7/6/2011 - 7/15/2011   When we were in Kingston we met a fellow on the dock named Joe who said we HAD to go by his brother's house on our way past so we did.   Chris and his wife Lies live in a beautiful cottage on Hay Bay.  They are Canadians but spend winters (November through April) in Alabama.  Nice work if you can get it.  A few more days at anchor on Lake Ontario and we turned into the Trent-Severn Canal which would take us to Georgian Bay.  The canal is 240 miles long with 41 locks that will take us more than 800 feet above lake level and then back down.  We bought a season mooring pass which allowed us to tie up every night on a wall adjacent to the locks.   That gave us access to state maintained restrooms and often, towns along the way are within walking (or limping) distance.  Most of the locks are still hand operated by two guys that crank the doors open and closed and manually open the valves that control the water flow.  A week and 20 locks brought us to one of the wonders of the lock system.   The Peterborough Lift Lock puts the boat in a sort of pan and then lifts the pan hydraulically 65 feet to the next level.  Quite an experience.

7/2/11 - 7/5/11  Our first look ever at the Great Lakes was coming into Lake Ontario out of Oswego, NY harbor.  We had to put a bucket over the side and take a slurp just to believe it's fresh water.  We heard a story of a guy who was on a jet ski whose engine stopped far out in the Lake.  By the time he was rescued he was severely dehydrated.  When asked why he didn't take a drink from the lake he replied that he assumed it was salt water.  Our first stop is Whites Bay, in Henderson Bay.  It was a Saturday evening and we anchored surrounded by residences and boat traffic which means we had to endure constant boat wakes until dark.  We were compensated though because we had a ringside seat to a spectacular pre-Independence Day fireworks show on the shore line.  The next day (a Sunday) we moved on to Cedar Point State Park Marina and again more fireworks.  Monday July 4, we crossed over into Canada and cleared customs at Confederation Basin Marina.  Surprisingly it just took a phone call from a pay phone and we were in.  One night at anchor and then we checked into Portsmouth Olympic Harbor.  It is right next to a maximum security prison and museum (formerly the warden's residence) so I went to take the tour.  Also,down the street is an artillery emplacement built in the mid 1800's to protect the town of  Kingston, Ontario from attack by the U.S..  I visited it but as I was trying to get a better vantage point for a picture of the canon I missed a step and severely sprained my ankle which caused me to limp in pain for four weeks.  Such is the cruising life!

6/20/11 - 7/1/11   The town of Waterford, New York goes out of their way to accommodate cruisers so they provide free dockage, free electricity, free water, free wifi and $1 pump out.  Also they have a web cam that was pointed at the boat and our children were able to see us live, albeit in slow motion.  We stayed there 4 days and caught up on groceries, maintenance, mail and paper work.  The Erie Canal was built to facilitate shipping between New York and the Great Lakes..  By way of the locks it takes boats from the Hudson River up 405 feet and then back down to the level of Lake Erie.  Some of the lock machinery that is working today dates from the early 1900's.  They keep the machinery spit shined and I saw lock operators using rags to keep from touching the shiny brass control levers.  We very much enjoyed the scenery and the temperatures (highs in the 70's) but recent rains caused a huge amount of tree debris to be in the canal and we had to dodge logs most of the way.  We wanted to go to Lake Ontario so mid way on the Erie Canal we took a right up the Oswego Canal and entered the Lake at Oswego, NY.  We had gone through 30 locks in the past 11 days.

6/15/11 - 6/19/11   The Hudson River is very pleasant.  It is up to 100 feet deep and has steep rocky shores.  I kept thinking that some of the rocks hadn't moved since Revolutionary War soldiers traversed these waters.  The first night we anchored and just decided to stay there the whole next day and recuperate.  The next night we found a free dock (if you patronize the restaurant) at Highland Landing and had a great meal.  A night under Rip Van Winkle Bridge (Catskill NY) and a night behind Rattlesnake Island and we bid adieu to the Hudson and turned into the Erie Canal at Waterford, NY.