Utica to Oneida Lake Crossing

Erie Canal Utica, NY to Oneida Lake Crossing:  We woke this morning to 66 degrees and fog according to the Verizon smart phone which has become a critical part of my life.  The captain read about an app called ‘Rainy Days’ in one of his many boating magazines.  We use it regularly now to see what might be coming our way.  Rainy Days gives the Doppler Radar view on the Smartphone.  We used it multiple times yesterday as we looked at the clouds around us to see what storm cells were in the area and how extensive they might be.   Before leaving the dock, the sun broke through the clouds and it gave promises of a great weather day.

We went through our first (and second) “going down elevator” locks today.  This is similar to pulling the drain plug in the bathtub and watching the water get lower and lower.  After that we came to Oneida Lake which takes 2 to 3 hours to cross depending on the boat's top speed - fortunately we can get up to 14 knots, so we have a slightly faster trip than the traditional trawler.  Before reaching the lake the captain checked the weather radio and heardt that 30 knot winds are expected.  Last time we crossed the Lake in 2003, it was rougher than I expected so this time I was more prepared.  I stowed all our lines so they wouldn’t get soaking wet, closed all the windows / port holes so my bed wouldn't get wet, and secured anything that I thought might fall in rough seas.   I’ve learned from experience, where unfortunately on more than one occasion, I have had to close the front window while the spray is washing over the boat.  Where we live that is salt water; here it is fresh, but I still prefer not to get a face full.

The captain decided that Oneida Lake was a good opportunity to jump off the boat and inspect the propellers.  I thought I had missed out on the ‘fun’ of that adventure after he decided he didn’t need to jump into the Hudson River.  He said he couldn’t do it in the Erie Canal because, since as he didn’t want to anchor, the boat might drift into a wall or something.  I can’t exactly use the propellers if he is under the boat working on them, so we are, for all intents and purposes  “dead in the water”.   He does the “dive under the boat” act regularly at home, but normally we are at anchor and all I have to worry about is whether he’s going to come back up or not.  This diving under while the boat is drifting act is somewhat more disconcerting for me though the captain appears to have no concerns.   His reasoning is that if the boat is drifting, he will drift with the boat, but if the boat is anchored, he might drift away.  Yikes!  I don’t know which scenario is worse!

As it turned out, the dive overboard was useful as the captain found a number of barnacles attached to the propeller shafts which tends to impact performance.  My anxiety turned into boredom as he swam around and under the boat scraping barnacles off the bottom.  He had to come back on board once and restart the engines between the starboard and port cleaning exercises because we drifted directly towards the channel, and we didn’t want to be in the way of other boat traffic as he played in the water.  Oh whoops – I mean worked in the water.  At one point he asked me how we were doing in terms of drifting, and my response was, "We're still drifting!"  Clever huh?!

We decided to stay the night at a marina immediately after Oneida Lake – Winter Harbor Marina.  It has a reputation for the best prices, and I’d have to agree as the diesel fuel was $.75 a gallon cheaper than the first place we saw upon leaving the lake where they had a sign that said “cheap fuel”.  Also, instead of the normal $1.00 per foot overnight fee, they charge $.90 / foot.  After we got ourselves settled, we pulled out our new bikes and took a ride to a local waterfront eatery and followed that with a quick bike ride to an ice cream shop.  We got a little exercise and saw some of the area so no complaints.  It was probably no more than 5 miles round trip I would guess.

When we came back to our boat, we were approached by another couple who said they had overheard our travel plans, and as it turns out, they are traveling the exact same route that we are but they started and will end in Long Island.  They have decided to do the trip in 7 weeks as opposed to our 4 week hurried version.  I can’t believe that 5 days of our trip are gone already – in a flash – and we haven’t even gotten to Canada yet.  It looks like our crossing to Canada will be Tuesday.  Tomorrow will be on the Oswego Canal which appears to be a day’s trip by itself. 

A couple of notes based on comments I received on prior posts: 1) the times provided by blogspot are Pacific Time and I don’t know how to tell the blogger I am in the Eastern TimeZone, and 2) when the captain referred to the ‘Admiral’, that’s me.  Basically, he may be the captain of the boat, but the admiral is the boss of the captain, and that is me!  In fact at one of the locks today, a lock master said ‘Hello Admiral’, I think just to see if I would respond, and of course I said hello back.

We had another find day of picture taking so I will be uploading those later to see how they turned out.