July 7 – Saturday
We cast off our lines to move into lock #1 about 7:15 and continued north on the Oswego River. The shore of the river has a visual feel of “north country” as compared to the Erie Canal. There are more coniferous trees interspersed with the others and the waterway is actually a river as opposed to a man made canal. There are 8 locks total numbered 1 thru 9 (there is no #4), and they are all lowering on the way north to Lake Ontario. This was our cruising friend Gregg’s birthday so Polly asked each lock tender to wish the captain of Renaissance (coming later) a happy 60th and apparently they did. When Gregg radioed lock 7 that tender wished him happy birth day over the VHF and Gregg responded that the whole world seems to know he was having a birthday. At that point the lock master of #8 chimed in with a greeting as did a couple of other boats, some asking where the party will be held.
Shore side homes along the Oswego vary from modest weekend cottages to fine properties with the houses set high up a slopping lawn and extensive bulkheads and docks at waters’ edge. All in all, I think the Oswego River is our favorite portion of the canal thus far. Fish jump everywhere – we must have seen 30-40 jumps (where you could actually see a good size fish) in the 18 mile trip – there were a few fish that jumped after bugs even when we were in a lock chamber.