Newark - Little Falls, NY

Wednesday, Sept. 12

Another beautiful day, sunny and low 80's. The lock operators are stressed because over the
next few days each of their locks is getting their annual inspection. At each lock we find the
operators are busily painting and vacuuming in preparation. We are staying just ahead of
the inspectors so they don't slow us down with their inspection, but it is interesting to see
how each operator handles the expected visit. Those who, like the biblical women who had
their lamps full of oil and wicks trimmed, don't seem stressed by the idea. On the other
hand .........
Three boats passed us, the most we have seen yet. I had no idea there would be such a small
amount of traffic on the canal, especially as we get further east.
One thing we learned while in the west end of the canal was that in the winter the guard gates
there are closed and the canal emptied to just a couple feet of water and the towns dump all
their snow into the canal.
Tied up overnight at Baldwinsville and got the last spot with electicity. A sailboat came in after
us that is from Detroit, on their fourth trip down to the Bahamas. We got some tips from them
for the future and it was good to visit with them. Five dollar dock fee.

54 miles



Thursday, Sept. 13

After starting the day on the canal and doing two locks we went out across Oneida Lake,
which can be nasty in bad weather. The lake is 23 miles long and 5 or 6 miles wide. We were
blessed with great weather and calm seas, reaching Sylvan Beach on the east side and back into
the canal. There was a great "Cruise - In" at Sylvan Beach including eight Cobras, one having
raced at Watkins Glen. They were awsome. Dinner was at Harpoon Eddie's on the water,
watching a great sunset.
We stayed at the wall with no electric but it was a free, quiet place. Talked to a guy from
California that bought a trawler in Detroit in April for $13,000 on Craig's list ( a fantastic deal)
and will cruise down to Florida and just give the boat away or sell it cheap. He was a "free
spirit" and was having a great time. He is our age and very outgoing, taking his time wandering
along having an adventure. Some of his family has joined him for parts of the trip.
We had stopped for fuel at Winter Harbor in Brewerton before crossing Oneida Lake. Diesel
was only $3.99 and self serice, the first time we've seen that. At the docks they were growing
tomatoes, peppers, and herbs to give to cruisers stopping there - Carol picked a tomato and
some fresh basil (wonderful). While there I checked the intake strainer as advised by Mike
Link and it was wise counsel as it needed cleared. The mesh strainer had split at the seam and
Winter Harbor gave me a length of stainless steel wire to stitch it back together, so we are as
good as new. All in all we were very impressed with Winter Harbor.

43 miles


Friday, Sept. 14

Another beautiful day on the canal - we have sure been blessed. Only encountered a couple boats
today on the canal. Did five locks today, two up and three down. The up locks are a lot more
physical due to the increased turbulence. We went by Utica (but didn't stop at Saranac Brewery),
Ilion and Herkimer, the old stomping grounds of Wendell and Jeanie during the early years of
their marriage.
We have stopped at Little Falls because it has received great reviews from other cruisers. It has
a nice lounge area with TV, pay laundry ($2/load) and great bathrooms and showers. We will stay
an extra day here to watch the OSU game, visit the local farmer's market on Saturday and
relax. We are doing lots of walking here and have been getting lots of exercise while traveling.
We have made very good progress so far due to the great weather and only have two more days
of traveling until we exit the canal and head down the Hudson River.

50 miles