Herkimer to Seneca Falls

Lock 17

All through the Erie Canal the locks operated the same by swinging open the doors to let boaters in - Except for Lock 17.  This special lock is not only the highest lift lock on the Erie Canal (40'), it is one of only two locks in North America where the entrance gate is lifted above the boater.  We watched the gate as it pulled up over the canal and then we motored under it, water dripping on us from the gate.

Canal warehouse for navigational aids- Herkimer, NY

 After the comfortable dock at Canajoharie, Herkimer was a bit of a disappointment.  The New York Thruway was about 100 feet away with all of its rumbling trucks and speeding cars.  The canal warehouse divided the highway from us. Next to the warehouse was a restaurant and souvenir shop, Gems Along the Mohawk,that  boasts they house 50 vendors from the area. They did have lots of "stuff" and oddly enough, the world's largest tea pot. 
It was 136 years old, 57 inches tall, 58 1/2 inches wide, 492 pounds filled (who could lift it?) and could hold 58 gallons or 972 cups of tea

World's Largest Tea Pot

Lots of flotsam in the river

Baldwinsville Lock 24

Could this be an ad for next year's Super Bowl?

From Herkimer we stayed in Sylvan Beach, crossed Oneida Lake and then stayed in Brewerton.  These are all great stops, aging but interesting.  We locked through Lock 23 and 24 and held our breath as we went under a 15 1/2 foot bridge-we clear 14 1/2 feet but we weren't sure about the measurement because of the heavy spring rains.  My job was to stand on the propane box on the bridge, peer over the canvas top and then guestimate if we were going to  make it.  Fortunately, my guess was right on and we had inches to spare- whew!
Lock 24 brought us to Baldwinsville where we enjoyed their wall with power, the absence of the trains and a welcoming town.  Too bad it wasn't Thursday night or we could have enjoyed the concert from the Budweiser Amphitheater across the canal..maybe on the way back!

Just so you don't miss the turn!!

Baby bald eagles

The Cayuga-Seneca Canal

We wanted to explore the Finger Lakes and that's possible by taking a left turn off the Erie Canal and using the Cayuga-Seneca Canal (C/S Canal)  to get to either Cayuga Lake or Seneca Lake.  The other Finger Lakes are all stand alones. We locked through the first three locks on this C/S Canal  on our way to Seneca lake and arrived at Seneca Falls, a delightful, very attractive,  town.  While once a prosperous mill town,  it is now suffering from the manufacturing withdrawal.  Most storefronts are filled and tourists can be seen walking around town.  The village boasts a Museum Trail consisting of five museums.  We visited two and were pleasantly surprised at their quality.  The Women's Rights National Historical Park preserves the importance of the 1848 First Women's Rights Convention where the reformerss wrote the Declaration of Sentiments, outlining their desire to vote, speak in public, hold office, attend college, own property and the list goes on.  The other museum was the Seneca Museum of Waterways and Industry, explaining the history and rise and fall of Seneca Fall.  Besides dockage, the village provides boaters with electricity and water, immaculate restrooms and showers and laundry facilities- I think I may move in here!  We could have also used the Community Center if we were so inclined to have a workout--we skipped that workout since walking Buddy is our daily workout!
Overall, Seneca Falls is a very attractive place to live.  The homes are well kept, the town offices are interesting, the library was helpful to us and the numerous parks were great places to walk in.  Too bad it's so cold here in the winter.

Beautiful Trinity Church from the water welcomes us to Seneca Falls

Amelia Bloomers invented more comfortable clothes for women.

All contributors to the first Women's Rights Convention

Train station turned into town offices

Seneca Falls with wall on right for boaters to tie up to

Interesting sculptures in one of its many parks

Seneca Falls Main Street

Seneca Falls Community Center

On to Seneca Lake!

Waterford to Canajoharie

After going through the first seven locks on the Erie Canal, we decided to call it a day so we eased over to the wall at Lock 8.  Many of the locks have free walls to tie up to, some with power, some with just beautiful scenery.  Lock 8 was scenic but the noise from the 100+ freight cars does NOT add to the tranquility of the area. We chatted with the lockmaster who through our conversation we discovered that his daughter lives in Newtown---another small world meeting!  We took this photo of him with the rainbow in the background...had to be all of our lucky day!

Dave Eipert

This beginning part of the Erie Canal is made up of the Mohawk River which is relatively narrow with plenty of trees lining its bank.  Surprisingly, there are few houses on the river as many do not use this for vacation homes.

Floating down the Mohawk River- notice the gold Looper Flag!

Canajoharie is famous for Beechnut

Canajoharie, the home of Beechnut (as in baby food and gum), was our next stop for the night.  The town supplied us with a new dock with power and water just because they like us-how nice is that!  Beechnut has recently moved out to a new facility in another part of the county so no one has lost their jobs.  They left behind the aging town that is trying to reinvent itself. They are working hard to modernize it.  It offers a wonderful library with an interesting art museum, housing Winslow Homer oils and watercolors and other artists from this region.

Canajoharie getting a well deserved face lift

Off to the Erie Canal

We left Stratford May 31, 2011, almost a year after our  Great Loop departure, for an exploration of the Erie Canal from end to end, 342 miles.  We will be following the turn of the century Erie Canal that follows natural rivers and lakes.  The original 1825 Erie Canal was a ditch filled with water that mules or horses could walk on a towpath and pull the boats through but the self-propelled boats eliminated the need for the animals.  There are remnants of the old Erie Canal here and there. and plenty of museums that keep its presence alive.  We hope to spend some time on the Finger Lakes too-they run off the Erie Canal and appear to be a boating destination.

Port Washington, Long Island sunset

Our first couple of days were relatively short.  We spent the first night on a Port Washington, LI, NY free mooring ball.  They painted them yellow so there's no mistaking them in their harbor.  It's very difficult to find this kind of municipal generosity in Long Island Sound - we appreciate what they do for boaters!  We stayed here because it made for an easier Hell's Gate crossing at 11:15 AM slack tide.  We would have never made it in time if we had left from Stratford.  We traveled down the East River to New York Harbor with LOTS of ferry and tour boat traffic, making our way to Liberty Park, anchoring right behind the Statue of LIberty.  How cool was this!  We anchored so that we saw the back of her head all night!

Our backyard view

NYC from the Hudson River

Mystic Whaler from Mystic, CT

Anchoring is difficult on the Hudson because there are few little coves and few islands.  It's not impossible but it is difficult. We found a small cove in Haverstraw, NY  and spent a quiet night there.

Tony M in Haverstraw

West Point - always an awesome sight from the Hudson River

We tied up to the Steel House Restaurant in Kingston for dinner and then for the night.  Although it was a free tie up, we paid the price as we listened to the patrons partying until 4 AM...those NYers! 

 

Albany-we're almost to Waterford

Waterford is the wonderful town from which cruisers stay before their departure either to the Erie Canal, the Champlain Canal or the Hudson River. We left Kingston early as we wanted to get to Waterford as early as possible since it fills up early.  We were watching the web camera, eyeballing the spot right in front of the Visitor's Center all afternoon and were disappointed when we arrived and found a sailboat tucked into the spot we wanted to call home for the night.  We found another spot and began to relax, knowing we were in the starting blocks for this adventure.  We spent two nights in Waterford, taking in all it had to offer!

Part of the old Champlain Canal

Walking biking trails along canal

Sunday morning Farmer's Market right next to Tony M

First commercial boat we ever saw on canal

This sign directs you to the canal you want in case your GPS isn't working!

Thanks for continuing with us...stay cool!

Chesapeake City to Home!. Crossing our Wake !

From Baltimore we went to Rock Hall, a free dock to transients.  The weather was  threatening so we stayed in Rock Hall for a couple of days.  We wheeled our laundry a mile into town, bought some groceries and were set for the final leg of our  trip north.

Dedicated to the oystermen at Rock Hall

Bustling Main Street in Rock Hall

High water over the dock we were tied to

We took advantage of a good weather window and left for Chesapeake City right on the C and D Canal.  The C and D Canal cuts through the Chesapeake Bay and brings you into the Delaware Bay which is  the route we had chosen to take. We anchored in their harbor, explored their town, got a good night sleep and took off bright and early the next day.

Chesapeake City Ice Cream

tiny tiny shop

Chesapeake City Main Street

This canal looks like many we've been on but it's only 14 miles long so it's very tolerable.   There's not much to look at as you can see from the picture.

14 miles of straight and narrow

Sometimes you meet a barge

We entered Delaware Bay and were very happy we were able to cross it without any problems.   This is a fairly large body of water and many boats have waited a long tome to cross.  We spent the night in Cape May and left the next day with intentions of stopping in Atlantic City.  We chose to try the outside of the ICW -the ICW tends to be shallow in NJ so traveling a few miles off the coast if  the weather and seas are favorable is  better.  We were doing well as we approached AC so we decided to go to Barnegut Bay.

Atlantic City-not with my money your not!

It was a long day but worth the effort- we were making good time.  Barnegut Bay had a comfortable harbor for us to anchor in so we took advantage of it.  We left the next day thinking we would stop at Mannasquaun Inlet but again the seas were favorable, we were making good time on the coast so we decided to go all the way to Great Kills,Staten Island  to spend the night.

Great Kills is a large salt pond with a couple of marinas, yacht clubs and hundreds of mooring balls, many of which were vacant.  Instead of anchoring,  we decided to hook up to an empty one near the dinghy dock so Buddy could get to shore easily.  As we were sitting in our boat, a man rowed up to us and told us that we were on his mooring ball.  We expected to be told to get off it but instead he graciously told us we were welcomed to use it and even offered to take us shopping if we needed anything!  New Yorkers always seem to have the reputation of being nasty and impolite but this gentleman squashed that image.  I wish I had taken his picture!

Staten Island sunset

  We left Staten Island at 6:30AM, hoping to use the tides and currents to get through Hell's Gate at slack tide. Some fog and clouds made our morning dreary but we were almost back to CT, so we hardly noticed the weather.  New York Harbor is a busy harbor and didn't disappoint us on this early Sunday morning.  Tony M gave my father two toots as we passed Coney Island close to where he was raised and again, two toots, as we passed Battery Park, an area where he had worked. He would have loved to have done this trip-I know he heard us toot!
We crossed our wake at Hell's Gate at approximately 9:30 AM May 22, 2011.  This was monumental for us because it meant we completed our Loop.  We have traveled for 355 days and covered 6454 nautical miles/ 7486.64 statute miles, eighteen states and Canada.  We have experienced so much and have grown to appreciate this fine country we live in.  Our lives will never be the same.

NYC

Cable cars to Manhattan

A Baltimore relative

We arrived at Boardwalk Marina in Stratford, CT late that afternoon, exhausted but thrilled that we had safely accomplished completing America's Great Loop.  We spent nine days visiting with family and friends, catching up on a years worth of activities.  A highlight was spending two days with Lee, Pete's mom, who celebrated her 85th birthday while we were there.  She looks and acts great---Happy Birthday, Lee!

GPS at Stratford-49miles after crossing our wake

Lee Gwyer on her birthday-doesn't she look wonderful!

Tom and Cheryl, Pete and Joanne, Marian and Wally

Thanks for following  our journey only we're not done yet! We have two more months before we can move back into our home so we are going to enjoy the Erie Canal. We have traveled parts of it twice but now we want to complete it from Waterford to Buffalo.  We hope to continue our blog on this smaller adventure.