Waterford, NY to Erie Canal Lock #8 Lock Wall

Day                 10
Depart             Waterford Visitors Center, NY  9:20 am
Arrive              Erie Canal Lock #8 Lock Wall, NY 3:00 pm
Distance            20 Miles
Cumulative      304 Miles

 NOTE - Double click on a picture for a larger view


We had stayed two days at Waterford, so no post yesterday.  We used the time to do "chores", grocery shopping and laundry.  The local grocery store allows you to take the grocery cart back to the Visitor's Center, a distance of approximately 3/4 of a mile.  What a weird, strange feeling walking along the town streets, pushing a grocery cart with your day's shopping!!

Back to the boat with the groceries!

Today, July 8th, we will travel the "Waterford Flight of 5".  This includes locks E-2, E-3, E-4, E-5, E-6 Guard Gate 1 and Guard Gate 2.  This set of 5 locks provides a total lift of about 170 feet in less than 2 miles.  The first lock of the day was not without incident!  As we entered the lock we made sure all the fenders were in place and the midship line was attached to the cleat.  Lynda secured the boat to the cable on the lock wall and went to the stern and grabbed the line that was hanging down from the top of the wall.  All of a sudden Bob exclaimed "Oh #?$!, get the boat hook!"  One of the new ball type fenders had come loose and fallen into the water.  No problem, we were able to retrieve the fender and continue to be lifted up in the lock without further incident.  We do learn from our mistakes; the fenders are not only attached with the fender straps, but are now also tied to the rail!

Entering Lock 4, looks like it has a bit of a leak!

Lock 4 took us up 34.5 feet

Leaving Lock 4 and Lock 5 is up next

Lynda holding the stern on the lock wall

We continued on through Locks E-6, E-7 and E-8.  We will spend the night at the lock wall at E-8 (FREE!!).  No electric or water, but we have the generator so we can cook dinner and the inverter so we can watch a bit of television.  Life is good!

Here are some pictures of scenery along the Mohawk River.

This is like the canal boat we rented approx. 14 years ago!

Rain storm while docked at Lock 8

Coeymans, NY to Waterford, NY

Day                 8
Depart             Coeymans, NY 7:30 am
Arrive              Waterford Visitors Center, NY 11:00 am
Distance            22 Miles
Cumulative      284 Miles

 NOTE - Double click on a picture for a larger view

Up bright and early (even saw a sunrise!) and underway.  Today we would go through our first lock, but the fenders we were going to use for locking needed to be blown up.  Bob got to work inflating the fenders and attaching lines to the fenders while Lynda navigated the boat.  We got to the first lock, the Troy Federal Lock, and Lynda called the lock operator on the radio and requested to "lock through".  That's boat speak for asking them to open the lock doors and lift you up to get to the other side.   At normal operating depths, it lifts boats 14 feet.  As evidenced by the photos below, our first lock encounter was successful and we continued on to the Waterford Visitor Center.  We will be staying here for two nights, as the dock is FREE, including water and electric.  Free is good!!  Tomorrow we will do some grocery shopping and laundry as everything is close by.  We're told that we can even take the grocery cart from the store and wheel it back to the boat with our groceries.  The store comes by the Visitor Center every Saturday to pick them up!
 

Sunrise on the Hudson

Two down, one more to go!

Navy ship in Albany

Albany skyline

Getting ready to enter our first lock!

Okay, here we go!

Bob holding the boat on the lock wall

Whew, we made it.  Up 14 feet and ready to leave

m/v Erika Lin at the dock at Waterford Visitor Center

Dusk on the Mohawk River

Kingston, NY to Coeymans Landing. NY

Day                 7
Depart             Kingston, NY 8:25 am
Arrive              Coeymans, NY 2:00 pm
Distance            55.1 Miles
Cumulative      269.9 Miles

 NOTE - Double click on a picture for a larger view

Another absolutely perfect day.  Clear blue sky, comfortable temperature while traveling and only little ripples in the river.  We still haven't seen much river traffic.  Only a couple of tows and not much private boat traffic.  We did have a minor scare, however.  We need to be extremely aware of the debris in the water and we have been.  Around Athens, NY we felt a vibration when the engine was revved a bit.  There was no evidence of any debris in the immediate vicinity and we hadn't felt a telltale "clunk".  Bob placed the boat in neutral and went below to ensure there was no sign of water leaking in.  He found nothing.  He then placed the engine slowly in reverse and then slowly in forward and increased the RPMs.  No vibration.  It had disappeared as quickly as it came.  We will continue to monitor, but there were no signs of the vibration the rest of the day.  Here are some interesting lighthouses we saw along the way.  Tonight we are docked at Coeymans Landing Marina (pronounced Queemans).  Tomorrow will be a big day as we will be going through our first lock in Troy!!

Lighthouse at the entrance to Kingston

Saugerties Lighthouse

Hudson-Athens Lighthouse

Croton-on-Hudson to Kingston, NY

Day                  6
Depart              Croton-on-Hudson, NY 8:15 am
Arrive               Kingston, NY 2:15 pm
Distance            51 Miles
Cumulative      214.8 Miles

HAPPY JULY 4TH!!

We stayed at Croton for two days so no post yesterday which was a good thing as it was a bit rainy all day.  Today began somewhat overcast as we continued on up the Hudson.  We travelled through the Bear Mountain Bridge, and past West Point.  The grey stone walls make it a mighty fortress.  The Hudson River continues to be a beautiful, scenic ride.  We went past Pollepel Island, which is the site of Bannerman's Castle.
Francis Bannerman purchased the island in November 1900 for use as a storage facility for his growing munitions surplus business.   Because his storeroom in New York City was not large enough to provide a safe location to store thirty million surplus munitions cartridges, in the spring of 1901, he began to build an arsenal on Pollepel. Bannerman designed the buildings himself and let the constructors interpret the designs on their own. Most of the building was devoted to the stores of army surplus but Bannerman built another castle in a smaller scale on top of the island near the main structure as a residence, often using items from his surplus collection for decorative touches.  The castle was nearly destroyed by a fire but some of the structure still stands today.  Farther along on the river we passed by the Roosevelt mansion and the Culinary Institute of America.  We arrived at our destination for the night, Hudson River Maritime Museum, in Kingston, NY.  We are docked behind another looper, Queen Ann's Revenge from Tennessee.  They are 'Gold Loopers' which means they have already completed their loop journey!  Lynda's cousin Karen and her husband Bob live across the Hudson in Poughkeepsie.  They visited us in Kingston and we all went out to dinner.  Tomorrow our destination is Coeyman's Landing Marina.

A hazy early morning cruise up the river

Lynda at the helm, approaching Bear Mountain Bridge

West Point Military Academy

Calm, scenic river ride

Roosevelt Mansion

Bannerman's Castle

Esopus Lighthouse

m/v Erika Lin docked in Kingston, NY

Tarrytown, NY to Croton-on-Hudson, NY

Day                  4
Depart              Tarrytown, NY 10:00 am
Arrive               Croton-on-Hudson, NY 11:30 am
Distance            8.7 Miles
Cumulative   163.8 Miles

Just a short trip today to Half Moon Bay Marina.  We are hoping to meet up with long-time RV friends of Lynda's parents, Gerry and Barbara Parker, who live in Croton-on-Hudson.  Gerry and Barbara met us at the marina and graciously took us on a sight-seeing tour of Croton-on-Hudson and Ossining.  We rode out to Croton Point Park.  Gerry showed us where the RV group that he and Lynda's parents would gather for their RV rally.  Lynda's late Dad was part of the committee that organized the parking for 400 to 600 RVers.  We then went to Croton Dam.  This dam is amazing.  The Croton River supplies some of the best drinking water in the nation to 8 million people, including New York City!  Then on to Ossining where Sing Sing Correctional Facility is located.  Sing Sing is a maximum security prison for the New York State Department of Correctional Services. It is located approximately 30 miles (50 km) north of New York City along the banks of the Hudson River. Ossining's original name, "Sing Sing", came from the Native American Sinck Sinck (Sint Sinck) tribe from whom the land was purchased in 1685.  Sing Sing houses approximately 1,700 prisoners.  There are plans to convert the original 1825 cell block into a museum.  After another beautiful sunset, we were treated to a fireworks display from across the Hudson River. Life is good!!

Palisades along the Hudson River

Croton Dam

Gerry Parker, Lynda and Barbara Parker

Tonight's sunset

Holiday fireworks

Glen Cove, NY to Tarrytown, NY

Day                  3
Depart              Glen Cove, NY 8:45 am
Arrive               Tarrytown, NY 3:00 pm
Distance            51 Miles
Cumulative   155.1 Miles

NOTE: to view larger pictures, simply click on the picture
 
Our voyage today was spectacular.  Smooth seas, clear blue sky with hardly a cloud and comfortable, dry temperature.  Who could ask for more!!  We traveled through Hell Gate and down the East River with almost a two knot gain in the current.  The last time we visited New York, we weren't allowed to go down the Manhattan side of Roosevelt Island.  This time we were able to and got "up close" to the city.  It is unbelievable the amount and different types of traffic on the water.  We encountered everything from small boats to large siteseeing cruisers to different types of Coast Guard patrols.  There were also helicopters coming and going and even a sea plane landed and taxied across the river in front of us!

The Big Apple!

Chrysler Building

Maintenance on the UN Building and the Upper East Side

Brooklyn Bridge going into the city

Construction of the Freedom Tower

Lady Liberty

We rounded the end of Manhattan and began our trip up the Hudson River.  We went past Pier 88, where just three years ago my family boarded the Norwegian Dawn and cruised to Bermuda for a combination family vacation and my brother Dave's wedding.  Happy 3rd Anniversary Dave and Deb!!  This year, the Queen Mary II was docked next to where we departed from.

Queen Mary II

We enjoyed scenery along the Hudson River and the river traffic was minimal once we got outside of the city.  We arrived at our destination for the night, Tarrytown Marina.  To our surprise and delight, the marina was having a barbecue for any boat owner in the marina.  Hooray, no cooking and it's free!  After enjoying the barbecue, we enjoyed a cocktail on the aft deck and enjoyed the sunset.

Afternoon cocktails

Sunset across the Hudson from our 'back porch'

Branford, CT to Glen Cove, NY

Day                  2
Depart              Branford, CT 8:15 am
Arrive               Glen Cove, NY 1:30 pm
Distance            49.1 Miles
Cummulative   104.1 Miles

The journey across Long Island Sound today was very pleasant.  The sun was shining but it was not too hot and the water was fairly calm.  Pretty uneventful day!  When we arrived, we washed the salt off, relaxed, and just hung out!  Tomorrow we head to and through New York City (not sure yet how far).  We had visited New York a few years ago, so we won't be stopping to visit this trip.