Possible Summer Trip to Finger Lakes Region

[bajturner]

I am in the early planning stages of our summer boat trip and one possibility is to check out the Oswego / Erie Canal region. We typically head down the Rideau Canal to Kingston and then spend a couple of weeks around the Thousand Islands, A-Bay, Sandbanks, and/or Prince Edward County wine region. I am wondering what a trip down the Oswego Canal to the Erie Canal and then West to the Finger Lakes might be like.

Can anyone from the area offer any opinions or advice? It's little more than an idea at this point but it would be really good to know someone with local knowledge of the area to get a feel for whether or not it is a trip worth serious consideration.

Thanks!

 

[1956olds]

I am not from the area but have been there in 2004 from detroit on my 40 silverton.We stayed in the state park docks in Ithica NY on seneca lake for 5 days.Check bridge clearances before going there are a few that were about 1" above the flybridge windshield when we went.Others will chime in i remember one from the area on here.

 

[onthejob]

Ithaca, NY is actually on Cayuga Lake (one lake over from Seneca Lake) and it is a great place to stay. Several marinas and the state park marina is large and fairly mondern and well protected. Ithaca has some really nice scattered small restaurants and shops but not exactly close to the state marina. I also think there are a few wineries you can get to by boat on both lakes.

Although you can get to either Seneca or Cayuga Lakes from the canal, IMO Cayuga is a nicer lake because the water tends to be warmer with a few coves for boats to hang out in. It's a pretty long lake, close to 40 miles long. Seneca is very deep and cold and is known to get rough in a south or north blow. Your boat will not have any clearance or depth issues in the Oswego or canal or getting to the lakes. The only thing you might have to be concerned about is the weather in that SW corner of Lake Ontario. During the summer season they sometimes could see 6-8' waves.

We discovered Sandbank Park last season and loved it with the kids. Then we head up to Hay Bay to meet up with friends for 3-4 nights. Wapoos for another couple days then to Sodus Bay. I have a good friend with a cottage on Cayuga Lake I may make the trip to this summer with my 340 Sundancer via the canal.

 

[Strecker25]

Ithaca, NY is actually on Cayuga Lake (one lake over from Seneca Lake) and it is a great place to stay. Several marinas and the state park marina is large and fairly mondern and well protected. Ithaca has some really nice scattered small restaurants and shops but not exactly close to the state marina. I also think there are a few wineries you can get to by boat on both lakes.

Although you can get to either Seneca or Cayuga Lakes from the canal, IMO Cayuga is a nicer lake because the water tends to be warmer with a few coves for boats to hang out in. It's a pretty long lake, close to 40 miles long. Seneca is very deep and cold and is known to get rough in a south or north blow. Your boat will not have any clearance or depth issues in the Oswego or canal or getting to the lakes. The only thing you might have to be concerned about is the weather in that SW corner of Lake Ontario. During the summer season they sometimes could see 6-8' waves.

We discovered Sandbank Park last season and loved it with the kids. Then we head up to Hay Bay to meet up with friends for 3-4 nights. Wapoos for another couple days then to Sodus Bay. I have a good friend with a cottage on Cayuga Lake I may make the trip to this summer with my 340 Sundancer via the canal.

We've been thinking of a trip to oneida which would also mean taking ontario to the oswego river and down. Canal is a slow go with a bunch of locks, but could be fun.

Not to derail the thread, but I see you're in Rochester. Where are you docked?

 

[bajturner]

Thanks for the info!

The plan was to head to Cayuga Lake, and yes, we are leaving lots of time in our schedule in case we need to wait for an extended amount of time for the Lake to settle down to get across or back.

Can anyone tell me how much time we should plan to get from Oswego to Cayuga Lake? Are there nice stops along the way, or should we just push through? I have found some online resources showing speed limits, but I am presuming it is going to be fairly slow most of the way.

Thanks again!

 

[Strecker25]

Thanks for the info!

The plan was to head to Cayuga Lake, and yes, we are leaving lots of time in our schedule in case we need to wait for an extended amount of time for the Lake to settle down to get across or back.

Can anyone tell me how much time we should plan to get from Oswego to Cayuga Lake? Are there nice stops along the way, or should we just push through? I have found some online resources showing speed limits, but I am presuming it is going to be fairly slow most of the way.

Thanks again!

This may be what you've already seen, but this is a great map. http://www.canals.ny.gov/maps/ The site has a lot of info as well.

 

[electricaldoctor]

It is a slow go for sure. You cannot do the speed limits or you will cause a lot of damge to docks and boats along the way. Compared to the Rideau locks, these canal locks are filthy, so have some cheap disposable gloves with you. Another comparison to the Rideau locks would be the cables in the locks ... they are not fastened at the bottom so be prepared for that. Your fenders are going to get a lot of crud on them so hang out some old crappy ones or hang 2" x 6" boards on the outside of them. They are a lot of good places to tie up on the wall overnight and it was fairly inexpensive when we went down there about four years ago. You can get a taxi to come get you at the government park and take you into Ithaca. We walked and rode the bus to get around. There are wineries on Cayuga Lake with docks. One even came down to the dock and took us up to the winery in their Gator. The north end of the lake is fairly shallow, but it gets plenty deep at the south end. http://pickaslip.com/marinas-boat-slips-the-finger-lakes-new-york/
We stayed at Castelli's marina. They were good people and did repairs there as well. We also stayed at Hibiscus Marina and they also had pumpout facilities there. When we came back out of the system up to Oswego, we had a 3 day layover because of 8' - 10' Lake Ontario conditions. We shopped, played golf, went to the stock car races, etc, etc.
That's enough for now. Ken

 

[my3sons]

Thanks for the info!
Can anyone tell me how much time we should plan to get from Oswego to Cayuga Lake? Are there nice stops along the way, or should we just push through?
Thanks again!

The last time we did the trip that would be similar to yours, we left Alexandria Bay at 7 am, and tied up at Lock 24 Baldwinsville at 5 pm, and we weren't hurrying. Going to Cayuga Lake, there are no locks after Baldwinsville until CS-1 right at the top of Cayuga Lake . Lock CS-1 is about 4 hours from Baldwinsville. So Baldwinsville to CS-1 can be done in the evening when the locks are closed. If you are starting in Oswego, you can easily do it in a day

 

[Bresco]

We travel the Erie Canal a lot. We have done the west side more than east side though.

We did go to Cayuga Lake a couple years ago and stayed at Walkins Glen Marina. You can check out the trip at www.lapointes.ca , click on the right of the page on July 2013, scroll down. You may have to click older entries at the bottom. We came in from the west side but you may find some pics and info on the lake and Watkins there. We have done the Oswego Canal twice now, It takes a good day to get through there. Stay in Phoneix for sure. In the morning there are a few volunteer kids that bring you breakfast and coffee for a donation. Its a cute little town. Make sure you have supplies while traveling down Oswego. Supplies are few and far between. We stop at the Oswego Marina and take the bike into town to get supplies. Nice restaurants there as well. Gas up here too. If you have a radio onboard that will be helpful. Locks are similar to the Rideau and Trent but the lockmaster use the radio all the time. Erie Canal is the same way. Don't plan on swimming anywhere on the Oswego or Erie Canal. Not sure if the chocolate milk would be appealing to you but it isn't to us.

You can swim in Cayuga and Seneca Lake though. And yes Cayuga Lake is super warm. We didn't find any wineries worth the stop. Being from the Niagara Region I suppose we are a bit spoiled in that regard. There is a great stop at Oak Island just south of Seneca Falls. It has a park but no amenities. We loved swimming, feeding ducks and the tranquility. Stayed there over night but remember no power or water there. Ask any questions you need answered and I'll try to answer. I do have a personal timeline that we did in an excel file if you are interested. It has approx times, places to stay and some other tidbits we like to see at a glance. I do suggest Skipper Bobs Erie and Oswego Canal book. It's helpful, outdated, but has info you can use.