June 30, 2019: Tarpon River Loop (our Sunday afternoon 5-hour dinghy adventure)
We've been living at Fiesta Way for about 10 weeks now. Much of that time has been taken up with getting settled in and having a few minor repairs done to the house. But now I (Evan) am beginning to feel a bit restless and am ready for a new adventure. On Sunday June 30, we had nothing planned. It p...
February 28 - April 18, 2019: Fort Lauderdale (Bahia Mar Marina)
After the couple of days at Cable Marine, we left on March 1 for Bahia Mar Marina in Fort Lauderdale Beach for a month's stay before heading north. Fort Lauderdale is a place we'd always considered for permanently resettling for its boating culture, many waterfront homes with places to dock a boat w...
February 27, 2019: Miami Beach to Fort Lauderdale
It's been a long while since the last update and so much has changed! We left Miami Beach Marina for Fort Lauderdale on February 27 taking the four and a half hour no-wake route up the intracoastal waterway (ICW). We hugged the the Miami Beach Island side of the ICW and passed the Venetian East Brid...
February 20-26, 2019 - Key Largo FL to Miami Beach, FL
On Wednesday morning we left Anchorage Resort in Key Largo and headed up the mangrove-lined Jewfish Creek into Barnes Sound. After passing under the Little Card Sound Bridge, we entered Little Card Sound, then following the ICW passed through the Card Bank into Card Sound. After the passage through...
February 17-19, 2019 - Marathon FL to Key Largo FL
It was difficult to say good bye to Marlin Bay Marina, its lovely pool, lovely grounds and expansive view to the blue waters in the north, but we'd been there for two whole weeks and it was time to move along. We had debated whether to take the Hawk Channel passage on the outside - more direct but e...
February 3-16, 2019 - Key West FL to Marathon FL
It had been a fantastic stay at Key West, but the possibilities to stay any longer in Key West had run out (every slip was fully booked). So on February 3 morning, we got up to brilliant sunshine, no wind, no waves and cast off for the 53 mile trip to Marathon. Because the weather was so calm, we de...
January 18 - February 2, 2019 - Marco Island to Key West FL
After having stayed a lot longer in Marco Island that we had anticipated, we eagerly got our act together this cool clear Friday morning so that we could cross the Florida Bay to Key West. As a trip of over 100 miles on waters wide open to the Gulf of Mexico, it should have been a concern, but the f...
January 9-17, 2019 - Naples FL to Marco Island FL
With some regret (for lost dining opportunities), we cast off from Naples and headed south down the Gordon River. We had thought to take the Rookery Bay ICW route on the inside but within a hundred yards or so of that turn-off, we ran into depths of 4 feet or so and decided that we didn't want to ge...
January 4-8, 2019 - Sanibel FL to Naples FL
As we left Sanibel, there was a fair amount of fog which eventually burned off to yield a sunny calm day. Heading out of the marina, we turned tot he southeast and out the Matanzas Pass to the open Gulf. Along the coast, we passed the distant high-rises and expensive hotels of Estero Island, Bonita...
January 2-3, 2019 - Boca Grande FL to Sanibel FL
Threading our way out of the channel that led to Uncle Henry's Marina, we then turned right passing through the break in the old Northern Railway causeway and rejoined the ICW. We headed south along the Gasparilla Island and across the Boca Grande Inlet - the main Gulf entrance to Charlotte Harbor....
December 30, 2018 - January 1, 2019 - Cape Haze FL to Boca Grande FL
With Christmas holidays over and having had a chance to get Salty all fixed up for the New Year, we left the calmness of Aquamarine Palm Harbor and entered what is the boating equivalent of a busy freeway full of Sunday drivers. Literally, dozens of boats speeding down the Intracoastal Waterway made...
December 19-29, 2018 - Sarasota FL to Cape Haze FL
Red sky at night gave us misty rain in the morning in Sarasota. Good that we were leaving as the forecast looked pretty grim for the next day when we were originally supposed to depart. We headed out of Marina Jack into the southern Sarasota Bay, following the channel went under the Siesta Key Bridg...
December 17-18, 2018 - Gulfport FL to Sarasota FL
We awoke to a beautiful sunny day with light breezes and cast off midmorning from Gulfport. Heading out into the Boca Ciega Bay we took a left only to discover that the Route 682 Bridge was not going to give us a shortcut to the channel across the Tampa Bay - so we had to backtrack the way we came a...
December 15-16, 2018 - Clearwater Fl to Gulfport, FL
Rainy Saturday morning. We cast off in the rain and headed south down the ICW toward St. Petersburg. Most of the ICW is no wake zone so we had to proceed fairly slowly the 25 or so miles past Belleair, Indian Shores, Reddington, Medeira and St. Pete Beaches before entering Boca Ciega Bay. Turning up...
December 7-14, 2018 - Apalachicola, FL to Clearwater Beach, FL
We got up before sunrise and prepared Salty for the long day ahead of crossing the Big Bend. We left just after sunrise and headed out through the Apalachicola Channel, then through the St. George Sound towards the East Pass, just before Carrabelle. The water was a bit choppy - choppier than we had...
December 6, 2018 - Sandestin, FL to Apalachicola, FL
After sleeping in and then reading the weather forecast next morning in Sandestin when we got up, to our great consternation it became clear that a weather window for crossing the Big Bend was opening a mere 24 hours away. We really wanted to get across as soon as possible so that we could take care...
December 5, 2018 - Pensacola, FL to Sandestin, FL
Today we were not absolutely certain of our destination - we thought Fort Walton Beach might be a good stopping point, but we were thinking of the next day when we had to go for about a 100 miles or so without stopping because most of the marinas in Panama City area were out of commission as a resul...
December 3-4, 2018 - Orange Beach, AL to Pensacola, FL
We set out mid-morning for another light day of about 30 miles to visit Pensacola. Once in the channel, we proceeded up to Wolf Bay, then through Bay La Launch and to Perdido Bay, where the Alabama-Florida border zigzags among the islands. It was still mighty chilly for Florida - nearly every night...
December 2, 2018 - Mobile, AL to Orange Beach, AL
We left Dog River Marina mid-morning as we didn't have but 40 miles to travel today. After a pump-out and a last visit with the pink kitty that lived at the gas dock, we embarked out of the Dog River and into the channel that led us across Mobile Bay. As soon as we reached the main shipping channel,...
November 26-December 1, 2018 - Dog River Marina, AL
After the long wet ride home from New Orleans, it was time to see if we could get all the service folks working on Salty so that we could soon make headway down south to warmer temperatures. Every night the temperatures were dipping into the 30s and 40s - and we thought we were down south! So it was...
November 19-25, 2018 - New Orleans, LA
Under cloudy skies, we left Natchez following Route 61 down to Baton Rouge and then to Houmas House and Gardens, a well-known antebellum house on the Mississippi. The owner actually lives in the house, but vacates it every day for tours and visits. The house has a number of live oaks on the property...
November 15-18, 2018 - Natchez, MS
On the morning after our arrival in Mobile, we moved from the gas dock over to a covered slip at Dog River Marina where Salty would spend the next 10 days out of the weather. It was appreciably darker and gloomier under the covered roof, but we were grateful that Salty would not get any more water r...
November 12-14, 2018 - Demopolis, AL to Mobile, AL
We left Demopolis in the pre-dawn drizzle to travel the 3 miles to the Demopolis Lock (down 40 feet). The forecast said it would be a rainy cold terrible day - and it was. Torrential rain on and off all day. Demopolis Lock in the early morning rain. We figured we'd travel the hundred or so miles to...
November 11, 2018 - Columbus, MS to Demopolis, AL
After returning from Birmingham, returning the rental car and resolving some boat maintenance issues (oil change, etc.), we left Columbus Marina at dawn to ensure we would have enough daylight to make it through three locks and 117 miles to Demopolis Yacht Basin. The marinas are few and far between...
November 7-10, 2018 - Birmingham. AL
The South is not what you think it is - and I guess I'm addressing the Yankees out there, who like me have hardly ever gone below the Mason-Dixon Line (sorry, DC and Florida beaches don't count). We drove from Columbus to Birmingham via Tuscaloosa - all places with vaguely exotic names but with no c...
November 4-6, 2018 - Fulton, MS to Columbus, MS
The next morning we set out with bright skies and headed to the Fulton Lock a few miles down river from the Midway Marina. A number of other boats came along with us, but since it was not a tremendously long trip today (57 miles), we decided not to leave at daybreak. Midland Marina receding behind u...
November 3, 2018 - Iuka, MS to Midway Marina, MS
We got up early to start the journey down the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway. Other boats left at the crack of dawn and because we only had 53 miles to go to our next stop we waited until the fog burned off before setting out at mid-morning. Good thing we did, as all the other boats couldn't even see...
November 1-2, 2018 - Iuka, MS
Even though there was purportedly a great service department at Aqua Yachts, apparently everyone was sick or too busy and couldn't change our oil and other fluids for our maintenance milestone. Yet we had waited for two days for someone to show up. Although it wasn't an urgent problem, we probably w...
October 31, 2018 - Cuba Landing, TN to Iuka, MS
After Cuba Landing, the river becomes much more narrow and is no longer the wide expanse of the Kentucky Lake. We followed the course of the Tennessee River down to mile 208 and turned off into the mouth of the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway. The Pickwick Lock raised us up 55 feet to Pickwick Lake, wh...
October 30, 2018 - Grand Rivers, KY to Cuba Landing, TN
After coming back from Nashville, we did some basic preparations to leave, but decided because we had no locks the next day that we would leave a bit later. Fortunately we did, as there was early fog that burned off by mid-morning and we headed out of the Green Turtle Bay marina into Barkley Lake, a...
October 25-27, 2018 - Nashville, TN
We left Memphis and drove up the I-40 across half of Tennessee to Nashville. Along the way, we crossed the Tennessee River, and spied the marina where we would be staying in less than a week at Cuba Landing. This was our first time in Nashville and it was even more of a spectacle to see than Memphis...
October 21-24, 2018 - Memphis, TN
We had planned on going the 160 miles up the Cumberland River to Nashville to visit that famous city, but upon calling the only dockage facility within the city limits, we were informed that the approximately 4 potential slips were booked two months in advance. All the other Nashville area marinas w...
October 19-20, 2018 - Paducah to Grand Rivers, KY
Leaving the Paducah docks, we could look up into the mouth of the Tennessee River behind Owens Island. We were advised against following the Tennessee River to Grand Rivers, Kentucky even though it is the shortest route by distance. The Kentucky Lock is one of the busier locks in the area and priori...
October 18, 2018 - Paducah, KY
We enjoyed strolling around the City of Paducah and went to the River Discovery Center, a museum that had a great history of Paducah's maritime past as an important hub of water traffic. It became important because of its location at the confluence of the Tennessee River and the Ohio River - so impo...
October 17, 2018 - Kaskaskia Lock, IL to Paducah, KY
Sunrise in these parts is now at 7:15 am - so we got up in time to leave by about 7am - just when it was light enough to see debris on the water. Of course, it was a clear sunny morning and the sun brilliantly shone and glared off the water and we were traveling south. Leaving Kaskaskia and its quie...
October 16, 2018 - Alton to Kaskaskia Lock, IL
After 5 days in Alton, we decided now that the river had crested and there was visibly less debris in the water, we would set out for the 83-mile stretch to the Kaskaskia River and overnight on the wall of the lock about a half mile up the river from the Mississippi. The skies were clear once the su...
October 12-15, 2018 - Alton IL
After our bright sunny day in St Louis, a wave of gray skies and rain overtook us. Although Alton Marina is a state of the art marina within close reach of a great little 19th century river town, the weather put a damper on our spirits. The Mississippi River was rising - and promised to bring more a...
October 11, 2018 - St. Louis, MO
We were almost going to take the train into St. Louis but the Amtrak train schedule left us too little time to explore the city - so we rented a car at Enterprise to take the 30 minute ride to downtown St. Louis. We drove directly to the Gateway Arch - which can be seen in its magnificence from quit...
October 10, 2018 - Grafton to Alton, IL
Over the last day or so, we've been speaking with various fellow travelers and with dock masters as well as reading boater forum postings and even Facebook postings on the conditions of the Mississippi. The level of water visibly rose since yesterday covering waterfront park and bike trails and even...
October 8-9, 2018 - Grafton, IL
Grafton is a small town (pop: 650), but it has a huge personality. Named after the town of Grafton, Massachusetts - the town where the founder came from - it was built as a center of trade at the mouth of the Illinois River. Nowadays it is a vacation resort complete with more than a dozen restaurant...
October 7, 2018 - Peoria to Grafton, IL
We got up a 6am in the dark to prepare the boat to leave the IVY Club, and within minutes of first light, we left the marina ensuring not to hit roof of the covered part of the marina while at the same time staying in the channel so as to avoid grounding ourselves in the mud. Again, it was a bit of...
October 6, 2018 - Peoria, IL
Next day we dedicated to exploring Peoria a bit. Because the highway outside the IVY Club in the direction of Peoria was fairly hostile to bicycles - no shoulder, no sidewalk - we took an Uber to the CAT Museum. Actually it is the visitor center for the Caterpillar Company (no felines), which has an...
October 5, 2018 - Ottawa to Peoria, IL
We awoke to pouring rain, but we had arranged with some other boaters the night before that one of the party would call the Starved Rock Lock at 6am and see whether we could all get through the lock 14 miles down the river. The lock master informed that if we came down at 730am, he'd let us through....
October 4, 2018 - Ottawa, IL
The Heritage Harbor Marina is a fair way out of the town of Ottawa. To our delight, we discovered that there were bike trails running along the tow path of the old Illinois & Michigan Canal right behind the marina. We took the wooded trail the several miles into town, crossed over the bridge that wa...
October 3, 2018 - Joliet to Ottawa, IL
When we awoke in the dark the next morning in preparation for our pre-sunrise departure, we inspected the area around the boat and discovered massive mats of grass and debris surrounding the boat. Rather than risk turning on the engines, we cast off and pushed the Salty off into the DesPlaines River...
October 2, 2018 - Chicago, IL to Hammond, IN to Joliet, IL
Because of Salty's height (18.5 ft with radar post down), we were unable to go down the Chicago River to the Illinois River because of a 17-foot railroad bridge downtown. However, we are able to go down the Calumet River with its height limitation of 19 feet, 6 inches (another railroad bridge). The...
September 24 - October 1, 2018 - Chicago, IL
What can be said about Chicago? So different from New York City, so strikingly beautiful in its geography and so stunning in the curation of its architectural skyline and tasteful design of its parks and riverfront. Notwithstanding all the bad press Chicago gets because of crime and murder (generall...
September 23, 2018 - St. Joseph, MI to Chicago, IL
After two days of rough seas, all the weather indicators and forecasts said that the route to Chicago would be very calm. This is the first crossing during which we theoretically should lose all visual contact with a shoreline - or so we thought. The waters were thankfully extremely calm - 1-2 foot...
September 21-22, 2018 - St. Joseph, MI
The winds and waves on Lake Michigan held us from going anywhere these two days. We spent the time by cleaning up the dinghy with a cleaning solution obtained from Wolf Marine that gave it a white brilliance that we forgot it had, then dried it and folded it up for storage as we likely won't need it...
September 20, 2018 - Saugatuck to St. Joseph, MI
It rained all night and early in the morning - thunderstorms passed over. By mid-morning, there were signs of the skies clearing up and as we left Kalamazoo Lake, the clouds finally parted and blue skies came through. Looking at the weather forecast, we saw that we had calm seas on which to travel t...
September 19, 2018 - Saugatuck to Holland, MI
We decided to take the ambitious 30 mile roundtrip to Holland Michigan on our bikes. There were thankfully broad bike trails and lanes that led us all the way to the picturesque town on Lake Macatawa, and further to the Windmill Island Gardens. A large number of Dutch immigrants settled here in the...
September 18, 2018 - Grand Haven to Saugatuck, MI
We awoke to a hazy humid day and decided that instead of going to Holland, where all the marinas are far from town and things to see, we would go to Saugatuck, which has a reputation as picturesque harbor and town with art galleries and restaurants close to the marinas. As we headed out to Lake Mich...
September 17, 2018 - Grand Haven to Fruitport, MI
Overnight the duality of the port showed itself - not only is this a haven for pleasure craft, but at 1am we heard a strange sound like rain but grinding. We looked out to see in the dark a 650 foot tanker slowly moving like a whale passing our minnow-like boat in its slip, hardly making a wake. I f...
September 16, 2018 - Ludington to Grand Haven, MI
The water was calm and flat - so we decided to make the 50+ mile trek down to Grand Haven. Passing Little Point Sable, White Lake/Whitehall and Muskegon... and then we arrived in Grand Haven. It was like arriving at a party - hundreds of water vessels streaming in and out of the inlet. Was there a f...
September 15, 2018 - Ludington, MI
On a clear sunny hot day, we took our bikes out to Ludington State Park to see the Sand Dunes and the Big Sable Point Lighthouse. The bike trail course was flat and straight north out of Ludington. The big attraction aside from the camp ground and the beach was the restored light Big Sable Point lig...
September 14, 2018 - Frankfort to Ludington, MI
The weather was sunny and calm today and looked like a great travel day. It was and, sorry, the video will be a bit dull. From Frankfort to Luddington is almost a straight-shot down the coast with one 30 degree turn. Close to Ludington, we passed the famously photographed Big Sable Lighthouse and th...
September 13, 2018 - Leland to Frankfort, MI
Leaving Leland Township Harbor you get the impression of diving into a symphony of shades of blue from the sky down the gunwhales hard to capture by camera. It's no wonder Michiganians (or Michiganders) love their Lake and their shore. Heading south from Leland, we passed Pyramid Point and the Sleep...
September 12, 2018 - Lelanau Peninsula
The Lelanau Peninsula is famed for its wines, smoked fish and fruit. We hopped on our bikes to explore this cornucopia of Michigan and see for ourselves what was out there and left very impressed at its beauty and bounty. In what ended up being a nearly 20-mile bike ride, we started out on the shore...
September 11, 2018 - Charlevoix to Leland, MI
Prior to leaving Charlevoix harbor, we took Salty on a short loop through Lake Charlevoix, the larger lake past the Round Lake where the marina was located. We had about 30 minutes to kill as we waited for the Pine River bascule bridge to open before we could head out to Lake Michigan. Lake Charlevo...
September 9, 2018 - Mackinac Island to Charlevoix, MI
The calmness of the waters unfortunately didn't last for long - around 4 am they picked up and by 8 am were worse than the previous day. We had looked at the forecast the previous evening and thought staying put the next day as the seas looked a bit rough, but the roughness of this harbor overnight...
September 7-8, 2018 - Mackinac Island, MI
Visiting Mackinac Island is like stepping back in time, but with waaay too many fudge shoppes (l lost count after 12 or so). Most of Mackinac Island is a Michigan State Park with strict rules on motorized vehicles and the style in which and where and when houses may be built and renovated - giving t...
September 6, 2018 - Drummond Island to Mackinac Island, MI
Late the previous evening we were watching the news on TV and suddenly heard a slam against our hull. The wind had picked up and a sailboat trying to enter bow-first the slip next to us was caught by the wind, turned laterally whereupon its stern slammed us amidship while its bow was caught on the p...
September 5, 2018 - Meldrum Bay, Ontario to Drummond Island, Michigan
Looking at the forecast, it seemed we had an open weather window in the morning to make it to Drummond Island Yacht Haven. The marina is on the north side of Drummond Island, Michigan and safe from the southerly winds. Thunderstorms were making their way from the southwest, including from our intend...
September 4, 2018 - Benjamin Islands to Meldrum Bay, North Channel
We woke up in the Benjamins to rain, lots of rain, pouring down. The forecast luckily was mostly just for rain, not so much thunderstorms - so we pulled up anchor and headed out for Meldrum Bay. Nearly all the other boaters had left already. Are you sensing a trend with Salty's crew? The wind foreca...
September 3, 2018 - Killarney, Georgian Bay to Benjamin Islands, North Channel
We left Killarney late morning to being our crossing of Lake Huron's Northern Channel. After fueling up, we decided to build in an excursion to Baie Fine (pronounced "bay fin", no French intonation) to our itinerary to the Benjamin Islands. The weather was clear and bright and the passage up through...
September 1-2, 2018 - Killarney, Georgian Bay
Killarney is a tiny town that up until 40 years ago was only reachable by water, but has been rebuilt as a resort town. Killarney is built along a straight fjord-like cut, the Killarney Channel, between the mainland and St George's Island. The Killarney Mountain Lodge and the Sportsman Inn house the...
August 31, 2018 - Bustard Islands to Killarney, Georgian Bay
The wind had picked up from the east and the Bustard Island anchorage was a lot more breezy than the day before, as well as the sky being overcast and gloomy. We had known that today was not to be as nice as the day before, but had not foreseen how bad it would be as we tried to make our way to Kill...
August 30, 2018 - Britt to Bustard Islands, Georgian Bay
The day started out brilliantly with a clear blue sky and crisp dry air and we set out with hopes for a great cruising day as that the Georgian Bay was forecast to have low winds and waves. And it was a clear smooth ride all the way out to the remote Bustard Islands which are situated just below the...
August 29, 2018 - Parry Sound to Britt, Georgian Bay
We left mid-morning to traverse the expanse of Parry Sound which was calm as it is very protected. The landscape here is less developed than other parts south of here due to the fact that most of Parry Island forming part of the boundary of Parry Sound is all First Nation reservation and largely fre...
August 27-28, 2018 - Parry Sound, Georgian Bay
The weather was completely lousy - rain, thunderstorms and heavily overcast - for Monday and Tuesday. The weather, wind and wave forecasts were equally dismal such that we decided to stay in the Parry Sound port. On Tuesday when the rain cleared up in the afternoon, we rode the bikes up to the No Fr...
August 26, 2018 - Fryingpan Island to Parry Sound, Georgian Bay
The rain let up overnight and the sun came out on this Sunday morning, as we cast off for Parry Sound. The course from Fryingpan Island to Parry Sound led us through the Devil's Elbow (not so sinister) and a long narrow channel to the south of Five-Mile Bay up to the swing bridge which is the gatewa...
August 25, 2018 - Indian Harbour to Fryingpan Island, Georgian Bay
We pulled up anchor on this overcast midmorning and headed out in the direction of Fryingpan Island where we planned to stay overnight at Henry's Fish Restaurant. We made our way up through the islands past the mouth of the Twelve Mile Bay, which we were warned had exposure to the weather of the Geo...
August 24, 2018 - Beausoleil Island to Indian Harbor, Georgian Bay
Another beautiful blue sunny sky greeted us and we set off after breakfast for an anchorage at Indian Harbour - about 14 miles from Beausoleil Bay. After wending our way out of the Bay through a narrow channel guarded by underwater rock shoulders here and there, we rounded the southern tip of Beauso...
August 23, 2018 - Midland to Beausoleil Island, Georgian Bay
After a frustrating six full days of technical help aboard the Salty Dog from both Cummins and Mercury, we finally reached a point of diminishing returns and where the vessel seemed to be functioning well enough to set out. Six days with six sea trials each day finding a new alarm or problem had lef...
August 11-22, 2018 - Midland, ON
The engine people told us they'd be able to come on August 15, so we had a bit of time to kill in Midland. The very fine marina at the Bay Port marina was able to help us with the 3-month maintenance checkup but demurred at the electronic problem we were having - so we had to wait for the Cummins en...
August 10, 2018 - Big Chute to Midland, ON
We arose early in anticipation of bringing Salty over the marine railway - the Big Chute down over 50 feet into the Gloucester Pool below. One boat from the marina headed over there just before 9am when the lock opened and went before us - then we were next. It was all over in a matter of about 6 mi...
August 9, 2018 - Orillia to the Big Chute, Ontario
Salty has had some engine problems intermittently for the last couple of months. Now it seems on a fairly regular basis that she slips out of gear on the port engine. After spending nearly 2 weeks at Hurst Marina in Manotick, we had thought that perhaps the problem was solved, but now while arriving...
August 7-8, 2018 - Orillia, ON
We arrived in Orillia on Monday evening and expected that because the town was on a famous lake with lots of boaters abounding that there would be a lively scene. Strangely the Civic Holiday rendered the town that evening somewhat of a ghost town with a grayish aspect of abandonment. Weird, the wate...
August 6, 2018 - Bolsover to Orillia, ON
We had a bit of a late start leaving Sunset Cove Marina now heading down the Trent Canal and girded ourselves to pass through 5 locks within 4.5 miles connected by very narrow channels, barely big enough for two boats to pass each other. The sides of the canal are visible underwater and look to be...
August 5, 2018 - Cameron Lake to Bolsover, ON
Sadly we had to leave our aquatic paradise and make tracks further along the Trent-Severn. We pulled up anchor with surprising ease – and best of all – there were no weeds, just a bit of mud to wash off the anchor. We made our way up the lake and entered the very, very narrow Trent Canal. They req...
August 4, 2018 - Buckhorn Lake to Cameron Lake, ON
Although it is lovely to have a second long holiday weekend in the summer as they do in Canada. Monday August 6 is Civic Holiday (named Simcoe Day in Toronto and named after a number of local heroes in other cities and provinces). Great day for the locals – very difficult for the transient. We left...
August 3, 2018 - Lakefield to Buckhorn Lake, Ontario
Leaving Lakefield Marina, we had thoughts that we would anchor that evening in Buckhorn Lake. We were entering the Kawartha Lakes area – Kawartha meaning “happy lands and bright waters” – an apt moniker as it turns out – right after Lakefield and entering the 5-mile long Katchewanooka Lake with a n...
August 2, 2018 - Peterborough to Lakefield, ON
We left Peterborough Marina in the company of two other boats and we all waited for the Ashburnham Lock 20 (up 12 feet) to open. We locked up and one mile further up the Trent Canal was the majestic Peterborough Lift Lock 21 (up 65 feet) – the ride up is just breathtaking, not only from the point o...
August 1, 2018 - Peterborough, ON
We expressly took the extra day off in Peterborough to ride our bikes up to the Peterborough Lift Lock - the world's highest hydraulic lift lock. The lock has two large locking pans (one up 65 feet and the other down) in which the boats enter/depart on the high and low ends and like a teeter-totter,...
July 31, 2018 - Hastings to Peterborough, ON
Having spent the night on the wall, but using the generator to cool the cabins down for that night, we got up and geared for a day of locking further up the Trent River to Peterborough, ON. We passed through Hastings Lock No. 18 (up 9 feet) and closely thereafter entered Rice Lake, named for the wil...
July 30, 2018 - Blue Hole to Campbellford to Hastings, ON
We picked up anchor mid-morning to follow the Trent-Severn Waterway further upstream. The anchor was firmly held in clay and it took us a bit of pulling and cleaning of the anchor before we left. We were pretty much alone for the first several locks up to Campbellford and that made the process easy....
July 29, 2018 - Trenton to Blue Hole Anchorage, Ontario
The Trent-Severn Waterway is a bit of a different creature from the Rideau Waterway. It was built not for military purposes, but rather as a government-funded mercantilist commercial investment for the Canadian timber, dairy and agricultural sectors in the late 19th century. The purpose being to pro...
July 28, 2018 - Kingston to Trenton, ON
We left Kingston Confederation Basin mid-morning with bright sunny weather. We hugged the northern shore of Lake Ontario and took the channel behind Amherst Island (covered with dozens and dozens of windmills) that leads to the entrance of the Bay of Quinte. This was the first opportunity for us to...
July 26-27, 2018 - Kingston, ON
It was nice to be back in a city again after being in the either the Ottawa ex-urbs and/or the countryside for over three weeks. We would have enjoyed being tourists, but we got the welcome news that the Mercury technician was able to see us as soon as we arrived and then the antenna/electronics guy...
July 25, 2018 – Jones Falls to Kingston, ON
We awoke to rain again and a forecast of 100% chance of rain until early afternoon. But having to make progress to meet some mechanics in Kingston tomorrow, we set forth and crossed the length of Whitefish Lake, followed a river-like canal to Little Cranberry Lake, which connected to Cranberry Lake...
July 24, 2018 – Westport to Jones Falls, ON
We awoke to rain but set forth across the Upper Rideau Lake towards Newboro Lock 36 (down 8 feet). After all the exhausting locking up from Ottawa, locking down is much more relaxing - like sitting in a bathtub and pulling the plug, the water drains out without much fuss and you’re on your way. Loc...
July 23, 2018 – Smiths Falls to Westport, ON
It was a pleasant and quiet night in between the two Smiths Falls Locks (29A and 31). We got off to a moderately early start, but Smiths Falls Lock 31 had a very large cruising vessel coming out of the lock as we approached. The beam of the cruising vessel was nearly as wide as the lock chamber -...
July 22, 2018 – Merrickville to Smiths Falls, ON
Sunday started out rainy with a forecast for thunderstorms. As we were preparing to leave, a British-Canadian couple came up to us and noted that they had the same boat as we did. After chatting a bit, it turned out that they the same electronics/processer problems as we do as well. He suggested...
July 21, 2018 – Manotick to Merrickville, ON
Finally, Salty Dog had a bill of health that allowed her to go onwards on her journey. Even though the Mercury Pod Drive specialists worked on sleuthing the problem for over a week, they really never identified why the engines kept slipping out of gear, except to postulate that some loose connectio...
July 9-20, 2018 - Manotick, ON
Unfortunately as in all boat voyages, there is usually a breakdown. Our breakdown happens to be an electronic one - the SIM module in the port pod drive, which controls the communication between the steering mechanism and the engine and without which the boat goes nowhere. No mere mortal can fix it...
July 8, 2018 - Ottawa to Manotick, ON
On Sunday morning, we began our ascent up the Rideau Canal - the canal built under the direction of British General John By in 1832 to ensure that Kingston Ontario had an adequate military supply line should the Americans decide to attack Canada again (War of 1812 redux that never came). The canal w...
July 6-7, 2018 - Ottawa, Ontario
We spent a couple of days exploring Ottawa and parked the Salty Dog in the Marina de Hull in Gatineau QC, the town on the opposite side of the Ottawa River from the capital of Canada. Gatineau (in Québec) and Ottawa (in Ontario) share the honor being integral parts of the capital metropolitan area b...
July 5, 2018 – Montebello to Gatineau, QC
The journey up the Ottawa River from Montebello (the Loop's northernmost point) to Gatineau – the town just across the bridge from Ottawa – was uneventful, and stunningly beautiful and calm. It is hard to capture the beauty and peacefulness of this river in two-dimensional images. This stretch of t...
July 3, 2018 – Parc Omega
The hotel concierge gave us a breathless endorsement of Parc Omega as a place to visit while in Montebello, QC. He enumerated all of the Canadian animals we could see there. Although we’re usually skeptical about animal drive-in parks, the endorsement combined with the desire to see indigenous ani...
July 2, 2018 – Montréal to Montebello, QC
The St. Lawrence Seaway Authority publishes a schedule at 7:30 am every day for the times that Montréal area locks will accommodate pleasure boats. We met a man on a jet ski who wanted to chat about the Loop the previous day who said he had waited 11 hours one time to get through the St. Lambert an...
June 26 – July 1, 2018: Montréal, QC
Montréal is the heart of New France – a vibrant French city (the world’s second largest French-speaking city after Paris) just north of Vermont. Montréal is a magnet for immigration not only from the disperse countries of the Francophonie, but also from France itself. The city district of Plateau...
June 25, 2018: Salaberry-de-Valleyfield to Montréal, QC
We had to get up early to make the bridges and locks. The bridges and locks in this part of the St Lawrence Seaway cater to the enormous cargo and container ships – pleasure craft are an afterthought and are accommodated only at specific times of day. Leaving Valleyfield at 8am, we were hoping to...
June 24, 2018: Crysler Park Marina, Ontario to Salaberry-de-Valleyfield, Quebec
Leaving Crysler Park, we headed down the St Lawrence river to the next set of locks – a pair run by the US government in US territory. Traveling on the St Lawrence River is intimidating because of the very large commercial traveling companions. In 1959, Queen Elizabeth II and President Dwight Eisen...
June 23, 2018: Brockville to Crysler Park Marina, Ontario
Today was cloudy and drizzly. We cast off late morning to make our way further downriver. After leaving Brockville behind, we passed a soggy looking Ogdensburg (home to a fine museum of Frederick Remington paintings, drawings and sculptures of the old West) and increasing the river particularly on...
June 22, 2018: Clayton, NY to Brockville, Ontario
Leaving the docks of Clayton, we knew by the end of the day we would be saying goodbye to New York and the United States for a while. This was painful for several reasons – including leaving our homeland, but also because our data plan situation was critical. We were using an average of 2GB per day...
June 21, 2018: Clayton, NY / Heart Island
“My men went on and presently met the Lotus-Eaters, nor did these Lotus-Eaters have any thoughts of destroying our companions, but they only gave them lotus to taste of. But any of them who ate the honey-sweet fruit of lotus was unwilling to take any message back, or to go away, but they wanted to...
June 20, 2018: Sackets Harbor to Clayton, NY
We left Sacket’s Harbor with anxiety as we had the nagging feeling that we still weren’t over our engine issues. And unfortunately we were right, about an hour into our journey to Clayton, NY, the engine alarm sounded urging us “to immediately return to port” and to have the starboard engine servi...
June 19, 2018: Oswego to Sackets Harbor, NY
We spent a couple of days in Oswego trying to sleuth engine and electrical problems that Salty Dog was having. The area about one of the pod drives was slowly filling with water, the other pod drive was consuming transmission fluid, one of the temperature sensors kept popping off and then it appear...
June 16-18, 2018: Oswego NY
Today began with moving the boat to the Oswego Marina which is the municipal marina. Passing through the last Oswego Canal Lock 8, we realized that we had become old hands at locking – this being number 30 (!) and our last lock of the New York State Canal System bringing us back down to 245 feet in...
June 15, 2018: Brewerton, NY to Oswego, NY
Slow start out of Brewerton today as we discovered water in the basins holding the pod drives in the engine room. Not knowing whether this was a hull leakage, water cooling system leak or just water from washing the boat that funneled to the wrong place concerned us. So we wet-vacuumed the area an...
June 14, 2018: Brewerton, NY
Today was extremely windy - 20-30 knots - and we decided rather than being rocked about in the locks by wind, we might as well take the day off and clean, declutter and do some boat system problem solving. After cleaning the heads, doing laundry, writing notes and taking care of emails, we ventured...
June 13, 2018: Sylvan Beach NY to Brewerton NY
Unforecasted rain greeted us in the morning, but we decided to leave notwithstanding, as the winds predicted tomorrow and afterward spurred us to leave rather than be held up a further several days. Oneida Lake has a pristine clean feel. The knowledge of all those large fish of the lake – 7 foot stu...
June 12, 2018: Utica NY to Sylvan Beach NY
Everyone at the docks of Aqua Vino abandoned Utica between 6:30 and 7:30 am. Except for us. We thought we should get a move on, and did so, by 8:30 am, worried that we wouldn’t find a place to dock down the line if we didn’t. It was going to be a long day – over 27 miles at 8 knots or so to reach...
June 11, 2018: Little Falls, NY to Utica, NY
As we left Little Falls, we felt fortunate to have had such beautiful clear crisp weather for our cruise. In order for us not to become too indolent watching the scenery unfold, we set up the Salty Dog gym on the bridge for those long stretches of calm water. The strange thing about most of the Eri...
June 10, 2018: Canajoharie, NY to Little Falls, NY
Leaving Canajoharie, we locked through 4 locks - Erie Canal Lock Nos. 14, 15, 16 and 17. Here are the first three. Erie Canal Locks 14, 15 and 16 The peacefulness and the loveliness of the weather made this stretch of the Erie Canal a joy to travel along. After Lock 16, the Canal is no longer most...
June 9, 2018: Amsterdam, NY to Canajoharie, NY
We departed Amsterdam after spending a night tied to the wall where the water was as smooth as glass all night long – a promise made to us by lively Dan the restauranteur/ dockmaster of Riverlink Park. We worried about Salty as she always assumes tides, waves and current – but in this part of the w...
June 8, 2018: Schenectady to Amsterdam
Today we left the pristine new beautiful docks (you don’t see these every day) at the Mohawk Harbor Marina to venture further up the Mohawk Valley. We passed through Erie Canal Locks 8, 9 and 10 – and here they are: Erie Canal Lock 8 Erie Canal Lock 9 Erie Canal Lock 10 Between locks 8 and 9, we re...
June 7, 2018: Rotterdam, NY
Today we spent a good deal of time trying to find space for all of the stuff we took aboard for a year-long journey without the boat looking like Little Naples or Snuffy Smith’s barn the whole time. In any event, we did take time to dig out the bikes and slip onto the Mohawk Hudson Bike-Hike Trail....
June 6, 2018: Waterford to Schenectady
Up until the early 1800’s, the Appalachian Mountains formed an almost impenetrable barrier to horse-powered commerce with territories and settlements to the west. There were no realistic routes for a canal or waterway to the mid-West from the East Coast, except in New York state where the Mohawk val...
June 5, 2018: Schaghticoke, NY
My grandfather used to say his grandfather came from Cohoes NY, but all the genealogical and historical documents say my great-greatgrandfather was a woolen mill worker from Schaghticoke before he left for Dedham MA around 1870. Schaghticoke – misplaced from family living memory – is still a place...
June 4, 2018: Catskill Marina to Waterford Harbor
We awoke after a rainy night to find a very wet Catskill Marina having a foot or two higher water level than the shore bulkhead. Luckily the power stanchion didn’t arc and kill us all in the night – our neighbors in their trawler seemed fairly disgusted by the situation. We left shortly thereafte...
June 3, 2018: Kingston City Marina to Catskill Marina
Not a long trip today but one where the Hudson’s wide and broad shoulders seemed to meaningfully diminish with shoaling and shallow spots appearing with greater frequency as the shores came closer to the boat. The view of the Catskills and what appear to be vast acreages of seemingly unspoiled mars...
June 2, 2018: Kingston, NY
OK, I got some eye roll from my co-captain on Kingston as the Heart of Darkness... Actually there was plenty of enlightenment in Kingston NY, namely the Hudson River Maritime Museum. If you are ever going to where we are going next (the Erie Canal), you definitely learn a lot about the voyage ahea...
June 1, 2018: Haverstraw, NY to Kingston, NY
“ And this also ,” said Marlow suddenly, “ has been one of the dark places of the earth.” … “They were conquerors, and for that you want only brute force – nothing to boast of, when you have it, since your strength is just an accident arising from the weakness of others.” – Joseph Conrad, Heart of...
May 31, 2018: Jersey City, NJ to Haverstraw, NY
千里之行，始於足下 – 老子 The journey of a thousand miles begins beneath one’s feet. - Laozi Up the Noord Rivier (as the Dutch called it), past Spuyten Duyvel (Spitting Devil, for the roiling waters separating Manhattan from the Bronx)… Yonkers (named for the J...
May 30, 2018: Call me Salty Dog
Call me Salty Dog... “Some years ago—never mind how long precisely—having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me on shore, I thought I would sail about a little and see the watery part of the world. It is a way I have of driving off the spleen and regulating the circu...