ssloop: Erie, Ohio to Wilson, NY/Welland Canal

Sunday morning we pulled up the anchor and headed north across Lake Erie to Canada. 65 miles later we entered the harbor of Port Colborne located at the south end of the Welland Canal. Upon pulling into Sugarloaf Marina, we called Canadian Border Patrol to clear into Canada. After taking our information the agent advised us to remain on the boat until the local border agents arrived to our boat for further inspection. Upon their arrival, there were many more questions to be answered after which they instructed us to stay outside on the back deck of the boat while they went in and did a lengthy and thorough inspection of the boat. We got the thumbs up and were welcomed to Canada. Yeehaw!

Monday was a no travel day so we spent the day doing wash, cleaning the boat and dragging Steve around Port Colborne.

Tuesday was our day to transit the Welland Canal.

The Welland Canal is a 27 mile long ship canal in Ontario, Canada which connects Lake Erie with Lake Ontario. As a crucial component of the St Lawrence Seaway, this allows massive cargo ships up to 740 feet in length, to go up or down the 326 foot elevation difference between the lakes. The canal lies 10 miles west of the Niagara River and Falls which is not so user friendly for watercraft.

We left the dock by 6am in order to be in our staging location for a 7am transit. Once entering the 1st lock, you must continue thru all 8 locks. No stopping is allowed. We traveled with 2 other pleasure boats and had to have one of them tie off along side of us in every lock. This was a little extra work however all went smoothly. Ten hours later we were locked down to Lake Ontario. We entered Lake Ontario around 5pm and headed east 20 miles to Wilson, NY. Upon crossing back into US waters, we called US immigration to clear back into the USA. By 7pm we were anchored out in a small cove at Wilson. Happy and tired. Big day!