I did that trip two years ago leaving
Ohio in mid September and transiting the Welland
Canal whereupon you see the skyscrapers of Toronto immediately upon leaving.
Lake Ontario in early October can be nice, or it can have what we got which was steady, NNW winds of 20 knots. They feel like they come straight from the North Pole. Hats and gloves and a lot of mid day hot tea made it tolerable.
I took my mast down at Oswego. The fellows at Oswego Marina could not have been more helpful. There was a huge pile of old
wood to build cradles with and they lent us a circular saw (I had a drill and timberloks). There is a
hardware store nearby to buy what you can’t scavenge.
The Erie
Canal has a closing date of Oct 15. We had been told that (by someone on the phone) that they simply shut the locks on Oct 15 and left you to deal with getting hauled out if you didn’t make it. This seemed very harsh and we made it to Waterford on the afternoon of Oct 14. We had passed several
boats in the last two days and we wondered what would happen to them. The answer was they stayed open a couple extra days to clear several Toronto based
boats that were close. Pretty sure they didn’t strand anybody.
For some reason, many of the Torontonians we saw had stepped their masts and cradled them in Toto before crossing
Lake Ontario. Many were complaining about the nasty crossing with masts in (high) cradles. I suppose if the lake had been calm, this one or two day run would have been uneventful, but as stated before we had steady 20+ and the pitching must have been a mess on boats with masts cradled high up.
On the Oswego/Erie canals It was chilly at night for sure. Knit hats, jackets and occasional
heater on. But the days, crisp and clear and sunny with all the glorious fall foliage that thwt part of the world can muster was beyond words. Absolutely sublime. The
wind ceases to be any kind of issue here.
You can put back up at a
DIY yard in Castleton or at Riverview in Catskill. I paid $250.00 at Riverview as it was getting late in the season and started to worry about the impending autumn and thinking more about making south.
You will have to skip NJ and ‘go outside’ for that portion of the trip. It was a long 18 hours from NYC to Cape May, and cold day and night, but we saw several whales. You can duck in at Barnegat and AC if you need to but attempting to transit the ICW there with 6’ of draft is not a great idea. Seek further confirmation from innumerable posts on line.
I had reasons to divert to
Baltimore and spend several days. Good days on the Chesapeake in the fall are very good and cold, windy rainy days in October are just that.
The Salty Dawgs flotilla leaves from
Hampton Roads in November and there are quite a few tropical bound cruisers when you get there. I guess I have been lucky, but I have taken off South from there in November three times and I have had lovely
weather all the way to charleston.
You’ll have to choose at Norfolk between the ICW and Cape Hatteras. If you don’t know that already, you will have to do some
research on this. It’s a fairly consequential decision in the autumn.
From
Morehead City, NC to
Florida its dealers choice on the Atlantic vs ICW. Much of
Georgia is difficult on the ICW with a 6’ draft as
maintenance is spotty and the currents and winding rivers make for slow going. Big tides, poor markings, and dated chart info mean running aground is just a matter of time. Fortunately pluff mud is forgiving. There are numerous
safe anchorages to dip into if necessary (and a few that seem benign but can be pretty nasty; do your
research before you leave Charleston)
The daytime temps south of there are tolerable all the way to Miami in November.
It’s a great trip. Enjoy.
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