Tribes Hill to Sylvan Beach

Woke up this morning to a little brighter day than yesterday.  As we went through the day we had more sunshine, but still cool enough for sweatpants and sweatshirts.  Locks are getting easier or were just getting better now that we have a system down.   So far not too much to report.  Lock 17 in Little Falls NY is a 40 foot and is the tallest lift of it's kind.  The gate is like an overhead garage door.  

Ended the day after going through 9 locks (71 miles) and tied up in Sylvan Beach just after dark.  Just so happened that we docked behind another 48 Krogen heading east named Kopacsetic.  

We had dinner at the Crazy Clam and we had an unexpected guest waiting for us at the boat!

 

 

Rainy day in the Erie Canal - Waterford to Tribes Hill

Woke up this morning to a light rain.  We made the first west bound opening of lock E2 at 7:30 am and was the only boat in the lock.   There are 5 locks all in a row known as the "flight of 5" that takes you up 184 feet above Waterford.    

The doors closed and the water began to fill the lock from the bottom.  There is quite a bit of turbulence and the bumpers were taking a beating.  As the lock fills, the boat floats up until we come to the canal above and the doors on the other end of the lock open and we motor out. 

Most of the day was cold and rainy......is it fall already? 

Most of the locks are next to a dam or waterfall.  

Saw a lot of cool old buildings along the canal. 

We went through 11 locks which is about 53 miles in about 10 hours.  We tried to make lock 13 before it closed at 5 but we were 10 minutes late.  We tied up to the wall in from on the lock, had a great dinner (Bill fixed) and watched a move on Netflix.  

Love that we have internet!!

Upper Hudson to Waterford

Up at 6am and headed to Waterford at a cool temperature of 65 degrees with north winds gusting to 28 knots!  

Stopped in Albany to lower the mast, bimini top and antennas.  Taking down the mast is not so easy....took us about an hour to get everything down and put away securely just before the first fixed bridge that had 25 foot clearance.   

We made it through the Troy lock and on to Waterford where there you gotta make a choice....Erie canal left and Champlain canal on the right.  We stayed on the wall in Waterford and had a great evening.  

Form the dock we could see the next lock so we walked over to check it out. 

We also took advantage of being in town and had dinner at McGreivys then headed to bed.  We have a big day tomorrow....we plan on going through 10 locks.  

New York Harbor

After an uneventful overnight run off the shore of NJ we arrived to New York Harbor at 6am as the sun was rising.  Cargo traffic wasn't too bad but there were ferries everywhere!  Got a good look at the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and downtown Manhattan.   

Heading north up the Hudson River was a beautiful.  Favorable current most of the day.  We passed Sing Sing Prison, West Point Academy and the Bannerman Castle.  Some of the areas reminded us of the North Channel!  

Tried to catch a dock and food at Ole Savannah Kingston up Rondout Creek but there were no docks available.  Stayed in the anchorage just outside Kingston.  In the dark Kingston reminded me of St. Thomas with the houses built on the side of the mountains.   

After a long 37 hours, we were ready for bed!

Delaware Bay and New Jersey

After a restful night anchored at Ford Landing we were underway before dawn to go through the C&D canal into Delaware Bay.   We arrived in Cape May an hour early thanks to favorable current in Delaware Bay.  We were into the Atlantic at 4 pm for our overnight run to New York Harbor.  We passed Atlantic City at sunset and was treated to a visit by a momma and baby humpback whales.  They were coming out of the water catching something.....internet search says it's krill or small fish.  It was so cool.  Sorry no pic's though....

Departing Maryland

We've started the 2nd leg of journey to move Cheers to her new home port in Lake Erie.  We have our reservation at Cedar Point, Sandusky Ohio where we will stay until November and then she will go into heated storage for the winter at Son Rise Marina.   We flew into Baltimore and left the dock at 3:00 pm.  Going up the Chesapeake we had a couple of storms off in a distance, but all we got was a little rain.  We wanted to get to the anchorage just before the C&D canal.  We set the hook just after dark.  We enjoyed our dinner out on the cockpit and watched the light show off in the distance.   

Baltimore Area

A couple weekends ago we drove over to Baltimore to knock out some projects in preparation for our final leg home. 

Had a nice ride into the Inner Harbor and found zero boats anchored or moving.

Took a short 8 mile ride to Anchor Bay East on Bear Creek to top off on diesel fuel and had dinner on the patio at the Hard Yacht Cafe. 

After a few attempts we successfully lowered the mast and boom onto the rear rail using the windlass.  With the bimini and antennas down we measured 14' 6" at the highest point.  With full tanks we should have no problem with air draft on the Erie but I'm a little worried about the 5' water draft. This was just a practice run, everything was restored to normal for the offshore trip to New York Harbor. 

The weather was hot, the pool was cool and the pizza from Johnny Rad's was delicious.