Oswego Canal and Canal Landing Marina

This blog will chronicle our (Pat and Patty Anderson's)

cruising adventures on the Great Loop!

DAY 84 - June 23, 2017

Because it looks like it will be next Tuesday at the earliest before conditions are favorable to cross Lake Ontario (we will be checking this day by day), I wanted to stay in Brewerton another night, while Patty wanted to push on to the Oswego Canal. We compromised and pushed on to the Oswego Canal!

We had only about 10 miles to go from Brewerton on the Erie Canal before reaching Three Rivers and the start of the Oswego Canal, which is a nice wide river. We traversed Locks O-1 and O-2, intending to stay on the west wall north of Lock O-2, where Skipper Bob recommends. The only problem was, we did not see any suitable  "west wall north of Lock O-2." There is a very short, very high concrete wall that looked very rough, with bollards only to tie to, and virtually in front of the exit doors from Lock O-2. Skipper Bob's information in "Cruising the New York Canal System" has been fairly accurate up to here, but here we have no idea what he was thinking! He missed it by a mile!

So we tied to the east wall north of Lock O-2, which runs the entire way from Lock O-2 to Lock O-3. It is a high wall, but at least it has rings as well as bollards for tying up the boat. The boat was tied up staring right into the doors of Lock O-3. We had to step off the roof to get to shore - not good!  We walked back to Lock O-2 along the Canal, intending to go to the Post Office and the Rite-Aid, but I had forgotten my wallet, so we made a big loop and walked back on Second Street toward Lock O-3. We found the Fulton Tow Path Trail that went right back down to Canal maybe 50 yards north of where our boat was tied!

Patty was not up to going back up but I wanted to get some automatic transmission fluid for our trim tab reservoir, so I went back up to the auto parts store right above where we were tied up. According to Active Captain, the Canal Landing Marina was between us and the Lock O-3 doors, but we could not see how there could possibly be a marina between us and the short distance to the lock doors. According to Active Captain and the City of Fulton web site, this was supposed to be a free municipal marina with 22 slips. 

Daydream at Canal Landing
(free) Marina

So after going to the auto parts store, I walked a bit farther north on Second Street past the Tow Path Trail, and sure enough, there was a cut in the Canal wall, and a little marina tucked in behind the Canal wall, which was completely empty, except for the City of Fulton Fire Department Rescue Boat! There were two phone numbers to call posted on the marina office, one for the marina and the other for Fulton Parks and Rec, but nobody was home at either phone number. Since the marina is free, we simply moved Daydream a couple of hundred yards into the marina into one of the empty slips. The City of Fulton Fire Rescue Boat was the only other boat there down at the far end.

Canal Landing sign

The Active Captain reviews are mostly negative because of the small size of the marina and the difficulty of maneuvering larger boats in here. Many entered, tried, failed, and turned around and left, leaving negative reviews, when in reality it was not the size of the marina but the size of their boats that caused their problems! 

Screenshot of City of Fulton webpage
about Canal Landing Marina

This marina has a pedestal above each floating dock with 30 amp power and water, and has restrooms and showers, all free. The City of Fulton website optimistically claims that the marina can accommodate boats to 42 feet. Although we had no trouble in our 25 foot boat, I can see why most of the Active Captain reviews were negative. This is a five star marina for small boats, not so good for big ones! The longest of the floating docks coming out from the walkway are perhaps 22 feet at most - Daydream is sticking out about 3 feet into the fairway, which is pretty narrow anyway. A 42 foot boat would be almost entirely blocking the fairway!

I posted a five star review "Great for Small Boats, Not so Good for Big Boats..."  This seems more objective than knocking the marina because somebody could not get their forty-two footer in here! But honestly, free moorage, free water, free power, free restrooms and showers, and free trash disposal? What more could anybody want?

We plan to stay here three nights, and tie up between Locks O-7 and O-8 Monday night, fuel up in Oswego, and if conditions are right, head for Canada!