June 25 update

June 22-25

We took the second lock through at Oswego lock eight this morning, as several large boats were in line in front of us and would make movement in the lock a potential problem. It only cost us ½ hour so we left at 9 am from the outermost Oswego marker.
The lake was smooth as glass and I decided on prudence and ran at 1400 rpm, 8.3 knots to cover the distance of nominally 60 nautical miles. We took turns sitting in the helm seat while the other took a nap. We had sermons from our church on the radio and if you went to sleep at the wrong time it became confusing to say the least waking up to a different discussion. We were somewhat concerned on arrival time in Kingston as the marina we wanted to stay at had not returned our email. It turned out not to be a problem as they have plenty of space.     

We are staying at the Federation Marina which is owned and operated by the City of Kingston.
Rates are reasonable, but 30 amp electric is $9 per night. Nice semi floating docks, where there is no tide. Great internet here, laundry, and very clean bath facilities located in downtown Kingston right next to a park.  You are walking distance to grocery, bakery’s, all kinds of shopping, and restaurants.

You need to take buses here if you need additional services and stores like West Marine or say cell phone service. To get your cheapest fare you need to decide how many times you will get on and off a bus in one day and how long you will stay in town. You can pay$7.25 per person for a daily pass that lets you get on and off as needed or a one way ride for $2.50 Canadian.

We needed cell phone service as well as mobile broadband. The broadband service here has changed the last few years and put us in a quandary to say the least. First the cheap box phones we buy in the states cost double what they do in the U.S. We have a Walmart special that is just a phone that cost 27.50 and then you add minutes. Here it costs $50, with prepaid minutes for in Canada service at. $50 and stateside calls at over $1.00 per minute. In addition you cannot buy mobile broadband here as they have quit offering prepaid mobile and only offer modems and month to month plans. The problem here is you cannot pay cash as the month to month may be cancelled, and they want a CANADIAN address to send the cancellation notice and monthly bills to. After going to 7 different companies we finally found a pro that had the answer, spend money. To beat the system we needed a smart phone that would let us access data through the phone. Then we could buy 2 gigs of data at a time to use on the phone. I go to a national pharmacy called Shop Mart when I run out to buy 2 more gigs. COST is about 3 times greater than my U.S. cost. It should only be for 45 days until we are in the U.S. again at the most. I am not sure how this works if you are already on a Verizon or ATT plan stateside for cell phones, but the data plans at$25 for 1/10 of a gig will send you to the poor house. We are still Tracfone users stateside and they have no conversion for Canada.

We finished shopping and laundry today and plan to visit more of the downtown stores in the a.m.

We spent ½ day determining g a possible day by day movement in the Trent Severn  waterway for the next 2 weeks. Lots of decisions, especially since Canada day is Tuesday. Sort of like our 4 of July so it becomes a 4 day weekend. We just try to stay out of the traffic is our motto. Anchor out and go fishing.

We have 2 great places for others to try if they are ever in Kinston; John’s delicatessen and meat market on Princess Street for fresh meat specials, and Frankie Pesto’s Italian restaurant on Ontario Street. Both are outstanding.

We also have a zinger for Visa. Alice checked on line to confirm our spending and found that Visa is charging us 3% to convert money. Canadian funds are trading for a 7% discount and Visa wants almost ½. We are now carrying a lot more cash than we like.

We leave tomorrow for Trenton which is a 2 day trip with 2 anchorages. We have no free internet until Monday at the earliest, so this will be it for a while.                                                               

June 20

We cross 20 miles of Oneida Lake without a problem and stop at Ess Kay yards in Brewerton, NY for fuel, pump out, boat cleaning, and supplies prior to crossing into Canada.  This is a working yard that is clean, has lots of needed parts, and free car use to get you to the basics of groceries and laundry. People here are outstanding. The docks are primitive, but at $1 per foot which includes electric it is hard to complain.

We can move to Oswego tomorrow and cross Lake Ontario on Sunday in what looks to be quiet weather. Well the weather is quiet but we have just gone through a week with 42 degrees as a low, and 75 as a high. We are chasing spring as we move north.

We have a problem with communication in Canada. We need to get a burner phone while we are there as our Tracfones will not allow us to call Canada from here or call out of Canada while we are there. Once we get settled with phones we will let you know the number.

Sometime I need to recap the Erie Canal in this document. I guess it is now. It was not what we expected and repairs to the locks after Irene are ongoing and made the movement along  the first 15 locks  somewhat tiresome.

You need to register online at http://www.canals.ny.gov/ so you are notified of navigational changes on the canal. This is a real must for safety and planning. Our last day up the Oswego river we were delayed 15 minutes waiting on Oswego paddle fest groups. We had planned on it as we were notified.

Waterford is outstanding. But, if you get there with all the loopers, straight from their Norfolk convention you will find the floating docks full for weeks at a time and you will need to go to the HIGH wall to tie.  We barely reach the top after climbing the tower on our boat. That is 13 foot. You need shore help here, and unless you are on a ladder you need to be a climber to get on shore. Your 2 free days do not start till you hit the floating docks but it can be somewhat disconcerting.

The next 5 locks as described earlier are on top of one another and you’re learning curve is steep.

Lockmasters do not have to help but they will if you get into trouble. You learn everyone has their day to have trouble. So do not get smug.

You do not anchor on the canal. You use the free lock walls, city marinas or regular marinas for your night. The lock walls are like anchoring except you can get off your boat and walk. There usually is no place close to go but it is safe if you bring enough line to get to bollards that are spaced for cruise ships at times. There are places that look good to anchor, because for the first 15 locks you are in the Mohawk River more than a dug canal.  But, the canal is over 300 miles long and weather at one end affects the whole. So when they closed the canal for three days we saw water levels vary 4 feet several times a day. Also we had 3-5 knot currents.

You move a daily distance according to the lock placements. So you can usually cover 20-30 miles daily. You can cover more but the crew gets testy.

The CSX railroad and New York turnpikes is your constant companion for the first 15 locks then peace for a while. Lock 15 to 23 is about towns and scenery, more of a ditch than the Mohawk River run we just did.

Locks are dirty, especially in the rain. Round fenders work somewhat better that the typical cylindrical fender in that there is less fender pressing on the wall. But you can make all fenders work. Some locks have not been repaired in a long time. We lost a fender for 20 minutes in a hole in one wall.

Did I mention that the canal prior to lock 20 has more debris than the local junk yard? You are constantly watching for that submerged tree.

The history is the canal itself. There were some places to stop; the Remington firearms museum, a park where you see one of the original locks of the system and  Rome, NY has an Indian wars fort about 3 miles from the canal.

We talked about fenders but you also need gloves, at least 2 pair as the lock lines etc. are really dirty.  2 bow hooks are also required.

Fuel. Diesel is not readily available in large stretches of the canal. We filled at the first place available, Schenectady, for the total trip. What we wanted we finally found in Sylvan beach with the town built around the canal and lake entrance itself.

The total trip changed after lock 20 and especially the Oswego River.

June 21

 The Oswego River today was really outstanding. No trains, debris and very little traffic except for fisherman. Weekend houses, primary houses, canoe traffic and your boat almost by its self.

Locks are still dirty, all 6 of them, but this was a really nice trip today. We will try to clear the lock at 7 a.m. so we can cover the 60 mile lake crossing of Lake Ontario before dark and marinas close for the night.

We ran into a boater on the wall last night from the Finger lakes region of NY state on his way home. He invited us to join him at the Super Modified and big block modified car races Saturday night at the track here in Oswego. Surprisingly the crew said lets go. So we were off to the races at 6 p.m.. Methane is the fuel and between the noise, even with ear plugs and the methane smell it seemed like a long evening. The track was fairly full and everyone could figure the favorites. The feature was 2- 35 lap Super Modified races. They were interesting.  Interesting, but not for a long term diet at least for us.

We do not know the phone, broadband situation in Canada yet but will look into it Monday.

June 19 update

June 16

We spend the day cleaning the boat inside and out. We share a taxi with our neighbor
and go to Wal-Mart for necessities. We are learning we should have stocked up better at Waterford. We can only hold 5 days max on perishable food, so if you get stuck at a lock wall for 3 days you can not get to food. We carry 2 more days with canned meat, but you feel somewhat helpless. In addition, groceries along the route, except for convenience stores, are a minimum of 1 mile from any stop along the canal at least so far.

June 17

We can move today at 8 a.m. We are 1 mile from lock 17 so we will try to move to the upper wall of lock 16 for the night.
We run in a pack of 4 boats all day until one leaves for a marina just before lock 16. The three of us finish lock 16 and tie up for the night. It has finally been a hot day and we all meet in our cockpit for a cold beer and snacks. A really nice day.

I double check all lines at 11 p.m. as the radar is showing major storms heading to us by midnight. At 12:15 we are still in the clear so it is back to bed. It seems I slept through the major wind as Fruitcakes the boat directly in front of us on the wall tells me in the morning we were hit with a wall of wind in excess of 50 mph at about 4 a.m... We never woke up through the 1 hour ordeal.

June 18

We have a light drizzle and 15-20 mile per hour winds all day. We move on to lock 20 for the night and tie up there.

Everyone has their day in the lock when nothing goes right. I cannot get the boat on the wall.

Current, wind, and the just plain cussedness of the boat keep us from tying up. We are a major hold up in the locks as first we get the bow in and the current moves the stern out further than the bow hook can reach. We have boats already tied front and back so it is somewhat like parallel parking. Finally that is what I do, Alice drops the front wall line and I back the stern in for her to get that line then she walks forward to get the bow line. Bow thrusters are a blessing.

The crew lost her smile on this one lock.

June 19

Today we moved through the lock 21/22. These are easy as they take us down. We move to Sylvan beach for a free lock wall for the night. We get in early and are in need of ice. We ask some local fisherman where we can get it and they send us to a restaurant. The restaurant gives us enough ice for all the boats at no cost so we go there for lunch as repayment. His generosity paid handsomely with 5 for lunch.

Finally a lot of boats we started with catch up with us at Sylvan in the afternoon. Some we have not seen since Waterford 8 days ago. We go to a Grand Banks 52 for cocktail hour. The fly bridge has enough room for 13 people to sit and talk for an hour. Then it is off to the local car show to finish the evening.

Sylvan beach is a nice town. There is about 2000 foot of concrete wall for boats to tie up.Lots of restaurants, a meat market, and groceries all within a half mile, make our cruisers job a lot easier.

The canal takes on a different look the last 2 days as we have long stretches of canal where you hear or see no outside traffic. Prior to this section we had the turnpike and CSX railroad as a constant reminder of civilization, now we see trees and an occasional town every 10 mile or so.

Finally have taken time to load the pictures we saved through the stop here at Amsterdam. We will group them by area starting with New York Harbor.

 

NY Harbor from under Verrazano Bridge

 

not all the damage from Irene will be repaired

West Point

Entering Lock 2 at Waterford, NY

                                        

      Counter Offer at Amsterdam


                                                                                 

The dock is full at Amsterdam awaiting the opening of Navigation again                                            
                                                 

June 14 Update

June 10, 11 

WE had a list of things to get done on this stop; groceries, haircuts, charts we were missing, and then we realized we were short fenders. 4- 11x30 inch tuff ends were not enough so we bought 3 more at a marine store close by. With New York Taxes we spent 30% more than on the internet. Oh well we needed the fenders.

Ordering the fenders took an extra day and the Waterford people were gracious enough to let us stay until they came in.

Why all the fenders? We did have four. Well, if you need to tie up on the port for one lock and the starboard for another, Alice gets real tired of going back and forth with the lines etc. So we run down the canals and rivers with bow and stern lines already attached both port and starboard, and fenders already attached and hanging down so the work effort is really reduced. This was not what we were taught in seamanship class, about hanging fenders and lines, but it is the most practical.

Waterford is a nice cruising town. All you need to accomplish is in a ½ mile radius; Groceries, Laundromat, hairdressers, ice, marine parts and restaurants. Did I mention that 1/2 mile now feels like you walked a mile? Something about age I guess. 

June 12

We left Waterford at 9 am today in the company of a 32 foot Nordic tug; DunWorkin was the name on the boat.

We did the Waterford Flight together, which is 5 locks almost on top of one another. The locks raise you from 15 foot elevation at lock 2’ to 184 foot at lock 6. Sounds like a lot and it is, especially for Alice and me. It took us 2 hours to finish the 5 locks. That is one lock right after the other. Alice never left the foredeck.

You enter the lock and on the wall, either to port or starboard is steel cables attached vertically from the bottom of the lift to the top in a recessed u-shaped indentation in the wall. Long ¾ inch lines are attached at the top and hung down for you to grab in addition to the cables. The spacing is up to someone at the lock and it’s not uniform between locks, so some of these lines are spaced every 20 foot in some locks up to 40 foot apart in others.

The objective is for Alice to grab one of these ¾ inch lines at about 30 foot from the cable that should come next as the boat is moving forward, where she then takes a line attached to the bow and puts around the cable and back to a cleat on the boat. Once she has the cable she lets the ¾ line go, I stop the forward boat movement come down and grab the line she let go of. Now we wait for the water to come in the lock so we can go up. We simultaneously keep a moderate amount of pressure on the lines so they will hold the boat toward the wall of the lock and yet move smoothly up the cable. Well, you know the fenders are what keep the boat from hitting the wall directly, but some of the walls are so rough you end up pushing on the wall with one arm to keep the fenders somewhat free, while pulling on the lines as we go up.

We finally had this down to perfection and they decide to change the configuration on the next locks,

No cable. Okay that still works and is somewhat easier on Alice. She grabs the first line to get the boat on the wall better, I stop boat she lets the line go and takes the next one in line and I take the line she let go. We did 10 locks today and are beat. The lock men decided that it was too easy on the boaters so they shortened the ¾ inch lines so they do not reach the boat. Now you brace your feet on the edge of the boat and pull on the line to keep the boat over on the wall. Thankfully it was only a 15 foot lift and lock 10 is the only one this way, so far.

We tied up for the night on the west wall of Lock 10 and finished just as the rain let go. So we are in for the night. Just us a boat called Fruitcakes and the Amtrak whistle as it goes by. 

June 13

Still raining this a.m., and the radar looks like it will hold until 10 a.m. at least. So I will let Alice sleep in.

Locks are dirty. The lines coming down have been in and out of the Mohawk River water so often that they can be coated with mud. We wear gloves so our hands are protected, and wet or not they are necessary.

Speaking of dirt, Alice was wearing hear light blue foul weather jacket from Cabela’s yesterday for the rain, that we got off and on all day along with the cold weather,60 degrees.  A nice Gore-Tex jacket just made for hot weather rain sailing. After handling lines all day she now looks like a 5 year boy just out of his favorite MUD PUDDLE. Hope the jacket cleans up.

We have 13 locks on Erie and 8 on the Oswego,  yet to go,  before we hit Lake Ontario. We are planning 5 more days.

June 14

Radar and weatherman say rain all day so we will sit till the a.m.

June 15

 We move 2.5 miles in 3-4 knot current to the Riverwalk Marina in Amsterdam as they have closed the river to navigation for at least 3 days due to heavy rain and flooding. We need to do laundry; they have a Laundromat at this marina, and had planned to stop at lock 14 today to do that.

  Locks at present are all open with currents running 3-4 knots in the river.

Last night water got almost over the dock we were on and Alice got up in the middle of the evening and lowered fenders so we stayed off the concrete. We have to really watch now as these docks are not floating, but solid concrete. Water levels are moving as much as 4 foot up and down as they change lock and damn settings.

We need to clean the boat and then may run to the stores here via taxi to get a few things we need.

 

Hudson River Impressions

Hudson River :

1.      Initially as we leave NY city a BIG beautiful river.

2.      Beautiful countryside, with the river running through the valley between the hills.

3.      Historic cities as you leave New York City, like Yonkers, Tarrytown, and of course West Point.

4.      Limited anchorages from New York City to Kingston. If I did this trip again I would anchor next to the statue of Liberty instead of Sandy Hook and take Croton point as the first Anchorage on the Hudson.

5.      Make the next day’s run a little longer to Kingston and break the next 80 miles in 2 units. The really good Anchorages are between Kingston and the Troy lock. They are everywhere you look.

6.      Weekends. Friday afternoon find a spot you like and sit there for the weekend. All of New York seems to be on the Hudson on weekends. Better yet spend the week end in New York City.

7.      Strong Currents on average. We ran for a whole day with a 1- 2 knot against us’ and then ran 7 hours with the current the next.

8.      Lots of commercial traffic, especially at night.

June 9 update

May 28, 29, 30, 31

Ah, the joys of cruising. Grocery store is .8 of a mile. This is a small downtown store that carry’s most of what you need, at 30% more than Food Lion. Food Lion is 3 miles. Load the pull cart and start for home. Alice see’s Tee Shirts on sale so she goes to look while you stand on sidewalk with cart. Does not matter the shirts are for  me.

We next diagnose a repair for the boat and I set off to fix it for now. Real fix will require more work but my temporary should carry us for the rest of the cruise.

The weather for the next 2 days will keep us close with highs of 60.

Rain day, high of 58, and reverse cycle air/heat feels pretty good. Robert got the pump and is bringing it. At the next stop I will determine how to best install this new type pump for the air/heat system.

Spent the day comparing outside (ocean) versus inside passage to New York. Down loaded a new Program called Active Captain where comments on anchoring, marinas, and routes by cruising sailors is posted to the U.S. marine map where after you join you can go to that area and read what is available.

Like how is the intracoastal from Atlantic City to Manasquan? This is a really GREAT program and if you are reading this blog and you cruise, you will want this program. Besides it is free. The program comments lead us to check this am with Tow Boat US to see if we can run inside or not. The first 10 miles is the worst, but at Manasquan people are talking about a closure from Sandy that has not been repaired.

Lewes, De. Is a nice town set up for the tourist trade and weekend fishermen. Lots of good places to eat, clothing stores, and etc. 1800,s history is the attraction particularly the war of 1812. Big disadvantage for a cruiser is lack of hardware and grocery stores in the downtown area.

Canal entrance is 10 foot deep with the canal averaging 13 foot at low water. Biggest distraction is the 4-6 knot current in the canal with the tides. We waited to go out until slack current this time, a good 1.5 hours after high tide.

June 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

We moved to Cape May for a retina specialist appointment that I have Wednesday morning. This was a planned stop to see Friends and relatives who live in this area. We have someone coming everyday.

The weather may hold us here until Friday before we can move up the coast.

We stayed at Utsch’s Marina. Nice facilities for boats drawing 5 feet or less. Check your tides.

June 6

Left Cape May for a 5 hour run to Atlantic City. We anchored in a spot shown to us by Dick Greenwood and used Active Captain to guide ourselves in. We were 3 hours prior to high tide and saw 6 feet a couple of times. This run in is doable but is not for the faint of heart. If no markers are available stay 10 foot off the grass.

June 7

We left for Sandy Hook at 5:30 a.m. We averaged 8.2 knots for the trip and arrived in Sandy Hook at 4 pm. We had a really nice trip with waves less than 2 feet. I cannot say the same for Sandy Hook on a weekend. The marinas are still hurting from Sandy, and those that are open are costly.

We are sitting in an open anchorage waiting for the weekenders to quite running so we can have dinner. And get some sleep.

Hard to describe the New York Skyline as you approach off the Atlantic. Tried to take a picture but it does not  do what we saw justice. The last time I went through New York Harbor was at night with Bill Kirsch when he helped me deliver the Freedom to its new owner in Rhode Island. That was a sight to remember.

We will head up the Hudson in the a.m.to an anchorage that hopefully is better than this.

June 8

It was a terrible night at anchorage. It read like a weather report from NOAA with waves 1-2 foot and wind from any direction but the one they predicted. So we are off at 5:30 am to have less current against us up the Hudson. A really quite ride through NY harbor with no real traffic to contend with.

Stopped at Tarrytown to fill with diesel and pay New York prices, 4.50 per gallon.

We are way too early to anchor and besides the whole state of New York is anchored in this spot, so we move on to Newburgh for the night.

June 9

Now we face 2 days at 40 miles each or one big day at 80 miles and one lock at the end the Troy Federal lock. We opt for a long day besides it is raining and the further north we go the less likelihood of rain. The forecast held and by noon we were out of the rain. We tied up at the Waterford Visitors center free dock.  They provide internet, bathrooms, and water, electric costs $5 per day. You can spend 2 days, to provision your boat etc. We are here and will stay the 2 days.