We left Block Island RI and sailed through the night to the town of Port Washington NY, a suburb of New York City. As we were pulling into the town mooring field, our chart plotter odometer hit 3000 nautical miles.
I used Google to see how far a car trip would be from North Point Marina in Winthrop Harbor, where I keep Odyssey, to the town dingy dock in Port Washington NY. I was shocked to find out it’s only 882 statute miles, or 766 nautical miles, and 13 hours and 22 minutes of driving.
I managed to tack on an extra 2234 miles and more than 2 months on this trip. And let’s not forget the encounter with a hurricane.
I bring this up because I’m where I would be had I taken the Erie Canal in Buffalo NY instead of the St. Lawrence Seaway. Looking back at my posts, I see we reached Port Colborne on August 9th. Port Colborne and Buffalo are close, and I would have been there on the 9th as well.
Most cruisers take a week on the Erie Canal and a few more days to make it down the Hudson to New York City, so I could have been here on August 19th, not September 29th.
On August 19th, I was only in Montréal with many more miles facing me. I still had the option of bailing out and taking the Richelieu River to Lake Champlain, to the Hudson River. To be honest, if there was a marina that could have taken my mast down for me, I think I would have chickened out and taken the river. I was starting to get nervous about the remoteness and not being able to speak French while traveling through rural Quebec.
Along the Great Lakes I met several folks at marinas who thought I was crazy for going down the St Lawrence. One was so adamant that I had to keep avoiding him during our stay. The one thing they all had in common: None of them had made the trip themselves.
I’ve only talked to one person who’s gone this route. He said it’s fine. You’ll have a great trip. He didn’t think I was crazy or the trip was extreme.
Of the thousands of YouTube sailing / boating channels out there, I could only find one that made the trip: Tony Fleming of Fleming Yachts. He took Venture, his Fleming 65, down the St. Lawrence. First he hit the Galapagos Island, which should tell you the type of adventurer he is. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched his video to prepare for our trip. It also covers the Erie Canal too, which is how we’re planning on coming home.
I’ve been thinking a lot about my choices and I’m glad I took the St Lawrence. My Canadian friends kept telling me how nice Montreal and Quebec City are, and they were right. Remote Quebec is also beautiful. I saw several types of whales, seals, and even auroras at night. We met great people in PEI while we rode out the hurricane. More beautiful landscape in Nova Scotia. It’s been an amazing trip so far.
Would I do the trip again? Yes, but I’d do it differently. Odyssey is more setup for warm weather. I’d want a boat that was setup for colder weather. I’d also want to have a French speaker on board and at least 3 crew. And, more time to stop and enjoy the scenery.
Next time I’m in the area might be on one of those Princess cruise ships we kept encountering in the middle of the night. As I was freezing in my unprotected cockpit I was thinking how nice it would be to walk through the sliding glass door from the balcony into a warm cabin. Call room service and have a hot chocolate delivered to the room to warm me up.
We’re in Port Washington now. We got our New York pizza and I loved it. Salvatore’s Coal Fired Pizza. Got a white pie and a sausage pie. Loved them both!
We also made it to West Marine, the liquor store, and finally the grocery store. How’d we get all that back in our dingy? We didn’t. The town has a water taxi to take you from your boat to the docks. It’s all included in the mooring fee.
Kurt & Sue Sail 