Note
I’ve received a couple comments on the fact that ‘comments’ can no longer be left on the posts. I’ve checked every setting that I can and all seems to be according to Hoyle. Will do further research and heaven forbid call the help line to figure it out.
Week 12 – Waterford to Catskill, NY – NM 1132 thru 1171
It was time to leave Waterford to go to Catskill to become a sailboat again. The weather was right, Kevin & Mary sent us off and we entered the Hudson River expecting a giant tidal current to suck us in, it didn’t. A couple miles down the pike we entered and exited the LAST lock of the Erie Canal system, the Troy Federal. Felt good to be done w/ the slimy walls, fenders and boat and move on. The ‘Erie Smile’ as it’s called, the marks left on a boat by the canal water. (Loved the canals, don’t get me wrong.)
We chose to anchor out just short of Catskill to get the tides & current right for the next morning. More about that in a different post. Schodack Landing was perfect; calm, protected, with a chicken mole and sweet potato hash supper. Loved it so much here decided to stay Sat nite as well. A bit of a different story. A single boat showed up around noon and attempted to drop their anchor right on top of ours. D managed to persuade them to move 100 ft away and all was good. Then, throughout the afternoon as many as 12 boats were rafted up to the first boat – w/only the one measly anchor line!!! Partying, dancing and mayhem ensued. And yes for the Manitowoc group, Journey was played. Plus a couple of airplanes felt the need to buzz the crowd. I proceeded to clean the grime from around the fridge handles and hinges.
Arrived to the Hop O Nose Marina in Catskill Sunday. Put our mast together that afternoon to have it put up the following morning. Unique approach to doing so. BTW, Hop O Nose was the Indian tribe that first inhabited the Catskill Creek area, means ‘Love of Water’.
Catskill does not mean to kill cats; kille is Dutch for creek. And it appears that they love their cats with the many statues attributed to them. Oh, and ‘Rip Van Winkle’ (Washington Irving, 1819) is from here as well; he met up w/a mysterious Dutchman, drank his liquor and fell asleep for 20 yrs in the Catskills and missed the American Revolution.
We had the BEST EVER potatoes; parboiled, dusted w/curry powder and salt then deep-fried and served w/garlic aioli! YUM! Found yet another brewery with a great name, great logo, great beer and great social distancing.
Update 9/7/2021 – Stalkers Edition
For those of you who secretly stalk us as well as those who do so openly; we are a sailboat again! Meaning that the antenna that provides the info as to where we are for the Marine Traffic app is installed. If you forgot, the app is downloadable and you need our MMSI # to find us. That # is 368203430. More to come shortly…
Musing – Troy Lockmaster
Conversation between D and the Troy Federal Lockmaster. The Troy lock is the ‘1st’ of the Erie Canal route but is located on the Hudson River.
Lockmaster: You heading south for the winter?
D: Yep, heading towards the Bahamas.
LM: You know the best way you can tell if you made it to the Bahamas?
D: Nope.
LM: You strap a snow shovel to the top of your boat and when someone asks ‘What is That’ you know your there!
Week 11 – Little Falls to Waterford, NY – NM 1057 thru 1132
In anticipation of the locks inevitably opening, Kevin came up w/a scheme to honor the Little Falls harbormaster and staff, a plaque. Jeanne contributed a wonderful poem and goodie bag. A jar of KD Farm maple syrup also appeared.
FINALLY the Notice to Mariners from the Canal Corp came out on Sat 8/28 am stating ‘WE WERE FREE TO GO’, the locks were open for us to proceed east on the Erie. In order for this to occur the dams and guard gates that were opened needed to be systematically closed.
Three boats hastily made ready to go and were underway post haste. Made it thru the iconic Lock 17, which has the highest lift of any lock, 40.5 ft and the only one that has a guillotine gate. It is even higher than any lock in the Panama Canal!
This was the protocol for the next 5 locks to get to our evenings destination of Amsterdam, NY. Rory struggled to keep up w/the powerboats but they were gracious enough to wait for us at the locks. We spent 2 nites tied up to the wall above Lock 11 since the town marina was full.
We found a classic Italian restaurant, ‘Russo’s’, about 200 yards from the wall and a very secluded table in a corner. Would you look at the size of those portions?!?!? Provided 5 meals for D & I. Thus becoming the Last Supper together.
The next day the weather was to be rainy and somewhat stormy. Looking at the radar it looked as if we left we’d stay ahead of it. This coupled with the fact that Hurricane Ida turning to a tropical depression was heading our way as well. SO, D & I decided to head east down the canal trying to get as far as we could. The rest of the group decided to wait out the weather in Amsterdam. Our travels from the day below.
So we got to our intended stop early, looked at each other and decided to continue on to Waterford, NY the end of the eastern Erie Canal which meant going thru 6 more locks including the Waterford Flight. Yes our arms could handle it (downlocking). Lo and behold we just got thru Lock 7 and a Notice to Mariners came out – they were going to start opening dams between Locks 8 – 13 in prep for Ida. Meaning they lower the water in those canal sections till mud shows. Whew!
The Waterford Flight starts after Guard Gate 2 and it includes the last 5 locks on the Erie Canal. They need to be done in succession due to their proximity to each other. Their total drop is 169 ft with each lock about 33 ft. We were the only boat that went thru that day except for a Canal Corp barge. We ended up in Waterford, tied up looking at Lock 2.
Oh, and our boating buddies in Amsterdam also received the Notice to Mariners and scrambled to get moving since they were in the ‘to become mud’ zone. They only needed to get thru 4 locks but they generally close at 5:00pm. The canal system chose to keep the locks open later to accommodate boaters. They made it thru the last lock @8:00pm tired but grateful. They got to Waterford the next morning and thus the below became the 2nd Last Supper together. Jeanne & Lee departed for their intended journey up to Lake Champlain, we wish them the best of travels!
Update 9/2/2021 – One Thing…
Ok so LuLu, the good karma talisman that my soul sister Chris gave us for our journey, has been working overtime as of late. Tropical Depression Ida left us w/about 2 inches of rain here in Waterford, NY without any ramifications so we’re good. Not so lucky for those south of us. In Catskill, NY, 40nm to the south, where our mast is to go up; the marinas being on a creek, pulled the majority of the boats out of the water with the larger boats leaving to go anchor in the Hudson River to avoid flooding; the second time having to do so in 2 weeks. And if our ‘plans’ would have held, we’d be in and around NYC at this time. You know, Mother Nature is just not happy w/the way she is being treated!
Forecasted ‘plans’ are to make it to Catskill in a couple days, get the mast stepped and get our AIS (IE Marine Traffic App) working again.
Week 10 – Little Falls to Little Falls, NY – NM 1057 thru 1057
SO much happened in this week I’m not quite sure where to begin. I’ll begin by stating that Little Falls is an AWESOME town to get ‘stuck’ in for a grand total of 11 days. The staff at the Little Falls Canal Harbor were utterly fantabulous (as my dad used to say)! There were multiple places to provision, one being an awesome co-op. There were many good restaurants of which most had outside seating or takeout. Trails to wander aimlessly or purposefully down. Townspeople wandering by the marina would stop, talk, offer rides to places, and routinely checked on us.
However the best thing that happened to us was being ‘stuck’ in Little Falls w/two other boating couples. One on a Pearson 28, Orphan Girl, Mary & Kevin from New Jersey and the other on a Monk 36 Trawler, Lanea Jane, Jeanne & Lee from Connecticut. Oh the fun we had; having communal dinners most evenings in the boaters lounge, pondering boat fix issues, guessing on the canal status, learning about each others adventures and lives, going to the Cruise Inn by Mike car show, but mostly laughing a lot!
Images from our walks around Little Falls.
The Harbormaster taking us on a tour of the surrounding area, the Ironrock Brewery and the beer we had to honor Myrt, ‘boy’ talk, the Thursday @10am Tai Chi club in front of our boat, plus time to get the bimini/dodger extension done-YAY!
D becoming famous on the Little Falls FaceBook page – note the comments…
Our new found friends and our times together. 1st pic-Kevin & Mary to the left, Lee & Jeanne to the right. I could go into an incredibly long diatribe about each and every one, but we’ll keep that in our hearts. Jeanne & Lee had to quickly rent a car to go back to Connecticut to prep their house for Hurricane Henri, all turned out well for them, celebration ensued.
