We awoke before sunrise under calm conditions and made the boat ready to get underway at first light. By 0550 we were backing out of our slip at Erie Yacht Club to motor to Buffalo Yacht Club. We had a beautiful ride up Erie bay past Dobbins Landing (The Dock to those of us who grew up here) with the tower light and city lights in view on the southern shore. Winds were on the nose but only 11kts off of Barcelona NY, then calmed to 2kts when we arrived at BYC at 1700. We took slip 43 and got used to the idea of cruising again. After spending the summer in Erie with family and friends, it was somewhat bittersweet leaving them behind, but we do love cruising and were glad to be on our way. Lock 13 on the Erie Canal has had storm damage and is under repair so we have a window of 10/4-6 to make it through the canal before it closes for the season. At BYC, we enjoyed another delicious dinner and retired for the night.
Dobbins Landing and the the Erie skyline bidding us adieu
Later we were greeted in Lake Erie by this beautiful sunrise!
Later that day we enjoyed a lovely sunset at Buffalo Yacht Club
The sun reflecting off of the BYC windows
9/26/30 - Making Friends in Albion, NY
Jeff awoke at 0500 to make coffee and do some business email. By 0730 Neala was awake, too, and we departed BYC to make the 0800 Black Rock Lock (say that 3 times!!) opening. We motored on to North Tonawanda where the canal begins. By noon we were in Lockport where 2 back to back locks drop you 50 feet. The doors in those locks are huge and sound like the "doors of doom" when they open and close. This section of the canal has no locks, but one or two lift bridges in every town. We stopped for the night in Albion NY(between the town's 2 lift bridges...) and there met a nice young couple aboard a Hunter 27 Impulse. Mike & Allison were joined by crewman John, a 1-armed salty dog "pirate" who was planning to crew until NYC. He was giving the young artist couple much needed sailing lessons. We had them all onboard Northern Lights and shared stories and lots of laughs late into the evening.
Passing under the Peace Bridge on our way to Tonawanda
Neala at the helm on the Erie Canal
Neala navigating the Canal. She loves this part!
We thought we'd show you the "interesting" stuff that grows on the lock wall - yeccchhh!!
Albion, NY is noted for its incredible sandstone buildings - this church is an excellent example
Clear skies greeting us this morning with the sun rising in the east making the mists off the water a fiery red hue. By 0720 we were underway again. We cruised the leaf-strewn canal in partly cloudy, although quite warm conditions, all the way to Newark NY where we stopped for the night at 1650. We went ashore for a walk and picked up grocery odds n ends before returning to watch a warm sunset off our stern. We had purchased the first season of Downton Abbey and quickly became totally hooked after watching 2 episodes. No wonder everyone loves it and it has won so many awards. We can't wait to watch again tomorrow night!
Northern Lights on the wall at Newark, NY
Jeff enjoying early morning coffee in Newark. Notice the Packet boat behind us.
We've seen several Packet boats like this on the canal this year. Renting one looks like fun!
9/28/13 - A Ghost Ship on the Erie Canal!
0730 Cooler this morning with wisps of fog on the water as we pulled away from the Newark dock. Shortly after leaving the town the fog really filled in and the trip to lock E28B ended at 2kts groping our way to the lock in pea soup fog. We eased into Lock E28B like a ghost ship. The lockmaster said he couldn't tell what was coming toward him until we were practically in the lock! Between E28B and E28A the fog lifted just a bit and we motored at 4 kts, always keeping the brightest area between the tree-lined canal banks centered. Just after E28A the fog lifted completely and we had a beautiful warm cruise to Baldwinsville for the night. Baldwinsville is a lovely upstate NY town that we visited on the way back last May. We tied up just short of lock E24 on the south wall along with several other cruisers and enjoyed a gourmet dinner (scallops with an apple chutney topping - yum!) at the Riverside Grill that overlooks the Seneca River. We watched Downton Abbey until Neala fell asleep, almost 3 episodes!
Mists on the water soon turned into pea soup
Jeff invented the "Martini Salad" in Baldwinsville, NY
9/29/13 - Crossing Lake Oneida
We slept in a bit and left the dock at 0830 for Brewerton NY on the western shore of Lake Oneida. There was no fog today and the sky was crystal clear with warm temperatures. The trees along the shore were starting to show some early Autumn colors as we passed by numerous beautiful homes along the banks of the canal. Past Brewerton we crossed Lake Oneida in calm seas with several sailboats and fisherman scattered here and there. We docked at Mariner's Landing in Sylvan Beach on the eastern shore of the lake where we grilled steaks on our barbecue for dinner. Later took a walk down to the lake where we saw quite a few cruising boats on the walls. Some had been there for 2 weeks waiting for the locks to open! This was our first clue that it may get quite crowded and marinas with shore power might become a scarce commodity.
Interesting vacation homes along the bank of the Seneca River
Crossing Lake Oneida was beautiful, though west winds can make it treacherous
Docked at Mariner's Landing in Sylvan Beach on the east side of Lake Oneida for 2 days
We spent the day at Mariner's Landing dock while Jeff took calls and worked on his MiHIN project. Neala took the time to stow and organize all the "necessary stuff" we had packed that had been stacked in the salon! Later we took a walk on the beach and picked up some groceries (more than we had anticipated and could barely carry all the way back to the boat - Neala had insisted on getting a whole case of water - even offering to carry it, which lasted for about 50 feet!). We enjoyed another BBQ dinner onboard and watched the last episodes of Downton Abbey season one.
We love the warm cockpit enclosure that Neala likes to make "homey"
10/1/13 - Grounded at Ilion Marina
We left Sylvan Beach early this morning and motored to locks E22 & E21 that lifted us 50 feet to the headwaters of the Mohawk River. After three more locks and several hours of motoring we pulled into Ilion NY and found their docks to be nearly full. Fortunately we had called ahead for a reservation. This is a very nice marina which is close to town. We stayed here on our way down last year. Don, the dockmaster, gave us a bag of the best little apples that he had picked. He offered us a floating dock; however, the depth near the dock was about 5 feet and we were only able to get within 6 feet of the dock itself before we grounded in the soft mud! Never mind that, Jeff dropped the dinghy to act as a gangplank and we ran our lines and shore power cables over the water to the dock. We had heat for most of the night but at 0500 a breaker somewhere popped and we ended up the night running the generator to stay warm.
Sunrise on the upper Mohawk River
Jeff improvised a boarding platform to get us ashore in Ilion, NY
10/2/13 - Magic in Ilion!
In the morning, a large power yacht had departed the marina and there was space for us on the Ilion wall. Don, the dockmaster, let us move over to the open space and Jeff worked all morning on calls with MiHIN. Neala continued reading Lady Liberty written by her good friend, Lenore Skomal. It is a fascinating story about the real history behind the Statue of Liberty. (Neala highly recommends this book!) Later in the afternoon, we enjoyed an amateur magic show in the marina pavilion by Jim Okey, a retired postal worker and friend of Don's, who was practicing his magic tricks. Don had told him there were several cruisers waiting for the locks to open and he may just get a good audience. During the show, Jeff got a call from Mike from Impulse who was actually walking up the dock towards the pavilion. They had seen our boat and decided to join us. We had a brief reunion and the magic show continued. After the show, we all walked into town to have dinner at Sorrento's. Dinner was sumptuous and fairly priced. After dinner we all went back to Impulse for some drinks and lively conversation until late evening. We all thought is was just a hoot that we had been entertained in the little marina pavilion by a very talented magician - certainly something we'd never have suspected!
Enjoying the magic show with our Impulse friends in Ilion, NY. Jeff shows off the "hat" Jim Okey, the magician, produced from torn scraps of paper!
Allison and Mike at dinner at Sorrento's just a short walk from the Ilion, NY marina
10/3/13 - Another Day in Ilion
The locks are scheduled to open later today - a day earlier than had been previously scheduled due the large number of boats needing to get through. There are many, many boats already downstream that need to pass through. The scuttlebutt was that the areas close to the closed locks was getting very congested with as many as 90+ boats waiting to get through. We decided to stay another day to avoid the congestion. Several power boats left Ilion today and Jeff worked most of the day. In the afternoon we walked into town to do some more shopping and later that day more boats began to arrive to take the empty slots on the Ilion wall. We had dinner aboard and decided to bring the blog up to date - finally!
10/4/13 - What Logjam?
We awoke in a drizzling rain but decided to head downstream towards lock 13 anyway. Other boats planned to leave later or the next day to avoid the crush of boats waiting - some for 3 weeks - to get through the damaged lock. We took lock E18 in pretty heavy rain with our foulies on but fortunately the rain was short lived and by lock E17 it was merely overcast and calm. We certainly couldn't complain about the weather - it has been just beautiful, warm and sunny days since we left Erie. Lock E17 is one of the taller locks in the world, over 40 feet, and we had to wait a bit for it to refill after the boats in front of us. The lockmaster told us a horror story of a sailboat being completely stuck on the sill of lock 14 but he thought we could make it since we only draw 6ft. He also said he had several sailboats parked on his lower wall for 2-3 weeks but that they had departed. We could imagine the big pileup of over 60 boats between us and lock E13. After E17, however, we hardly had company on the river. E16, E15 and still no traffic jams. Sure, we had to wait for a refill occasionally but we never saw another boat. When we got to E14 the lockmaster told us to stay to the left side of the channel on our way out due to shoaling and we would be fine. We were. The water was lower in this stretch as advertised but we never saw less than 8 ft and it was mostly 10 ft or greater. When we got to E13 - the damaged lock - there was no locking to do at all! Between lowering the water level above and raising it below the lock, they just had to open the doors and we motored through. Just after passing E12, Neala got a call from her son Christian who was on the train to Connecticut to see his fiancee Jeanette. As they talked Neala went out on deck and waved as the train sped by us on the left bank of the canal! Talk about split-second timing, almost unbelievable serendipity! On the train, Christian pointed at the boat and told the older couple near him, "That's my mother down there on that sailboat!" After lock E11 we pulled into the wall at Amsterdam NY for the night. The wall was mostly full but we were able to find a spot with power for the night. Sweet!
Two canal cruise ships were delayed by the lock closing. This one had to turn back due to insufficient depth in the E14-E12 passage.
The "Doors of Doom" opening at lock E17, one of the higher locks in the world
10/5/13 - So Done with Canals and Locks!
The trains rumbled by all night long, often sounding like they were coming down the companionway. We got up at 0700 and were on the water before coffee (!) to pass lock E10 with another sailboat, Airtime, from Lake Huron behind us. As we got to E9 we were joined by a 59 ft Carver Harbor Light III. Jeff backed up so they could pass us in the lock but it turned out they were cruising at our same speed so the 3 of us transited E8 and E7 together. There was a crew regatta on the water between those locks so we had to proceed slowly so our wakes wouldn't upset the racers. This part of the canal is the Mohawk River and at times is very wide and easy to navigate. Being Saturday, we saw lots of bass fishing boats and other traffic on the water. At Schenechtady Yacht Club Harbor Light pulled in for fuel and just before E6 - the beginning of the flight of 5 - Airtime pulled to the wall to spend their last night on the canal. We continued on to complete the Flight of Five. These five locks have the greatest drop (169') in the shortest distance (2 mi) than any lock in the world! There were lots of folks out today watching the boats so we had many onlookers wishing us well on our trip. The boats were really stacked up in Waterford and we passed several sailboats on the wall before E3 but we had reservations at Albany YC and so we continued onward passing through the Troy Lock on the Hudson to dock there at 1630. It's been fun, but we are finally through with canal locks! Shortly after we arrived, we saw Harbor Light pull up at AYC docks too. Tomorrow we head for Catskill and Hop-O-Nos Marina to - hopefully - beat the crush and get our mast stepped on Monday.
Lock 10 is typical of the locks on the lower Mohawk River
Neala was surprised to find this shot in Waterford NY from our 2012 passage on an Erie Canal photo website
We passed a large crew regatta on the canal in Schenectady. Actually, they were passing us!
The guard gate signals the beginning of the final "Flight of 5" locks that dropped us 169 feet to the Hudson.
Coming out of E4, there were sailboats tied up along the wall due to crowding in Waterford at the end of the canal
We had lots of well-wishers and onlookers during our passage
Finally turning onto the Hudson River in Waterford, NY!
Only one more lock - the Federal lock in Troy, NY - between us and Albany Yacht Club
