal system. One thing about the Canadians, they take such pride in their yards. Because winters are so harsh, they live outdoors in the summer. I have never seen so many beautiful flowers, yard art, manicured lawns, bright summer colors. All picture postcard!



All the standard type locks on the Trent-Severn Canal system were not that long or wide. The lockmasters would get all three big Texas Boats in plus a few smaller ones. Just some facts: "Whichaway" 48ft, 15ft beam..."Illusions" 44ft, 15ft beam..."My Cin" 48ft, 15ft beam. See how much room we had between us and we are each tied to a wall. I always had to run to the 'ladies room' before entering the locks.



We felt like we were going through Christmas Tree Lots only by boat! They were everywhere and looked so pretty in the yards.



This is what the Big Chute Marine Railcar looks like. "Whichaway" went first, then "Illusions" and we were the last one. We all took pictures of each others boat as they went up and coming off. Since we were the last one, we didn't have a picture of "My Cin" leaving the Trent-Severn waters.



This was a cool shot of the railcar taking us across this road to the other side. We had two smaller boats on the railcar with us. You can see one of them in front of us.



We are at the top of the hill getting ready to go down. I personally stood on the side of the boat with my eyes closed!



We are coming down the hill looking back from the stern. You can see the rail tracks.




This is where we are about to enter the waterway on the other side into Georgian Bay. Hope you enjoyed the pictures. Until the next blog, Jess and Cindy.

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

CHESAPEAKE, VA

June 8th, arrived at the Atlantic Yacht Basin in Chesapeake, Va. After our incident with the anchor, we have ordered a new anchor/chain windless system. While we are here, we decided to have other work done on the boat. Everything is going well and we should be able to pull out of here by Thursday, June 19th. Chuck and Fabin (Whichaway) cruised to DC and we will hook up with them on Sunday in the Chesapeake Bay.

While cruising to Virginia, we experienced the North Carolina Fires. The smoke was very thick and we had ashes all over the boat. We stayed one night in Elizabeth City, NC (located at the mouth of the Dismal Swamp Canal). The canal is about 63 miles long. It is beautiful, swampy and hot! There are two locks on the canal system and when we went through the first one, I truly thought I was going to faint. It was so hot I could hardly stand up. But we made it and anchored in the Norfolk Harbor.

That weekend was the Norfolk Harbor Fest and Fireworks. We were on the 50 yard line for the fireworks....the best we have ever seen. Norfolk Naval Station, the largest naval installation in the world, is homeport for aircraft carriers, cruisers, destroyers, nuclear submarines and admiral's barges.

Our next big destination will be New York. Due to delays in our trip, we may not be able to spend much time there. Just have to wait and see how it goes. You can click on each picture to enlarge it. Note the picture of the "sign" that was in one of the locks. It show "mileage" north and south.

Until our next entry.......Jess and Cindy

ANCHORS A-WAYYYYY

WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH, NC: June 1, 2008....ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY CRUISING

This is a story to really mark our one year anniversary. We arrived in Wrightsville Beach (which is right outside of Wilmington). It was a windy day and we decided we would stay in a marina. Chuck and Fabin on Whichaway planned on anchoring. As we approached the marina for docking, Capt. Still had to make a left turn into the marina then a tight right 90 degree turn at the dock. The wind and current slammed us into the pilings at the 90 degree turn. We had to back out into the channel and try again. A huge yacht was docked on the outside of the dock that we were trying to get to. As we backed out, we hit the swim platform of the huge yacht. I felt so sorry for Jess...he could not control the boat for the winds and currents. Of course marina was packed, open air restaurant packed and the whole place stopped and stared.

We backed out and left the area to go anchor by Whichaway. We called the marina to see if there was damage to the yacht and of course there was (very minor). Owners were not there so we left our name and number with the dockmaster.

We made it to the anchorage and after five attempts, finally hooked. Friends of ours that we met in the Bahamas live in Wrightsviile and came out to see us. They took us back to shore and we went out to dinner. Chuck and Fabin stayed on their boat and kept an eye on ours. A fast and furious storm blew through with winds clocking 50 mph. Chuck called us and said our boat was moving to shore and he couldn't get his dinghy down for high winds. Jess and our friends left the restaurant and headed back to the boat.

IT WAS A MIRACLE. My Cin was sitting at a huge pier right off the beach. Not one scratch on her and right behind our boat was a small ski boat. We just couldn't believe it....this was the "wake up call" that we have to change out our anchoring system. So we are in Chesapeake City, VA ordering our new system and will be here for 10 plus days.

Pictures show the small boat behind us, the pier where My Cin drifted to and a picture of us getting on our friends boat. In that picture you can see the beach and the pier in the background where she drifted to. The picture of the small boat sitting on a sandbar shows what can happen when you don't stay in the channel - run aground and then the tide goes out.

We will head north once we leave here and our goal is New York late June. Jess and I both said our prayers of many many "thank you's" after this incident and are very very blessed. We have wonderful angels taking care of us.

Very grateful......
Jess and Cindy