Day 11 - Time For My Big Boy Pants

At this point we didn't know how far we could get in one day or where we would be stopping. After Brockville the river is quite narrow and you are always in the main shipping channel. we got away from the marina at a pretty decent hour in the morning and a strong wind was at our back.  The river was remarkably quiet and many times during this day we seemingly had whole stretches to ourself.

Our only friends today. These birds. 

On this stretch you pass by the towns of Prescott, Ogdensburg, Morrisburg and Iroquois.

Coast Guard in Prescott

Sightseeing 

Another bridge to the US of A

Massive power station

We also passed several tankers and it wasn't as scary as I thought it would be.

Definitely getting size envy here

Surprisingly small wake thrown by these big boys

You also get to experience the joys of navigating Seaway locks. Gone are the memories of the quaint Rideau Canal locks, these are like the Stanley Cup Finals of locks. The Iroquois locks were not too bad to navigate as there are staff there to direct you and if you are on the wall they throw you a rope to hang on to while you lock down. The New York locks were a different story. Shortly after you pass Upper Canada village you head down into New York and hit the Eisonhower and Snell locks. The waterway narrows into a long basin as you approach Eisonhower and on this day we had the full brunt of a strong wind blowing into the lock. The big locks are also pretty stingy with waiting docks to tie up to if you have to wait for the lock to open. In our case we had to sit in the basin and bob up and down constantly fighting the wind to not be blown into shore. There was a large tanker ahead of us that we had to wait to go through. When we finally got in the lock was like a washing machine with giant waves bouncing everywhere and the wind still howling at our back. We had to raft off a larger boat who couldn't keep his bow off the wall and so I had to keep my boat in reverse gear just to keep him off the wall. All in all a stressful lockage. (locking side note, have cash ready for each lock as they cost around $30 each and cash is king)

First mate looking pretty calm cool and collected despite the chaos

When we finally got through the US locks we decided that was enough for the day and aimed for Cornwall. To get to the marina you have to motor past the town and Cornwall Islands and then hand a left and come back up against a pretty strong current. After 15 minutes though we were finally at Marina 200, which is a really cozy marina stop close to downtown with good facilities. After a stressful day there was definitely drinks poured. Ok obviously there are drinks poured after every day of boating.