Welland Canal

The Welland Canal opens March 22/19 this year,they will take pleasure craft anytime twenty four hours a day.

I have attached the dates that the Montreal section of Seaway will take pleasure craft. Note dates and times.
http://www.greatlakes-seaway.com/en/recreational/lockage_schedule.html
These are the Lockage fees for the Seaway NOTE: They will no longer take cash.
http://www.greatlakes-seaway.com/en/recreational/craft_tolls.html

Welland Canal Opening
The canal opened on Tuesday March 26/19. There are fourteen vessels stuck up bound in the canal since Tuesday as in Port Colborne Lake Erie has pressure ridge of ice fifteen + feet plus and two ice breakers are trying to make a cut out eight miles to open water. Around noon today they have cut a channel to open water and all ships should clear by midnight tonight.
There are four vessels waiting at anchor about thirty miles from canal in Long Point Bay down bound they should be at canal Thursday morning. One of them is an old USCGC Bramble jumped the gun and got here a bit early which is now a private motor yacht. She is heading out the seaway to Mobile Alabama ship yard then to Miami to replicating the circumnavigation of North America in 1957 including traverse of North West Passage.
A bit of history on the Bramble
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USCGC_Bramble_(WLB-392)
Ice on Great Lakes

Just checked AIS and up bounds are under way for canal. The purple boat is Bramble Bay

Bramble stayed at anchor for three days in Lake Erie do to ice conditions, she cleared Welland Canal Saturday, she is now heading for Montreal more ice.

Whale in Lake Ontario
A whale was spotted in the St Lawrence River headed out into Lake Ontario today, Ontario Fisheries are claiming the left the lock gates open to long trying to bring lake level down.

Had a yacht come from Rochester to the canal yesterday. They pulled the ice boom on Lake Erie at Buffalo last week and now the ice is going over the Niagara Falls and down the Niagara River out in to Lake Ontario.
When he was approaching the Niagara river there was ice for about two miles wide and out as far as you could see, it took him about 1.5 hours to get through it. Now we have to wait until Saturday to go through canal as the harbor in Port Colborne is full of ice. The first picture is the Lower Niagara River second picture is mouth of Niagara River looking out in to Lake Ontario. You can see Toronto in the back ground.

I made my first trip up the canal yesterday, on the 13 mile run from lock 7 to lock 8 we had to keep and eye out for small chunks of ice.
Note: The toll machines at lock structures are not working and also the online ticket purchase is not working also the seaway will no longer take cash.
The Seaway put a notice out today they want you to use this App (Secunik)
There is no ticket to print as when you get near the lock it will display on the lock master screen.
Keep in mind you must have data on your phone for this to work.
The Captain yesterday data would not work in Canada so I had to call his credit card information to Seaway office in Cornwall and wait for a return email before we could transit.
I will post when every thing is back on line.

Had a good trip up canal today but sailboat was having a bad day.

Erie Canal and Oswego Canal opened on Tuesday, and yachts now arriving at the Welland Canal.
Took up a new V65 Princess today and on Sunday I have 105' Sailboat Whitehawk has air draft 110'
Mast was removed in Main and weighs 8000 lbs and was trucked to Oswego NY and will be reinstalled tomorrow for her trip up Welland Canal. Here is a picture of Whitehawk in Erie Canal.

Yesterday we got Whitehawk 105' Sailboat up the Welland Canal, I was aboard the owners motor yacht following her through canal.
Rafting along side me was Yacht Forum Member Capt Tilt delivering a new 51' Azimut
it was about a nine hour trip.

WELLAND CANAL PLEASURE CRAFT SCHEDULE
Starting July 15/19
Anything would be an improvement.
Effective July 15, 2019, the St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation is implementing a pleasure craft schedule for transits through the Welland Canal.

The service offering will be based upon the following schedule:


Upbound Transits – from Port Weller to Port Colborne

Transits are available on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday.

On the day of transit, pleasure crafts must be in position at the Port Weller small boat dock with payment confirmed and registration completed with the Seaway's Operations Control Centre by 9:00 a.m.

**Pleasure crafts registered after the 9:00 a.m. cut off time will not transit until the next scheduled operating day.**


Downbound Transits – from Port Colborne to Port Weller

Transits are available on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday

On the day of transit, pleasure crafts must be in position at the Port Colborne small boat dock with payment confirmed and registration completed with the Seaway's Operations Control Centre by 9:00 a.m.

**Pleasure crafts registered after the 9:00 a.m. cut off time will not transit until the next scheduled operating day.**

During transits, pleasure crafts are to communicate with the Operations Control Center (OCC), utilizing Seaway working frequency Channel 14 (unless otherwise instructed by the OCC).

To receive updates concerning Pleasure C

SEAWAY NOTICE
http://www.greatlakes-seaway.com/en/recreational/lockage_schedule_wel.html