Day 362 – Ilion, NY to Sylvan Beach Free Dock, Sylvan Beach, NY - July 2, 2012

With John and Rosemary on board, we departed from Ilion Marina just before 8:00am.   The morning was beautiful, not too hot and the sun was out.  There was a prediction for an increase in the wind, but the morning was perfect.  Our first two locks of the day took us up a total of 37 feet.  At this point, we were at a high point that separates the Mohawk River Basin that flows east from the Wood Creek Basin that flows west.  We traveled 18 miles in this section before our next lock which was our first lock down on the Erie Canal – one more down lock after that and we were in Sylvan Beach.

It was great fun having extra help on the boat for the locks and we put John to work handling things on the swim platform while Rosemary was responsible for picture taking.  We got some great pictures of Boreas heading out of the locks, something we rarely get because when Fred and I are alone on the boat, we are both very busy when exiting locks.

We were a bit concerned about finding space on the free dock at Sylvan Beach, but there was plenty of room when we arrived and with John’s help we got the boat secured without any problems.  The afternoon was much warmer and the breeze had picked up, but we were comfortable with our spot on the wall and ran the generator (so we could run the air conditioner) for awhile to cool off the boat.  The wind began to die off as the evening went on and we got to watch a lovely sunset across Oneida Lake.

            Miles: 34.9      Bridges: 24      Locks: 4          Gates: 2

Lock #19 - the gates are just beginning to open

Lock #20 - two boats are already inside, we go into the lock and
set up for a starboard tie

Boreas riding along beside a waterfall - if you look closely, you can see
the water in the creek below

another one of the gates along the Erie Canal

a different style of gate

while we're in the lock, John manages the stern line from the swim platform

the lower lock gates are opening and we are just about to exit

a fair amount of water leaks into the lock around these gates

we have just let go of our lines and are making our way out of the lock

sunset over Oneida Lake