[dawntreader]

We boat in lake ontario, lake simcoe and georgian bay with a Regal 3560. Volvo recommended and installed magnesium anodes on our boat expressly for the fresh water.

There are Ports guides for Lake Ontario, Lake Huron and the North Channel and the Trent Severn waterway. Excellent books as suggested by another reader here.

You should be able to moor up against the inside of the breakwater in Ontario Place, though obviously reservations are in order. http://www.ontarioplace.com/en/marina/marina.html

You might want to schedule ontario place during the summer festival of fire http://www.ontarioplace.com/en/events/festival.html. - an amazing set of international fireworks display - and you're pretty much right under it there.

[nas130]

Hello Everyone and thanks for your replies.

I have arrived back into the United States and have learned very much.

Troy:
I tied up at Troy town docks, the dock master is Joe and was a pleasure to deal with. He took us to the grocery store, had a fuel truck ready, and even took our boarding ladder in for some machine work.

Erie Canal:
It is very easy to transit the canal. We were around 20.5 feet tall and I believe 21 feet is the maximum height. The lock tenders will fill the locks with water a few times and dump them to lower the pool height creating more bridge clearance at the the two lowest bridges (The one bridge is west of the Waterford Flight and the other is b/n lock 7 and 8 of the Oswego Canal) I tied up at Lock 13, Lock 20, Fonda and Rome. I draw around 6'10" and churned up silt at Rome. Fonda is a Municipal wall. When you draw as much as me, there are not as many options for dockage along the way. Most of the locks are very isolated, but the lock walls are all good tie ups. The hours in the beginning of the season were from 6 or 7am to 10 pm and opened on demand. Because of low water levels in the reservoir, in the fall the locks were closing at 5 and only opened on the hour, regardless of the distance between them. Next year I will purchase the paper to make me commercial traffic so the lock tenders have to open on demand, regardless of other traffic.

Oswego:
I stayed at Oswego Marina. It is a nice facility, but they aren't very confident of their depths. They had arranged a fuel truck to deliver fuel for me, but the NY Department of Environment or whatever it is called will not let them pump fuel from a truck into a boat. I did not have the problem in Troy, so I assume something local happened that had everyone nervous. So I took fuel out of their tanks and even with my Alpha Laval running was still clogging racors.

Great Lakes
I loved cruising the Great Lakes. The info about John's Quay in Toronto is good info. We spent the majority of our time in Georgian Bay. Tobermory is a great port and a nice place to spend a few nights. Parry Sound is another great port. Navigating the rocks getting into it is very intense your first time. You really need to pay attention to your charts and keep a sharp eye. Beckwith Island is a great anchorage. We were in Little Current for only one night, but it seemed like a nice place. Around the corner from Little Current and Killarny is Baie Fine which is the largest fresh water Fjord in the world. The Evinrudes used to keep their boats tied up at the end of it. The strip charts for Georgian Bay are the best charts by far. I was not the biggest fan of Richardson's Chart books for any of the great lakes. The chart datum on most charts is very old so navigating can be a nerve racking endeavor.

If you run your boat on 100 amp, you will not have shore power in most marinas. I plugged in once for one night the whole summer and that was at a private dock. We had two rough days all summer, and the chop on the Great Lakes is nasty. You really need to respect the weather.

The only negatives of the great lakes are running on genny constantly, the marinas have no clue of the depths at dockside, and the bugs in Georgian Bay.

Surprisingly there is a bit of current in the Great Lakes!

Welland Canal
Because of CaptEvans advice I had a great trip through this canal. It is 8 locks and 26 miles or so. I called canal control and hired two of their employees to lock through with us. We did this in both directions they fit us into the locks before any other traffic and we did not have to wait for any traffic. It took about four hours going south and 6 hours going north. I was locking behind the Arctic Sunrise the Green Peace ship and canal control was afraid they were going to disrupt shipping. The locks are much more violent then the Erie Canal, so you need more fenders and to be diligent on the controls.

Customs
Updating your cruising permit in the Great Lakes is very easy to do, they are all aware that yachts are different and know how to handle us. Canadian customs are a breeze, you clear in by calling the CanPass number that Evan listed.

Thanks for all of your help.

Best Regards,

nas

[CaptEvan]

Glad you had a great trip. I just finished a delivery to the east coast through the Welland and was treated like crap, 9 1/2 hours. Must have just missed you on our way through the Oswego and Erie.

[WannabeeYhtsman]

Originally Posted by nas130

Great Lakes
I loved cruising the Great Lakes. The info about John's Quay in Toronto is good info. We spent the majority of our time in Georgian Bay. Tobermory is a great port and a nice place to spend a few nights. Parry Sound is another great port. Navigating the rocks getting into it is very intense your first time. You really need to pay attention to your charts and keep a sharp eye. Beckwith Island is a great anchorage. We were in Little Current for only one night, but it seemed like a nice place. Around the corner from Little Current and Killarny is Baie Fine which is the largest fresh water Fjord in the world. The Evinrudes used to keep their boats tied up at the end of it. The strip charts for Georgian Bay are the best charts by far. I was not the biggest fan of Richardson's Chart books for any of the great lakes. The chart datum on most charts is very old so navigating can be a nerve racking endeavor.

Thanks for all the great info about your trip. Glad you liked Tobermory.

Cheers

[YachtForums]

Great post Nas130!

[btait]

I keep my boat in Midland in Georgian Bay and this is one of the most beautiful places to cruise.

[Manserb]

If you are intending to criuse up through Georgian Bay, you might want to take some time & check out Beckwith Island ( The Caribbean Of the North), as well as Giants tomb. The town dock in Midland could easlly handle your boat. A 130' westport out of Geogetown was just there. Also this water can be tight, but the waters are charted for commercial frighters. Also for service, & as an alternative to the Midland port Bay Port Marina In midland handles boats up to 100 feet long. It is a 700 slip full service marina.

Another location where you would be able to dock would be Parry Sound. From Parry Sound to Little Current or Kilarney ( if you can Navigate Killarney) should be an easy run for you. From Georgain Bay into PArry Sound is about 9 miles. Other areas of interest would be Kilbear Park & Henrys. A definte stop for your fill of fresh water fish. It would be an easy dinghy run for you.

Your concern with the North Channel being a little tight is valid for your size of vessal, but not impossible. Be very observant with your fuel up there as you may not have to many options.

Anyway, having done the trip as recently as Last month coming from Cheboygan Michigan across Lake Huron, over to St Josephs Island, & down the North Channel, back into my home port of Penetnaguishene Ontario I know you will enjoy it.

best regards Bruce

[Kidworks]

This past summer Ontario requires a boating license to be in their waters no matter if American or Canadian. I assume you have one with that length of boat. I live in Port Huron, MI and I am pretty sure that there is no marina that can handle a boat of that size. Overnight tie up probably could be done by the Coast Guard ice breaker at Desmond Landing. It's mainly a mile walk into downtown Port Huron though they may have a bus or trolley operating depending on you trip dates.