Days 9 and 10

Day 9 proved to be much longer than anticipated.  We set out for Sylvan Beach but debated if we should continue on to Brewerton.  Lots of dredging along the way.

Fearless Captain, ready for anything!

In Brewerton we could have the props and shafts checked from our grounding in Fort Edward Yacht Basin.  Phone calls were made and Tom at Winter Harbor Marina said they would gladly help us.

We arrived at Sylvan Beach around 2:15.  Based on the condition of the wind and waves on Oneida Lake we could head for Winter Harbor or wait the night on the Sylvan Beach free wall.  Conditions were favorable so we headed out on the lake.  

2.5 hours later we docked at Winter Harbor on the Oneida River.  Long 8.5 hour travel day.  You can be sure after getting up at 6am we were in bed by 9:30!

We can't say enough good about Winter Harbor Marina and their staff.  We were met by dock hand Griffin who was so polite and helpful.  He was anxious to help us get settled and gave us a tour around the facility.  Beautiful grounds, pavilion, bath house, and laundry all catering to the boater.  

Cheapest fuel so far -- $5.99 per gallon!!

Gardens with veggies and herbs at the fuel dock- - help yourself!!

Day 10 -- 8:30am our boat was hauled.  Tom Pirro, John and their staff were friendly, efficient, knowledgeable, professional and very customer oriented.  We couldn't have asked for better service.  Our props were definitely damaged.  Shafts were not bent but were turning hard.  Shafts were misaligned.   We took advantage of the FREE LOANER CAR and went to Walmart, Wegman's and the ATM.  Awesome service.

By 2:30 repairs were complete and we were getting ready for company!!  

Alyssa, Jakob, Gabe and Zoey came to see us bearing goodies!  Fruit, bagels, cheese, crackers, chips, salsa, MAPLE cookies and WINE...  We had a great visit.  It was nice to see family.

Tomorrow we will leave the Oneida River and travel the Oswego canal, 8 locks and 26 miles.  

Day 8

We spent a very pleasant afternoon yesterday visiting with Janet and Russ and hearing the boating adventures of Gold Loopers Deb and Mike on their 42 foot Grand Banks Europa, Carousel.  Beautiful boat.  They finished their 1st loop in 2016.  Now they seem to be concentrating their time on specific parts of the Loop. They shared some misadventures too!

Rained very hard overnight bringing welcome relief from the heat of yesterday.  Because of the weather we chose a later start of 09:30, letting the last of the raindrops pass us by.   We saw an eagle but I couldn't get a pic. 

Workboats dredging the canal.

There are SO many trains going by!

It has been pretty breezy all day making the locks a bit harder to do, lots of pulling and tugging on the lines by the wind and us.  This is Tug Bussel in the lock.  Russ is working hard to keep his boat in control.

Safely out of the lock!

Erie Canal version of a cruise ship!

We arrived at Ilion Marina in Ilion NY by 2pm.  Short day but a little stressful.  Once we got settled in we walked into town in search of a hardware store and the local Aldi's.  Mission --milk, a piece of 2x6 lumber and some U bolt clamps.  Boat chore this afternoon was to create a motor mount for the dinghy on the fly deck. Original plan was to store the motor in the hold at the back of the boat. Jerry spied how Russ did his and it may make more sense and be easier on his back.  I  must say that the customers in Aldi's did a double take.  Maybe they were admiring his wood....

Tomorrow our goal will be Sylvan Beach.   39 miles and 4 locks, raising up 37 feet and then lowering us 50ft.  It will be a long day.

Day 6 and 7

The plan was to stay put for the day, enjoying the nice weather (high 80's) and getting a little rest.  That decision changed when we learned that the local water ski school would be practicing right in front of us.  That would mean 4 hours of 2 speed boats with skiers going back and forth causing our boat to rock the whole time.  Not very comfortable or relaxing.  So, the decision was made to move on.  We were less than a mile away from the next lock (E11) so were able to catch up with Grand Wazoo and Bug Tussle joining them in the lock.  

We traveled together through Locks 11-15.  Lots of debris.  I wasn't prepared and missed the best pic of the day -- an Amish horse and buggy tied up under a tree at lock 15. There was even a sign "Tie horse here"!  Must be a common occurrence.  We travelled on to St. Johnsville Marina, a very welcome stop.  Dockmaster Joe is really friendly and helpful.  

The marina consists of a high cement wall with cleats and rings to tie your lines to.  The high wall makes it a bit interesting for me to get on and off the boat.  Let's just say I'm not the most graceful!

This morning we got a taxi and headed off to church at Our Lady of Hope in Fort Plain.  Very friendly, community atmosphere.

Today plans to be a scorcher so we are going to lay low, rest and enjoy some air conditioning.  We topped off the diesel tanks at $6.79 per gallon.  We should be set for a while.  

Not sure yet where we will head to tomorrow.

Day 5

 Today was a LONG day.  Up at 6am, breakfast, in line for the lock opening at 7am.  Erie Canal locks start in Waterford with 5 locks a s a flight that are done together.  We traveled 10 locks for a total of 34.5 miles, finishing at 4pm.  Nine hours total travel time, no stops.  Weather was great with no wind and 80 plus degrees.  We have been lucky so far; rain never came yesterday.

We traveled much of the day with the same boats, all doing some form of the loop.  We are the ""newbies" of the group since this was only day 5.  The others have been traveling for months, starting in Florida and Delaware.  We got to see more parts of the old canal system and pass under the "twin" bridges on Interstate 87 near Albany.

We passed some scullers rowing for charity.  They requested a "toot" from us and Jerry obliged.

We ended our day at Riverlink Park in Amsterdam NY.  Nice municipal park with beautiful docks, power, water, boater showers and a small restaurant.  Cost only $1 per foot, a real bargain.  Did you know that the Erie Canal is 340.7 miles long?  We will only travel on the Erie until we get to the Oswego canal.  

Not sure yet how far we'll go tomorrow.  Today was long and we are tired.........

Day 4

 Okay, true confession, today was a MUCH better day.  We had a rough ending yesterday.  Cruising from the main canal to the Fort Edward Yacht Basin we grounded!!  Terrible thud and boat shook.  Jerry and I had a terrible sinking feeling, but thankfully it wasn't the boat.  We were mid channel with 12 feet of water under us.  Did we hit something or was something wrong with an engine??? Nothing was floating that we could have hit, but possibly a rock??

Thankfully we were only yards away from the wall to tie up.  Once docked Jerry opened the engine compartment and we both continued saying prayers that there wasn't any damage.  Engines seemed okay and there wasn't any water coming in...  No vibrations from a bent prop or shaft either.  

We were counting on St. Brendan to watch over us.

Sleep was limited and we were up at 6am.  We drained our water tanks and moved surplus weight temporarily to the bow of the boat.  We hoped we wouldn't be as low in the water and would avoid hitting anything on the way back to the canal.  We nervously left the dock at 7:07 and slowly, carefully forged ahead.  Nerves eventually calmed and boat behaved.  Our day was officially better. We've been told that there are 2 kinds of boaters on the Loop - those that have grounded and those that are going to!

We traveled from Fort Edward Lock 7 through Lock 1 to Waterford Harbor Docks.  Lots of interesting sites to see.

Nesting Osprey

In case of emergency..........

                                                                                   

                                                           We CAN'T DO 45 mph!!!                                                                                                                                            

Left turn for the ERIE CANAL!!

 Several boats tied at the Waterford Harbor, 6 doing the Loop.  Locks 2-6 (there is no Lock 1) are done as a set and will raise us 167 feet, cover a distance of 2 miles and take 1.5 hours.

Original Erie Canal Lock 2

We will start our Erie Canal journey tomorrow with a goal of making it to Lock 11, 39 miles away.

Day 3

Early day again today with 07:30 am start.  We were through our 1st lock of the day by 08:30 and traveled on to Lock 7 and on to the free municipal wall in Fort Edward.  Many opportunities for me to climb on the summer kitchen to check our clearance under the bridges!    

Jerry pilots the boat at the lower helm when we enter a lock so that he can step out and grab one of the hanging lock lines at the bow of the boat.  My job is to catch a hanging line at the stern.  Once I have snagged a line with a boat hook Jerry guides the boat forward (turns off the boat) and gets one at the bow.  The lock operator closes the lock doors and then raises or lowers the water level, depending on the direction you are traveling.  We just hang on and keep the boat away from the lock wall!

Leaving the lock is another story!  Jerry starts the boat at the lower helm while I keep holding the stern lock line.  Once the boat is started and I make sure we are clear of the lock wall I head to the helm at the fly bridge.  Jerry drives out of the lock and then puts the boat in neutral.  I take control at the upper helm and drive until he comes up from below.  IMAGINE THAT!  It will be a while before I'm courageous enough to drive into the lock or dock...

NO problem with that bridge clearance.  Radar mast and antennas are lowered to give us more space.

Approaching a lock.

 We wear "marriage savers" to communicate when we travel through the locks and dock the boat.  We can't hear each other without them.

Entering a lock.

Real Estate going cheap! 

Fort Edward Yacht Basin Municipal wall.

Check out the welcoming committee!!

Ate here almost 18 years ago, last time we traveled to the Erie Canal!  Just as yummy as we remembered!!

Tomorrow's weather is for rain all day...ugh.  Hope to make it to Mechanicville or Waterford (the beginning of the Erie Canal.  We shall see....

Day 2

 Day 2 started with the promise of overcast skies and the threat of rain, destination Whitehall.  Weather held out, with only a bit of mist, scattered sprinkles and calm seas.  Total travel time of 5.5 hours.  We passed under the Crown Point Bridge, by Fort Ticonderoga and several nesting osprey .

  

 Concerned where we might find diesel fuel when we started on the Champlain Canal we hoped to top off our tanks while still on Lake Champlain.   With no diesel available at Westport Marina we weren't sure how far we would need to travel to find it.  Whitehall Marina, right before the start of the canal at Lock 12, was our opportunity.   Captain and crew of "S.L.O. Dancer" (from Morro Bay, California) caught our lines.  They are looping and headed north to enjoy our beautiful lake and then on to Canada.

Next came the Lock.  We have quite a bit of lock experience but it has been a while.  Piece of cake.  We did a double take after leaving the lock when we realized we needed to lower our mast and antennas to make sure we could safely clear the bridge right in front of us.  I'm glad no one was filming me as I climbed onto the summer kitchen to watch while we passed under.  

We joined 2 other Looper boats tied to the free wall.  Whitehall offers space, free electricity and a beautiful bath house for boats traveling through. We shared info about our travel so far with "Happy Daze Looping" (Alabama), "The Great Life" (Ohio) and "S.L.O. Dancer".  They definitely had more to share than we did!  

Overall, a good day.  

On to Fort Edward on the Champlain Canal tomorrow.