49. The Erie Canal

When we came down through the locks, there was no charge for using the locks. This spring, it was decided to impose fees again and the passes are $15.00 for a 2 day pass and $37.50 for a 10 day pass. On the first day that promised to be sunny we started off with Richard and Janice from Carpe Diem IX and Bob and Paul from Fourth Watch through the locks of the Eire Canal, purchasing a 10 day pass.

Lock 2

Locks 2 to 6 are a within a two mile stretch and must be done one after another. There are no stopping places in between these locks which raised us 169 feet above the Hudson River escarpment. We then followed the Mohawk River west as this eastern section of the Eire Canal follows this natural waterway past towns and little villages. The railway follows this path as well and we could see the trains rushing past us as we went from lock to lock. When we tied up at Amsterdam past Lock 10, we could hear the trains all night blowing a shrill whistle every time they came to the town crossing. The original Erie Canal was finished in 1825, was 363 miles long, 4 ft. deep, 40 ft. wide and an engineering marvel in its day. It connected the Hudson River with the Great Lakes and opened up the population in the centre of the continent to shipping to and from the rest of the world. Originally mules or horses would walk along the canal pulling the boats through the ups and downs of the canal.

Then

And now

The present canal was completed in 1903 and has 34 locks in total. (35 if you count the federal one at Troy) We would only go through 23 of them before we turned onto the Oswego Canal. At almost every lock there is a free wall or dock to tie up to either east or west of the lock. I could not resist taking a peak into one of these little tugs.Many of these courtesy docking areas have picnic areas, charcoal barbecues and interesting towns to visit. At Amsterdam, from our dock, I took pictures of the Volkswagen Car sitting on top of an 80 ft. smokestack. Then after supper we went for a walk into town. The next picture shows how quickly the weather would change. By the time we got back to the boat, we were all wet. A car on the top of a smokestack is a sight that you don’t see every day. What is the reason for it? We never did find that out. We stopped again at Canajoharie, past Lock 13 to stretch our legs and then spent the next two nights at Herkimer past Lock 18. We could walk to Wal-Mart, Dollar Store, K-Mart, Rite-Aid and the liquor store. What else could a boater want?Thank goodness for our West Marine cart which we used to cart things back and forth.

Buoys here, buoys there, buoys everywhere!

No matter where we stopped, we always found time to get together for dinner. Just before crossing Oneida Lake, we stopped at Sylvan Beach which provides 1200 ft. of free dock on both sides of the bridge. It was the Monday of the Memorial Day weekend and every picnic table and barbecue in the huge park along the waterfront and the sandy beach were filled with families and young people. The amusement park opens on Memorial Day and there were many takers for all the rides. Many motor bikers got together at one of the waterfront cafés. Unfortunately after a nice morning and afternoon, it started to spit, then drizzle and by late evening, it was pouring and the fireworks were cancelled. Oneida Lake is shallow and can be rough if it is windy so we crossed easily at daylight and by 10:00, we were stretching our legs in Brewerton. By 4:00 we had turned onto the Oswego Canal and stopped before the first lock at Phoenix.

48. Unstepping the mast

The weather continued to be cold and it rained every day but not all day, just enough for it to feel damp all the time and for our arthritis to act up. We stayed in a scenic well-protected anchorage up the Esopus Creek at Saugerties. The little town made a pretty picture as the morning mist rolled away and gave way to scattered showers. Where Esopus Creek enters the Hudson, an unusual island lighthouse is connected to the mainland with a small wooden bridge. On we went up the Hudson, up Catskill Creek to Riverview Marine Services Marina where we unstepped the mast, luckily just before the skies opened up again. This time it was a heavy downpour. Rain, rain, we were sick of rain! The unstepping went very smoothly as Roman had everything well prepared and the crew were very experienced.

Back on the docks, just a few finishing touches

We continued up the Hudson and through the Federal Lock at Troy to Waterford which marks the start of the Erie Canal. In the picture below you can see the Visitor Welcome Centre on the right and the locks in the background. I wonder how many beers Roman had when he snapped this picture?
We spent several days at Waterford provisioning, socializing and relaxing in the rain! It would clear up for several hours and then it would rain again. We did a lot of walking in the rain. The best part of Waterford was that they provided electricity with their free docks and we actually dug out the old electric heater Roman had brought along. We could never use it when we did not have power but now it took the damp chill out of the nights. My phone was delivered to Waterford as were the parts for the alternator. Roman thinks he’s got it all figured out now and hopefully the batteries will charge when we take off.

47. Up the Hudson

New York New York! Coming into New York harbour from the Atlantic gave us a different look at the city. We could actually recognize some of the buildings and landmarks and could determine where ground zero was from the water.It was still a thrill to see the Statue of Liberty. We got much closer this time and took lots of pictures again.

This is where the Twin Towers used to be.

Next time I would like to ride the Staten Island Ferry. There is so much to do in New York that you could visit dozens of times and still find something else to do.

The Coast Guard building certainly lacks any imagination!

There were so many interesting buildings along the waterfront. The Lackawanna building above was such a contrast from the skyscrapers.
Of course, no visit to New York is complete without a visit to the top of the Empire State Building.

We stayed again at the 79th Street Basin Marina shown above. It is just 2 blocks walk to Broadway and all kinds of shops and the subway.

It was overcast when we arrived and it continued to clear up and then rain every day we were there. My hip is bothering so much more when it is cooler and damp. I guess that is a clear indication that I should go south every winter. We did little sightseeing. Mostly we washed and dried everything that had been soaked with the salt water. We walked in the rain and enjoyed socializing with fellow boaters.

While I went out with Janice and Richard, Roman retrieved an errant dinghy. He had to row as we had no motor on our dinghy. He then spent all day figuring out why our batteries were not charging. He narrowed down the problem to the alternator. As the regulator on the wind generator was not working and there was no sun to charge the solar panels, we had to watch our energy consumption. We went to bed and rose with the sun. We ordered parts for the alternator to be shipped to Waterford, cruising solutions headsets to be shipped to Riverview Marina and my replacement phone to Waterford.

When we were leaving New York, we saw one of theother boats that had been in our anchorage in Atlantic City. In spite of all our loses, at least our sails were intact.

When we arrived at Nyack Yacht Club, they were in the midst of their annual handicapped Regatta. Nevertheless there was room for us and we were warmly welcomed. Several of the members remembered us from the fall; one even gave us a Canadian flag as our last flag was destroyed in the 65 knot winds in Atlantic City. A tip for those thinking of going south for the winter, take a half dozen Canadian flags with you. We are on our 5th. The commodore presented us with their burgee and we promised to send one from our yacht club to hang in their club house. Next time we will take several burgees with us.
This is the Tapanzee Bridge where our regular boat insurance coverage resumes.

Every place that we have visited has had its own unique appeal and the gentle rolling hills on the banks of the Hudson and blue of the Adirondacks in the background were no exception. I snapped one picture after another.

46. The Atlantic

We knew there was a storm coming but it was predicted to hit land late that night so we left Cape May at first light. The seas on the New Jersey coast were fairly calm with gentle swells. It was so nice that we thought we would get as far as Barnegat Inlet that day. There we would wait out the weather until we would make the final hop to New York City. Carpe Diem was taking the inside route from Cape May to Manasquan Inlet which was great for vessels requiring a clearance of not more than 35 ft. and/or a draft of less than 4.5 ft. At the Inlet, they would also have to go on the outside to New York city. We were in touch with several sailing vessels along the way and we all thought to go to Barnegat Inlet. At about 10:30 the skies darkened and winds and waves got bigger and bigger (6, 8, 10, 12 -15 ft.) and the gentle swells of the early morning became a distant memory as the wave period diminished.
For those reading this who are not sailors, the wave period is the time between one wave and the next. If the wave period is less than the wave height, it produces waves that hit your boat very hard making your ride very choppy. The Beaufort Wind Force Scale is a guide to show what may be expected in the ocean remote from land and a way of describing the mean velocity of wind and predicting the wave heights and deep sea conditions.

Beaufort # 4 -Moderate Breeze -winds 11-16 knots/hr. ,waves 3.5-5 ft.
Beaufort # 5 -Fresh Breeze -winds 17-21 knots/hr., waves 6-8.5 ft.
Beaufort # 6 -Strong Breeze -winds 22-27 knots/hr. ,waves 9-13 ft.
Beaufort # 7 -Near Gale -winds 28-33 knots/hr. ,waves 13.5-19 ft.
Beaufort # 8 -Gale -winds 34-40-knots/hr., waves 18-25 ft.
Beaufort # 9-Strong Gale -winds 41-47 knots/hr., waves 23-32 ft.
Beaufort # 10 -Storm -winds 48-55 knots/hr. ,waves 29-41 ft.
Beaufort # 11 -Violent Storm-winds 56-63 knots/hr. ,waves 37-52 ft.
Beaufort # 12-Hurricane-winds 63+ knots/hr. ,waves 45+ ft

Sea conditions can be more dangerous near land than in the open sea. In many tidal water areas, such as where we were, wave heights can increase considerably in a matter of minutes. As we watched the waves get higher and higher, we decided to head for Atlantic City where we knew we would find a well protected anchorage. Just as we were heading for the buoy marking the entrance to the harbour, a huge wave swept over the bow of the boat all the way up to the pilot house knocking open our front window (the latch was not completely closed) and the inside of the cockpit was drenched with salt water. Wiping the electronics was top priority and the rest had to wait until we anchored just after noon.

Coming into the harbour at Atlantic City

Every cushion in the pilot house was sodden. We spent the afternoon drying out as best we could but it was cold and cloudy. The winds continued to build and even in our protected anchorage almost a mile from the harbour entrance, the waves were 6 to 8 feet.

Although the predictions were for near gale or gale winds when we went to bed, by midnight we were caught in a “Violent Storm” with sustained winds of 50 knots with gusts to over 60 knots for 26 hours with fierce rain splattering on the windows trying to find a way in. We had to re-anchor several times; we just could not get a good hold. Re-anchoring three times in the pitch black dark with the rain and wind howling was the most frightening experience we've had so far. Eight of the ten boats in the anchorage were re-anchoring in the night and it was a critical game of musical boats trying to avoid hitting each other, the docks and the shoals. Every time Roman went out in the driving rain to pull up the anchor and I steered the boat through the sheets of rain which made the visibility just about zero, I prayed. The windows on the sides of the pilot house, the marine ones we paid a fortune for, leaked steadily for the first time in eight years. The winds were so strong that it turned our dinghy upside down. We lost the top to our motor, our gas tank, life jackets, lights, our bailing pump which we could have really used, one of the grappling poles which we will need for the locks and some other odds and ends we left in the boat.

But we came through it a lot wiser. Never again will we prepare the boat for the next day if there is even the slightest indication that the winds will be building at night. Fortunately all the things we lost can be replaced and the bruises and scrapes from being tossed around every time we moved through the boat are inconsequential in the grand scheme of things.

At one point, I said to Roman that we would have been better going to a marina but the next day we heard several horror stories. Several boats were cast adrift still tied to a dock when the dock to which they were tied broke away from shore. One boat could not untie their lines and was rescued by the Coast Guard already in the Atlantic. The Taj Mahal, in Atlantic City, evacuated everyone from one of their areas with large panes of glass as pieces of furniture were tossed around and whirled through the air. In Cape May, a research boat did not get back to land on time and one man died and another was brought back by the coast guard seriously injured.

By early afternoon the next day, the winds eased up and the sun came and I could dry all the cushions, towels and rags we had used to mop up the water. I spent the day drying everything in the strong winds about 20 knots - good for drying but not for staying on the lines we strung up all over the boat. I kept a constant watch on everything drying as I did not feel like sewing another our boat cushion cover if it went flying. It was cold with highs in the lowers 50's and we both wore wool toques for the first time since the fall. One of the other boaters looked for our gas tank but it was a lost cause. Roman felt that it had been swept out to sea. Rich from The Great Catsby came by and took us to Brigantine Beach where Roman walked to Ace hardware and bought their last gas tank. He worked on the dinghy engine for several hours, started it with a rope and it is now running without a cover.

That night we got together on the The Great Catsby with some of the boaters celebrate the fact that we came through this nightmare. Rich and Carol were in Hurricane Bob and said that what we went through was much worse.The next morning, I teased Roman that I was taking him out for breakfast for his birthday when we went early in the morning to Burger King on Brigatine Island in order to use their internet and let everyone know that we were all right. We found that most people, especially those in Canada, had no idea that there had even been a storm here. We left Atlantic City as soon as the stores opened as we needed to buy another prepaid minutes phone as both of our phones were not working. My phone still had minutes left on it but the message is “the maximum call rate has been reached.” Apparently there is a life span on these phones. I called from another boater's phone and Net10 can send me a new phone in a week to 10 days but where would they send it? We needed a phone right away just in case other things failed, God forbid, on the Atlantic.

We travelled with other boats with no further problems, thank goodness, to Barnegat Inlet, N.J. and then on to New York City. The seas were still fairly rough and the winds about 30 kn but it consistently became calmer and we made this last leg on the Atlantic Ocean safely.