Erie Pa to the Canal

We left Erie Pa about 1pm after refueling and motored in a dead calm and flat water all the way to Buffalo and arrived at 2 am. We tied up at the Buffalo sailing club in a guest well and slept until morning. We met Bill and Jim on their Westerly Windrifter and they told us about a place to take the mast down that was much cheaper than we had planned. After a shower and breakfast we hurried down to drop the rig. It was a bare bones place but we managed to scavenge up enough wood to make some supports. and by the afternoon we were motoring down the Niagra River to the first lock. After a quick stop at West Marine we headed to the canal and by 8pm on Saturday Sept. 11/2010 we were at Lockport and tied up next to Windrifter. Our 350 mile trip down to the sea level had begun.
A word of caution to others... Fuel up with diesel at every chance you get, there are some long gaps in obtaining diesel fuel along the canal. We now have 3 spare fuel cans...

We purchased our canal pass and were off with the first opening. The locks are quite far apart and our next stop was Middleport for a lift bridge. We were getting low on fuel and the bridge tender offered to drive us for fuel and we added 5 gallons... we should have gotten more... We carried on and stopped at Brockport for the night where one of the volunteers drove us for fuel again and we added 10 gallons this time. So far the only fuel was at the beginning of the canal. Dinner that night was Ceasars', Tbones, and a nice Shiraz.

We had internet access and showers and laundry and hydro plug in for $8 a night, and this is still one of the nicest stops on the canal.. But there would be more to come.