cruising for this summer

[mderlick]

I am currently planning(daydreaming) my summer cruise. My home port is Pt. Dalhousie, on L. Ontario. I plan to cross the Lake, enter the Welland canal and exit L. Erie. From there, I will enter the Erie Canal at Buffalo, the travel to the Finger Lakes (Ithaca, Seneca Falls, Watkins Glen, etc.) Leaving the Canal at Oswego, I will go home via Sackett's Harbour, Kingston Ontario, then work the north shore westward. My question to this forum is: Has anyone cruised these waters before and what advice can you give me in regards to must-do stuff?

Thanks for reading

martin

 

[SKYCHENEY]

The Erie Canal from Buffalo to Osewgo is the best part of the canal. Check your height though.

The Welland is the worst part. If I were doing that trip, I think I'd skip the Welland altogether and just enter via the Oswego and do the finger lakes and head back.

 

[Maynard Rupp]

It looks like all Lake Michigan and Lake Huron cruising this summer could be difficult due to the low water depth. Most of the harbors on the eastern side of Michigan were almost unusable last summer and the water is much lower now. This and the price of fuel will slow the whole cruising activity in the Great Lakes area.

 

[saltshaker]

The Erie Canal from Buffalo to Osewgo is the best part of the canal. Check your height though.

The Welland is the worst part. If I were doing that trip, I think I'd skip the Welland altogether and just enter via the Oswego and do the finger lakes and head back.

X2. It would be a sin to go that far and not do the 1000 Islands. Run the US side from Lake Ontario to Alexandria Bay and then return through the Canadian side back down to Kingston.

 

[smoothmove]

It looks like all Lake Michigan and Lake Huron cruising this summer could be difficult due to the low water depth. Most of the harbors on the eastern side of Michigan were almost unusable last summer and the water is much lower now. This and the price of fuel will slow the whole cruising activity in the Great Lakes area.

Wow - That's huge! The water is low for sure over on the westerns side, but I'm having trouble thinking of too many heavily impacted harbors. When you say almost unusable, do you mean in terms of marina slips or in terms of distance from keel to the bottom? The latter probably being problematic for sailboaters first. Does the shore area run a bit shallower on Huron? I can see this putting pressure on the available dock space on the western side. Interesting.

We have our own issues with low lake levels. Right now, the Chicago locks are essentially gates between 2 bodies of water at the same level.
Eric

 

[mderlick]

The Erie Canal from Buffalo to Osewgo is the best part of the canal. Check your height though.

The Welland is the worst part. If I were doing that trip, I think I'd skip the Welland altogether and just enter via the Oswego and do the finger lakes and head back.

The Welland Canal is a major commercial shipping lane, and the freighter traffic can be brutal. However, I want to experience it first hand. Have you any advice as to which towns or villages are the best to visit between Tonowanda and Cayauga/Seneca Canal? How about the finger lake towns?


regards

martin

 

[SKYCHENEY]

The Welland Canal is a major commercial shipping lane, and the freighter traffic can be brutal. However, I want to experience it first hand. Have you any advice as to which towns or villages are the best to visit between Tonowanda and Cayauga/Seneca Canal? How about the finger lake towns?


regards

martin

We've always been in a hurry moving boats and never took the time to stay in one place. It is a beautiful trip, though. You'll enjoy it.

 

[SKYCHENEY]

It looks like all Lake Michigan and Lake Huron cruising this summer could be difficult due to the low water depth. Most of the harbors on the eastern side of Michigan were almost unusable last summer and the water is much lower now. This and the price of fuel will slow the whole cruising activity in the Great Lakes area.

The Michigan governor put $21M in the budget for dredging recreational harbors this year.

 

[Maynard Rupp]

The Michigan governor put $21M in the budget for dredging recreational harbors this year.

But Sky...I don't see what good it will do to have 7' of water inside a marina with 3' or less in the lake as you approach the marina. The water at our cottage on the thumb of Michigan is way, way down. They cannot dredge the whole lake.

 

[SKYCHENEY]

But Sky...I don't see what good it will do to have 7' of water inside a marina with 3' or less in the lake as you approach the marina. The water at our cottage on the thumb of Michigan is way, way down. They cannot dredge the whole lake.

It will mainly be used to dredge entrance channels and municipal marinas. All private marinas will be on their own.

 

[Nonchalant1]

The Welland Canal is big and I think exciting. You have to have a minimum of 3 people and need good sized fenders. Sometimes there are people available at both ends to hire for transit help. The huge size and lift of the locks is fun. You have to start through when they say and can't stop until you exit the canal. That may mean a 6 PM start and finishing at 2 AM. You have to be alert for big freighter traffic at all times, particularly at night as some of them don't have lights on their bow and the bow can be a hundred yards in front of any visible lights.

I agree that you need to check height clearance and draft for the Erie Canal from Lake Erie to the Oswego Canal. The Erie Canal clearances are much better from the Oswego Canal to the Hudson River. The Oswego Canal needs a height clearance on under 22 ft. I believe. We did it at 20 ft.

The 1,000 islands area is fun too, and you'll be close. Watch the charts carefully when you're not in the big shipping channel as the water levels are way down there too and some of the marinas are not accessible for larger boats. The marina at Brockville, ON, about 50 miles up St. Lawrence Seaway from Kingston, is very nice and you can walk to all the downtown shops and restaurants, etc. Check drafts and large boat docking before going. If no space at Brockville, anchor out and dinghy in the the city docks. You can also just anchor out in the St. Lawrence far away from the ship channel where there is good depth in the river and there are lots of nice little islands you can dinghy to on the Canadian side near Brockville. Some can even take larger boats.

BTW - If you have not done the Trent-Severn, that should be on your to-do list also.

Doug

 

[SKYCHENEY]

Canadians are cutting funding for the Trent-Severn. The days of operation have been cut down and many of the buoys will not be set in the spring.

 

[mderlick]

The Welland Canal is big and I think exciting. You have to have a minimum of 3 people and need good sized fenders. Sometimes there are people available at both ends to hire for transit help. The huge size and lift of the locks is fun. You have to start through when they say and can't stop until you exit the canal. That may mean a 6 PM start and finishing at 2 AM. You have to be alert for big freighter traffic at all times, particularly at night as some of them don't have lights on their bow and the bow can be a hundred yards in front of any visible lights.

I agree that you need to check height clearance and draft for the Erie Canal from Lake Erie to the Oswego Canal. The Erie Canal clearances are much better from the Oswego Canal to the Hudson River. The Oswego Canal needs a height clearance on under 22 ft. I believe. We did it at 20 ft.

The 1,000 islands area is fun too, and you'll be close. Watch the charts carefully when you're not in the big shipping channel as the water levels are way down there too and some of the marinas are not accessible for larger boats. The marina at Brockville, ON, about 50 miles up St. Lawrence Seaway from Kingston, is very nice and you can walk to all the downtown shops and restaurants, etc. Check drafts and large boat docking before going. If no space at Brockville, anchor out and dinghy in the the city docks. You can also just anchor out in the St. Lawrence far away from the ship channel where there is good depth in the river and there are lots of nice little islands you can dinghy to on the Canadian side near Brockville. Some can even take larger boats.

BTW - If you have not done the Trent-Severn, that should be on your to-do list also.

Doug

The trent-severn was my old cruising area. I remember going through a cedar swamp area just outside of Cambellford Ontario. The speed posted was " no wake". As we entered the cedar grovve, we were attacked by swarms of hungry flesh-eating deer flies. For the next 20 minutes, it was total war. I felt like we were in a Hitchcock movie. Once we exited the cedar grove, the attack ended. Pulling into Cambellford marina, I asked the marina operator about those insects, and the problem with the "no wake" speed. His reply to me was "we don't pay any attention to that sign. We just go through WOT."

However, the best cruising trip has got to be the Rideau Canal up to Ottawa, then through the flight locks into the Ottawa River, down to Montreal, then back to Lake Ontario via the St. Lawrence river, and 1000 islands. I plan to revisit that again, maybe next year.

Martin