July 19-20,2017 Wednesday & Thursday
July 19-Wed: Anxious to move on, we left Ilion Marina and headed for Sylvan Beach, home of the only amusement park on the Erie Canal. However, we were not headed for the amusement park but for a place to stay while we waited for the right conditions to cross Oneida Lake. Oneida Lake is the largest lake entirely within New York State, 21 miles long, 5 miles wide with an average depth of 22 feet. In a sustained west wind, the waves can become 4 to 5 feet, creating an uncomfortable crossing. It looks like Sunday will be the best day but we are hoping we can leave before then.
Before arriving at Mariner’s Landing we transited four locks. Lock #19 – 21 feet, Lock #20 -16 feet, Lock #21 – 25 feet, and Lock #22 – 25 feet. Locks #21 and #22 are our first down locks on the Erie so although we transited 87 feet at the end of the day we were only 13 feet lower.
July 20-Thur: After checking the weather forecast late Wednesday, we decided an early morning crossing of Oneida Lake was do-able. By daybreak, we were ready to make our crossing. The wind was a little more than predicted, waves were one-two feet for the first half of the trip and almost zero for the rest of the crossing and we were in Brewerton by 8:00 am.
At Brewerton, we transited Lock # 23 – 7 feet, the last of the down locks when going west. The junction of the Erie and Oswego Canals is at mile 160.45, decision time, stay on the Erie or take the Oswego to Canada, we stayed on the Erie. Our last lock of the day was Lock #24 – 11 feet at Baldwinsville. We tied up at the Baldwinsville Free Dock, or as some call it Graveyard Dock, just in time for a rain storm.
The past two days we have been locking with Nellie Bell, a 25-foot Nimble. Tonight her captain dropped by and recommended a side trip to Seneca Falls on the Cayuga-Seneca Canal. We’ll have to give that some thought.
