Little Falls to Brewerton

We left Little Falls early and when we got to the first lock Echo Beach and another sail boat were waiting for the lock to open.  We anchored in the canal for the first time of three times and waited, because the lock master had not shown up.  The lock master from Lock 17 drove over and opened the gates for us to pass.  I guess the regular lock master partied too hard last night.

We were making good time and then came up to a lock with two barges being pushed by a tug.  They took forever to clear the lock.  What was happening was they had to rejoin the tug and the two barges as the two barges wont fit in the chamber together. Once they cleared off we went through Utica and Rome then we came to three boats including Mother Ocean waiting in the canal again.  We anchored and waited for two hours while they transited another tug and two barges. Once we passed the tow there were now 7 boats wanting to lock through but only six could fit.  Echo Beach ended up waiting for the next lock.  We were now going down which is so much easier than going up the locks.  Finally we arrived in Sylvan Beach on the east side of Lake Oneida and boy was there a lot of boats out (Sunday afternoon)  We cleared the breakwater and opened up the engines to clean out all the soot from days of idling along.  The boat got up on plane and we were bogeying along at 20 knots until one engine slowed and then quit.

I checked in the engine room and there was nothing catastrophic looking but it was about 130 degrees in there so I didn't stay for long.  We motored across the lake at 9 knots and docked for the night at the Brewerton Public dock and were joined later by Echo Beach.  We all went up to the Waterfront Tavern which had a good crowd and live music.  Cheeseburgers were great and cold beers to finish the day.  The engine room will be much cooler in the morning!

Live music and a good crowd

Who knew they had palm trees in NY