6/22/24 - Baldwinsville to Brewerton NY - Lots of Loopers

Pic of the day 🦅 
Finally got a good shot of one of these magnificent birds

There was some rain in the forecast today, originally forecasted to start early morning, but after we woke up and had some coffee the maps and hour by hour was indicating not much rain until later in the day.  The guys in the boat  on the wall behind us started prepping to shove off so we decided we may as well get ready as well.  We were on the water at 8:20 and immediately into the lock being lowered down a short 10’ drop or so.    We decided to take it slow and easy today since we only planned for a 20 mile day.  We ran on one engine almost the entire time except for when we were headed into the two locks we did today; better to maneuver with both engines.  We cruised along between 5.5 and 6 mph which allows for more time to notice the small things.  

Many of the lily pad fields are now getting their large white flowers 

We’ve seen quite a few swans the past few days
This couple had a youngster 

High school graduation party getting set up for on the banks
One of many we’ve seen the past couple weeks 
We’ve learned NY schools typically are in session until mid June

As we cruised we came as close as we would to Syracuse.   The original Erie Canal actually went straight through downtown Syracuse while the current, newer canal utilizes portions of the Seneca River and is routed North of Syracuse.   We could tell by looking at the now many nice homes lining the banks that we were likely near a city with residents having more money.   

Large homes, beautiful yards 

At a spot on the canal where a small side canal branched off that looped around and had several nice homes on it there was a dead tree coming out of the water that we spotted a bald eagle perching on top of.  We slowed and turned back around to see how close we could get.  Idling up closer and closer, Renee was driving and got us to within about 50 feet while the bird remained sitting atop the limb not appearing to be fazed by our presence and allowing us to get some good pictures and a video.  

We had hoped that it would spread its wings and fly off for the video but it remained content to sit.  Renee even gave a couple toots on the horn in an attempt to get it to fly….nothing.   We are now considering setting up a GoFundme to bail Renee out of jail where she’s facing protected animal menacing charges 😝 

It did rain for about 20 minutes pretty steady making us happy that we’d put the upper enclosure panels back on last night.   We arrived in Brewerton and got docked up at Winter Harbor Marina just after 12:30pm.  It was again sweltering with oppressive humidity.  The spot that they put us at did not have an available electric pedestal close enough to us because the boat in front of us, a 55 foot Fleming yacht, was utilizing the pedestal for our slip. The owners were off at the store so we had to wait until they returned to be able to move their electric up to an alternate pedestal and allow us to hook up to the electric, however, just the opportunity to give our now functioning generator a good test. It passed with flying colors!  The air conditioner and our conduction cooktop ran perfectly fine off of the generator for a little over an hour while we cooked lunch, Omelettes from our leftover shish kebabs and sausage.

For the afternoon, we enjoyed walking around the marina. Some of the many loopers are currently here. We counted 18 boats in the water flying great loop flags, doing their first loop and others on their second or third time around. There are also several boats up on the hard awaiting service That are flying looper flags. It is always amazing to us. The variety of people that we meet from all walks of life and all areas of the country of the country.  Whether it be a couple of self-described vagabond’s from Cabo San Lucas aboard an old 32 foot motor sailor or a successful, professional couple traveling and working aboard their 55 foot Fleming yacht everyone is always friendly and have great stories to share 😊

 The many Great Loopers here at Winter Harbor 
6-8 others at a nearby marina and/or on the downtown free wall as well!

By the time that we walked all the docks and met with many of the fellow loopers, we were hot and hungry. We put Riva into the now cool boat and headed off on our bicycles into town to get dinner at a small Italian café. We were happy that we decided to split a delicious trio dinner of manicotti, lasagna and chicken parm given that the portions were very large.  By the time we had made it back to the boat, prepared a few things for what was expected to be a rainy night before heading in to relax for an hour or so before going to bed with still full bellies.