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.

Waterford, NY

We had a good cruise from Cape May to Atlantic City, NJ. We secured all the cabinets and items that could fall over. We did not know how the seas would be on the Ocean since NOAA has misinformed us in the past on wave and wind information. Since wind would be out of the east, we took a route close to shore. We arrived at our anchorage early and relaxed except for the wave action of passing vessels pulling tubers or waterskiers. It was the weekend afterall.

It was on to Sandy Hook, NJ, the following day. Again we had a nice run up the coast. However, it was a long run. We had left Atlantic City very early in the morning and arrived at our anchorage in Atlantic Highlands, NJ, very late afternoon. We decided to stay a few days after having put in some long cruising days. Put down the dink and went to town for lunch and a walk around town.

The cruise through NY Harbor is impressive no matter how many times we see it. We can never resist taking pictures of the Statute of Liberty. Unfortunately, there was too much haze over the NY skyline to get good pictures.

It was then on to the Hudson River. Most of the scenery through the Hudson River Valley is awsome. This year we stopped at the Poughkeepsie Yacht Club (which is not in Poughkeepsie at all but 7 miles north) so we could visit with cousins Judi and PJ. They were great tour guides. We went to the FDR estate at Hyde Park, climbed a mountain trail to get a beautiful view of the Hudson River Valley and had some great meals out and at Judi and PJ's house.

We have already gone through one lock, the Troy Federal Lock, and are in Waterford, NY. We will be here a few days waiting for our mail to be delivered at the local post office. It is hot and we are lucky to have electricity at this dock to run the AC. The first 48 hours at this dock are free and then it is $10/day. Can't be that. Did some grocery shopping. The store is only about 1/2 mile away. They let customers who are staying at the dock take their purchases back in their grocery carts. As we were walking back to the dock pushing the cart, I wondered if we didn't look like homeless people.

Headed for the Erie Canal

We spent May, June and part of July at our home dock in Aquia Harbour. Part of the time was taken up with doctor and dentist appointment. We also participated in some our our yacht club's events. The only cruising we did was a trip to Washington, D.C. for the 4th of July. We anchored in the Potomac across from the Washington Monument. It was a great place to watch the fireworks. An anchorage area was set aside for the event. There were hundreds of boats anchored. The area still could have held more boats. One of our fellow yacht club members rafted with us for the event. Many of the boats left after the fireworks display, as did our friends. We spent the night just where we were.

All our medical needs have been taken care of for now. On July 9th, we untied our lines and headed for our trip north. It is too late to do the Loop so we will redo part of a trip we did in 07. At that time we cruised the entire Erie Canal, met up with Puffin and then did the Triangle Loop through Canada and the Champlain Canal. This time we will only do parts of the Erie Canal.

The first night we only made it from Aquia Creek a few miles down the Potomac River since we left our dock at about 6:30 pm. The next day we went on to St. Mary's City. The college hosts concerts each Friday night in June and July. We had always missed them. So our goal was to see a concert before leaving the Potomac River. We are glad we did. The concert was outstanding and the food from the vendors was surprising good. We met up with some folks we had previously met at White Stone Marina. They own a Mainship, live in FL but return to the Potomac River each summer.

From St. Mary's we headed for Solomon's Island off the Patuxent River. I have hoping to see a friend while we were there but she was busy with a family visit. It was then on to South River. We spent 2 nights with Great Harbour friends. We had originally planned to only spend one night, but they are such great folks and good friends that we stayed for a second night. We also stopped in the Baltimore area to see other Great Harbour friends.

From Baltimore it was on to Chesapeake City. We were lucky enough to tie up on the city's floating dock. The down side was that it was 91 degrees and the boat was just as hot. Today we are in an anchorage in the Cape May, NJ area. A cold front came through. The temperature now is much more pleasant, although it is cloudy and humid. We will have to check the weather before we venture out tomorrow. Our goal is to get to Atlanta City tomorrow.

May and June - Aquia Harbour, VA

We had an uneventful cruise back to Aquia Harbour. The hightlight of the return trip north was stopping at the North Carolina Visitor's Center and meeting up with Rebecca and little Nathaniel. Rebecca was good enough to drive to the Visitor's Center so we could meet her son Nathaniel. Rebecca, Mark and Nathaniel live in the Boston area. They just happened to be in Virginia Beach on family business.

Aquia Harbour is our home base to do our annual doctor and dental appointments. We expected to be in Aquia Harbour for about a month and continue on the Loop. We had airline tickets to fly out of Syracuse, NY to Ft. Walton Beach FL on June 25 to attend our nephew Jason's wedding. Well, to make a long story short, we have had to cancel our Loop plans for this year and take care of some health issues. We have our charts and guide books so we will be all ready for next year. Randy has a couple of doctor appointments this month. We are hopeful that we can begin cruising again in July. In the meantime, we will probably drive to Ft. Walton Beach for Jason's wedding.

April 5-8, 2009

From Vero Beach, we put in a long day and anchored in the NASA Causeway. Since a cold front was forecast with high winds and thunderstorms for the following 2 days, we raised the anchor early the following morning. By midday winds were gusting to 30 mph. and we were trying to duck a thunderstorm. We called and made reservations to spend two nights at Halifax Harbor Marina in Daytona Beach to wait for the front to pass. When we docked winds were 20-25 mph. When we arrived at the marina, they assigned us to a T head slip, as we had requested, and a dock hand was waiting to handle our lines. We congratulated ourselves on a good job docking and rewarded ourselves with a great pizza at a nearby restaurant. We also took the opportunity to change engine oil and use their laundry facilities to wash some rugs while we were there. Not fun, but necessary. Saw a Manatee swimming around the marina.

Although the Bridge of Lions at St. Augustine had limited openings of the waterway, because a new bridge is under construction , we were able to get through the bridge without a delay. We arrived at our anchorage at about 5:30 pm. Eight other boats were already anchored but we squeezed in. Dinners and showers and we are ready for bed after a long day.

Great Loop - Day 1 April 5, 2009

The Great Loop takes the cruiser approximately 6,000 miles through 16 states and Canada. It typically starts in Floriday, although it can start anywhere, and takes 8 months to a year to complete. The objective is to choose a starting point and return to that point of origin. We have chosen Vero Beach, Florida. Starting in Vero Beach, our tentative plan is to travel up the east coast on the intercoastal waterway (ICW). We will stop in Stafford, VA to do routine doctor and dental appointments. We hope to depart VA at the end of May and head up to New York. We will go up the Hudson River to Troy, NY, go west on the Erie Canal to the Trent Severn Canal, take the Great Lakes to Chicago, down the Mississippi to the Ohio River, the Ohio to the Tennessee River, and then the Tennessee Tombigbee Canal, south to Mobile and the Gulf Coast. We will then go down the coast to the Okeechobee Waterway, cross the state to the east coast of FL and north to Vero Beach. The Loop is then complete.

This morning Randy hoised our America's Great Loop Cruisers Association (AGLCA) burgee and we left Vero Beach at 10 a.m. We're officially "Looping."