We're in Sackets Harbor, NY. We cleared the last lock of the Oswego Canal this morning and cruised over the East end of Lake Ontario to Sackets Harbor. The only problem was that I had left the antenna poles up and bent one going under an overhanging structure above the lock. Ouch! It was easily fixed with two hose clamps, but I'll have to replace the fiberglass pole this winter. Just one more thing to add to my winter "to do" list.

Lake Ontario was smooth for the crossing with waves of only about 1 ft. These are the islands of Stony Point on Lake Ontario near Sackets Harbor. It was a flybridge day, but very hot and hazy. I decided to burn some fuel and plane the boat just to make more breeze on the flybridge.

Sackets Harbor is a quaint little "single mainstreet town" with nice restaurants, a couple of little museums, antique stores, a really good bakery and a battlefield from the War of 1812, and, of course, a mansion of Colonel Agustus Sacket built in 1801.

The Sackets Harbor battlefield was where the British invaded from Canada during the War of 1812 to try to interrupt American naval and military activity in the upper St. Lawrence valley. They were replused by the American troops here. Today, the battlefield is just a field, though well maintained and signed to explain the battle along a walking trail. This is an 1810 British canon found in the St. Lawrence River near here and now displayed at the battlefield. Unfortunately, during the battle an inexperienced American lieutenant thought things were going badly and gave the signal to burn the American supplies and munitions so they wouldn't be captured by the British.

The "Seaway Trail Discovery Center" museum was an old hotel, now displaying artifacts found in the area and a floor dedicated to scuba diving the old wrecks found in these waters. It's primarily aimed and school age children ("discovery center"), so it's not that interesting to adults. Kathy says we've become blase about seeing little underfunded museums. However, Kathy was able correctly line up the picture blocks and make the light go on for correct answers to what the local fish eat and weigh, where a deer eats and lives, and what a beaver eats and where it lives. Who says we didn't learn anything today? For my part, I learned that the bakery makes good rolls, so I'm going to walk there before breakfast tomorrow.