The Erie Canal - 5 days in one blog - Let's get this show on the road!

Vanderbilt Mansion

Poughkeepsie Walking Bridge -
see the little people at the top?

We kicked aside the driftwood and debris that snuggled next to Good Karma and left West Shore Marina around 10am. We kept our eyes peeled for the mansions we saw the day before, the Culinary Institute, Marist College, and the Poughkeepsie Walking Bridge we will walk across next time. We spotted the Episcopal Monastery across from Vanderbilt’s. Did you know Episcopal had monasteries’? I didn’t.

Culinary Institute

Some other fancy house

And another fancy house

We think this is Marist College but not sure

Lots of beautiful lighthouses.

Esopus Meadows Lighthouse 

Saugerties Lighthouse

Now there is something you don't see every day!!

Kind of beat up...

Very pretty up here

Another fancy house

Time for a nap!

Hudson Athens Lighthouse

Hudson NY having a party - we didn't go

Albany Yacht Club

On to Albany for the night. Albany Yacht Club is on the east side of the Hudson in Rennsellaer. Albany is on the west side. Still not much there. The club was nice but kind of down on its heels. The docks were pretty new. Evidently the floods a year ago forced them to install new docks. 

Albany NY

Albany  NY

Albany

Although it was weekend there were only a few people around. The restaurant was close on a Saturday night. We walked up the street for an Italian meal that should have served six. We should have stayed at





the boat. All we did was bicker because we were so tired.

We stopped for lunch at Dinosaur BBQ along the wall in Troy. Not much there though. This will become our frequent comment from now on.

Waterford NY - make a decision

Next morning bright and early we headed off to Waterford NY and the beginning of the Erie Canal.

Waterford NY - the wall marina

Waterford Municipal Marina is a wall. This is a junction. The Hudson River is south, the Champlain Canal is straight ahead, and the Erie Canal is to the left. We turned left.

The wall was about half full when we arrived. I think it can realistically hold only about 20 boats and that is being generous. We met a new looper planning to leave their boat at Brewerton for the winter and resume again in spring. Another nice couple lives on their boat full time based out of Oswego in summer and Fort Myers in winter. They gave us a bunch of tips for the Erie Canal.

Rusty was surprisingly spry as we got off for a walk so we walked a long way, all the way to the lock itself. This is Lock 1. On the other side we stumbled on two brand new Prestige cruisers, 45’ and 55’, just off the freighter from Europe bound for Chicago boat show. The delivery skippers were very late. They rushed through Lock 1 at about 5pm, too late to make Lock 2 that day. So they tied up along the wall in a spot not designed for such big boats, or any boats at all for that matter. They had teeny tiny fenders not designed for these boats. In an effort to secure the boats to the wall they scratched the heck out of the boats, big gouges in the brand new windows and fiberglass at rock wall level.

Finally they reversed course and pulled back through Lock 1 and tied up behind us. They needed a lot of alcohol to recover evidently because the two drunken skippers hooped and hollered well into the night.

Our little floatilla snuck out before
the Prestige team

In the morning we skipped out with the 2 friendly cruisers to get ahead of the Prestige boats but they haunted us through the Erie Canal even until the Welland Canal where we heard all about their efforts to manage the Welland.

The kicker was one of the skippers had a DUI somewhere in his past so he is not allowed into Canada under any circumstances. Not only did they have to hire extra hands to go unbound in the Welland Canal, they had to hire a captain and the DUI captain had to rent a car to travel through the USA to meet up with the Prestige boats in the US. Needless to say they were very late to Chicago!

Kermit checking out a really low bridge before we enter a lock

This lock had a lift gate

 A lot of water runs on the rivers by a lock

cool bridge

The Prestige boys catch up to us then pass us,
thank goodness

Abandoned factory by Amsterdam

this is Amsterdam- Nice marina - not much else

We passed through 23 locks to Lake Oneida in three day, stopping for two nights in Amsterdam NY due to rain then in Utica for 1 night.

Construction continues to rebuild
after flooding this year and H. Sandy
last fall

Lock 13 is near the part that was so messed up this summer

lots of crap in the water

dead boat on the side of the road

see how pretty?

really quiet

Doesn't get prettier than this - in Amsterdam

Amsterdam has a beautiful marina along the Canal wall alongside a pretty park. That is it. We walked through a town that looked like everyone left town suddenly except folks driving through in cars going somewhere else. We saw a group of 4 people dressed in business clothes walking around taking photos and notes. They stopped us because there was no one else to stop. They were hired by the town to give suggestions on how to improve the town. A team did that in Canton Ohio too and it helped but Canton NEVER looked as bad as Amsterdam and Canton has headquarters of two Fortune 500 companies. I am afraid Amsterdam might be hopeless. We only stayed the second day because it rained cats and dogs. If it had only rained cats we would have left.

A looper boat was docked behind us, Allez. It looked deserted, just like the town. It seemed odd to leave any boat in Amsterdam for any length of time. Later that evening Helen and Bob appeared. They are on the loop too intending to leave their boat in Brewerton at Winter Harbor at the end of September so they are not in any hurry.

US 90 - we could pick up a car and
be home in 5 hours, 6 tops

I think this is Utica

Everyone does the loop in a different way. Allez rents a car and drives ahead to check out water conditions, locks, and marinas. We think that is silly. But then again they are seeing more of the sites that we elected to skip as we run through the Erie Canal.

We left Amsterdam intending to stop in Little Falls or Ilion to see the Remington Gun Factory tour. When we came upon these dead towns we just kept going. Weather was chilly and gray.

Rusty wants to get to dry land

We stopped for the night at Utica at a port side wall dock next to a restaurant. We did 10 locks in 1 day and we were tired. Unfortunately the docks had no electric or water and we needed both. So we put on the generator to semi-charge our electronics and went to a nice dinner at Aqua Vino. Then bed. The chilly weather meant good sleeping with the windows open – a good night.

Lake Oneida, duh

Crossing Lake Oneida; it looks like
a lake

The next day we did 10 more locks and crossed Lake Oneida to Winter Harbor in Brewerton. More dead towns. Not much to see. Lake Oneida is very pretty. We had good karma crossing. The wind was out of the west so we were nervous but it was a gentle breeze. The water was about 1’ waves, not bad at all. We crossed at a leisurely 10 mph. I made Kermit take a nap. He is coming down with something plus all these locks are very stressful. Not hard but stressful to make sure everything works perfectly every time.

Really friendly

Lockmasters are really friendly

Lockmaster hanging out

A few words about these locks. The Eerie Canal locks 1 through 23 are run by the NY Erie Canal Lock System. Each lock has one lockmaster that is responsible for all aspects of the lock from equipment maintenance to painting and mowing the lawn. One time we called the lock and the lockmaster said, “Just a second. I am mowing the lawn and need to get to the controls.” The locks are painted deep blue and bright yellow with everything carefully stenciled. It had a little “Michigan” feel to it. The friendly lockmasters will chat with you at the top. They proudly talk about maintaining pumps and motors that still have “Edison Company” on them. This equipment is over 100 years old and only runs thanks to the lockmasters’ dedication and ingenuity.

Katherine tending her lines

These locks are not as tall and not as long as the locks we experienced on the rivers last fall. They are cute and quaint. Our jobs are different here too. As you enter the lock I grab on to one of the lines hanging from the top, weight with chunks of metal to kept he line headed home. It is yucky work. The lines are wet and scummy from sitting for long period in the canal water. I hang on to a front line and Kermit turns off the engines and catches the back line. Then we hold on for dear life as the water goes up. We must go up because we are headed to the Great Lakes which are higher about sea level.

This is Kermit's view of a lock

A few locks have metal cables you can slip a line around and hand on to as the boat goes up or down. Only a few of those. No one has floating bollards like that have on the inland rivers. Of course not. These locks are over 100 years old and that innovation came about in the TVA era around the 1930s.

Little falls is the tallest lock on the Erie Canal. We go up there then we go down until Brewerton where we go up again.

Brewerton is home of Winter Harbor Marina, a big looper supporter. Kermit has been wearing their t-shirt since the rendezvous in October. It is much smaller than we thought it would be with only about 40s but 2 huge buildings for winter storage. We used the courtesy car to buy provisions.

Winter Harbor Marina - the trees are already changing color

Brewerton NY - very pretty

This really huge 65’ Tiara was on the hard with no props or shafts. Kermit asked what happened. They hit a car. Huh? Yup. Around here teenagers think it is great fun to drive old cars off the side into the water. The Tiara hit a car in the channel and did a world of damage. Someone needs a new hobby. Imagine calling Boat US with that claim!

For the last week Kermit has been concerned that too much water dripped from the shaft so we arranged to have Winter Harbor take a look. The mechanics came on board at 8am, tightened both stuffing boxes and we were on the road at 10:30am! Great service and nice people in a well maintained marina.

Brewerton is not as dead as the other towns we passed. In fact it is downright cheery with people who seem to be gainfully employed – a nice change.

Lock 20 is right after Brewerton, the last lock on this portion of the Erie Canal. Now we are on the Oswego Canal. There are 8 locks on this canal. Lockmasters were not as friendly as the Erie folks but we got through smoothly in 1 day to Oswego.

We see more people now, even a skier or two!

If you are keeping track we ran through the locks like this:

Day 1 Waterford to Amsterdam

Day 2 rain delay in Amsterdam

Day 3 Utica

Day 4 Brewerton

Day 5 Oswego

We made great time. We originally allocated 7 travel days and made it in 4 travel days, 5 days total.

We stayed at Oswego Marina in the East side of the inlet. We should have gone a little further to the other two marinas. This marina is beat to heck and the help is not helpful. The electric didn’t’ work well. We only plugged in 1 side so we could charge the electronics. It was cool enough that we slip with windows open and no AC.

Pool coming up after they add water
from upstream

The last lock in Oswego they were adding water to the lower
pool - isn't that cool? Sirens went off like a tornado. 

Oswego, finally!

If I squint I can see the big water

Yup, there it is... Lake Ontario

A few old buildings have been remodeled into nice looking shops and restaurants. We walked over to a nice meal at a restaurant overlooking the river then to bed. We were exhausted. No time for more observations Just bed.

Next: Lake Ontario and Toronto then Welland Canal.