Well, this is a first.
Greg and Bonnie, the owners of Bonnie Lee, jumped aboard the 541 in Phoenix, NY yesterday. We pulled off the dock at 8:40am and transited the entire Oswego Canal. We covered all 7 locks by noon. We stopped in Oswego and took on about 400 gallons off fuel before heading out onto Lake Ontario. We covered the entire lake, which was flat calm, and pulled into the entrance to the Welland Canal at Port Weller at 7:00 pm. We tied up to the wall and expected to settle in for the night and transit the canal first thing in the morning.
Well, sometimes the plan changes. Greg called into Canadian customs and we cleared into Canada. He then immediately called the canal to see about tomorrow morning to run the canal. They said if we left right away, we could run the entire canal without any stops. Too good to be true...
So we untied the lines and headed into the first lock at around 7:30 pm after a 10 and half hour day running the Oswego Canal and Lake Ontario. No rest for the weary. We got stopped at Lock #2 for about 30 minutes for some commercial traffic to pass. Then it was game on. We transited the rest of the Welland Canal in record time. We finished the canal and tied up in Port Colborne, Ontario at 1:00am. We were dead dog tired, but we compressed a normal 10 to 12 hour day into 5+ hours.
Anyway, we got up this morning and make the easy run from Port Colborne to Buffalo in just over 3 hours. Boat ran great and we had an easy ride to our home port. Another trip in the books. We covered just over 1,900 miles from Ft Lauderdale where we started the trip back on July 6th. It is good to be heading home.
Lock 1 on the Oswego Canal
Another flat calm day on the canal.
Lock 1 on the Welland Canal.
Greg Hewitt at the helm of his 541 on the way out of the Welland Canal to Buffalo.
Greg & Bonnie heading into Buffalo.
The Bonnie Lee III tied up at the Buffalo Launch Club in Grand Isle, NY.
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