Cruising Day 1 - Day 12 March 15 - 26, 2018

Cruising Day 1 Thursday, March 15, 2018
We were ready to start our cruse! We had returned the Enterprise Rental Car.  We started Aisling Ghael's engines at 11:00am and motored to the gas/pump out dock.  Paid the marina for our 5 week stay.  By 12:00 noon we were underway! We saw a dolphin as we left.  We took that as a good omen.

Ready to begin cruising

We ate lunch of humus and chips or carrots, hard salami and Monterey Jack cheese.  We cruised to a mooring ball at Titusville.  Very nice to be cruising and moving! Went 20 miles.

Day 2:  Friday, March 16
Sunny 58°F  Light winds.  Engine on at 10:35 Odometer 1037.  Saw many dolphins throughout the day and also saw the back of a manatee.  By 5:00 pm we were docked at Halifax Harbor Marina near Daytona.  Went 46 miles on the ICW (IntraCoastal Waterway).

Day 3: Saturday, March 17
61°F Sunny, No Wind.  Went 66 miles to St. Augustine Municipal Mooring field. Temperature 72°F.  We took our the puppies in the dinghy to shore and walked around some.  St. Augustine is the oldest European settled city in North America.   When we were here in December of 1989 on our sailboat, Cynosure, Emily, Eric, Jeff and Barbie enjoyed going to a re-enactment village and also playing Putt-Putt Golf.  It was much warmer and more busy this visit.  The Putt-Putt Golf was more elaborate than we had remembered.  The municipal marina had sustained some hurricane damage and had a few less slips.  The mooring field was filled with boats.  Went 53 miles on ICW.

St Augustine at town mooring ball

St. Augustine Bridge of Lions

Day 4: Sunday, March 18
63°F and sunny
We took the dinghy ashore @ 7:45.  Dogs walked well. We walked around the outside of a Fort.  We were on our way by 9:00.  We were at Jacksonville Beach Marina by 12:45.  Got a pump out that cost us $15.00!  All other pump outs had been free.  We walked to West Marine.  We were told it was "just over the bridge".  When you are driving you do not realize how far something is.  We first had to walk about 1/4 of mile before we could get on the bridge.  Then we walked over the bridge and down the other side.  We still had about a mile before we got to West Marine.  Jeff got the part he needed.  We then stopped at Publix Grocery store and picked up a few items.  Barbie had her back pack.  Jeff did not.  Barbie's back pack was stuffed and Jeff carried the beer back in his hands. Went 31 miles on ICW.

Jacksonville Beach Marina

Day 5:  Monday, March 19
Started out raining with thunder and lightning.  The rain stopped by 10:00 am.  We were on our way at 10:15.  Temperature was 69°F with light wind and mostly sunny.
Made lunch underway:  Jeff had hot dog, potato chips, humus, water, 1/2 apple and chocolates from Lucky's.  Barbie had salad, humus and carrots, 1/2 apple, Lucky's chocolates and water. First time we used the stove while underway.  The weather turned cloudy by 2:15. Had no problem going through St. Andrew's Sound.  By 5:30 we were tied up at Jekyll Marina in Georgia.  Went 62 miles on ICW.

Jekyll Island Marina

Day 6: Tuesday, March 20
The forecast is for windy weather for the next two days.  We will stay in Jekyll.  It is snowing in Baltimore.  Barbie did three loads of laundry.  They only have one machine and it is a small stacking washer and drier machine.  In order to get to it you have to walk through the people dining on the porch of the building.  The marina heads are also the same direction.  Had supper at the marina restaurant.

Jekyll Island golf car trip to town

Day 7:  Wednesday, March 21
25 - 30 mile an hour winds most of the day.  The wind was on our port side pushing us onto the dock.  The boat was rocking a lot.  Barbie spent most of the day sleeping avoiding sea sickness.  At 4:30 we took a marina courtesy golf cart to Jekyll Island Village.  It was the first time Barbie had ever driven a golf cart.  We had a good time.  There were many tourist shops.  We bought beer at the liquor store and 2 onions, a corn bread mix, a pound cake mix, milk, butter and two slices of cheesecake.

Jekyll Island Marina

Jeff engineered the oven so it can be used at the same time as the induction stove top.  We had corn bread, ground beef with rice and peas. This was the first time using the oven.

Day 8:  Thursday, March 22
We have been cruising for one week.  We are enjoying ourselves.  The puppies are doing OK.  Greta does NOT like using the turf on the boat.  Hans has adapted well.  55°F.  We had a lovely anchorage in Walburg Creek in 16 feet of water.  Went 59 miles. 

Day 9: March 23
It was 47° F this morning but we had slept very warm. Weather and wind looked like it might be favorable to go out in the ocean.  It would save 20 miles and 2 hours of travel.  As we went out at St. Catherine Sound, we got into chop and motion.  By the time we were in the ocean we were banging and quivering. Barbie hoped the boat would stay together!  Jeff took over steering and she went below to comfort Hans and Greta and try NOT to get sea sick.  She got sea sick anyway and felt AWFUL!  Jeff plotted a course to the next inlet and we anchored at Bull Creek.  We had a supper of canned beans with left over rice and ground beef plus frozen green beans on the side.  We enjoyed the supper. Went 61 miles part in the Atlantic Ocean and most on the ICW.

Bull Creek sunset

Day 10: March 24
Very light wind and partly to mostly cloudy.  The temperature was 53° F when we got underway at 8:30.  We saw dolphins which we always take as a good sign. We went through Beaufort, SC and anchored in Church Creek near Charleston, SC  We went 77 miles today on ICW. 

Day 11: March 25
When we woke up and looked around we realized we were in a different location than we had anchored the night before!  Our anchor had dragged about a half mile!  Luckily we did NOT drag into any other boats or objects or the ground.  We stopped for fuel at St. John's Harbor and the dogs enjoyed going ashore.  We were lucky that we had a slack tide since getting into this marina would have been a difficult docking maneuver. We anchored for the night in 17 feet of water and saw dolphins in the anchorage. Went 37 miles today on ICW.

 South Carolina low country where we went aground

Day 12: March 26
We got underway at 8:45 with the temperature of 44° F By 9:45 the depth alarm went off.  Barbie tried to figure out which way to steer and suddenly could NO LONGER STEER!  Jeff went to the bow and put the anchor in, but it DID NOT GO DOWN!  We were very concerned and confused until we realized that we had GONE AGROUND!  We've gone aground in our sailboat, but would ALWAYS know since the keel would hit and we would suddenly stop!  With the multi hull there really isn't a deep keel and we never felt when we went aground.  

Once we realized we were aground we waited 2 hours for the tide to come up.  We were able to get off and on our way.  However within about 15 minutes the starboard engine alarm for over heating went off!  We were able to continue 25 miles to  Georgetown, SC.  We contacted a mechanic who agreed to look at the engine the next day. As we continued toward Georgetown and Harbor Walk Marina Jeff was pumping the starboard engine bilge every 10 min.  This slowed down once we were in the marina, but continued through the night every hour. 

Going aground filed the strainer and engine with mud and shells

Shaft seal was leaking badly -- temporary fix with inner tube

Propeller shaft coupler -- missing rubber cushions

The next day Jeff searched YouTube and got the idea of using a bicycle inner tube to stop the leak.  We happened to have several extra 12 inch inner tubes for our fold up bikes.  The inner tube made it so the bilge only had to be pumped every 4 or 5 hours. Went 33 miles on ICW. 

Preparing Aisling Gheal for cruising -- Jan - March 15, 2018

Beginning the middle of January we worked on getting funds together to purchase the Endeavour 36 Catamaran.  We went to Annapolis for boating items, found two 14 inch wheel folding electric assist bicycles at Marshal's, rehearsed and performed with The Geud Band (an English Country Dance band). 

On January 24 - 26 we drove to Brewerton, NY and offloaded a few remaining items from the Ranger Tug Aisling and got her ready to be put on the market for sale.  This time we took Hans and Greta.  The weather was not too cold and no snow.  We finally had the money wired and completed purchasing the Endeavour 36 Catamaran on Friday, Feb. 2.

We are getting the boat documented by the US Coast Guard and changing the name from "Moonbeam" to "Aisling Gheal".  Aisling Gheal, pronounced Ashling Gale, is Irish Gaelic.  "Aisling" means vision or dream and "Gheal" means bright.

On Monday, Feb. 5 we rented a Budget Truck.  We packed the truck with all of the things we had taken off the Ranger Tug and began the 918 mile trip to Harbortown Marina, Merritt Island, Florida.  We arrived and slept on Aisling Gheal for the first time on Wednesday, Feb. 7.  The next day we unloaded the truck and started finding places for everything.

Loading our boating equipment into the truck

Down the pier with Hans and Greta

Aisling Gheal has two Yanmar 115 HP  engines -- one in each of the port and starboard hulls.  We've never had two engines and when you get used to them the steering into slips is supposed to be very easy.  We had a lesson that went well, with Joe Bradley, the former owner.

We spent from February 10 - March 15 getting ready to cruise.  With a new boat it takes time to learn all the systems. For example, at first we could not get the hot water heater to work. After taking out part of the plumbing near the hot water heater, Jeff finally found the problem. There is a bypass valve that is used when winterizing the system. Just turning the valve was all that was needed.The valve was below everything else and hidden from view in a tight space. It was great to have hot water for washing dishes and taking hot showers!

Bypass valve on the hot water heater

Another project we did was networking the depth sounder and autopilot to the chartplotter. The electronics are located at the helm in a very well sealed compartment. We hated to disturb the compartment which had been neatly sealed with caulking. However when opened, that compartment had been holding water inside and the electrical connections were severely corroded.

Corrosion was found in the electronics area.

Jeff decided that this compartment must be easily accessed, so he installed hinges so it could easily be opened for service. The corroded circuits were moved higher up in the compartment to keep them out of any water and less likely to corrode. The VHF radio needed to be taken to a technician to re-program our own unique FCC radio license MMSI identifier.

Hinges being installed for the electronics area

Another project was to add the networking components to the Raytheon depth sounder and autopilot.  Jeff added a SeaTalk to SeatalkNG converter and made a cable to attach it to the SIMRAD chartplotter NMEA 2000 network.  It was very nice to have the depth and ship's heading information on the display.  Another NMEA 2000 device added was a wind speed instrument which also reports temperature and barometric pressure.

The Seatalk devices were interfaced to the NMEA 2000 network

We enjoyed visiting breweries and a very neat grocery store, Lucky's Market in West Melbourne.  Lucky's is sort of like The Fresh Market and Wegman's and Mom's Organic Markets. They have their own butcher shop and make sausages, bacon, bratwurst. They have a large deli with in house dishes, a salad bar, a hot food bar, and they make there own pizzas. They have a special of two slices of pizza and a drink for $5.00.  In Florida beer and wine are sold in grocery stores.  Beer, wine, hard cider as well as soft drinks were included in the pizza and drink deal. They even have a special drink holder that fits on the grocery cart to hold your drink! Lucky's became a favorite destination.  We also loaded up on many of the bulk chocolate items!

Lucky's Market in West Melbourne

Lucky's Grocery -- sip beer or wine while shopping

While Jeff worked on boat projects Barbie sewed on a quilt using a Singer Featherweight machine, made meals on the induction stove Jeff installed and organized the living spaces on Aisling Gheal.  We made many trips to the Ace Hardware stores, West Marine stores on Merritt Island and West Melbourne and the Home Depot.

A dinghy is an important item of cruising equipment. Our boat already had davits for carrying a dinghy on the stern. We ordered a 9.5 foot RIB (Rigid Inflatable Boat) from Defender and bought a 9.9 HP Suzuki motor locally. It took a week or so to get all the dinghy systems working smoothly. Jeff also engined the pulley system to efficiently raise the dinghy and motor out of the water onto the davits. Meanwhile we enjoyed taking test rides in the dinghy to break in the motor.

Unpacking the new dinghy

Special gas tank fits in bow of dinghy

Painting boards to hold fire extinguisher.  New dinghy on davits on boat

Dinghy trip to Ski Island on Banana River

Fun times running about in the dinghy on the Canaveral Barge Canal

On Sunday, February 25 we had a renaming ceremony with "mimosas" and two other couples.  Changing a name of a boat can present problems. However, a renaming ceremony should take care of the problems.

Jeff with wine bottle ready for the naming ceremony

That afternoon we got the bikes out and road for a total of 5 miles to a draw bridge.

We missed seeing the SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch with the Tesla car but were able to see a much smaller launch of the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket on March 1.

Cape Canaveral satellite launch, March 1

Originally we had planned to have a shakedown cruise on Aisling Gheal going south to St. Lucie (where we had first seen the Endeavour 36 Catamaran).  Emily and family were going to drive up from Ft. Lauderdale and visit us. About a week before they were to come we realized that we would NOT be cruising yet. Therefore, they visited us at Harbortown Marina March 3 and enjoyed dinghy rides and family time together. It was good we did not cruise south to St. Lucie since their was a cold front and the winds would have been strong!

Emily and family enjoying ice cream on Cocoa Beach

We spent most of Wednesday, March 7, with Greta at The Animal Wellness Center.  On Monday, March 5, she slowing fell backwards down the 2 stairs from the main salon to the starboard side of the boat.  She got up and didn't seem to have a problem. However, by Wednesday she was dragging her hind legs. Greta ended up having a T-thermal (hot pad treatment) and a shot of Adequan. That night Greta had diarrhea in our bed!  Barbie washed all the bedding (luckily the marina had large enough commercial machines). This diarrhea continued for THREE nights! We decided NOT to give her any more shots of Adequan and also discontinued the Desquain since she picked it out of her food.  She is now eating well, running and have normal poop!

Finally we were ready and the weather was good. We left Harbortown Marina on Thursday, March 15.  We filled up with water, had a pump out at the gas dock, filled the dinghy tanks with gasoline and started our journey on Aisling Gheal north to Maryland and the Great American Loop. We were on our way!

Aisling Gheal ready to leave Harbortown Marina

Fall and Winter travels - finding a new boat Nov - Jan, 2017- 18

Fall and Winter travels - finding

After leaving Aisling in winter storage in Brewerton, NY on October 10, 2017, we were driving home to Maryland in a rental car.  Thinking over our event-filled year boating.  We had an adventure, but not the one we thought we were going to have when we bought the Ranger Tug in January of 2017.  We wished we  had more time to leisurely cruise the Erie Canal.  Instead we had to get through the canal before they closed it on October 11 for scheduled repairs.   We were looking forward to continuing our adventure on Aisling in the Great Lakes and visiting my friend, Delight Scouten, who lives in Corning, NY.

On the way home Jeff made the comment that Aisling would never be worth more than she was now with the new engine that was under warranty and had been correctly broken in.  This made Barbie slightly concerned that he was thinking of selling the Ranger Tug, but didn't think about it too long.  However, after 48 years of being married to him she should have realized that this was something that might mean a BIG change!

Our plan was to take the RV sometime in November and travel through northern and central Florida to  arrive in Titusville by Thanksgiving to cheer daughter Emily as she ran the Space Coast Half Marathon on the Sunday after Thanksgiving. We would then continue to travel through Florida and be in Markham Park near Ft. Lauderdale to spend Christmas with Emily's family. We would leave Emily Christmas afternoon and drive home to Towson in order to have a  Christmas with son Eric and family and celebrate the New Year.

Just before we left for Florida, we went to the Nissan dealership in Timonium for a recall on our Nissan Versa. We found out that the driver's airbag was defective and needed to be replaced. We were told the part would not be available until "Spring"! Nissan would supply us with an Enterprise rental car until the part arrived. Our Nissan is the car we tow behind the RV so we have transportation without having to take the RV everywhere. This meant Barbie would drive the RV and Jeff would drive the rental car. We used our phones and bluetooth to talk to each other, keeping both of us awake and focused while driving.

Our RV and rental car in Florida

The day we had planned to start driving south we received a recall notice from Mercedes Benz, concerning our RV. We put the notice (unopened) in a folder, took it with us, and left the next day. We were afraid it was an airbag recall notice for the RV and we didn't want to know about that! When we were in the Daytona Beach area we noticed a large Mercedes Benz dealership.  We then read the notice that we had received and it was a recall for the RV airbag.  We called the Mercedes Benz and they told us we could get it replaced in a couple of days!  We were skeptical, but made the appointment.  It took the dealership about an hour to put in the new airbag!

We had a good, uneventful trip south and spent time in various campgrounds in central Florida before arriving at Manatee Hammock in Titusville. Barbie made a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner of turkey breast, stuffing, mashed potatoes, cranberry jello, home made rolls using the microwave/convection oven, pumpkin pie. Barbie also made German stollen, a tradition in our family, using the convection oven.

Our Thanksgiving Dinner in the RV

Emily and family came down the day after Thanksgiving. We spent Saturday together. Sunday morning we took the RV and parked it near the race. We cheered Emily on in the 13.1 mile half marathon.

Emily and family at the Space Coast Marathon

From Manatee Hammock and Titusville we went to state, county, and National Forest campgrounds. We spent a couple of nights at St. Lucie South, at a lock on the Okeechobee Waterway canal. There is an RV campground and boat slips run by the  US Army Corps of Engineers.  This was the same campground where last year we saw the boat, a Ranger Tug, that got us into boating again.

This year we also saw a boat that would change the course of our lives!  In a slip we saw My Bluegill Heaven from Alabama.  It is an Endeavour TrawlerCat 36. Jeff talked with the owner and got a tour of the boat. He then got Barbie and she also got a tour of the boat.  It is a VERY spacious boat! There is a large main saloon with a table in the center.  In the port (left side) haul there is a galley with refrigerator and freezer, two place sink, electric stove and oven, forward of the galley a small head (bathroom) and a queen size berth aft of the galley. The starboard haul has a large (for a boat) head, separate shower, a generator and storage area aft of the head a hanging closet and electrical panel and a queen size berth. There is large queen size berth with opening hatches forward of the main saloon.

"My Bluegill Heaven" at St. Lucie South

Jeff was very interested in the boat! We had reservations to camp on the West coast of Florida near Tampa and St. Petersburg. While in St. Petersburg we contact Bob Vincent, who founded Endeavour Yachts and visited the factory. We enjoyed seeing how the boats were made.  However, a new boat costs half a million dollars.  We decided that we would look for a used Endeavour!  We knew about Endeavour yachts and their seaworthiness since 35 years ago we had access to a 40 foot Endeavour Sailboat with a center cockpit.  We sailed her to New England and Maine with the kids.  This gave us some good off shore sailing experience and also helped feed our bug for long term cruising which we did on Cynosure in 1989-90.

A new Endeavour TrawlerCat at the factory

Jeff found a used 2001 Endeavour TrawlerCat 36 on Yachtworld.com. The boat was in Melbourne. We contacted the broker who got us in touch with the owners, Joe and Monika Bradley. They agreed to meet us at the boat and show the boat. We were staying in a campground about 2 hours drive away. We asked if we could bring the dogs. We spent about two hours on the boat. We liked the boat and the dogs seemed very comfortable. We then started the process of putting an offer on the boat.

Our first view of the boat we would buy

We the week before Christmas in South Florida at county parks.  Jeff and I participated, along with Emily and family, in the Ft. Lauderdale 5K Jingle Bell Jog.  We went ice skating with Alex and Cindy and Emily a couple of times.  We had Christmas with Emily and we stayed the week after Christmas in Florida since our plans had changed with the interest in the Endeavour Catamaran. Also, Eric and his family left for the Philippines on Christmas day.

Alex, Emily, Jeff, Craig, Cindy's friend, and Cindy

We helped the owners move the boat on Thursday, January 4 from Melbourne to Harbortown Marina on Merritt Island. It was a cold, sunny day but winds were under 10 MPH. Barbie, who is the helmsperson, even got to steer the boat. The boat is 15 feet wide instead of 8 like the Ranger Tug. The steering is on the left, instead of the right.

Barbie at the helm of "Moonbeam" 

Moving to Harbortown 

On Friday, January 5, we started driving the RV and rental car home. However, there was a cold front and the temperature, in South Carolina where we planned to spend one night on the way home, was going to be in the low 20's. We had to winterize the RV and stay in a motel!  Since boats and RVs do not need to be winterized in warm Florida, it was difficult to find the pink winterizing fluid, but we we did find it at the West Marine in Merritt Island. We got home on Saturday, January 6.

On Sunday, January 7, we drove the Nissan rental to Brewerton, NY. We spent all day Monday getting ALL of our things off Aisling, the Ranger Tug, since we plan to sell her. Somehow Jeff was able to get EVERYTHING in the Nissan.

Winter Harbor boat storage during January

The car is LOADED ready to drive to Baltimore

We got home Tuesday night. On Wednesday we flew to Orlando, rented a car, drove to Cocoa Beach, FL. Thursday, January 11, we had the marine survey done on the boat. The preliminary result of the survey was showing nothing major. We received the completed survey the middle of the next week and completed the process of buying our new boat.  We will name her "Aisling Gheal". 

The marine survey includes a short haulout

Meanwhile, we flew back to Baltimore on Friday, January 12. On Saturday, January 13, Barbie flew to Denver to visit her sister, Deloris, for a few days. We had a very hectic and busy first two weeks of 2018!

Cruising the Erie Canal - Oct 3 - 10, 2017

In an Erie Canal lock

These structures are for flood control.  It is a little scary passing under them.

This is the point on the Hudson River where the Erie Canal starts and goes west.  Continuing on the Hudson takes  you to the Champlain Canal which goes north.

Just before the Erie canal is this lock in Troy, NY

Tuesday, October 3

We enjoyed our time at Coeyman's Landing Marina, walking the dogs, talking with the owner and the dock girl, but we needed to get through the Eric Canal by Wednesday, October 11 when they would be closed for the season.  Having left Coeyman's Landing Marina we traveled through Albany to Troy.  We were going to be going through a total of 22 locks and most had a gain of at least 20 feet.  We were nervous about how much current would be in the lock and also conditions of current prior to the lock, how to hold the ropes or cables, where to position Aisling.  We had read about the locks, but that is not the same as experiencing them.  The first lock is at Troy, NY.  Although we thought we were ready, we had some difficulty grabbing the  lines and securing the boat.

Soon after that lock we came to the left turn into the Erie Canal.  We passed the visitor center without stopping.  We didn't need to buy a permit since the docking is free this year in celebration of the 200th anniversary of the building of the canal.

Today we were going to do the "flight of 5" - which is 5 locks one after the other.   After Lock 8 it was 5:10 PM and we tied up on the seawall just west of Lock 8.
We went 45 miles today.



Wednesday, October 4

Lock 9 - 13 Tied up at Riverfront Park Canajoharie, NY which is a free dock, with free electric plug-in. We explored the town by walking to the liquor store.  We bought some wonderful NY state wine.  Jeff asked for beer but the liquor store cannot sell it in NY.  Then we walked to the CVS drug store for beer and coffee.   At the Arkell museum we enjoyed the Erie Canal history display and bought post cards.  Outside was a beautiful statue.   The old route of the canal went right through where the building sits.   Jeff stood in the middle of the  old canal ditch.
Today we went 37 miles

The Arkell Museum in Canajoharie, NY

At town dock Canajohaire, NY

Canajohaire, NY Park bench at the dock

At Arkell Museum was constructed in the bed of the old course of the Erie Canal.  Behind the building Jeff stood where the water used to flow in the canal.

Thursday, October 5

After Locks 14, 15 we bought fuel and filled up with water at St. Johnsville Marina.
Lock 17 is just before the town of Little Falls.  It is called a Guillotine Lock since it has a vertical sliding lock closure instead of the usual swinging doors.  With a lift of 40.5 feet, it is the highest lift on the canal.  Little Falls Harbor has a welcoming dockmaster, Mark. He showed us around the nice welcome center and bathhouse.  This area had experienced a major flood last July.
Today's travel was 19 miles

Friday, October 6
After Lock 18 we tied to the seawall at a gift shop called "Gems along the Mohawk."  Here jewelry made with  Herkimer diamonds was available.   Herkimer diamonds are mined at a site close to here.  They are not really diamonds but are 6-sided clear quarts crystals which are formed with both ends in natural crystal points.   Barbara bought a ring and a pendant.

After Lock 19 we were in Utica, NY.   The town owns a free dock for boaters and there is a restaurant there called "Aqua Vino."  There was a rack here where the town of Utica provides bikes for rental.  We downloaded the bike rental app but discovered the daily charge for transient users was just about the same as for renting a car.   We rented an Enterprise car.
Travelled 21 miles today.

Herkimer, NY Gem shop along the canal

The Gem shop is also along the NY Thruway

Saturday, October 7

We used the rental car to visit some nearby craft breweries.   Our favorite was the tiny Woodland Farm Brewery where we enjoyed a cheese and sausage platter.   We bought a package of "Grassy Cow" NY cheese curds which were delicious.   We also visited16 Stone Brewpub, Saranac Brewery, and Nail Creek Pub and Brewery.

Woodland Farm Brewery

Woodland Farm Brewery snack tray

At Saranac Brewery in Utica NY

Deicious cheese curds from local cows

Sunday, October 8

After we returned the car, we got underway and went up in Lock 20 to the highest elevation on the Erie Canal -- 420 feet above sea level.   From here the lock takes you down instead of raising you up, when going north.
After Locks 21 and 22 we tied up at the free wall at Sylvan Creek.  They are famous for the white sand beach and Ice Cream shop -- just like on the ocean.  After enjoying our ice cream treat, we walked across the street to Harpoon Eddie's on the beach.  Here we saw the Oneida Lake and beach.  Dogs were not allowed on the beach so we  walked back to the boat
We traveled 29 miles today.

Sylvan Beach Ice Cream Shop

Sylvan Beach on Oneida Lake

This sign gives boaters information on crossing Oneida Lake

Monday, October 9

The lake crossing is a long passage of 22 miles across a large lake -- wind and waves can cause problems.  We left at 7:00 AM, just before dawn due to forecast of heavy rain and wind from hurricane Nate. The 2.5 ft swells were going with us and the wind was behind us so our passage was comfortable and uneventful.  We made the crossing in a little under 2 hours.  We docked at the Brewerton Free Dock, but ti was very rough.  We contacted Winter Harbor Marina in Brewerton, NY (just north of  Syracuse) and are on the fuel dock. The dock hand that helped us was a very stylish young lady. Talking with her we discovered that she had been involved with this business from the time she was on her mother's back in a backpack. She had just finished up cosmology school. She didn't seem to mind that the wind was blowing and it was raining. We got a pump out (dumping of the black water), and tied up. She told us NOT to fuel Aisling.

The boat would be hauled out of the water and put in a large building like an airplane hanger, with about 100 other boats. The building is kept warm (55° F) and boats do not need to be "winterized"- putting antifreeze in their engines and water systems.

We had a conversation with John the haul-out manager.  He recommended taking the dinghy off the stern platform and storing it.    That would be a lot of work but we knew that would be the best. It was a little hard working in the rain.

Went 22 miles across the lake on Aisling.

Aisling is ready for storage with dinghy rolled up on deck

These building are for boat storage

Tuesday, October 10

Today Jeff removed the non-operating AC power inverter to take home with us.  Jeff worked on a problem that has been a concern and nuisance.   Every time we fill up with diesel fuel, the filler tube backs up and forces us to very carefully squeeze the pump  handle to avoid a big overflow mess.  To fill our tank with 50 gallons of diesel takes us at least 30 minutes.  It should take about 5!  We had this problem every time we filled up.  Jeff had checked the air vent hose, but it was not blocked. He thinks the problem is a dip in the fuel tank vent line which is supposed to be gradually rising to the vent outlet.   Removing the section of soundproofing which caused the dip, he cut a hole for the vent to pass without a dip.  Hopefully next season we will no longer have this annoying problem!

We washed all the fender covers with a water hose -- these had gotten very dirty from the canal lock walls. We spent the rest of the day getting an Enterprise rental car and taking off food items, anything that might attract unwanted guests (i.e. mice), clothes and personal items.

We drove 314 miles to our home in Towson.

All ready for haulout for storage

Aisling has a berth in the second building

Before leaving Jeff corrected a dip in the fuel vent line