The Erie wins!! Rumor around the docks at Waterford, are that the Canal will open on Thursday, 18 July at 8:00. We decided to gamble and wait it out. There are a lot of other boats here waiting and misery loves company. If it opens on schedule, we will have only had to wait 1 week. There are others here that can’t get down to the 17 ft height required for the Champlain Canal, and can’t get through the Erie Canal because it’s closed. Some have been here over 40 days. They are even trying to get one of them to run for Mayor. Too bad he’s Canadian, so I’m sure he wouldn’t qualify.
We did a little sightseeing, a lot of eating out, and tidied up the boat. We found a hardware store next to a McDonalds and visited both.
Historic cemetery dating back to the 1700’s
Wonderful old homes
We utilized the public transit system again here to go to a Walmart to get a prescription filled for Cindy. We didn’t have any luck though. The prescription didn’t have refills listed on it, so they needed to call the physician back home. It’s Friday and the Dr’s office was closed, so we got lunch at a Mexican Restaurant and headed back to the boat.
Troy Brewery mural
The rumor was confirmed on Monday through a Notice to Mariners that the scheduled opening of the canal was to be Thursday morning at 8 AM. We decided that Tuesday would be a good day to leave and make our way to Lock 11. The Canal was open to there and there was a marina to stay at with a Walmart where we could get Cindy’s prescription filled. Who knows, maybe the canal will open a day early. If I were doing it, I would allow an extra day for unforeseen circumstances and then be a hero if I got done early!!
We pulled out of Waterford on Tuesday the 16th. We were ready when Lock 2 opened at 8:00 and started West.
Tour De Loup
The locks have various means for you to attach yourself to the wall during locking. No floating attachments like we were used to on the inland rivers. These had up to 3 different ways to tie; weighted ropes attached to the top of the lock wall that hung down into the water which you needed to hold on to as the boat went up or down, recessed plastic covered steel cables attached top and bottom of the lock wall which you needed to loop a line from your boat around and back to the boat, Or a 4” or so diameter pipe recessed into the wall like the cables. Some had all three others two, usually ropes and something else, and some only had the slimy ropes.
We went through 9 locks the first day. They were usually waiting for us. The lock would call ahead to the next lock and tell them how many boats to expect and the approximate time. If everything was ready, we could get through a lock in 15 minutes! Pretty fast compared to what we were used to on the rivers.
Friends waving goodbye. They let us go first to find the snags.
Tour de Loop holding the lines
First lock through
Cindy holding midship line around pipe
Aqueduct from original canal left of bridge
spillway
Someone’s a hero! The locks opened a day early! We stopped just before Lock 11 at Amsterdam NY. Lock 11 was still closed and was now scheduled to open Wednesday at 8:00, a day early. That meant that we could leave tomorrow morning, except that we need to make the Walmart run for Cindy’s prescription. And we were a day ahead of the crowd!
Greater Amsterdam River Park Marina
Bill and Kathy will be continuing to Buffalo on the Erie, so we said our goodbyes and best wishes.
First thing Wednesday morning we called a taxi to take us to Walmart and back. We pulled out of Amsterdam at 10:30 and headed to lock 11. We would not be the first ones through, but we would be close. Besides, we will let the others get some of the junk out of the way first.
Store fronts old town Amsterdam
The Mohawk River runs through the Erie Canal in Amsterdam which supplied the Mohawk Mills materials used for making carpets and rugs. Several millionaires started their fortune here.
Amsterdam was referred to as “Carpet City”.
From the train tower bridge over the tracks we could see the top of our boat. Now you can see the solar panels Larry has installed.
Today we went through the part of the Canal that had been damaged by the floods. They pretty much had everything cleaned up. The only thing left was to fix the physical damage done to the locks and dams. There was a lot of work going on and you could see a lot of the temporary repairs that had been done so the canal could open. The towns along the canal had been complaining that a lot of their revenue had been cut off with the closing and were wanting it opened. The canal authority worked continuously to get it open as fast as they could. At times the rain would set them back and they would have to start over. Quite a mess, but we have seen it before when the Mississippi flooded back home.
Work barges
Debris piles along the way
Repairs still ongoing
Buoy tender
The worst damage was locks 12-17
Sorted piles of wood debris
The original plan was to take advantage of the free docking at some of the locks and small towns. The heat has been oppressive! The only way to sleep is with air conditioning and for that we need power, and that usually comes from a marina. So Thursday night we got a place at the marina in St Johnsville. The policeman that helped tie up the boat at the marina said that we had to walk to town and get Pizza at the local Pizza place and then walk on down to Stewarts for Ice Cream. So we did! He also commented that it was great to see boats coming through again and stopping at the marina.
Creative yard art down town
Fire bell used from 1890-1944
There was a lot of dredging going on and we had to negotiate our way thru the working boats. They were very cordial and stopped work when they could to let us pass. I’m sure there was a lot of overtime being paid for. Our little $50 pass to use the canal couldn’t have gone very far.
The next morning we filled with water and were gone by 9:00. Because of the dredges and no wake zones we only went 27 miles and 4 locks today. We found a place to tie up at a restaurant, Aqua-Vino in Utica NY. They had power and the wall where we tied up was literally feet from the dock. All for $1.00 a foot. Cindy had a big salad and I had an excellent Steak.
Dredging
A guard gate will close off water flow to the lock
Once past lock 17 we felt at ease. No further lock repairs were needed.
water tower
All the lock master buildings were interesting. “18 Erie Canal” is on the life ring.
The next stop would take us to Brewerton NY. But first we had to cross the length of Lake Oneida. Of course the wind was out of the west and blowing quite hard. That meant the waves on the east end of the lake were pretty big. I was beginning to wonder if we made the right choice when we saw all of the sailboats docked at the east end of the lake. They usually like wind and waves. We started out with probably 2-3 ft waves directly on the bow. About half way, they subsided to 1-2 ft, even better.
Lock 21 has a little master house
I especially enjoy the landscaping along the water ways.
Beyond the bridge is Lake Oneida.
Northern Spirit waved as we went by.
Oh Boy, more 2-3 footers. You can see the waves over the break wall, fun.
We stayed 2 nights in Brewerton. They had a courtesy car and we needed to run some errands. Two of our fenders (bumpers) leaked and would not hold air. Supposedly they had a lifetime guarantee by the manufacturer. They were also sold by West Marine and we were told that they would honor the warranty. I also had a West Marine pushpole that wouldn’t extend. We took them all to West Marine and walked out with new items at no cost!!! I even bought a few things I didn’t really need, just to show my appreciation.
Leslie at the marina gave a new definition to the term “container gardening”. She had varieties of tomatoes, sweet and hot peppers and bunches of herbs.
Grommet, the dock cat loved attention from the boaters. There was a note to check before leaving the marina, that he wasn’t stowed away.
We rode out a real bad storm while we were there. Tornado warnings and all. Tied to a dock is the way to do that. So far when bad weather has arrived, we have been in a marina and not anchored, except for one evening on the Tenn-Tom when the wind did move us around a bit at anchor and kept us awake.
I also took the opportunity in between rainstorms to put the 1 foot extension back under the Radar so it would be more reliable in the rain and fog if we needed it.
We had to unparallel park to get under way. “Knot so Fast” and “Great Laker” were dry storing here to return in spring. Mike from “How Lucky Again” came to say hi and wished us well.
We left Brewerton on Sunday morning headed for the final lock on the Erie Canal. At least it was the final lock for us. The Canal continued on to the west to Buffalo, but the boat would need to be able to go under 15’ to do that. We could only get down to 15’ 10 with the Radar lowered, so we were committed to go north through the Oswego Canal to Lake Ontario.
We went through the last lock on the Erie and turned north on the Oswego river and 7 more locks until we reached the marina at Oswego.
Armstrong Cork Company
Heading out into Lake Ontario
After spending the night there, we headed off across Lake Ontario. 50 miles across the lake, about the same as our crossing to Bimini. Only this time the waves were worse than in the Atlantic. The weather reports called for 2 ft waves decreasing to a foot or less as the day went on. We should have known better. The predictions had been the same for the day before and they said that even the fishing boats had not gone out!
We started out in the predicted 2 ft waves coming from off the bow, not bad. As the day went on and we got to the middle, the waves picked up to better that 3-4 and the wind switched around to the east, which meant that we were now taking the waves on the beam. Things fell over in the boat that had not moved before. When we got closer to Canada, I turned more into them to make the ride better even though it added a few miles. When we got closer to shore, I turned back to a heading that followed the shore and took us to Collins Bay, our destination for the day.
We were now in contact with Barefootn and Seaglide. We had beaten them to Kingston. They were to arrive the next day. Maybe we could surprise them!!
