We start the day bright and early and get to the Medina Lift Bridge at 8 am, the agreed upon time for the opening with the bridge tender.
The bridge tender is a bit late, so for 20 minutes we idle beside the bridge and watch some women in the canal park participating in a boot camp fitness class. Once through, we make our way down to Gasport and their lift bridge, the site of a hydraulic failure leaking gallons of oil into the canal causing a closure for several days.
Faithful since Albany, the Erie Canal Way Bike Trail follows us along.
Again we see old buildings, old houses and old trees flanking an old, and sometimes crumbly, stone canal.
We arrive to Lockport and pass through two more bridges until we encounter locks 34 and 35. The end is near! We are informed it will be about an hour wait to lock through. Lock 34 leads right into lock 35, so it basically is one big lock but you pass through in stages.
Locksport definitely possess a touristy vibe.
Since we are sidelined for a while, we tie up to a wall. I walk up to the lock and check out all the attractions.
Finally, it is our turn to lock through. We are not the only ones waiting. One other boat will lock through with us.
If you notice the picture above, Prime 11 is well prepared for the lock through. I have my gloves on and am holding the line through a cleat for extra support while Prime 11 is wearing four fenders over her rub rail. Tom is in the stern with the same set up. For 33 locks, all goes smooth. Unfortunately, the boat behind us has her fenders misplaced and a few are actually deflated. You wouldn’t think this is a big deal. But… it is. As the water starts flowing and churning into the lock, the boat is suctioned against the wall. It should bounce off the fenders, and move away from the wall. This repeats over and over. If you don’t have your fenders to hold the boat off the wall, then you resort to pushing against the wall yourself to prevent damage to the boat from the very rough concrete walls. The force by which the boat is pressed against the wall is virtually impossible to stave off, especially if you are older and have no gloves on. Slimy walls make slimy hands. Slimy hands lose lines that are holding the boat in place within the lock. This is what happens to our lock mate. They lose their lines and their hold on their boat. It is now free floating in a whirlpool, pin balling from one side of the lock to another, hitting whatever is in its path. Captain Tom calls for the lock tender to come help grab one of their lines. He does try, but their dog is so eager to see him that she tries jumping onto the platform of the lock. Now they let go of whatever little control they had of the boat to control the dog. We untie ourselves and move further up in the lock, trying to get out of harms way. They are now sideways in the lock. I felt awful for them and awful for myself that we didn’t film it as we could have earned a qualified captain t-shirt. 🤪 Thankfully, we were towards the end of the lock through when all this occurs! The gate opens and we quickly exit our final eventful lock through. The puzzling part of this whole story is that we are on lock 35. How in the world could they be this incompetent at this point? Like the captain always says, “You can’t fix stupid. I think he has proven his point.
After the locks, we pass through several tunnels and head to North Tonawanda where we will stay for the night.
We arrive to Tonawanda and the wall is pretty busy but our friend, Buffalo Jerry, has saved us a spot. Thanks Jerry!
We enjoy our one night stay and have dinner at Remington Tavern, which is right on the wall. Thanks for the treat AGAIN Jerry. Tom leaves with Jerry to take his boat back to Buffalo.
While Tom is racing away, in comes Silver Linings. We first met them in Southport, then again in Beaufort, then again in Winter Harbor and now, once more, at Tonawanda! I grab a line for them just as Tom comes back. We all celebrate our conclusion of the Erie Canal with a toast to us!
Our last night on the canal. Tomorrow looks good (we are now back to checking water conditions) and we will head to Erie, PA on Lake Erie!
Yikes, that is an exciting (and well
Written) story about the fenderless boat.
What is the drop in water level at locks 34 and 35?
Huge.
Thanks for great photos!
Thanks David! The locks are about the same height each and combined total 49 feet. West bound, you rise up (as we did). East bound, you lower.
Wow! I would have been a mess watching all that happen to that boat. But as you said…how do you get this far into the lock system and not know better 🤦🏼♀️🤷🏼♀️
Excellent job on the blog. Text and pictures well done. We enjoyed seeing our old boating areas from NY. Uncomfortable experience in the lock as one feels helpless because another boat wasn’t prepared. Glad you made it out without incident.
Thanks Gordon and Sue!