Keeping up...

It's harder to keep up this blog than I imagined it would...
Here we are almost a month into this trip and I'm not sure where the time has gone.  The last blog had us at Little Falls on the Erie Canal, which we left the next morning.

Exiting the lock

The next lock we came through was quite spectacular in that the end gates actually lift up instead of opening like doors as all the others do and we drove out from under them.  Of course it drips all over you, but its neat just the same.


Locks can be very interesting to go through.  We had to be ready to hang on to the rope or cable or pole hanging down the wall of the lock and you never know until you see who's going in with you which side you'll get to grab on to.  Work gloves are a must, as its mucky on the walls and a rope too on each corner of the boat.  It's best to keep the boat off the wall if you can, though going up in a lock isn't so easy as it can get quite turbulent inside. Going down is much easier the turbulence is nearly non existent.  We were lucky in that we rarely had anyone in a lock with us, so we just kept on the same side all the time. Most of the time it was for the shade you can get from the wall going down in the lock, it was still hot out.

Dam for the over flow of the river

The Lockmasters are all very kind and offer little tidbits as you go along, most are very chatty.  The best bits we got about the second lock from the last... go figure.



So after several more days of going through locks, we went through 30 of them, we got to downtown Waterford, NY  We were glad to be done that part, and we got there before the forecast thunderstorms, that didn't happen.

The last four locks were in what's called the Waterford flight.  They are all within half a mile at the most from each other and they are the biggest drops of them all, averaging 33 feet. It's kind of a big sigh of relief to get there, there's now only one federal lock to go through at Troy and then downstream a bit to where our mast will be put back up.

 In Waterford though, we walked on the bridge over the Hudson River to get groceries.  The store allows boaters to take their grocery carts back to the visitors centre where our boat is. The thing is that you have to tell them that's what you're doing... The store parking lot has an electronic line around the perimeter that causes one wheel to lock up if you cross it.  Well, yup our cart locked, so we had to find someone to get it unlocked so we can carry on to our boat with our goodies.


The dock where we're tied up here has a model of the new york state canal system inbedded into their brick walkway and labeled so you can see where you've been.  You can see the beginnings in this picture, from Lake Erie as it wiggles its way along the walk.  The light coloured brick is the canal.  It ends in NYC at the far end by the bridge in the background.



A few of the people that we've met along the canal have arrived here either before us, or came in that day.  We have met some very nice people, Bob and Ingrid, Tom and Louise, Dan and Paula to name some.  Steve and Lise from our marina at 50 Point caught up to us that day too.  They started several days on this adventure behind us and got the Waterford the same day as us.  They were moving faster and for longer days than we did.
Waterford isn't a big place, so we headed out the next day towards our mast at Hoponose.  We, and Bob and Ingrid got through the last lock, the Troy Federal Lock, the biggest and with the least to hang on to, without incident.

Passed by Albany and large ships, that can catch up to you in a hurry.  The Hudson River isn't as busy as we expected it to be, albeit there was a couple huge ships we came across, and a couple tugs with their barges, but nothing like we expected.  We could go miles with no one around us on the water but birds.

Finally at Hoponose, and we are reunited with our mast.  These four strappin' lads carried it like it was nothing.
We spent time cleaning our poor boat from the canal ordeal of slime and muck.  She's much prettier now.  While we were there, in one day at least 7 masts were put back on.


Back on the Hudson heading south, we were again passed by this big ship, the wake they put out is huge.  We had to pull a u turn to hit the wake so it wouldn't really give us a roll.

A couple tugs went by, this one without a barge, other pushed the barge in front of them.
The next day we went as far as Kingston, again the weather was supposed to be turning ugly with thunderstorms for a couple days.

We docked in front of the Hudson River Maritime Museum and stayed for two nights.

This old trolley has been rejuvenated and runs on a short track in front of the museum.  The one in Nelson is a better deal...

Our cute little boat on Rondout Creek

The museum is very good, showing how the river has been used over the centuries.  Kingston itself was burned to the ground by the British in the late 1700's but not for lack of trying by the locals to keep them out.  They strung a cable across the river to try and stop the big British ships, to no avail.

Our boat is first behind the big one up front

Bob and Ingrid stopped here too, as a place to hunker down during the supposed storms.  The storms kept getting pushed back, but finally last night one rolled through - OMG there was one good bolt that was very near us.  I did a little leap.  Neither of our boats got hit, but it did hit not far away.  A little nerve wracking with a 48 foot metal pole sticking up.

We have left Kingston today, passed this lighthouse at the entrance to the Kingston harbour.  It had been manned for over a hundred years before it was automated..





Further down the Hudson we passed by West Point military academy.  We had thought about stopping in, but their docks were somewhat sketchy for tying up to, so we carried on to Haverstraw Bay and Croton-on-the-Hudson.





This was the sunset tonight, red sky at night......  Tomorrow we will be into New York City, either from here and go in by train or we will moor at the 79th Street Boat basin in downtown Manhattan.

Thanks for following along,.... til next blog.