Clear Cruising on a Hot Humid Day

Welcome to our first real post on our cruise to New York City. The weather today was extremely hot and muggy and unless we were moving it felt like a sauna bath had just hit us smack dab in the face,

Our cruise should take us to New York by August 14th and we plan to spend 3 days in the city - just being tourists. Today we had to do a bit more prep to ready the ship for the ride down the Trent Canal. This week Captain Paul is accompanied by Dave and his son Auston and we will ride together for the 5 day journey to Trenton where Jan and her friend Cynthia and our grandson Kyle will join us,

So this morning we did a quick wash on the outside of the boat as spiders had been playing Halloween all over the bow and railings. There was no way they were getting a free ride to the Big Apple especially with no passport but we believe they are gone now.

We needed fuel, a pump out and water for the trip because we believe we will not pass any places on the Trent Canal where we can get fuel so we made a stop at the Gas Dock at Wye Heritage Marina and filled her up to the brim.

After Prep was finished we left the dock and our dock neighbors (they are from Ferny BC and doing the Great American Loop) helped us off. Bon Voyage from Wye Heritage Marina. They were kind enough to snap a photo as we were leaving our slip. - Hey who's driving the boat while the photo is snapped???

The run from Wye Heritage Marina takes you through a rocky route called Potato Channel and if you are not watching your yachting charts you will end up on the rocks. Not far from the channel is Lock 45 or better known as Port Severn (They go in reverse number as we head to Trenton). It is the oldest lock on the Trent Waterway System and the smallest. We were jammed inside with two smaller boats and just fit,

The first two locks are relatively close but both are historical. The Port Severn lock, being the oldest and smallest on the Trent Canal and Big Chute being unique. It is a railway carriage that carries boats from the lower water to a much higher level and unless you ride it or see it in person, it is difficult to understand. I took a video of our ride up the Chute today - great experience and I hope you enjoy it.

Big Chute Carriage on the way down to unload some boats and load us and a slew of others.

Our ride on Big Chute

We travelled past Swift Rapids Lock and then through Sparrow Lake only to be stopped by the Swing Bridge that had already gone home for the day. We tied up to the concrete wall and that was our day. Ironically, the swing bridge is close to the home of Sandy and Chester and we had the opportunity to say hi and socialize for a bit. The swing bridge will swing at 9 am tomorrow morning and then we will be on our way again.

Stay tuned for another update of tomorrow's run