Steamboats-Debris-docking on lock wall

Coming out of a lock we saw a dozen of these small steamboats waiting to lock down

They are heading to Waterford visitors center for a steam boaters weekend for the 4th

Here is the Great Grand Daddy of Steamers.   110 year old steam tug Urger leads the flotilla,  flagship of the New York State canal system.

Some of the larger debris, you really need to stay alert! It could really ruin your day.

Inconceivable, Sunset2 and SweetPea waiting on Lock 19 to open the gates, it took some time as the lock master was trying to get some major debris out of the lock.

The New York Canal workers are trying to keep up with the removal.

 Inconceivable and SweetPea on the lock wall for the night.

 Heading into the largest single lift 40' with only ropes to hold onto it was work to keep the boat on the wall.

Its a tough job but someone has to do it.  The locks with a pipe or cable are the easiest, the captain enters the chamber and I wrap a line around the pipe, (in this one) and you enjoy the ride up in this case.  Having a line wrapped on a pipe keeps the boat on the wall as there are other boats in the lock with you just hold on and let line out as you reach the top.

You never know what you will see when you reach the top.  It is usually a visitors center or park where people come and watch the boats locking though.  The grounds are very well kept and some have beautiful historical buildings with picnic tables.  Some have walls before or after for you to tie up to and many you can spend the night if you wish too.  FREE no power or water but that is what the generator is for, the lock masters are very helpful and friendly.

Little Falls to Sylvan Beach on Lake Oneida

June 28th

What a Longggggg day, it was one of those days that everything seems difficult nothing major its the little stuff.  But, we survived, yesterday the locks seemed to be easy, today they were more work, not that there was wind or rain but the current seemed to reek havoc today.  We thought maybe it was just us having an off day and surely that may have been part of it.  But when we FINALLY reached our destination for the day we asked Inconceivable (who we have been following ) how it went for them, they agreed it was a lonnngggg day, and the current along with the rope only locks (no cable or pipe) were tougher today.  We travel through 7 more locks the last one of the day was the largest single lift on the Erie canal 40'. in all,  lo we were lifted 105' total for the day.  Directly after that we were at our destination for the evening Little Falls.  We ordered up a pizza, ate in and called it a night.

Wed. June 29th

We traveled through only 3 locks today and were lifted a total of 57', we docked early today as the marina we are spending the night in tomorrow will not have room for us until then, tonight we are docked on a free wall at lock 21.  We are now at the highest point on the Erie and tomorrow when we lock we will be locking down for the first time.

Thursday June 30th

Wow locking down is much easier and it was a very short day it took us only 2hours and 2 locks lowering us 50' total for the day, to get to our marina for the night.  We are now at Sylvan Beach (mariners) it is located at the mouth of Lake Oneida.  We had hoped to spend the 4th of July weekend here but they are booked up.  NautiNell is here as well as 3 other loop boats.  Inconceivable ended up at the Free Dock where they can stay for the weekend.  Since they have small children aboard this is a nice place for a few days.  There is a nice beach, an amusement park 100' away from the free dock along with 3 or 4 restaurants and bars.  Just down the street is town with more restaurants and stores, its a nice little town a real throwback in time, very 1960's like. 

As it turned out Jim managed to sweet talk a slip for the weekend for us,  we are back in a cove with much smaller boats,  we kind of stick out like a sore thumb here, and the entry was so skinny that we brushed trees to get in.  Quite the sight,  we are bow in and the bow it just resting on the sand but we have 4.5 feet of water under us.  Mariners Landing is a marina/campground since we are in the cove we are with the seasonal campers a friendly bunch too.  So, here we are until Tuesday morning along with NautiNell, fireworks are planned for Monday along with a antique car show and other activities planned as well.

I will post pictures when I can get them off Jims computer,  we downloaded all the pictures onto his Apple then shortly after it decided not to work.

Let the locking begin! Erie Canal here we come.

We entered our 1st lock on the Erie Lock#2 at 7:40 this morning it was a 34' lift,  This series of locks are called the "Waterford Flight " the flight features five locks where vessels are lifted or lowered the greatest height in the shortest distance of any canal in the world.  The flight lifted us a total of 169' in elevation in less than 2 miles and it took just under 2 hours.

Entering lock#2 our first lock on the Erie Canal.  This is Inconceivable up ahead of us, Loopers from Richmond,VA they are the Fallon family, homeschooling their children along the way ages 101/2 and 91/2.  What a great adventure for them!  They should ace US History.

This is part of the Waterford Flight Lock #3 I believe.

This is the view looking back after being lifted.

Lock #7 This is one of the many reasons your boat needs to fit certain height requirements to do the Great American Loop.  Ok you go first,Yup! they fit, and they are a bit taller than us.

The scenery is very beautiful.

Coming up to the next Lock, 8 (I think)....... Wall of water.

Today we traveled 9 locks with a total lift of 240'.  We decided to call it a day when we hit Amsterdam NY.  Tomorrow we hope to get to Little Falls NY.

Farmers market Waterford/Erie Locks open again

Just passing time waiting on the locks to open back up and they have as of this morning.  We hope to leave here tomorrow morning. 
Today was the farmers market on the riverfront with some very good entertainment just 40' away,  I picked up some veggies and of course fudge for Capt. Sweet Tooth.

 Sunday's farmers Market on the Riverfront,  small but nice.

 This was the entertainment he was really good.

I have been posting pictures of Boat dogs but some have boat kitty's yes..on a leash

The locks are open again we will be leaving here in the morning.

Still on the Waterford FREE dock Locks 11-14 closed!

We were originally planning to leave here yesterday but we decided to stay as it was suppose to be the worst of the next 2 days ie gusty winds and rain but of course it was actually pretty nice.  All the other loop boats left so Jim decided to disconnect the black water tanks (2) and cap them off so they can''t be discharged overboard now.  Not that we have ever done that, but in order to enter Canada this needs to be done or face a $500 fine per head.  Jim got one of them done but the hardware store was sold out of the proper fittings that he needed,  must of been the rush the store got when 5 other looper boats discovered this issue and capped theirs.  We had thought this only had to be done on Lake Champlain but we were wrong so the rush was on for everyone at the hardware store.  It will be a week or more before we enter Canada so he still has time to do the other one. 

Here's NautiNell entering the Lock #2 along with Seamoore and the others

Notice how much wall is along side of them (how low they sit)

Here is NautiNell fully lifted in the lock you can see them over the top its a 34' lift

this is the lock filled, the first picture is the lock lowered

This is taken from the lock looking down at the visitors center with SweetPea in the center

This is the other side of the lock when you come out.

Downtown Waterford

Another picture of the riverfront at Waterford.

Again we were planning on leaving Waterford and start locking through the Erie BUT we got an e-mail from NautiNell minutes before leaving that they were at lock number 8 and the lockmaster there told them all, that the next locks were being shut down due to flooding up stream.  It is not known how long they will be closed, its a day to day thing right now.  When we heard this Jim decided to go and talk to the lockmaster at lock 2 and see what he had to say, funny Jim was telling him something he had not heard but made calls to indeed confirm that locks 11-14 were closed for passage.  He suggested we stay where we are as we have all the services water, electric, wifi, showers and easy access to the towns restaurants and shopping.  And just in case I haven't mentioned its FREE!  So here we sit.

The boats up ahead of us will keep us informed of the situation ahead and any new developments. 

As I was writing this a boat came out of the lock and they said the current and the amount of debris in the locks today was unbelievable.  And to stay put till it settles down some.  Exactly what we plan to do.

Kingston NY to Waterford NY

June 21st and 22nd

We are now in Waterford which means we are now on the entryway to the Erie Canal.  We did our first lock in Troy and then landed on our first FREE dock at the visitors center.  We knew when we left this morning that NautiNell would be here along with several other loop boats.  We will now get ready to start our locking loop adventure on the Erie canal system..  When we arrived there was no room for us on the dock so we are now rafted up with NautiNell.

This is the lighthouse at the entry of Catskill

And this one is in the town of Hudson, I love the Lights on the Hudson River

This beautiful boat is having their masts stepped (taking them down) so they can travel the canal system as there is many low bridges.  Some of the sail boats will lay their mast down across the boat and travel with them, some will ship them to somewhere else to be put back up after they clear the bridges.

This is the first of ALOT of locks we will be going through, this one is in Troy NY it has a 14' lift. You pull into the lock and wrap your line around the pipe  that is built into the wall (mid ship) and hold on to it as the water rushes into the chamber it creates a wave, you can swing a fair amount. as it raises you up.  Be sure you have plenty of fenders on the wall,  we had 2 set at water level and 2 set at the rub rail.

Jim holding the line in the lock as it is lifting us.

Right out of the lock 2 miles on the left is Waterford Welcome Center FREE dock there is 1000' of floating dock and 600' of wall.  Take a right at this sign for the FREE <---(I love this word) dock.

This is SweetPea right in front of the 1st Erie Canal Lock which is actually Lock 2

We will remain here for a couple of days as it is FREE and water and electric included.  Once we head out we will enter the Erie canal, in the next week or so we will travel though 22 locks which will lift us a total of 437'.

Croton to Haverstraw to Kingston NY

Monday June 20th

Today was a later than expected start as we needed to return the rental car, get a pump out and to fuel up.  SO... we traveled over to Haverstraw Marina once everything was done we didn't get off their dock until almost 11am. The trip today perfect travel weather, we just needed to keep a close eye out for wood or sometimes logs coming down stream.

We are now docked at Kingston Marina right in downtown, what a great stop everything you need is right off the dock.  Or you can grab a bus or trolley to the big stores, we would most definitely stop here again to spend sometime.  We will however be leaving here tomorrow morning as we are hoping to catch up with NautiNell and some other loopers to travel west through the many locks in the Erie canal.

West Point

West Point is massive!

 The ruins of Bannermans Castle

 Another cool lighthouse, NY has really interesting lights

Rondout Lighthouse

Kingston NY marina located in downtown what a great stop.

Downtown Kingston

Oh!  Jim says hello