Catan is docked at Sylvan Beach on the east end of Lake Oneida, NY. This beach area has defined much of the quaint character of this small community from its beginnings and it is still very evident today. As summer weather emerges, so do the locals and tourists alike, heading directly to the waterfront. You’ll find many fishermen out on the canal wall, boats on the water, girls in bikini’s, hot rods out cruising, and families on the beach. Perhaps the most interesting element of Sylvan Beach is its old school, beachside ‘fun fair’. Every Memorial Day weekend, the fair dusts itself off for another summer-long run of carnival rides, cotton candy and games of skill. Our friends Dave and Mona aboard ‘Mad Hatteras’ (we met back in Baltimore, MD), readily confirm these were the exact rides they rode upon when they were kids, as did their kids. Dave & Mona are originally from this area, and now spend their summers at a marina in Alexandria Bay, NY (just across from Gananoque).
We are enjoying a few days here with friends, while we tend to some small maintenance issues on Catan and wait for two days of good weather to cross Lake Ontario and get back to Gananoque. We are very excited about the prospect of getting home! Oddly enough, as we linger a few days here on the free municipal canal wall, it is has a feeling of homecoming week. The Canadian Loopers are at the head of the migration pack headed back to Canada via the Erie Canal. We bump into old friends and meet new ones, but the shared excitement and anticipation of closing off our respective loop adventures is palatable.
Our Gananoque friends and fellow boaters, Keith and Bev , were largely responsible for our “splash” into live-aboard cruising. They saw us off at the beginning of our loop adventure last year, have been following our adventures, communicating with us throughout and want to be at the Gananoque Municipal Marina for our return to catch our lines. We are looking forward to this very fitting conclusion to our loop (called “crossing our wake” in looper parlance), and to reuniting with Keith and Bev. It will be marked by the removal of our “first timer underway on the loop” white burgee pennant and the installation of our “loop completed veteran” gold burgee pennant. We look forward to a relaxing summer in and around Gananoque, with a little more boating before the cold weather forces us to take Catan out for the winter.
Home is only a few days away once we get a good weather window!
