Leaving the marina at 0730 got us to the big double lock in Lockport one half hour later.

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Approaching Lock 34

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In Lock 34

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Going under the road at Lockport, at one time the widest bridge in the U.S.

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The ships mascot hasn’t gotten too much press lately. She is still with us and is behaving herself.

We slogged up the Niagara river at 5 knots from the end of the Erie Canal at North Tonowanda to the Black Rock Lock which allows one to bypass the rapids where Lake Erie dumps water into the upper Niagara River.  Originally the plan was to stop at the Buffalo Yacht Club where we have reciprocal privileges.  This being Monday, the club is closed, so there would be no fancy dinner for the Mate.  As it was early afternoon and the lake was pretty flat we decided to press on another 32 nm up the lake to Dunkirk which will make tomorrow a much shorter day.  Winds were SW at about 7 and increased to 12 with small white caps later in the afternoon producing a short chop but nothing uncomfortable.

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The last lock of the season at Black Rock. We have done about 82 locks this trip, plus or minus a few.

We stopped in Buffalo to purchase 15 gallons of diesel, just to make sure we had enough to get to Erie and then some.  They very nicely charged us $3.46/gallon for that privilege.  We want our tanks to be fairly empty when we arrive so we can pump the contents of one tank into the other to allow us to install an inspection/clean out port in our eight year old aluminum fuel tank.  As we use less than two gallons/hour we have a pretty good idea how long it might take to draw down our tanks once we get home if they were full; forever, as we don’t plan on going to far afield for the next few months.  It turns out purchasing fuel in Buffalo and not waiting until we got to Dunkirk was a smart move.  One of the members of the DYC told us they weren’t pumping fuel at the local marina due to ownership issues.

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So where are all the boats at the DYC?   That is us at the far end of the dock at the center of the picture. Evidently it has been a tough spring as far as getting boats ready for the season.

We made an attempt to sign in at the club, but their guest book was nowhere to be found.  Memorial Day is only a week away.

Today:  59 nm in 10.5 engine hours.  Three locks, one bridge.  Total:  4426 nm

Dave