20-28 June 2011 Schodack Creek to Oswego, NY

20 June 2011  Schodack Creek to Albany, NY
There's a free dock in Albany on the downtown side where you can tie up for a few hours and play tourist.  We'd decided to take advantage of this based on the reports from other boaters.  It turned out to be a great idea.  We had a wonderful time.

From the 41st floor of the Corning Tower there are fabulous views of greater Albany.  This is looking north up the Hudson River.  You can see the beginnings of the Green Mountains of Vermont and the Adirondacks way off in the distance.

Looking north on the Hudson River

The State Capitol of New York is in Albany.

This is a beautiful building inside and out.  We took a docent led tour.  This was to be the last day the Legislature was in session.  Three significant and contentious bills remain; rent control, property tax cap and same sex marriage.  Advocates for both sides of the same sex marriage issue lined either side of several hallways outside the doors of the Assembly and Senate Chamber.
This staircase below also known as the Million Dollar Staircase, took over 14 year to complete.

Million Dollar Staircase - Albany State Capitol

Beautiful carvings of the famous and not so famous adorn the staircase.

Abraham Lincoln

We sat in during a session of the Senate.  The Assembly was being "called" when we walked into that room.  Note the empty chairs.

Assembly - Albany State Capitol

Assembly - Albany State Capitol

Here's the boat sitting at the free dock.

Aloha Friday - Albany "free" dock

We headed back to the Albany Yacht Club to take a slip and have dinner with my second cousin, Jaclyn Kennek.  Jaclyn is a recent graduate of the State University of New York at Albany - she picked up her master's degree this past year.

Nancy and Jaclyn Kennek

21 June 2011 Albany, NY to Waterford, NY

Before leaving the Yacht Club we met folks on another Defever.  Rick & Diane Jarchow are on TOUCAN, traveling from Ft Lauderdale, FL.

We left Albany, passing through Troy headed to Waterford.  Take a look at this gorgeous classic steamboat we passed.

Classic steamboat

The Federal Lock at Troy is the first lock on the Hudson River and marks the end of tidal waters.  Its the gateway to Lake Champlain and the Erie & Oswego Canals.  After we exited the lock, I spotted several deer on the edges of Peebles Island.

Deer Feeding - Peebles Island

 Three miles later a left turn off the Hudson takes us toward the Erie Canal and our next stop - Waterford.  The docks were pretty full.  We lucked out.  A Krogen pulled out and we pulled in.

Here's a google map overview of Waterford.  You can see the boats and the first lock, Lock 2.

View Larger Map


22 June 2011  Waterford, NY
We've had wonderful weather almost our entire trip.  That changed today - it rained off and on all day.
We celebrated our 27th wedding anniversary with dinner at McGreevey's. 

23 June 2011  Waterford to Guy Park, Amsterdam, NY
Lots of debris in the waterway from the heavy rains.  Here's a run down of the locks and how many feet we were lifted up at each lock.
Lock 2 - 34'
Lock 3 - 35'
Lock 4 - 35'
Lock 5 - 33'
Lock 6 - 33'
Lock 7 - 27'
Lock 8 - 14'
Lock 9 - 15'
Lock 10 - 15'
Lock 11 - 12'

We traveled 38 miles.  The locks have ropes, cables or pipes on the lock walls.  When you decide where you want to be in the lock, you pull alongside the wall and put a line around the cable or pipe and tie it amidships on the boat.  If there are only ropes, it becomes a two person job.  You have to have fenders out so the boat is insulated from the lock wall.

Here's a photo of TOUCAN and its crew coming into a lock.  The ropes are hanging down the length of the wall; you can see the blue/white float attached at the top of the line.  The cables or pipes are recessed in the lock wall.  Diane is pulling a line around the cable/pipe and bringing it through an amidships cleat to secure it.

TOUCAN - DF 49

Here's Ted tending a rope in another lock.  Note how close the rail of the boat is to the wall.  As the lock chamber is filled from the bottom of the lock you get a bit of motion in the water which causes the boat to move forward and backward and sometimes away from the wall.

Ted - Lock 17

Since we made this trip before, we're not doing as much rubber necking as we did the last time.  We took 3 weeks to do the Erie & Oswego the first time.  We'll do it in no more than 10 days this time.  We tied up above Lock 11 alongside a park.  The railroad tracks are also close by.  Note that after we and TOUCAN tied up, INDIAN SUMMER, a Defever 44 from Annapolis also joined us.  We're in the middle.

TOUCAN, ALOHA FRIDAY, INDIAN SUMMER (l-r)

24 June 2011  Amsterdam to Canajoharie, NY

Walked into town to try breakfast at a locals place.  No belgian waffles but the pancakes were good and massive.  One would have been fine.  Everyone got underway headed for Little Falls, NY.  We stopped short of Little Falls so Ted could check the bottom of the bottom.  I'd casually commented that I could feel the vibrations from the freight train that went by when I was sitting in the stateroom.  We stopped at the free dock in Canajoharie, NY just below Lock 14.   Ted got into the water and discovered that the port propeller had 2 areas that were curved over.  He spent about 20 minutes with a hammer trying to pound it out.  We figured when we got underway tomorrow he'd determine whether the remaining vibration was serious enough to warrant pulling the boat out of the water to have the prop repaired.  In the meantime we got word from our friends on TOUCAN that dockage was not available at Little Falls since the "steamboat flotilla" was moored there.  Additionally Locks 12-15 were shut down due to rising water levels.   Later that day we set out to find a nice restaurant to celebrate Ted's birthday.  That turned out to be more of a challenge than one would think.  We had a nice dinner at Mercato's - the owner makes the breads and dressings herself.

Can't forget to mention the trains.  Two tracks were across the canal from us.  It was almost a continuous stream of traffic during the daylight hours - obviously a major corridor for train traffic.  Fortunately it wasn't as busy at night.

25 June 20011  Canajoharie, NY
Locks still closed.  Lots of debris coming down.  Checked out the local ACE Hardware store, Dollar Store, etc.  Are we bored or what?  Spent a lot of time relaxing and reading on the boat in between all the passing rainstorms.  Later that day we walked up to the Lock to see if there was any news about re-opening.  The place was shut up tighter than a drum.


26 June 2011  Canajoharie to Rome, NY
About 0900 the Canal Authority re-opened the locks.  Off we go!

We passed a small cruise ship as we waited to enter Lock 15.

Grand Mariner - small cruise ship

Approaching Lock 15

Dam - Lock 15

Enroute we passed the steamboat flotilla - what a sight.  Here's a few of them.  They are enroute to Waterford, NY stopping along the way.

Steamboat LAMPLIGHTER QUEEN

Steamboat FLYING CLOUD (first), PHOENIX (third)

Trailing the pack, was the Canal tugboat URGER.  She's 110 years old.  The tug Urger is the oldest state vessel operating on New York's waterways. It now functions as a floating museum and a classroom for schoolchildren.

Tug URGER

 The "mother" of all locks on the Erie Canal is Lock 17 with a 40' lift.  There are only ropes in this lock.

Approaching Lock 17

Inside Lock 17 - Sill at far end

You pass through Little Falls after you exit the lock.

Seven locks later and 55 miles we tied up in Rome, NY.  Our friends on TOUCAN were already moored.

27 June 2011  Rome to Brewerton, NY
We both got underway in light fog headed for the first lock.  We've passed the highest point on the Erie Canal (420' above sea level) so from now on we'll be going down in all the locks.  Had a beautiful day to cross Lake Oneida.  We've stopped at Winter Harbor marina for 2 days to pick up mail, provisions, etc.

29 June 2011  Brewerton to Oswego, NY
Seven locks today accounted for a total drop of 114'.  Lock 7 is on restricted hours due to some serious cracks in the walls housing the lock mechanisms.  We were held up at Lock 6 while they were doing maintenance but were told that Lock 7 would wait for us.  As we pulled into Lock 7 we were greeted by Susan & Danny Godin whom we met last in 2009 in the North Channel in Canada.  Here's the two boats ahead of us leaving the lock.  Note the bridge we passed under after we leave the lock.

Lock 7 - MONSTRUCK and POTEST FIERI exit lock

POTEST FIERI (Nordic Tug) exiting Lock 7

At this point we're one lock away (about 300 yards) from Lake Ontario.  We'll wait here for a day or so for a good weather window to make the crossing.