Gap year on the Endeavor

On Tuesday, August 13th, we crossed Lake Ontario in calm weather (still no mast!) and re-entered the United States at Oswego, NY.  Since then, we have been doing the many locks that make up the Oswego canal and the Eastern half of the Erie canal, stopping at small town docks to tie up for the night.  There is a lot of American history on the Erie canal; history regarding early American industrialization as well as the revolutionary and civil wars.  We visited Fort Ontario and also Fort Stanwix during this segment; both have impressive histories.  The Erie canal itself is impressive for its history - the first version was finished in 1825 and revolutionized shipping at the time, opening up an avenue from the ocean to the great lakes.  It was acclaimed as one of the biggest advancements of its time. There have been segments of the Erie that are very scenic, but as one may imagine of a canal built mainly for industrial purposes, there are also areas that are not quite as scenic. 

Just going to post some photos that we haven't put up yet.  Hope you enjoy! Today, we completed the Trent-Severn waterway, and are now in Belleville, Ontario.  Next step: crossing Lake Ontario (without a mast!). Dunes at Beaver Island Fishing at Mackinac Sunset in Les Chenneaux islands Fireworks from Detour Harbor 4th of July family selfie Skipping rocks at Pilot Cove Building boats out of sticks in the North Channel  Croker Island anchorage We thought this island off of South Benjamin looked like a mad fish. Covered portage in the North Channel Covered portage in the North Channel Snack at Topaz lake Swimming hole in Georgian Bay Black Bay, in Georgian Bay Fox caught a bass.  Sunset in Georgian Bay Lounging on a hot day in the Trent-Severn Misty morning at Rosedale lock Kirkfield hydraulic lock Fox on our wake board (actually a SUP). Sunset, August 10th, from L

We are currently on the Trent-Severn waterway, a series of locks, lakes, and rivers that goes from Georgian Bay in Lake Huron to Lake Ontario. So far, we've done eleven locks, we did the Marine Railway, a big rail car that carries your boat across a highway on the first day, we did Swift Rapids, the biggest conventional lock on the Trent-Severn the second day, but on from there it was mostly regular locks except for the Kirkfield and Peterborough lift locks (we did Peterborough today). Today is rainy and we went to the Peterborough visitor center, it had a bunch of models of locks and stuff on how they built the Peterborough lift lock.           Yesterday I accidently cut my hand badly when whittling (I probably needed stitches but we were far away from a hospital and I didn’t want them) so now I can’t go swimming. Marine Railway Swift Rapids Kirkfield hydraulic lift lock Swing Swing Bridge on the Trent-Severn Using the paddle-board as a w

Being in nature, written by Annie. From about July 9 th through July 30 th , we were in very remote areas, only occasionally a stop at a small town.   We got as much exposure to nature as we would if we were camping.   It has been interesting to observe changes in local flora and fauna.   When we started in Green Bay, the American pelicans were everywhere.   But then they petered out as we continued our trek, and were replaced by mergansers, which were common throughout the North Channel (they have large broods! – 10+ usually).   As we made our way through Georgian Bay, the loons started increasing, and on the lakes of the Trent-Severn they are almost as common as cormorants (which have been everywhere).   We hear their song many a morning and night.   Now that we are several days into the Trent-Severn, we have started to see lots of ospreys – they are just as likely to fish outside of a dam as they are on a pristine lake – they aren’t picky.   On a few nights, as we were doing

Written August 6, 2019, by Annie. On Thursday August 1, 2019, we shoved off from Queen’s Cove marina (where we had the mast taken down), and headed for Port Severn, the start of the Trent-Severn waterway.   This is a series of lakes, rivers, canals, and locks, and the whole system is a Canadian national historic site.   Most of the locks are hand-operated; the attendants turn cranks to open and close the gates.   On the first day, we did two locks:   one was a standard lock, and the second was a lock known as the marine railway.   It is basically a large elevator that takes your boat fully out of the water over the hill to the higher lake.   We got a little nervous when the attendant asked us to all move to the front of the boat since the stern was tilting backwards, especially since they assume no responsibility for any damage.    Someone else’s sailboat on the marine railway.    We didn’t get good pictures of ours since we were manning the boat. View from the crest of

posted by Jack June 24:   It was the first official day of our endeavor.  We left Sturgeon Bay and headed for Green Island.  There is an abandoned light house on the island but when we got there the trail to it was overgrown and covered in poison ivy. Fox found a big fishing lure, and that’s when we started to get interested in fishing. We sailed to Peninsula state park and anchored for the night there. June 25: We all had a good first sleep on the boat (except for a minor drawback of a huge spider in my room). In the morning there were two more spiders, one big one in the bathroom and one in the parents’ room. We headed off for Washington Island, a four-and-a-half-hour sail.  To get there we needed to go through a passage called Port des Morts, French for Death’s Door. When we got there, we took a dinghy ride "from hell" over to Rock Island, a smaller island across from Washington. It was horrible because of the big waves and all the splashing. Rock Island was going