We left Youngstown at 6 a.m., arrived at the entrance of the Welland Canal around 8 a.m. and went through Canadian customs. We were told by the canal authorities that we would have to wait until noon to enter the first lock because there had been a breakdown, and they were backed up getting freighters through. Then one of the freighters had some kind of problem, so they told us that we could go next. We entered the first lock with two other "pleasure crafts" sometime before noon. These locks were much more difficult to handle than the ones in the Erie Canal. It took a lot of muscle power to hold on to the ropes as the water level rose 49 feet in each lock. The turbulance from the water pouring into each lock caused the boats to flail around (see picture above right). The great thing was that we went through the locks in 5 1/2 hours, which we are told is incredibly quick, and that norm is 12 hours+.
Also, we were blessed with perfect weather -- sunny & warm.
After going through the 8 locks we headed to our marina in Port Colburne, Ontario, arriving around 6:30 p.m. We were quite exhausted. I had made a chili casserole while underway, and we all gobbled it down after we were settled in our slip.
Pictures: Above left - Island Time on its way to the next lock following the 2 power boats; above right - the 3 boats in a lock. These two pictures were taken by an acquaintance of ours - a fellow Beneteau owner.
The next morning we woke up to stormy, rainy, & windy conditions. Since we only had 20 miles to go to Dunkirk, NY, we set out around 1:30 p.m. and made it to our destination late in the afternoon. It was a choppy & wet ride. Later we went to dinner at a restaurant near by. Tomorrow we head to Erie, PA.
No comments:
Post a Comment