6/23: Day 29 on the loop!
Had a lovely evening on anchor off of Sylvan Beach. Enjoyed the live music from Harpoon Eddie’s and taco night on the bridge of Legacy. Then it was a beautiful sunset and very quiet and peaceful sleep on anchor with the 4 boats rafted together. Legacy, being the heaviest with largest anchor, took the center position with Lil Sudden on the starboard and Coda on the port. SAGA came a few hours later joining on the port side after, ah-hum, dealing with some fuel issues.
Rain was in the forecast for the afternoon, so we pulled anchor after breakfast and cruised the ~21 miles across Lake Oneida to Brewerton in about 2 hours….. it felt like we were back on the Magothy River or Chesapeake Bay with the wide open lake, colorful homes on the water and an island or two here or there. SAGA led us into the channel under a low railroad bridge, serving as our ‘canary in the coal mine’. The tapping of their antennae gave us the warning to proceed with caution, which we did, clearing by about 8”. We are hoping the 1000 gallons of fuel we took on in Brewerton will lower the water line a bit when we head out for more canals and bridges to Oswego. 8” was a little close, and yes, 1000 gallons is a lot… took about 2 hours to fill up.
Met more loopers here in Brewerton including Jeff and Pamela, 77 and 71 years old respectively, from FL doing the loop on a Mainship 390…….. YOU GO! What a lovely couple who invited us on board for cocktail before dinner. We re-met Tom and Diane aboard their 44 Trawlercat Beachside, who we met on our 2nd day on the loop on our bikes in Cape May! It’s a small world after all!
Speaking of small world… when we arrived, we thought we were seeing many small maple tree samaras, which we called ‘helicopters’ as kids. Remember them spinning to the ground? The helicopter is a seed consisting of two conjoined wings which blow away from the tree to attempt to find land and themselves grow into a tree. Well, these little things were not maple tree helicopters…… they were dead eel-flies, also known as May-flies….and they stink….I mean really stink! I googled “eel fly” and got “1852 Scientific Amer. 8.11 cNY, the approach of the eel season is known on the Oneida Lake by the eel fly, an insect with a long swallow tail, which comes in clouds, sometimes actually darkening the atmosphere at even tide.” They didn’t mention the stench – you can trust me on this one… it should be mentioned! Connection to small world? How can something so small stink so badly? It’s the atmospheric darkening volume! Time to leave Brewerton, despite the amazing friendly people.
The weather is looking spitty and spotty over the next few days so we are thinking about renting cars and traveling to Niagara Falls for a day or two – never been there! It looks to be about a 2 1/2 hour drive and the closest we’ll be to the Falls before we turn NE toward Kingston, Ontario. That’s a decision to be made over coffee and after a quick use of the courtesy car here at the marina to get a few needed provisions. Onward to parts unknown!
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