EKM is just off the very big lake Oneida. They had lots of tiki bars around but as usual we were parked on the wrong side of the canal with no dingy. We had a really nice stay at Ess-Kay, while rains were coming through the area (never came). They had a courtesy car so we could get some groceries and such. We met a few other looper boaters (at dock tale hour) that were staying at the facility. Some were just passing through and others spend the summer here and winter in Florida. They had a stay two nights and get the third night free, so we decided to stay one more night. This gave us time to fix the ice maker tubing (again) and clean the dark film off the boat from the canal.

The Erie Canal has 35 locks. We only traveled 2 – 23 then turned up the Oswego Canal to Lake Ontario. Here are photos we took as we went.

We have been going up in each lock until we reached Rome, NY. Now we are going down in each lock.

We headed out the next day to go through 6 locks.  The canal is river-like and has trees on both sides here.  We passed some marinas on the canal and also some tour boats. We noticed that there was not any trash or things to “River Shop” We only saw a buried toy car.

We passed by a couple dredge barges and also by some barges that were moving the dredged material.

We could see the bike path on the side of the canal.  Our neighbors, Ralph and Joanne, rode their bikes the full length of the canal last year.  We saw two bikers that reminded us of them.

We had to wait on one lock to empty but for the most part we were able to just enter the locks and lock through without waiting.  One was a 40.5foot lift and we had to travel under a cement wall. It looked intimidating but we managed it no issues.  When we reached Rome, NY, we were at the highest point and so the next lock was one where we went down a level.  Going down is easier that up according to Janis.

We did not have a reservation for the nights stay so we called around in between locking through locks.  Unfortunately, there were no slips in Sylvan Beach so we decided to head to the other side of Lake Oneida. 

As we entered the canal after the lake we saw a number of nice homes with docks and restaurants. We ended up at Ess-Kay Marina where we fueled up the boat then got into a slip.  The weather was going to be iffy so we decided to stay two nights. So with this under our belt… the Erie Canal is complete. Next is Oswego junction!.

We were not sure how far we would get today.  The lock operates 7AM – 5PM so we could not leave too early.  We pushed off and we ended up going through 8 locks!  It was a cool start to the day but nice compared to last week. We had a 30-minute wait at one lock because the lock master was working on cleaning the dam by removing trees and debris that got stuck in the metal slats of the dam.

As we started out, we waited for a group of kids training for rowing.  We saw one person rowers and 4 person rowers. 

During the day, we saw an American Eagle and a deer eating leaves from a tree.   The canal looks like a river and is clearly marked with plenty of red and green buoy’s.

Of course we have a 100 lock photos! here is a few….

We ended up in St. Johnsville at the city marina and campground.  A pair of sisters manage it in the summer. One camper had a nice little Farmer’s Market set up. We got a few fresh items. We met a looper boat – Bubba and Anne on “Getaweigh” from Texas. We also met the couple on Tuttle Shuttle (Bruce and Norma) they were on a mission to return home to Port Clinton. They had done 16 locks in one day! That would be too much for us. Later that evening Bob Hugick came to meet up with us (sorry forgot to get a photo of us). We had met Bob and Erin in Stuart, FL and we said we would let them know when we were in their neighborhood. We had a nice visit and Bob helped us out by getting us a 30-pack. When we went to the store the other day we could not purchase beer until 8AM and it was 7:30AM. That’s New York.

After two days on land with Don, we headed north to the Erie Canal.  We pushed off at 9:45 AM and chose to wait for a cruiser to go by first.   The boat was Desiderata!  (we met them in Cape May) We followed them up to the Federal Lock at Troy and then into Waterford. On the way we saw a rowing team in training. We sounded our horn at them (at their request). We are sure y’all know the Internationale gesture for honk your horn!

We had to wait 15 minutes for the lock, so we tied up for short time.  Desiderata decided they would stay the night at Waterford.  We decided to get through the “Flight of 5 locks” that begin the Erie canal. 

We were with a group of two other boats. It took a shorter period of time than expected.  The locks are very close together (within 4 miles you have 5 locks) so the lockmasters have the next lock ready for your group as you travel through them. 

The Erie Canal is partly a river once you get through the first set of locks but you can see cliffs that seemed to have been cut out. There are also Guard Gates – This type of gate helps to isolate sections of the canal in case of emergency, such as a break in the canal wall, accident, or extreme high water. They are also used when a section of the canal needs to be drained for maintenance or winter freeze protection.The Erie Canal is partly a river once you get through the first set of locks but you can see cliffs that seemed to have been cut out. There are also Guard Gates –

We ended up in Schenectady Yacht Club more because we were tired.  We could have gone a few more miles but we were ready to stop and rest. 

A good friend of ours, Don Leo, came and picked us up and took us up to Lake George for a couple days.  Chris and I worked with Don for 25 years.  Don showed us around the area.  We had lunch with his retired buddies, and everyone welcomed us. We then went to happy hour at another place and got to play some NY Keno. (we won $12 of our $20 back) We had a great pasta dinner that Don made and a great red wine. We had a big discussion on the value of a $50 bottle of wine from 2000 in today’s evaluation……… inflation had it at $76, wine magazine had it at $56 but now its in our bellies Priceless! The next day we took a tour around the Lake George.  We stopped at a resort for a quick look at the lake then we headed north to a ferry that take you across to Vermont. 

We ended up in Whitehall, where we met Don’s friend who owns the Whitehall Marina. We also met a gentleman (Tom) who completed the loop and is still living on his boat. 

After some good conversation and a few drinks, we headed back to Don’s place to grill out steaks!   We had a great time!      

The air was very hot and heavy in the morning.  Luckily there was a wind to help cool us off.  The river became a bit narrower as we traveled north. 

We continued to see light houses out in the river.  Some history – When the Erie Canal opened in 1825 and commercial river traffic increased, the U.S. Lighthouse Establishment felt the need for a more sophisticated system of lights. In 1826, the Stony Point Lighthouse was the first to shine its light on the Hudson, starting a system of lights that eventually grew to 14 lighthouses and numerous post lamps to guide mariners safely the length of the river. The seven lighthouses that exist today along the Hudson River are a tribute to the preservation groups that have worked long and dedicated hours in restoring, preserving and keeping these maritime treasures alive. Some of them you can stay at as a B&B.

We saw a house that looks like our house on the Ohio River.  Chris found a Neapolitan house (strawberry, vanilla, chocolate)

You could tell we were heading north because you could see mountains in the distance.  It was amazing how quickly the land changed from flat and sandy to hilly and rocky.

Albany is a bit industrial but nice. We stayed at the Albany Yacht Club across from downtown.

As we headed out today, we felt a bit more at ease since we were in a river.  The first thing we passed was a barge!  Then we heard a heavy sound and saw trains on either side of us.  Seemed that cargo trains tend to travel on the west side of the river and people trains travel the east side of the river heading to New York City. The terrain has changed greatly since we entered the New York Harbor.  Cliffs on the west side of the river are huge.  There are light houses on some of the points.  

About and hour into our cruise we passed West Point. We had no idea that it was this large and all stone!

Next we passed an island that had what looked like a castle. I looked it up and found that the island is called Pollepel Island and is a 6.5 acre island in the Hudson River in New York. The principal feature on the island is Bannerman’s Castle, an abandoned military surplus warehouse. Part of it has collapsed and there are poles holding up one wall.

We got buzzed by 20 Sea Doo’s and later found out it was a run for charity. There were nice houses on the hills as we cruised north as well as a few older stone buildings at the water’s edge.

As we approached the creek where out next stop was located, we noticed a large cargo ship coming at us and the timing would be just as we needed to turn in. We were surprised that this large of a ship would be this far up the river. This put us back on our toes to make sure we did not get in his way. These ships travel much faster than barges.

We entered the creek and found all kinds of things to look at.

The Rondout Yacht Basin is a membership club that also provides transient slips. They had a nice Tiki Cafe that served good food at reasonable prices. We had lunch and did some chores then tried to stay cool in the near 100 degree temperatures. A mother duck and her babies also came to welcome us!

The trip through New York City was a bit nerve racking.  We were disappointed with weather and visibility.  With the temperature being so high and no rain the heaviness of the air plus the smog in the city made it seem like it was foggy, but it did not “lift”. 

John had warned us to be aware of the NYC Ferry’s because they travel at 30 mph across the harbor.  We left a bit later in the am thinking the “Fog” would lift and the ferry traffic would be less after rush hour. We had a plan that Chris and John worked out on a napkin!

As we approached “the Narrows” the first thing that comes across our path are two cargo ships that are traveling 15 mph.  Then three ferry’s speed by us as we tried to keep out of everyone’s way. 

There were a number of ships in the harbor many moving, and a few were anchored.  Sightseeing cruise ships were taking people between government island and the statue of liberty.  Staten Island Ferry was taking people into the city from New Jersey.  Other smaller ferries were also taking people from one part of the city to the other or from New Jersey to the City. It was a bit crazy but very interesting. 

We were able to get some photos of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island even though the visibility was poor. 4

As we cruised up past Manhattan we noticed a boat that was not moving and when we got up on it we found that is was an advertisement.  Only in New York.  

By the time we got up to the George Washington Bridge the traffic calmed down and we felt more at home since we were back on a river. We were a

We were surprised to see that the New Jersey side of the state was made of cliffs. Even just outside of Manhattan. Yonkers was a neat area and again there were cliffs across from it.

We crossed under the new Tappen Zee Bridge. Both Chris and I have traveled over this bridge many times on business. The old bridge was taken down and they were still pulling pieces out of the water. The new bridge is made from the new engineering design similar to the bridge in Charleston, SC.

The marina we stayed at was seven miles north of the bridge. We had to dock ourselves because the dock master was out of town. We were going to walk into town but it was very hot so we made dinner on the boat and stayed in the AC.

The next two days were decision days.  Do we follow the Intercoastal Water Way of New Jersey or do we go out into the Atlantic Ocean and back into our destinations? 

Based upon the weather we decided to head out into the Ocean and that way we did not have to worry about running aground and we could travel faster. As we motored out the channel we saw the Coast Guard post and also some shrimp boats coming in. The waves and wind were against us but not strong we only bumped around a little bit.  We saw a number of amusement parks on the beaches. Including one on the Atlantic City Boardwalk.

Our first stop was Atlantic City and Farley State Park Marina which is right in front of the Golden Nugget Casino!  It was amazing that we could begin to see the tall buildings of Atlantic City about two hours into our cruise. We kept 1.5 to 2 miles offshore and arrived at lunch time.  The casino was not good to us, but they had a deck where they had live music, beer ($25.00 for 5-16oz) and food.   

We cruised back outside in the Ocean again and this time we had to travel 67 miles to our targeted destination.  We had the wind and waves behind us (following seas) and that gave us a push and a much smoother ride than the day before.  When we reached Manasquan Inlet the tide was going out and this created a strong current near the docks where we were going to.  The wind had also picked up so we could not back into the slip as we normally do.  We pulled in bow first. Hoffman Marina was very nice.  The deck hand was great and helped us get our ropes in place, so we were held in the current.  We needed an extension cord for our electric and he came up with one for us to use overnight.  We found a Tiki Bar and had tacos and beer and watched other boats fight the current while they tried to dock.  Some turned tail and ran, We were glad to see we were not the only ones who had difficulty.

 When we returned to the boat the tide was coming in.  Because of the way we had to dock we only had one access point to get on and off the boat from.  We had to step up to get on the boat and by the time high tide was reached we were not able to get on and off the boat with out a ladder.  So, we sat and watched the activities at the marina.  Two groups of peopled who were fishing wanted their fish weighed so we watched them.  One fish came in at 142 pounds! One little boy caught his first tuna.  It was fun to watch.  We were hoping to have someone offer some fish to us but no luck.

We were concerned (no sleep) about the currents in the morning, so we got up at 5AM to take advantage of “Slack” tide waters – where the current stops and goes the other way.  We wanted to get an early start anyway because there was weather coming in about 2PM and the waves on the ocean would be greater than 3 feet. And for this leg of the journey we had to travel in the ocean to get into New York Harbor.  It was cloudy so we did not fight any sun in our eyes, and very humid. We again had the wind and waves behind us, so we took it slow, so we did not get into the next marina too early.  At 8:30 AM we entered New York Harbor.  We were a bit disappointed that you could not see the city very clearly due to the smog and heavy haze over the city.

We passed about 6 fishing boats where they take out 100 people on one boat to catch fish (We call this herd fishing). There was a large cargo tanker coming in behind us and we had to speed up to stay ahead of him until we departed the shipping channel and headed to the marina. 

We arrived at 9:45 AM at Mansion Marina, so we checked in then had breakfast. We picked this marina since it was in a protected cove and we hoped to meet up with a looper friend we first met back in 2015 when we started.   We were able to meet up with John Scarcella and his sister, Christy, for lunch.  We had a great time reminiscing and talking about boats.  Johns’s family is doing well and he is now surveying boats so we may use him for advise if we decide to sell our boat and downsize.