We got going around nine this morning. Rick has promised me to a fresh fish lunch with the bass I caught last night. I am on his good side again now that I have let him skunk me and take a two game lead at crib.
10:00am we had our first cargo ship sneak up behind us. Radar is now on and being watch a little closer. We will be at our first lock at Iroquois shortly and may even have to share the lock with the same cargo ship.
In case some of you are wondering, here are a few facts about what we are getting into.
They are the tallest water staircase and they raise ships from the St. Lawrence River starting in Montreal to Lake Erie, a total of 552ft. Built in 1959.
All locks are 766ft long, 80ft wide, and 30ft deep. Largest ship allowed to use them is 740ft by 78ft (tight fit)
The locks work on gravity and hold 91 million lts of water and still only take approx. 10 minutes to fill or empty.
We have no idea what we are in for. The turbulance from the empty and filling and being in these chambers with massive ships has everyone aboard resting and preparing. Not much is being said aboard the entertainer this morning.
Must have been the cargo ship catching us off guard, the atmosphere has come back around. First beers have started, boat is being cleaned (rick is tackling the spiders and I am almost finishing cleaning the ceiling in the back deck. We just passed our first barge and tug.
I told you about us reaching 8.6 kts yesturday but I didn’t mention that I was at the wheel. It turns out #1 likes a little competition (not just at trying to pick our miles and anchorages) and he was able to get us skippin along at 9 kts today.
12:10pm arriving at our first locks.
12:53pm cleared the Iroquois locks. What a disappointment, we never even had to tie up. We paid $25 to enter into a large concrete sturcture, a guy reached out with collection bin on a stick to take our ticket and the gates open in front of us and we leave. We didn’t even stop moving and as far as we can tell there was no drop.
3:40pm arriving at the Eisenhower Lock.
4:15pm still bobbing around waiting to get in. A tug just passed us and loaded in, not sure if we will be allowed to travel with it or not. A couple that went through at Iroquois with us must have been sitting here for hours waiting, and there is a sailboat as well, plus to speed boats that are travelling together.
-weather is not very nice today, overcast, few raindrops, and cool-
6:20pm exitted the Eisenhower Lock. On our way to Snell
7:50pm cleared all the locks we are doing today. We are anchored on the american side in grassey river. We can still see the Snell Lock. Tomorrow we will probably head into cornwall for fuel. Maybe head further down the river since there is a strong current all around cornwall island.