This is Oswego to Port Colborne, by way of Rochester . . . actually Charlotte on the Genesee.   The whale-watch headed Grande Caribe.  No . . . the Great Lakes have no whales. At the port is Robert S. Pierson, a river-class bulker.

I repeat a variation of this image.  The Erie canal flows under the arched bridge and the Genesee . . . under the longer, flatter bridge.

We take a pilot right outside Port Weller, the Ontario end of the Welland Canal, and then

enter upbound.

 

Nassau-flagged Victory II met us between locks 7 and 8.

From right to left here, that’s Pierson  again, a sailing vessel, and Capt. Henry Jackman.

Now more on that sailing vessel . . . schooner Empire Sandy.  You have to read this link:  she started her life as a tugboat!

HMCS Oriole is a 1921 ketch, whose origins hearken back to both Toronto and Neponset, MA.

 

Capt. Henry Jackman waits in Port Colborne as does

Baie St Paul. Jackman was built in the Collingwood Shipyards, whereas St Paul comes from Jiangsu China.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.