About
Sharing stories with family and friends from the deck of Jack Tar as we explore the Hudson River, the Erie Canal, the beautiful 1,000 Islands, the Trent-Severn, Rideau Canals, and Georgian Bay. Then, as we return through Ottawa and Montreal, down Lake Champlain, back to the Hudson River.
Follow us for five months along 3,077 miles and 173 locks. There will be 88 on the Trent Severn up and back, including two hydraulic lift locks and one marine railway; 46 on the Rideau Canal up to Ottawa; 8 on the Oswego Canal; the first 20 – a third of the way – on the Erie Canal; and 11 on the Champlain Canal.
The red line is our planned route up to Mackinaw City, and the blue line is our return route through Ottawa, Montreal, and down through Lake Champlain and the Champlain Canal.
Logbook
Read our latest trip reports and view our routes.
Wed July 15: Orillia to (locks T42 & 43) Swift Rapids lock wall
Link to today’s route: https://share.nebo.global/voyage/c3530084-3e34-4ac3-ab5d-bcb67d14b845 Today marked the second day of overcast skies and with the air thick with smoke from the forest fires in N & NW Ontario and Minnesota. We backtracked a half…
Read more
Sun-Tues July 12-14: Orillia
July 12: Life has a way of changing your best-laid plans. I have to have a minor procedure on my eye tomorrow, so fitting under the bridge will have to wait. Fortunately, it seems I…
Read more
Tues-Sat July 7-11: Kirkfield to Orillia ON (locks T36-41)
link to today’s route: https://share.nebo.global/voyage/04c6d730-5650-4214-a73e-a3625e49ff35 July 7: We were delayed leaving this morning by a couple of hours because the lock needed maintenance. Normally, the locks open at 9 AM, but this morning we couldn’t…
Read more
Mon July 6: Bobcaygeon to Kirkfield Lock Wall (locks T32, 34 – no 33 side trip – and 35)
link to today’s route: https://share.nebo.global/voyage/b1527e4c-cf1e-4e74-a7c2-d108e62fd37d Because there were many very narrow channels between the locks and small lakes where only one boat our size can pass, boats are required to make a Sécurité call (pronounced…
Read more
Sun July 5: Lovesick Island to Bobcaygeon (lock T31)
link to today’s route: https://share.nebo.global/voyage/b2d5d2a6-ea90-4304-ab05-9e81dc8e9a71 We thanked the boating gods again since we completely lucked out once more by snagging a lock wall spot – and we even got one with power. Usually on the…
Read more
Sat July 4: Lakefield to Lovesick Island (locks T27-30)
link to today’s route: https://share.nebo.global/voyage/2b6c4194-2aa4-4d0b-9956-5ec68a6d3b6a Happy Independence Day! 🇺🇲 We buddy-boated with the three other boats today (the same couples we had dinner with last night) through each of the locks. Two of our flotilla…
Read more
Wed-Fri July 1-3: Douro Lock to Lakefield (Locks T25&26)
link to today’s route: https://share.nebo.global/voyage/8ef769a7-65d4-4b18-8a1b-0a0cb4a41af5 HAPPY CANADA DAY! 🇨🇦 We were incredibly lucky to get a spot on the Lakefield lock wall. It’s a very popular spot because it’s shady and has power pedestals (fewer…
Read more
Tues June 30: Peterborough to Douro Lock Wall (locks T20-24)
link to today’s route: https://share.nebo.global/voyage/5ba8a0bc-bf8e-410a-a3db-257288da0b5a The Peterborough lift lock is quite a spectacle! Now we know why it is the most famous of the Trent locks. It was considered an engineering marvel at the time…
Read more
Mon June 29: Otonabee River Anchorage to Peterborough ON (Lock #T18 Peterborough Municipal Marina)
Link to today’s route: https://share.nebo.global/voyage/a4bbc6af-33d1-4046-a573-d93eff290f78 We continued up the lovely Otonabee River toward Peterborough. Thus far, we have been locking by ourselves or with one other boat at a time. Today, though, we were in…
Read more
Sun June 28 Healy Falls to Otanabee River Anchorage (lock #T18 Hastings)
Link to today’s route: https://share.nebo.global/voyage/6ec63bb8-a412-4256-b233-b4fcd3303d61 We only had to go through one lock today, but oh, what a lock it was. As we approached, we couldn’t see the lock gate because it was around a…
Read more
Sat June 27 Percy Reach to Healy Falls lock wall (locks T8-17)
Link to today’s route: https://share.nebo.global/voyage/3fd5c3df-2481-4191-a3fd-ed0477a1205f This was a LONG day of locking. We locked with Under the Bridge until Campbellford. We had a long wait, about half an hour, at lock 13 for other boats…
Read more
June 26: Trenton to Percy Reach Lock Wall (locks T1-7)
Link to today’s route: https://share.nebo.global/voyage/ac283cdc-50f9-47d9-9dcb-bc507fbb655d We started our journey north on the Trent-Severn Waterway today and hit locks 1-6 immediately, so we only traveled seven miles in four hours (that’s almost worse than the beltway). …
Read more
Wed & Thurs June 24 & 25: Wilton Point to Trenton ON (Trenton Port City Marina)
Link to today’s route: https://share.nebo.global/voyage/03fefacb-b34d-4658-a5d8-f6efe5888fd7 June 24: Usually, dropping and pulling the anchor is my job. Like most trawlers, we have something called a windlass, which is a motorized winch that lifts the heavy chain…
Read more
Tues June 23: Gananoque to Wilton Point Anchorage in Jay Bay ON
Link to today’s route: https://share.nebo.global/voyage/7689042f-e59c-4d60-8a77-c9963df82f78 Tues June 23: Gananoque to Wilton Point Anchorage in Jay Bay ON Our original plan was to dock for the night in Kingston, but we decided to continue on for…
Read more
Sun & Mon June 21 & 22: Clayton NY to Gananoque Ontario
Link to today’s route: https://share.nebo.global/voyage/49c4ff8a-f21a-4060-89ac-1781fbcb08a0 June 21: We left the Clayton marina at the same time as three of our other neighbors. We stopped at the pumpout dock on our way out, and a boy…
Read more
Tues-Sat June 16-20: Clayton NY (Boldt Castle)
Note to my subscribers (all 12 of you!): I have chosen not to send emails each time I publish a post so that I don’t clutter your inboxes. But when I do send an email,…
Read more
Mon June 15: Cape Vincent NY to Clayton NY
Link to today’s route: https://share.nebo.global/voyage/72f6518b-dc80-49e0-8041-381e669f364f It was breezy, cool, and overcast this morning. We were anxious to get to the Clayton City dock because the weather was predicted to deteriorate again, and we wanted easy…
Read more
Sat & Sun June 13 & 14: Oswego NY to Cape Vincent NY (lock O8 and across Lake Ontario)
Link to today’s route: https://share.nebo.global/voyage/3816d6ab-b6fb-463d-8cfc-e39f8c8ff8ac June 13: We went through the last lock on the Oswego Canal quickly and uneventfully; it was only eight feet down. The lake crossing seemed auspicious as it was a…
Read more
Fri June 12: Brewerton NY to (locks E23 & O3–7) to Oswego NY
Link to today’s route: https://share.nebo.global/voyage/f0a7406a-3257-4b48-a108-8c7f542c7785 This morning, we did our last lock on the Erie Canal, which continues west all the way to Buffalo. I’d like to take this opportunity to reveal a few stats…
Read more
Wed & Thurs June 10 & 11 Sylvan Beach to Brewerton NY (crossing Lake Oneida)
Link to today’s route: https://share.nebo.global/voyage/c91d5f2c-1a31-41ac-9834-3d173a5f11fe Wed June 10: Sylvan Beach to Brewerton NY The morning was overcast and humid, but still relatively cool. Suits me. We only had about a three-hour run today to cross…
Read more
Tues June 9: Little Falls NY to Sylvan Beach NY (locks E18-22)
Link to today’s route: https://share.nebo.global/voyage/e319268e-11c2-4a03-bc86-391fb6e9a6b0 We had a glorious morning! Sixty-five degrees and sunny. We spotted a huge turtle swimming breaststroke right next to the boat, but I didn’t quite catch the pic in time.…
Read more
Mon June 8: Amsterdam NY to Little Falls NY (locks E11-17)
Link to our route for the day: https://share.nebo.global/voyage/7a09e11a-6548-4f49-9b4b-37b66942f013 We hit our first Lock for the day almost immediately after leaving Amsterdam, where we could see Guy Park Manor when we got to the top. The…
Read more
Sun June 7: Amsterdam NY
Another day in Amsterdam. It’s too windy for the locks, and now more thunderstorms are expected around noon. We’ll see. We have power, water, and a pump out here, so it’s not so bad, but…
Read more
Sat June 6: Amsterdam NY
Well, the thunderstorms they called for didn’t materialize until about six this evening, so we could have moved today after all, but then we wouldn’t have been able to watch the waterski practice going on…
Read more
Fri June 5: Scotia NY to Amsterdam NY (locks E8-9)
The nebo link didn’t work today 😦 Today we did locks 8-10. By lock#9, the wind had really picked up, and it was a lot swirlier than the other locks, I think, because the water…
Read more
Thus June 4: Troy NY to Scotia NY (Federal lock 1; locks E2-7)
link to today’s route: https://share.nebo.global/voyage/d8bc80e5-a541-4997-9f2a-232fe046fb7e Happy Birthday, Mummy! Hope you have a good celebration with the boys 🎉💐🎂 We started the morning at Federal Lock #1 in Troy. The lock opens at 8:00, and at…
Read more
Tues June 2 & Wed June 3: Troy NY
We took a couple of days to reprovision, wash the boat down (there was a lot of remaining saltwater to get off), and wait for a new large fender to arrive which we’ll need in…
Read more
Mon June 1: New Baltimore NY to Troy NY (Troy City Dock)
The super helpful staff at Donovan’s got us sprung off on yet another windy day with fast-moving current. As we continued upriver, the rural lake houses and mansions gave way to an industrial scene. Peter…
Read more
Sun May 31: Poughkeepsie NY to New Baltimore NY (Donovan’s Shady Harbor Marina)
As we were getting ready to leave the slip this morning, the wind had died down from yesterday, but it was still a consideration, and even though it was slack tide, the water was pushing…
Read more
Sat May 30: Poughkeepsie NY
Peter and I were both woken by a howling wind from the north at 2 AM this morning, and it didn’t let up until about five this evening. The weather apps had predicted 40-knot gusts,…
Read more
Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.
Jack Tar Adventures 