Erie Canal Day 2

After being told the locks would not be open until noon today I got up and went to shower at 645 am this morning. As I was walking back up the dock ( with my hair still unbrushed in a towel) Kyle had the motor running and the docklines about to be thrown off. The lock was opening at 7 am !!! And the ever Mr. Patience said we were leaving ...now !!!

So up to the lock we went. Thankfully some the lock waited for some motorboats behind us so a grabbed a comb, elastic band and was ready to face the world.

Sailing and diva's cannot co-exist...if you feel the need for a hairdryer, straightner, make-up or any of those type things then this life is definitely not for you. I think I last saw my make-up bag about a month ago :) In the 110 F temps it is a waste of time...lol.

We had thought we may try to push thru today until lock 13. We made it through until lock 10. For a couple days we have been travelling at around the same speed as a couple from Lake Michigan, Keith & Nancy. They too spent the night were we did. They decided to quite for the day after lock 10 so we joined them.

We are in Amsterdam NY, tied up at dock right before lock 11. We had drinks and dinner with our new friends. ( chicken breast with mango salsa, ny strip, and key lime cheesecake ...did I mention I am looking for friends to work out with when I get home ??)

Tomorrow we will make our way to about lock 18 or so we hope. Our re-masting in Oswego has been pushed back from Monday until Tuesday because of the travel day we lost.

Our boat looks so weird without masts :(

The park/ restuarant/ice cream shop we are docked in front of.

Back up to level water and waiting for the lock door to completely open. Kelly has been a great deckhand and is doing well taking her turns driving the boat.( when she is not on the foredeck working on her tan with her ipod stuck in her ears :)

The lines we have to hold onto are quite slimy and wet so we bought garden gloves to so the job :)




Each lock in this series is about a 34 ft lift. It seems so far away when you first pull into the bottom of it. ...we are going up if you haven't already figured that out ...lol

More tomorrow. I hope all my fellow Canadians have a great long weekend !!!

Lock 2 - The Erie Canal

We started off this morning with a little tiny drizzle which took the edge off the heat. It lasted a few minutes then the sun came out with it's 90 F temps and we soaked it all up :) ( well except the area around my eyes which are starting to be racoon-ish)

The ride up from Catskill to Troy for Federal lock #1 went well. I was a little nervous going into our first lock not sure what to expect but it went fine.
We drove the next 3 miles to Lock 2 of the Erie Canal and were halted :(
They apparently have problems with lock 6 and have drained it. They hope to open tomorrow at noon but are unsure.
We are in Waterford NY. The people here are so friendly. They great you with a hand kiss/shake and let you dock, have power, water, showers, local rides etc...all free !!!
The village was incorporated in 1794 but started way before that. The houses, churchs, everything is so ornate and individual. The original locks run thru here right beside the old ones.

Where we are is called the "flight the 5". The first lock in the Erie Canal system is the federal one in Troy. The next five, locks 2 -6, start at the Hudson River with an elevation of 15.2 feet at lock 2 and end 2 hours later at the Mohawk River, lock 6, at an elevation of 184 feet....about 34 feet lift per lock...but #6 door had some problems so we are here.
All is not lost though as this is a great village to relax.
One of the restuarants, Traders Eds which clains to be the oldest pub in the USA picks up at the dock and brings you to eat and back :) I had in house smoked pulled pork and 2 for 1 margaritas. Kyle had a whole platter of seafood ( that boy is gonna grow gills soon) http://traderedstroyny.com/
We are going to get a little clean up and maintenance done on the masts' in the morning since we are stuck here and they are on deck. Hopefully the locks will re-open tomorrow afternoon and we will catch upto schedule. If not we will have to put our re-masting appt off another day. All in all not a bad place to be stuck :)

Town Hall - Waterford NY

Part of the original Canal now used for run off water...it look so tiny :)

Lock 2 of Erie Canal where we are docked for the night.

Lock 1 in Troy NY. The only lock operated federally and not by NY State.

Going under a small train bridge this morning. We though it was so strange to not have to call them to open the bridge. We actually ducked because we were nervous ...lol

Albany NY - The State Capital

Another one of my beautiful little light house along the Hudson.

Catskill New York - De-Mast Day

Well today was a very busy and productive day. We left Poughtkeepsie at 6 am and headed to Catskill NY, Marineview Marina, to de-mast.

Along the way we passed many beautiful little light houses and more random castles. The trip was thankfully uneventful. Still stinking hot but it is supposed to rain tomorrow and cool the temperatures down a little.

Kyle and Kelly took the sails down, folded them and removed the booms underway so we would be prepared when we arrived in Catskill.

This great big boat looks quite funny as a motorboat :)

It was a big, hot, hard job but the masts are both attached on the cabin top now.

tomorrow we head up the Hudson and will take a left at Troy. This is where we will enter the Erie Canal. We will go thru 31 locks, a few bridges and Onieda Lake before hitting Oswego in Lake Ontario Sunday afternoon. We are going to try to get an appointment to put the masts back up in Oswego on Monday. In Canada Monday is a holiday but we are not sure about the USA. We will check today when we call the marina. At any rate we will be heading to Farihaven YC from Oswego and be meeting our friends, Russ, Jane, Julia and Jennifur - the sailing dog :) of Top Gun and spending some quality time sailing home. We hope the Dennys' with jr boating pup Lacy will meet us along the way too...hint hint Micheal ...LOL

The Mizen Mast is down.

Bare poles waiting to come down.

Just a beautiful little house in the middle of nowhere surrounding by a majestic view.

This is Esdopus Meadows Lighthouse. Built in 1871. One of many we passed in the Hudson. I have a little booklet the tells we about each one so I am keeping myself entertained by photographing and learning about each of them :)

this is some random castle tyoe building sticking up over the trees. Also near Esopus. School maybe ???

The is the Culinary Institute of America in Poughkeepsie....yum yum

A beautiful sunrise to start of day.

At dock in Poughkeepsie.

This is the restuarant we had dinner at. Including my lobster stuffed homemade ravioli with lump crab pesto ! Fantastitic !!!

Kelly takes a turn at the Helm. Big boat for a little girl, but she does great :)

NYC to Poughkeepsie NY

The pics with todays blog are upside down...

the first one is where we are now...Poughkeepsie NY - Shadows Marina. We are docked here for the night.

Poughkeepsie is home to the culinary institute of american(CIA), the F D Roosenvelt home,presidential library & museum, and the Vanderbuilt Mansion built in 1896. Since Kyle has a food network fasination and Iron Chefs Cat Cora & Micheal Smyth both has teaching restuarants here for the CIA I will need weight watchers when I get home. It seems all we do is seek out great food :)

In the morning we will head 30 miles up river to the place where they will take our masts' off. We have to make a place for them to fit on the decks so they won't impeade us as we transverse the many locks ( 28 I think...I will look it up tonight & let you know tomorrow) that bring us up and down the mountains to lake ontario.

This random island we passed today had an old abandoned castle on it. I goggled the area ..because I love Goggle...and found out it is called Bannermans' Castle on Pollepel Island in Putnam County NY.

Directly across from it on land is Washingtons' Headquarters ( the house where George & Martha lived during the revolutionary war...which I would have seen except I was enthralled by the castle island ...lol)

This soldier statue rests atop the hill near West Point. I think it is of Patton, who was a graduate of the academy but I have to goggle it still :)

West Point is the USA's oldest and largest military academy and we sailed within feet of it today. The structure and presence is both beautiful in its form and placement in the mountain passage.

West Point- It sits on a corner of a very deep mountainous cut through the river in Orange County NY.

The bridges just disappear into the side of mountains. Stunning

The trains, mostly very fast moving Amtrak trains bringing commuters into NY City, also disappear into the sides of the mountians.

At times the hills are a half mile away on either side. Other times you feel you could almost touch them. After spending a couple days amongst millions of people, they are a serenity. If it never snowed here I could drop anchor and just stay.

For anyone looking for something about an 8 hour drive from our place, this place, Peekskill Ny area is breathtaking. It is full of rolling mountains, much history, with the odd little waterfall and Canada Goose. Most of the areas up the Hudson are national parks with camping etc...just an idea :)

Leaving the city we had the odd barge or freighter to watch for but nothing like the traffic pretty much stopped on the roads and bridges around us.

Trucks have to go up top and cars on the second level.

Kyle sailing out of the city into the beauty of nature before us.

Will blog tomorrow about how mast removal goes. The two masts on this boat have NEVER been taken down ! Soo this could be quite the task. We are paying people at the Riverview Marina to help with the task. Wish us luck :)

For any of our boating friends ...( and driving friends if they are looking to get away for a couple days) ....all going well and nothing breakdown....we should be re-masting in Oswego Tuesday Aug 3. Then we will spend until approx aug 12 very slowly ( and hopefully leisurely ) working our way down the American side to Hamilton.

We plan stops at Fairhaven YC ( 2 days ) , rochester YC ( 2 days minimum for back to school shopping for Kelly is mandatory here LOL ...plus this is my favourite Yacht Club/Marina anywhere hands down and I have been to my fair share !) and maybe Oak Orchard.....if anyone will be in this area to meet for coctails let us know !!

New York, New York

From the marina we are in you can see the Empire State building in the background. So we went over to have a closer look :)

It was a little windy but the view is incredible. You can walk outside around the entire perimeter and see the whole city...Statute of Liberty South, Chrysler Building East, Central park North and our boat and the Hudson to the West.

there is such a shortage of parking in the city the lots stack and rack...very entertaining.

What is a visit to NY without cheesecake ? Kyle poured extra chocolate on his to ensure it was totally fattening.

Kelly was excited that we are right by the place where the "Cake Boss" show is made.

time square is quite the place. We saw the New Years ball :)

Macy's is 11 stories high. Make no wonder they can afford those huge Thanksgiving parades.

All in all a great touristy day. I have many many more pics I can show you when we get home.

We are heading up the Hudson in the morning. Our plan is Poughkeepsie Yacht Club tomorrow night and then demast Wednesday for the Erie Canal. So we are hoping to get some good sailing winds tomorrow. There were 25 knot winds here today.

That should put us re-masting in Oswego on or about Tuesday Aug 3.