This is it, the beginning of what we have planned for years is coming to pass. There were times we thought this day would never come, but it has. This is the start of an adventure of a life time.
For those of you who don't already know, we are heading South to the Bahamas for the winter and are travelling with a lovely couple - Barry and Diane who will be travelling in their beautiful trawler. We are excited for the adventure and are so happy to have to opportunity to share the trip with such amazing people.
The plan was to leave on the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend to head out across Lake Ontario and start our journey down South. With all the weather changes due to Hurricane Matthew, we had to leave a little earlier due to winds coming during that weekend. We said good-bye to all of our family and friends, did last minute provisioning, errands, and then were ready to head out on our long awaited adventure.
The anticipation of an early rise to cross Lake Ontario, sleep was hard to come by. I couldn't wait to get the engines started and get moving. It was a beautiful sunny morning and Lake Ontario was fairly good to us with 2-3 ft waves being the majority and the occasional 5-6 footer to keep things interesting.
At Oswego we checked into customs and got our cruising permit - something we didn't know was actually needed as we had thought a decal was all that was required. Canadians cruising South - make sure to get one.
We cruised though the Oswego Canal in a day with only a small alternator problem where we found our batteries low at the end of the day. With the help of our mechanic extraordinaire and cruising buddy, Barry, the problem was quickly mended, at least temporarily. - Thanks Barry - you're awesome!
There was a spatter of Fall colours thoughout the NY canal system which is breathtakingly beautiful. We wake up every morning with a feeling of great excitement as to what the day will bring and what is out there to explore. New experiences, new challenges, and new friends around each corner.
For the next 4 days we cruised through the Erie Canal, we spent 1 evening at Herkimer, NY which is a great place to provision and get most any supplies you would need. The next stop was at Riverfront Park in Canajoharie, NY which also had some shopping and restaurants. We enjoyed a quiet evening at Lock 8 which had an amazing walking/biking trail which ran along the canal system. We enjoyed the next 2 evenings at Waterford Visitors centre which provides power and water. This quaint little town provides 2 grocery stores for provisioning, and a beautiful relaxing walking trail along the canal.
Check out our video below which covers the week going down the NY canal system and make sure to join us next time as we head down the Hudson and go to New York City!
We have been getting reports of no sound on the video on some mobile devices. If you experience this issue, just try the video on another device or a laptop. Sorry for the inconvenience. We are attempting to figure out why.
Thank-you to all of you who are following along and supporting us along the way.