Alaska to Nova Scotia aboard Venture. Part 2

in part one we documented our journey from Alaska to the Galapagos and up the Atlantic seaboard of the United States to New York the journey now continues through the Erie and Oswego canals to Lake Ontario at on to Nova Scotia through the Sun Lawrence Seaway the boat of Fleming 65 hull number one named venture doors historic thought was worth Nestle's in the shadow of the verrazano-narrows bridge which links Brooklyn to Staten Island like so many before us we were welcomed to the great metropolis by the iconic Statue of Liberty I was struck by the Grace and fineness of detail seldom apparent in the pictures of this elegant landmark the towers of lower Manhattan overlooked that section of the Hudson River on which in January 2009 the pilot of a crippled airliner skillfully ditched his plane after its ill-fated encounter with a flock of Canada geese the Hudson River provided the first leg of our overland route to the Great Lakes the river is named after Henry Hudson an Englishman who was hired by the Dutch East India Company in 1609 to search for a shortcut to the Pacific we passed under the wide span of the George Washington Bridge and the urban environment gave way surprisingly quickly to more rural surroundings [Music] the grim ramparts of the military academy of West Point overlooks the river where it narrows to 1/3 of a mile and is over 200 feet deep the native Indian name for the Hudson translates as the river that flows both ways an apt description as being tidal up to the federal lock at Troy it does indeed a band flow in both directions we left the main river and turned into narrow round out Creek heading for the small town of Kingston this peaceful spot was a welcome break from the boisterous conditions of the past few months we tied up in the very center of the historic district of the small town which had been the capital of New York State until it was burned to the ground by the British in 1777 [Music] we encountered a couple of freighters and a few loaded fuel barges heading upriver but pleasure craft were few and far between we passed an occasional marina and on the third day we reach Troy where we made our preparations for meeting the restrictions of the Erie and Oswego canals after the federal lock on the Hudson we took the left fork into the Erie Canal purchased a 10 day pass for $50 and commenced our climb through a series of locks referred to as the flight of five the low bridges started right away [Music] every lock had weighted lines hanging down or tubes set into the walls sometimes both so there is no need to use your own lines [Music] we were surprised to find ourselves sharing lock number for the mother duck and her young family [Music] the duck family will the first out of the gate [Music] some lock walls are very rough and we elected to use industrial-strength garbage bags to protect our fancy fenders they may not look too classy but I can recommend them as being practical and cost-effective some potholes are large enough to trap a fender as the boat Rises and it is best to keep away from the walls as possible a canal is essentially just a big ditch there a guillotine gates at intervals along its length to control the water in various sections we spent our first night on the Erie tied up alongside the wall just above lock page there are a few marinas along the way but most were too small to accommodate venture [Music] [Music] it is almost impossible to judge clearances and bridge heights by eye and only one the lowest had height markers work on the original canal was started on July the 4th 1817 and it opened 8 years later with 83 locks between the Hudson and Lake Erie [Music] locked number 17 had the highest lift of just over 40 feet here the water is being drained from the chamber so that we can enter you passed the netha guillotine-style gate to enter it's gloomy and dungeon-like interior [Music] even here another mother duck shepherded her brood through the turbulent waters [Music] we tied up for the night at the town of ilium this peaceful spot is the home of the Remington's Arms Factory which we were able to visit the following morning tendrils of mist hovered over the placid water until burnt off by the warmth of the Sun [Music] this was the lowest bridge along the entire route and the only one to have a height marker with our air draft at 21 feet we had barely twelve inches of clearance and the train passed over the bridge just moments after we had passed beneath it at loc number 20 we reached our highest point at four hundred and twenty feet above sea level and from here on every LOC lowered us down descending is much faster and easier than going up because there was less turbulence as the water drains out of a chamber included in the Erie Canal route as the crossing of lake or Neda we stopped at Mariners landing at Sylvan Beach the night before our crossing and for the first time so large numbers of pleasure boats the lake is 20 miles long and three miles wide waves as high as six feet can be generated in windy conditions but for us the waters were come along the canal you are never far from the railroad we kept our speed down to idle to prevent our wake from damaging boats lining the shore at times our progress was almost dreamlike through still waters that reflected a mirror image of the forested banks [Music] [Music] finally the last of 30 lakhs this one with a different method of line handling and we were free to escape into the vast expanse of Lake Ontario it had taken us just 12 days to make the passage from New York we now headed wilson lawrence seaway which opened in 1959 as a joint venture between the Canadian and US government's [Music] navigation markers were now jumbo sized catering as they did for large commercial shipping we passed under the high level Thousand Islands bridge which connects the u.s. state of New York to the Canadian province of Ontario this area is known as the Thousand Islands although the actual number is closer to 1800 many are privately owned and some are home to a single magnificent house or castle this is bolt Castle on Hart island and the ship passing in front of it is one of the purpose-built Lakers which can best be visualized by imagining a ship half the width and twice the length of a football field [Music] [Music] the Canadian controlled Iroquois lock was the first of six we encountered the longest and Lawrence Seaway this is a flood control lot for the change in level of less than two feet so we did not even need to tie up to the lock walls after this first lock we hoisted our faded Canadian courtesy flag and headed for the Chrysler Park marina on the Canadian side of the border where we officially entered Canada the following day we passed through the American Run Eisenhower and snow locks which are adjacent to each other this pair of locks had ingenious floating bollard set into deep slots on the lock walls so it was only necessary to loop short lines around them these two locks together lowered as 80 feet we paid $60 for the two of cash placed in the box tended to us at the end of a long pole the rapidly dropping water level revealed a battered wooden fender of the base of the log gates its function became apparent as we watched the Laker enter the lock we had just vacated with only inches to spare on either side she had to use considerable power to force her way into the chamber in order to displace the water trapped ahead of her he spent that night tied up in the valley filled worry 'no where a charming french-canadian couple drove us to the local market in their car everyone we met in French Canada was extremely helpful and friendly the next day we followed the Canadian Beaumanoir canal which had two vertical lift bridge is carrying rail lines across the river the lift sections are quite narrow and from the perspective of a long ship must seem like threading a needle bearing in mind the strong currents at the downstream end of the bow and wark canal are a pair of Canadian run locks of the same name here we had a short wait while the Laker Vosburgh passed through the lock commercial traffic has priority over pleasure craft and we have been warned we might have to wait as long as four hours at each lock but the longest we had to wait was only ten minutes we often had a lock to ourselves which was a sobering thought considering that each lock discharges 24 million gallons of water per transit in these locks the staff handed us thin polypropylene lines [Music] our next stop was a royal Saint Lawrence Yacht Club [Music] our last lock was the sound Lam bearlock where the situation was complicated with two rail lines and a road crossing the loc area [Music] solid hardware is important for safe line handling with clothes chocks and large cleats [Music] after leaving the lock we had to make a u-turn around the tip of Kilauea Len and proceed upstream under Jack Cartier bridge we now face the full force of the Mighty River for the first time and the current was running at seven knots for venture this presented no problem with their twin screws and ample power we were allocated a good slip in the marina port eds Cal horse-drawn Fiat floated up and down the crowded streets of the old town which is very French in character our buskers and street performers kept the crowd entertained colorful stalls lined the waterfront artists offered portraits and instant caricatures of passers-by we spent two nights in Montreal before continuing our journey downriver we were soon back on the grip of the fierce current along with the Lakers were now began to see conventional freighters for the first time since leaving the Hudson [Music] we stopped for the night at try Riviere so-called because here the scent lawrence river splits into three channels the tidal range intraoral Riviere is three feet but in Quebec 67 miles downstream you can reach as much as 18 feet the speed of the current was very apparent from the rate at which the navigation markers appeared to be plowing through the water some of them will battered either by ice or being struck by passing traffic vessels making their way upstream had to fight their way against the current [Music] the landscape on both banks was both rural and scenic those church spires a prominent feature in almost every town - impressive bridges marks the approaches into Quebec and here the river and channel narrow with consequent increase in current high bluffs on the port side crowned by the ancient citadel marked the location of the battle in 1759 between the British and the French which changed the history of this part of Canada the entrance to the old port of Quebec lies downstream of this point just before a prominent line of massive grain silos the current sweeping past the narrow entrance meant it had to be entered with resolve and because of the tidal range it was still necessary to pass through a lock to reach the inner basin we waited in the outer Basin along with eight other yachts it did not seem possible that there would be room that they packed us all in Quebec was celebrating its 400th anniversary and we stayed here for one week more than the old port in the heart of this delightful city [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] it was high tide when we left and both lock gates were open [Music] Quebec City receded in our way as we headed out into a turbulence and Lawrence River we had a seven knock current in our favor but a 30 knot northeasterly wind resulted in particularly short steep waves and the wind picked up the spray and held it against the windshield the water temperature drops from 72 to 49 degrees and we encountered salt water for the first time since leaving the Hudson stopping places for about the sighs adventure are few and far between along this stretch of the mighty river but we were able to secure a berth in the snug cap Legler marina where overnight the wind dropped and we found ourselves in peaceful surroundings with only the sound of a nearby waterfall as a lullaby [Music] our next landmark was a distinctive printshow lighthouse at the mouth of the second a fjord the speed of the current was ferocious in this area water depths are up to 1,000 feet deep and the tidal range 20 feet the mixing of fresh and salt water combined with conflicting currents produced sudden turbulence and powerful upwellings from great depths [Music] saguenay fjord is huge and branches off the north shore of the st. lawrence water depth is 900 feet deep just inside the entrance and in most areas remains as much as 300 feet right up to the shore making anchoring almost impossible [Music] [Music] we were lucky to find a birth in the small marina at Lance lens on where ventured towered over other boats the following morning we headed downstream after the fjord past the town of tattle sack and back into a squall s and Lawrence we crossed the width of the river to the north shore of the gasp AZ Peninsula where the strong wind was driving the windmills which were a common feature of the landscape including a monster of radical egg beater design [Music] our route closely follows the coast of the peninsula our first stop was at Rimouski on August 6th where the harbor master told us the temperature had been just above freezing two days earlier we were now favored of perfect weather in an area known for its ferocious storms and numerous shipwrecks [Music] our next stop was the town of st. Anna the de Mol whimsical works of art graced the land alongside the harbor [Music] it was here we reached our maximum northing on this coast our further south had been 2 degrees below the equator in the Galapagos three months ago Riviere over an hour Fox River was our next port of call it is very much dedicated to fishing with only a few berths for pleasure boats [Music] [Music] [Music] like all ports along this exposed coast the harbour had massive defenses to protect it against the onslaught of the weather skeins of fog layered over the hills and gradually descended to the surface of the water the town of pasa has twin landmarks of the Pierce rock and nearby yield bond a contour famous for the second largest but most accessible gannet colony in the North Atlantic where 50,000 birds breed on the precipitous cliffs [Music] [Applause] [Applause] we now left Quebec province and entered New Brunswick home to the Acadians who speak a different flavor of French and there we cross the north humble and straight to the english-speaking Prince Edward Island and the port of Summerside where we found Anne type birth right outside the Yacht Club [Music] the following day we passed under the 8 mile-long confederation bridge which links Prince Edward Island with New Brunswick Charlottetown is the capital of Prince Edward Island and we were allocated a rather exposed berth of the Yacht Club quite by chance our arrival coincided with the annual Gold Cup parade the Royal Canadian Mounted Police pipe band highlighted the Island Scottish heritage [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] back out in little semblance trade I was just thinking that it would make a perfect day even better if we were to see some whales when right on cue a pod of pilot whales appeared alongside venture [Music] we spent that night in the piece of the small marina at Valentines Cove [Music] we set off bright and early the following morning ensure fishing fleets were taking advantage of the fine weather you passed through a water control log in the short canal between the mainland and Cape Breton Island at the heart of which lies Brad door Lake which we access through some Peters canal completed in 1869 the lake is also connected to the sea through a narrow channel at the northeast corner this keeps the salinity at about 60% that of seawater [Music] we spent that night in the marina just around the corner in delightfully rural surroundings [Music] the center of the lake is crossed by road and rail bridges we were just able to pass under the road by lowering the radio antennas [Music] Alexander Graham Bell made the town of Baddeck his home and his imposing residence is still owned by his descendants he is best known for the invention of the telephone that his achievements encompassed a wide field and are far too numerous to describe here there is an excellent museum dedicated to his inventions behind the trees to the left [Music] after leaving Cape Breton Island we were back in the boisterous North Atlantic initially we had 20 knots of wind on the beam but the right improved as the coarse adjustment moved through then disturbed second only to Sydney Australia Halifax has the world's largest natural Harbor it's deep water remains ice-free in the winter despite its northerly latitude we tied up at Queens Wharf marina in the heart of the city following the Titanic disaster in 1912 ships left here to search for and retrieve bodies on the gray rainy day I visited the Fairview Lawn Cemetery where a hundred and twenty-one of the victims are buried after three days we headed back out to sea there had been no improvement in the weather and we battled strong winds and head seas on our way to Lunenburg [Music] after threading our way through bleak offshore islands it came as something of a shock to ran battery point and be suddenly confronted with a colorful waterfront of this historic town among the interesting vessels lying in the waterfront was a hundred and eighty eight foot bar canteen Concordia due to leave in a few days for Europe as part of the Canadian class afloat program [Music] reward over the weekend alongside a remote dock we had to access through a hole in the fence the wind direction was clearly displayed by a couple of interesting wind vanes in common with every town we visited there was a moving memorial with a chilling number of names to those who went to see and fail to return a testament of any were needed to the dangers of this treacherous coast our last stop in Nova Scotia was Shelburne another historic town further to the south accompanied by weak Sun the weather was now from up and venture was in her element and ran before it as if on Rails surfing through tumultuous seas and providing us with an exhilarating ride through the magnificent since data [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] you [Music] [Music] the utter calm of the harbor was in such contrast of the conditions outside it was hard to believe that only a couple of miles separated the two [Music] [Music] [Music] we had completed our 12,000 mile journey from Alaska to Nova Scotia and it remained only for us to continue down the coast of New England to New York to close the dow new circle [Music] [Applause] along the way venture had pushed the side ice floes in Alaska and across the equator she had taken us 650 miles offshore to the Galapagos and squeezed through narrow freshwater canals in New York and Florida she had sailed the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans and passed through both the Panama Canal and the San Lawrence Seaway she had taken all those conditions in her stride and come through with flying colors [Music]

Channel: FlemingYachts

Views: 754,282

Rating: 4.8739514 out of 5

Keywords: Cruising, Venture, Adventure, Erie Canal, St Lawrence Seaway, Quebec

Id: Mqo_9O7S3pA

Length: 49min 3sec (2943 seconds)

Published: Tue Apr 25 2017