| 2006 Thousand Islands Trip |
| Jane and I took the Missy this year from her home in Tonawanda to Lake Ontario and the St Lawrence River this year via the Erie and Oswego Canals during the first 2 weeks of July. We had flooding on the canal, rough water on the lake, wow, what a year! Rather then bore you with a detailed log this year, I will summarize each port we stayed at and what we feel are the highlights.. Middleport: What can I say about this port? Great stop that we know and love 30 miles east of Buffalo. Not much new for 2006, Mr Bills, the gas station/convenient store has closed, and Mr Ed's changed hands and is now called "Pony's". I am happy to report that the wings and tenders remain unchanged and still the best anywhere. Holley: Always a great stop, the restrooms shine and the grounds are immaculate. Beautiful park with a waterfall here. Jane and I found a trail this year that takes up behind the top of the falls. Pretty neat! On the down side, the liquor store on Main St has closed, and it appears the IGA store may be next, as everything was 50% off when we where there. Spencerport: Nice, nice nice! Lot's of stores and restarunts close by, great dock with Gazeebos. Still no restrooms here. Fairport: We stayed here 3 days on this trip, 2 days on the way out and one on the way back. The place was packed with boats, alot of it due to the canal flooding and closures. We ended up on the north wall both times, lot's of gawkers here. I would have preferred the other side. No grocery store in town, it is a major bike ride to the Wegmans, which is about 2 miles away. Overall a very nice stop, we paid $8 per night to stay here. Palmyra: Stopped for a pumpout - you have to have your own fittings, it is a coin-op job with no attached fittings. $2 got us a pretty good pumpout. Nice stop if you have a smaller boat and can tuck in the harbor away from the main channel. Lyons: We stayed here on the way home - the canal closed behind us as soon as we left in the morning - over 5" of rain in one day! I took a walk through town and found some really interesting old buildings. Very neat stuff, not a bad stop. Lock 25: This lock is in the middle of nowhere! We stayed here on our way out, since the next lock is 30 miles east. However, we did enjoy the stay here. We were warned about the mosquito's, but they never materialized. Jane and I enjoyed some peace and quiet here after the 2 busy days of Fairport. No facilities or power here, and not much to tie up to. If you enjoy wilderness, this is your stop.. Baldwinsville: We waited here for the Oswego canal to open - there were some boats that had been here for over a week waiting. Docked behind a nice Monk 36 on their way from VA to Canada. I wonder if they ever made it? Phoenix: Home of the Bridgehouse Brats! We didn't get a chance to meet them, although we did enjoy a nice walk through town and admired the old architecture. Jane and I stayed here after a very long day of crossing a very rough Lake Ontario. Lock 7/Lock 8 Oswego River There is a great wall in between Lock 7 and Lock 8 that we stayed on. It is surrounded by a nice park and is low enough to allow easy access to the boat. Even with no power or facilities, this is a really nice stop. Cape Vincent After a 5 hour crossing of Lake Ontario from Oswego, we made port here. GREAT little town! We had only planned to stay one day here, but the annual French Festival was starting on Saturday, so we ended up staying for 3 nights. The French Festival was a blast, we enjoyed the fresh French pastries and bread as well as the parade and fireworks. The town itself is quaint and friendly. Plenty of free dockage at the town dock or the fish hatchery. There are also new restroom/shower facitlites for boaters at the fish hatchery. Nice! Waterson State Park This secluded park on Welsley Island is only accessible by boat, so it is quiet and peaceful. Great dock with plenty of room for 7 or 8 boats. We arrived on a Sunday afternoon and the weekend crowd was just pulling out. By dark there was only one boat left. They charge $15-$19 to stay here, but no one came to collect when we were here. Coco loves this island because we let him run around like a crazy dog..(against the rules, but who's watching!) Kingston, Ontario Our final stop in the 1000 Islands this year was Kingston. Big city ambience with small town friendliness! We always enjoy staying here, we walked the main drags, but didn't buy much. Had a great dinner at Lone Star. We left here and crossed back to Oswego. Some highlights of our trip this year: - The canal was closed due to flooding on the way out AND the way back. We narrowly missed getting caught in the closed section coming homed. On the way out, the Oswego River was RIPPING, had a 3 knot current shoving us all the way to Lake Ontario. - Lake Ontario was ornery! We had rough water on both crossings, the southbound trip was terrible! We fought 5-7 foot waves the entire trip, the fridge opened and dumped everything all over the floor. Our entire cabin was in disarray. Jane not a happy camper! - Cape Vincent - GREAT stop, GREAT festival! This was the high point of the trip. To top it off, we had great weather for our stay. - Fuel - we fueled twice on the trip, once in Oswego, once in Macedon. Diesel was $2.99 in both places, we burned about 200 gallons on the trip for an average of about 2.7 mpg. |