Tonawanda

June 5, 2009

Right above Niagara Falls

Well, eight miles up, but that’s close enough for me. We took the federal lock route from Buffalo. Good thing; the river channel drops about five feet in a mile. It was a bit disconcerting to be floating five feet up watching the water rush by just the other side of a breakwall. So, through a lock, under a couple of bridges and we end up at the same point as the river, just more gently. Lots of fishermen on the shore. One guy yelled out as we went by “What’s the propeller for?” I yelled back that it was for electricity. He turned to his buds and said, triumphantly “See? I told ya!”

Wardell’s Marina is a charming little place. Reminds me of Julio’s on a small scale. No hot water in the toilets; no friggin’ lights, either. Junk boats scattered around. What it does have is a crane large enough to step our mast. This is a strange part of town. On the end of the canal, you would expect some development. Indeed, across the canal are fancy condos. On this side, however, are these old shantys. I mean these are real dumps; built over the water and probably haven’t changed in fifty years. Wardell’s has docks that can’t be more than 16 inches wide. Compared to yesterday, it’s like stepping back in time. Wardell’s has slips available for rent; you, too, can join the blue-haired geriatric set in your dream boat on the water. And slip off your 16-inch wide dock on the way back to dry land to the toilet black hole. Danger, Will Robinson, Danger, Danger…

So we prepped the boat today for unstepping. Took the mainsail off, took the boom off and stowed it on the deck, etc. Tomorrow we will lift up the mast, tie all the stays to it and move it to a horizontal position. Then we are ready to do the canal.

The neat thing about working on the boat today were the people that were going by. You have to realize that when I say “going by” I mean spitting distance. There was a guy trolling who practically hit our boat. One of the police boats patrolling asked us where we were headed. When Ziggy told him “Bermuda”, the guy laughed and said “Right.” One guy saw us from the bridge and rode his bicycle down to talk to us. He had a daysailer and was interested in tips for cruising. He said he was going to retire in a few years and was planning on getting a bigger boat then. Both Ziggy and I told him not to wait or he wouldn’t do it. I told him about my dad, who never got to do all the big traveling he had saved for because of his lungs. Guy’s name was Tom. I hope he takes our advice. Actually, we’ve been telling everyone we see that we’re Bermuda bound. The universal response (with the exception of the cop above) was “cool, wish I could do it.”

Vicki sent me a web site about cruising the Erie Canal. Link is here. Maybe we can add to his data base.