Waiting for Brazil

On Sunday (June 22), as we departed Ilion, NY and headed west, we left the Mohawk River and entered a man-made section of the Erie Canal that runs nearly parallel to the (now) too narrow Mohawk River. This was waterway with straight banks and very little current--in short, the canal experience we had been expecting. We went through four locks--two took us up and two took us down.

Triple bridge reflections on the Erie Canal

Smooth cruising

As we cruised we had to be ever-mindful of a natural phenomenon that is a distant cousin of the crab pot, but equally dangerous to boaters, the dreaded "canalligator."

"Canalligator" off the starboard bow

We saw occasional hints of the history of the canal. The original Erie Canal went around Oneida Lake to the south, but the present Erie Canal was designed for self-propelled craft, so it was routed right through the Lake. To preserve the industries along the old route, a junction lock near the town of New London was built around 1918 to allow access to a section of the old canal. When navigation was no longer possible on the old canal the lock was converted to a dry dock, and a huge crane and other massive machinery was installed at the site. The site is now abandoned.

New London Junction Lock (c. 1918)

We arrived in early afternoon at our destination for the day, the town of Sylvan Beach on the eastern shore of Oneida Lake.  It was a "hopping" place on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. Many, many pontoon boats plied the canal and the creeks flowing into the canal, and the beach itself was incredibly crowded--not only with people, but with watercraft rafting just offshore. 

A Sunday afternoon on Sylvan Beach

Reunited with our former "lock
buddy" tugboat "Cheyenne"
in Sylvan Beach

What's the Scoop?

Lon enjoying a Sylvan Beach treat

On Monday morning (June 23) the Erie Canal "canal experience" gave way to the Erie Canal "lake experience".  

Leaving Sylvan Beach via Oneida Lake/Erie Canal

Eighteen miles later we entered the Oneida River on the west end of Oneida Lake, and are now at the Winter Harbor Marina near the town of Brewerton. Our original plans were to spend two or three nights here, but it is now looking as though we will have to extend that, thanks to some less-than-stellar customer service by MTU Brazil. We need oil and fuel filters and, unfortunately, the American distributors of MTU engine parts (a Mercedes marine engine) and supplies do not deal with parts for Brazilian-made MTU engines. After a long and convoluted ordering process we were expecting the filters to be here at the marina when we arrived, but no such luck. It's been a very frustrating experience trying to deal with a long-distance, foreign supplier. We are now "waiting for Brazil" before we can complete the Erie and Oswego Canals and continue into Canada.