Oceanus Triangle Loop Adventure

  We arrived in Kingston, Ontario on Saturday, June 24 and stayed in the city's Municipal Marina.  The city was bustling with visitors, sites to see, ice cream shops to locate, and the coolest used book store I've ever seen.  Great restaurants and friendly people were everywhere - a very nice place to visit!!! On Sunday morning, June 25, we left Kingston and headed North along the renown Rideau Canal, which is a National Historic Site in Canada and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  It is the oldest operating lock system in North America (and likely the most beautiful).  The Rideau Canal stretches across a total of 126 miles between the cities of Kingston and Ottawa.  It was constructed just after the War of 1812, and most of the 49 locks still use hand-crank mechanisms to operate.  Some wonderfully friendly (and fit!) university students typically staff the locks throughout the summer season.  There are small towns speckled along the way, as well as ...

  We spent a few days enjoying the gorgeous 1000 Islands Region, which is along the westernmost end of the St. Lawrence Seaway (off of Lake Ontario).  As a bonus, some spectacular early summer weather made our visit even more enjoyable and photogenic.  Not much to report (thankfully), but we thought you'd enjoy seeing the "sights", too! We toured the famous Boldt Castle located on Heart Island, which has a charming but  heart-breaking history.  If you're interested in learning more,  check out the link below: Boldt Castle Information The Boldt Castle even has a huge boat house across the water,  complete with restored antique boats One of the many natural islands; many have cottages, homes, or mansions on them as well! Crystal clear water (but COLD - around 60 deg F) Touring ashore on one of the many state parks with Bill and Lisa of Midnight Star  (our wonderful travel buddies!) Hiking one of the parks (the islands are generally pretty small, so ...

 Howdy, good folks - feels like it's been a while since we got a chance to catch up on things.  It's been generally smooth sailing on our end, with no new repairs, illnesses, injuries, or crises (thank goodness and knock on wood!).  We hear there's some rain coming to Hampton Roads - hope it isn't too bad for y'all! Since the last blog, we were able to complete the Erie Canal/inland portion of our journey.  While we traveled through some gorgeous countryside, we started getting eager for a change of scenery.  We successfully traversed the remainder of the locks (some pictures to help give you a "hands on" perspective of what the locks are like): They kindly post "instructions" for the locks A 40-foot lock!!!! A study in slime (but still less offensive than seawater locks!!!) Sheryl even got some "lock line" calluses! Going through a lock is not exactly exciting; everything moves slowly and relatively quietly.  Most of the locks don'...

  Well hello again, dear folks!   It has indeed been an interesting time since our last blog, but I'm glad to report things are returning back to "normal" finally.  Here's the lowdown on recent events: After leaving our peaceful and idyllic anchorage along the Mohawk River/Erie Canal on Saturday morning (June 10), we headed westward through a few more locks (getting pretty proficient at the locks, if I do say so myself) and stopped at the scenic Riverlink Park in Amsterdam, NY .   A view of the sea wall (see if you can spot Oceanus!) What a beautiful riverfront Beautiful art installations throughout Riverlink Park  The pictures don't do them justice - they were gorgeous! Mark realized after we had tied up that there was a leak in the cooling water pump for the starboard engine (nothing too major but clearly needed fixed).  Amazingly enough, Amazon again came through and had an entire replacement pump available for next day delivery; we ordered and prep...