43°6′9″ N 77°26′37″ W

Aug 17 – Fairport, NY

We went through Lock 26 at 7:00am this morning. When we first got up the outside of the boat was absolutely covered in mosquitoes. I can’t imagine what it would have been like to be sleeping in a tent!

On to the next lock a few miles further up the canal. This particular lock location is also a “home base” for many of the work boats that are used to maintain the canals, locks and dams. Some pretty cool equipment here.

It would be neat to take a tour of this facility. It even has a massive dry dock.

As soon as we exited the lock we encountered an English style canal boat, very similar to the kind we chartered in England last fall.

Upon closer inspection we saw that there are a few companies in this part of New York State that are chartering them. The boat’s here are wider because the locks can accommodate a wider beam.

We stopped around noon at a small public marina in Palmyra. It can only hold 4-5 boats but is really well done.

They offer free dockage for up to 48 hours & that includes electricity, water, bathrooms & showers – plus a self-serve pump out facility. We had lunch on the boat & then walked into the town in search of a hardware or small department store.

The downtown area is very nice with lots of interesting stores, galleries & museums.

We found a dollar store & picked up a couple of umbrellas. The beach umbrella we bought in Brewerton is too big to hold on to for extended periods of time & there is no way to safely secure it to the helm seat so we hope that the smaller ones will be easier to hold on to & give us some shelter from the sun. We will be able to put the bimini back up once we reach Buffalo.

Other boaters meeting us on the canal must get a chuckle out of this sight but it’s better than getting cooked in the sun!

We arrived in Fairport around 3:30 & decided to call it quits for the day. This town is a very popular & busy stop on the canal route. We were lucky to find a spot to tie up.

This town also has the first of 14 lift bridges that we will have to pass under en route to Buffalo. None of the bridges are high enough for us to pass under without lifting so we hope that they will not delay our rate of progress too much. All of the locks & lift bridges operate on demand. However, in this section of the canal their service hours are from 7:00am to 5:00pm each day.

Cheers!