Waterford to Fairport

We had delayed departure from Waterford because of heavy rains. But it was finally time to leave. We proceeded through locks 2-6 without a hitch. I dreaded this part of the trip, but dealing with the locks went smoothly. The first 5 locks are in the first 2 miles. In addition to locks, the canal also has guard gates. These help control the flow of water. We stopped for a time at Guard Gate 2 to evaluate the current resulting from the heavy rains we had. It did not seem too bad so we went on through locks 7 and 8. There was a lot of current and debris at lock 8 so we decided to stop for the night. As it turned out, we stayed at the terminal wall at Lock 8 for several days with several other boats. Although the locks were officially open, the lock master at Lock 9 did not recommend passage though his lock until some of the debris could be cleared from the lock. Additionally, the current was quite swift.

In 2007, when we did this trip, I didn't know what to expect at the locks, i.e., how much turbulence there would be in the lock and how to handle our boat against the lock walls. We are now seasoned canal travelers.

The locks will have either ropes hanging down the sides or cables or pipes that are secured at the bottom. Most have ropes and some have a combination of ropes and pipes. For us, the ropes seem to be the easiest. We pull into a lock. At midship, I use my boat hook to grab a rope and walk to the stern (rear) of the boat with it. In the meantime, Randy moves the bow (front) of the boat closer to the wall, stops the boat and with his boat hook grabs another rope and walks to the bow with the rope. By then the lock doors are closed and water either fills the lock to raise us up or water is let out of the lock to lower us.


On this trip we are trying visit some of the sites and towns we missed last time we were on the canal. Most of the docks in towns are free or charge a nominal free if they have water and electric available. When we stopped in the town of Canajoharie previously, it was a Sunday and the town was pretty well shut down. Couldn't even find a restaurant open. Canajoharie is the home of the Beech-Nut Company started by local residents, the Arkells. We visited the Arkell Museum and Gallery located at the Public Libray. Not only did we enjoy the art work which included several Winslow Homer pieces, but we also enjoyed viewing the pictorial history of the Beech Nut Company in Canajoharie.

After Canajoharie, we stopped at the free dock in Herkimer. We shared the dock with two tour boats. I picked up their brochure and was surprised to see a picture of Odyssey, another Great Harbour, like ours, as a example of the types of boats that cruise the canal. This time around we did not walk into the city but instead just visited the very nice gift shop dockside.

Rome, NY, was our next stop. We had also stopped there in 2007. We did not revisit Fort Stanwix, instead took a cab to the "Erie Canal Village." We spent the entire day there. It had a poor canal museum, but a wonderful cheese museum (NY cheese). We also took a ride on a horse pulled packet boat. By chance, while seeking out a Bank of America ATM, we came across the Capitol Theater, an old movie theater that was having a three day filmfest. We were there for the last afternoon of the fest. They showed several silent movies along with live organ music.

We made an overnight stop at Winter Harbour Marina ($0.90/ft. including electric) in Brewerton, our first marina stop since Poughkeepsie. Had a chance to wash clothes and re-provision using their marina car. We made arrangements to return to get the bottom of the boat painted. We had it done there 2 years ago. It was then on to Baldwinsville, Lyons and Fairport. Dockage in Fairport is between 2 bridges, the charge is $9/day and that also includes electric and water. Ollie is enjoying this trip since he is able to walk on grass at least twice a day. We have been through 29 locks and it is now time to turn around.