The Trent-Severn Waterway

We are still in Canada and completed our transit of  the Trent-Severn Waterway(TSW) . The TSW connects Lake Ontario with the Georgian Bay and runs about 240 miles from Trenton, Ontario to Port Severn on Georgian Bay. It is a series of lakes, rivers, and canals with 44 locks in between. The locks are smaller than the Erie and some are very unique like the ' pan' lift locks at Peterborough and Kirkland and the Big Chute railway lift.  You can google or go to the Canada parks website for more info and history ( system was built over a 90 year period starting back in the early 1800's).  The waterway is beautiful and can be a bit tricky navigating as there are some very narrow channels and most of the bottom is rock not mud. There have been a lot of neat stops and interesting people particualarly the very helpful lock tenders. We veered off the main waterway for three days to a resort called Viamede on Stoney Lake....aptly named by the way. Here we relaxed and went for a long dinghy ride with  our friends Pam and Bob and also fought a very strong storm that came through and almost tore off the dock we were on.

We have been traveling with Mint Julep and Sassy II for the last several weeks with a few days where we have separated but it has been nice having other boaters to travel with. We have also met some other boats from Tennessee and that has been nice as well. We have done well through the locks and Carolyn has done a great job getting us tied up to the lock walls as well as taking most of the pics from the locks. We are finally out of the TSW and through with locks for a while.  We are enjoying Canada but do miss family and friends and look forward to being back on the Tennessee River. Updates a little behind but more to come....have to wait to find free wifi. Enjoy the pics and be safe....

Lake Ontario, Thousand Islands, and Canada

The last couple of weeks have been exciting with new places, lots of rain, and looping with friends. We left Winter Harbor in Brewerton, NY on the Erie and headed north on the Oswego Canal through eight locks to Oswego, NY where we stopped for one night and left the next day for Sackets Harbor, NY across Lake Ontario. We had a south wind which gave us some sideways action for a couple of hours but generally a good trip across the Lake, about 40 miles. Sackets Harbor is a great historical town where a key battle of the War of 1812 was fought. It was one of only two naval bases on Lake Ontario the US had during the war and had to fend off a British invasion from the west. Willi and I walked the whole battlefield. Check it out on google or your history books. We spent three days, one more than planned to change transmission fluid on Here and Now. Our traveling companions went on to Clayton, NY where we caught up with them on the 25th of June. We stopped and picked up Bob and Pam from Mint Julep and all went together on our boat about 11 miles further down the St Lawrence River to Alexandria Bay and stopped on Heart Island to visit the Boldt Castle.  The story of the castle is interesting and for more info...google!. We returned to Clayton, NY a 'border' town where the Antique Boat Museum resides...a really neat place. We left Clayton today and arrived in Kingston, Ontario Canada where we cleared customs and will be here a few days including Canada Day on July 1. Clayton and this whole area is part of the Thousand Islands region of the St. Lawrence River and there are actually more than 1700 small islands many of which are privately owned.  This is where the famous dressing was first served and named after the islands. It is a beautiful area with many fine homes and lots of state parks in both the US and Canada.

We have traveled @ 3500 miles and will be in Canada for about 45 days. The weather as been OK but a lot of rain...we have had to travel in the rain some but made it OK with low winds. We will be leaving Kingston later this week heading for Trenton to start the 250 mile Trent-Severn Waterway connecting Lake Ontario with Georgian Bay.  Here are a few recent pics....enjoy!

Be Safe

Caught on the Erie Canal

Well, I knew it was going to happen sooner or later...I got caught by Mom doing my update (see the pic). So what....I wanted to give you all my latest views on this trip. I am doing great and getting to roam all over the boat without too may "no's". My days start with sleeping as late as possible with Mom as Dad is still up way too early for Mom and I. It takes me a while to get going but when I do, I do big time. I get out pretty quickly and take care of business on my head and back inside to eat my treat spiked breakfast...I hold out as long as possible to eat because eventually Mom and Dad will put the treats in the regular stuff. We are moving about every day now and I have to stay in the condo until we are squared away and then I go upstairs and hang out with Dad and Mom on the bridge. Sometimes I go up to bow and hide out under the front seat where Dad stores the water hoses...Mom found me there recently. For the last week or so we have been stopping a lot along the way to 'lock thru' as Dad says. Mom goes outside and holds the boat except when the lock has only ropes hanging down and both Mom and Dad have to go hold the boat. We have been through 23 locks since Troy, NY with several stops at some marinas and lock walls.

We are now in Brewerton, NY at Winter Harbor marina which is right on the Erie Canal. Mom left all day yesterday to some place south of here to look at the place where she got her dishes...Mack and Child or something like that. I get to do some exploring once in a while as you can see in the pics...but need a sign for our boat that says 'Beware of Westie" like the one on the tree. I am still helping Dad with maintenance work and am learning to use the channel locks...at least make the handles are well worn. We are leaving tomorrown heading up the Oswego canal to Lake Ontario and then on to Thousand Islands and Canada within a week or so....I will have to check in to the Westie customs office and report my toys and treats and any other contraband just like Mom and Dad. Will let you know about that.

Enjoy the pics and remember...bark more, growl more!!

The Big Apple and Hudson River

Returning from Maison Rouge, after my city council meeting, with our niece Tammy and Heather to Philly airport we were met by Steve's smiling face. He and Willi had moved the boat from Cape May to Atlantic City so we would be closer to Ms. Liberty and the Big Apple. Early the next morning we traveled about 95 miles (a veryyyy long day) to Staten Island and docked 2 nights at Great Kills Yacht Club. From this marina  we girls caught the early bus into Manhattan to TKTS and got 1/2 price tickets to the play FELA. Then took the subway down to Chinatown, where we had the best time. Heather was a natural at buying the most  for the least amount of money... so we took advantage of that and all left the area with lots of bags with good stuff. We took the subway back to 42nd street where we met Steve and went to the play. It wasn't what we expected, but a great play to see. Dinner was at an Irish Pub and the pizza was wonderful. : ) Tammy and Heather walked my legs off but I loved every minute.

We left Staten Island early, going to Liberty Landing Marina on the Jersey side of the Hudson. Floating docks, new bathhouse, laundry, and the ferry to Manhattan on site made this a GREAT stop. Up early again to hit the streets of New York  Heather, Tammy, and I caught the ferry to WFC and up to SOHO for another day of shopping. What a great time exploring we had again. Late that evening we met up with Steve and two other Looper boaters, Mint Julip and Sassy II for a wonderful Italian dinner at Max's.

We hated to see Heather and Tammy leave. Willi loves it when we have guests on board. It was special having them experience our dream with us in such a exciting stop along the loop.

Its neat when you meet up again with loopers you have met along the way. Gullwing joined us at Liberty Landing Marina and we enjoyed walking to dinner with them after they arrived.

After the second night there, we left to meet with Mint Julip and Sassy II in front of the statue of Liberty for a photo op. Hopefully the pictures won't have toooooo many ferry boats so you can't see the Here And Now. Goodbye NYC, hello Hudson River. The weather has been beautiful and the ride up the Hudson was gorgeous. Rolling hills and beautiful homes made the travel day nice for all 3 boats. Passing Sing Sing Prison, West Point, lots of light houses, and the beautiful Catskill  mountains, we traveled north to Half Moon Bay Marina at Croton-on-Hudson then to Catskill.  The awesome scenery in this area makes it a great place to bike and kayak.

Another highlight for me was touring the CIA culinary school and having dinner there.  The setting was gorgeous and having started as a Jesuit property, the architecture was beautiful.  This may be my second career after we finish the loop.  : )

The last few months have been so exciting because of the people we have met and the ports we have visited. Our time seems to be flying by....Steve has made so many days extra special with fixing breakfast before he wakes me and bringing in fresh flowers from the store.  Just a few days and we plan on starting across the Erie Canal. We miss family and friends but wouldn't trade this experience for anything. Thanks for your support and the comments you have left on our blog.

Chesapeake Bay to Cape May, NJ

Today is Sunday, May 30 and Here and Now is in Cape May, NJ at Miss Chris Marina. Since leaving Irvington, VA which is up the Rappahonnick River about 10 miles we made stops on the Chesapeake at Solomons Island, MD, St Michaels, MD, Rock Hall, MD via the Kent Narrows (skinny bypass from St Michaels)  and the Bohemia River on the upper Chesapeake.

The Chesapeake is a great boating bay and by far the best so far on our trip. All of these places we stopped were unique. We have been traveling with Jerry and Carolyn (no. 2) on the boat Sassy II. They just started the loop in Portsmouth, VA. I cannot do these stops justice in the blog but St Michaels was probably the best stop as far as the harbor and town go. We stopped for a couple of days on the Bohemia River at a small marina near where our friends Tom and Lin Kilburn have a second home just a 5 minute walk from the marina and we spent two nights with them off the boat for a change. We met Tom and Lin through  work several years ago and they are now special friends and it was great visiting with them. On the second day Tom took us up to Chesapeake City in their Grady White for breakfast....great morning. The only problem we had was the spring tides were extreme and there was a full moon. We arrived at low tide and the depth gauge on the boat read 3.5 to 5.0 all the way in to the marina. Needless to say we decided to leave at high tide.

After visiting with Tom and Lin we departed on May 27 intending to go all the way to Cape May, NJ. (about 73 nautical miles). In order to reach Cape May you leave the Chesapeake via the C and D canal which connects the Chesapeake Bay with the Delaware Bay. We wound up stopping on the C and D after traveling only about 15  miles due to a change in the weather forcast for the Delaware Bay including high winds and thunderstorms. We spent the day relaxing at Summit North Marina in Bear, DE and Carolyn and Willi kayaked on the C and D. While there we got reaquainted with another looper boat, Adagio, and traveled with them the next day to Cape May. We waited until 11 am to depart to catch the outgoing tide on the Delaware River to get a 'push' to Cape May. As it turned out the winds were up and our trip across the Delaware Bay was the roughest full day we have had on the entire trip with seas of  'many feet' and water over the top of the boat about every 5th or 6th wave. We arrived in Cape May around 5:30 pm at Miss Chris Marina.

Cape May is a good place with lots of shops and resturants and lots to do including a famous light house which we climbed for a great view and sore knees!  I took Carolyn to Philly today to fly back to Tn for a few days. She will be returning with Tammy and Heather on Thursday for our trip up to New York. Willi and I are hanging out in Jersey for now.

Be Safe!