Done with the Erie Canal

We left Winter Harbor Marina on Tuesday, July 1, 2025. It was a little tricky getting out of the hole, as the marina called it. We were the front boat with boats parked on either side with about 25 feet of water between them, We had to back out about 300 feet to the beginning of the river. Kevin was doing a great job and then a gust of wind hit turning us on an angle with the stern heading for one boat and the bow going the other way. Kevin was able to straighten out the boat using both the bow and stern thrusters to spin her back to her original direction. We were both hoping there would be no more wind gusts. Wind is NOT your friend. We did get out into the river with the bow heading west towards the last lock (for us) on the Erie Canal.

Last Lock on the Erie Canal

We continued west to the three rivers intersection where we would turn north into the Oswego River.

The Oswego River has 7 locks before intersecting with Lake Ontario. We stopped on the wall in Fulton, NY for the night.

The water was cleaner in this part of the canal system than it was closer to the Hudson River part. Fulton was about the half way point and we were not in a hurry as Lake Ontario is kicking up a little bit and would be calmer for crossing on Friday, July 4. It was very quiet tied to the lock wall and our only excitement was when a fisherman walked out to where we were at the end of the wall and started fishing. We had nice conversations with him as he pulled in 2 largemouth bass in the first 5 minutes of fishing. We found out that he has a fishing app that tells him when to fish along with videos on technique. At first it seemed like he was jigging, which is pulling your pole up and down. Then he started making his lure jump like a wounded fish. It was interesting as both of us are not known for our fishing prowess.

We finished the last 6 locks on the Oswego River and had Lake Ontario in our sights yesterday. Honestly, we felt euphoria at the thought of leaving the Erie Canal. We had made arrangements to stay at the town of Oswego public marina in town for two nights while the weather cleared.

One thing we noticed is a lot of our stops in New York did not have easy access to facilities like grocery stores and there were absolutely no marine supply stores.

We are on the shore of Lake Ontario and do not plan on seeing the Erie Canal again. It was frustrating that they could not keep the locks open for navigation, especially since they are celebrating their 200-year anniversary. We saw pieces of the original aqueducts in Schenectady, NY and that was about it for the original canal. In 1912, they rebuilt the canal to its current configuration. Bev had signed up for the NY Canal System Notice to Mariners thinking it would be a sporadic message here and there. We see several messages a day as to closing, then reopening of locks.