The Hudson River to New York City

It's been two weeks since my last post......Lots has happened...both good and not so good. 
We left Waterford early on Sunday September 16th traversing our last lock in Albany. We motored for about 5 hours to Catskill NY.  We arrived at the Hop-O-Nose marina where our mast had been trucked to from Buffalo. We were assigned a slip and promptly went up the dock and into the yard to find and prepare our mast for stepping the next day.
Mid afternoon the next day, all that needed to be re-attached, new wires run through , and touch up paint in areas that had had wear were tasked Guy had to attend to himself. 
I could only observe as I was injured from a fall on the bow pulpit the day before. My sore upper body was curtailing much of my activities. 

Here he is......thinking to make sure it's all put back together.....He does not want to have to go up the mast once it's up.

He's ready for the owner of the marina to let him know it's time to get Miss Ellie to the hoist!
Not long after this pic was taken, the mast was stepped without event! Now, the electrical wires had to be re-connected from the bottom of the mast through part of the bilge and passed into a cupboard by the nav station.. The sails also have to be put on as well as tune the rigging.....

It rained all day Tuesday the 18th....The water running down from the mountains main the water look like chocolate milk. Guy continued readying the boat for our departure from Hop-O-Nose marina in the Catskills on Thursday morning......

The next morning, September 20th, we left early . It was fascinating to glide through the water in a mist coming up from the water.....Sorta magical!

Once the sun came out, we took in  the scenery while enjoying a hot cup of coffee

These old, functional lighthouses are a great addition the the history of the Hudson River

 While underway,Guy is on deck adding the radar reflector to a sheet. Boats made out of wood or fiberglass are not normally as visible on radar systems as often as metal boats. A radar reflector can be used as a way of making your boat more visible. If you have a non metallic boat then people may find it very difficult to identify your boat on radar systems, this can put us in unnecessary danger which is why radar reflectors are so important.

This team of scullers were going fast...They beat us! 

 We stopped in Kingston on the Hudson. A pretty big boating community. We filled our diesel tank and had lunch at an Irish pub in town . Guy went to pamper himself at a "hot towel " barber shop where he also got a haircut. I guess his thoughts of a ponytail are just that A THOUGHT!
This is were I took my injury to a new level....I jumped off the boat, onto the dock to (maybe 8 ") to help with the docking maneuver. 
 Bad idea.....

 This was a sailboat that was in pristine condition. It had come over from England .

One of the many bridges in the Hudson River.

 On the one side of the Hudson were the commercial trains and on the other were the passenger trains...The night of the 21st, we tied the boat to some really old docks (carpeted with bird poop) in front of a restaurant on the Hudson.
No town...just a restaurant. If we ate there it was free.....The meal was good...We had a restful sleep in spite of the trains.......

 More freighters

 We arrived in Nyack on Friday September 21st. We tied to a mooring ball here for the next three days .

Here is Miss Ellie on the left....It's the largest mooring field we have seen yet. It was pretty windy and the boat was rocking pretty good. Not so comfortable for me.

 On Saturday the 22nd, my brother Roger arrived from Long Island NY  where he lives and works We had "pasta alla vodka" on board , a few drinks and some laughs. He spent the night and we parted ways the next morning after breakfast. He went back home and I went to a clinic for xrays.  The Dr. strongly recommended I immobilize my cracked sternum to start the healing process. Not an easy thing to do on a boat. Guy made arrangements to get me off the boat in Ney York city...20 nautical miles away.

 Our approach to New York city at about 9:00 am Monday Sept. 24th

 Here we are at The Liberty Landing Marina across from where the twin towers were prior to 911

 We went for a walk....along the New Jersey waterway..........

 This is a memorial remembering all of those from New Jersey that perished on 911. It is situated so that you can see the new Tower of Freedom across the river

 The next day, Tuesday September 25th, we took a ferry across the river to the city. We visited St. Paul's, a small church, at ground zero that escaped any damage from the 911 attack. It was shown in many pictures across the world covered in soot and later people would post  pictures of their loved ones posted on it's rod iron fences.
We then walked in Central park and later took a subway to the New York Art Gallery and Museum.
It has an extensive collection of the worlds most famous artists...

 I had to try a soft pretzel with mustard while in Central park

 The New York Art Gallery and Museum

We got back to the boat from our day trip into the city at about 1700 hrs. We had purchased a few slices of pizza just before getting on the ferry.  A cold beer and a pizza was perfect for dinner..
Tom C. arrived by van from Sarnia a few hours later. He will be helping Guy get the boat to Annapolis Maryland while I heal my sternum on land for the four days it will take them to get there.
I left in the van Wednesday Sept 26th early afternoon and drove to Chesapeake City. Stayed there for 2 nights then drove to a little town outside of Annapolis for 2 nights. Guy and Tom also left on the 26th.

Since I have not been on the boat for this leg of the cruise, I will be interviewing the captain and his first mate in the next blog! 

Canajoharie to Waterford NY

We didn't leave Canajoharie till noon on the 13th....we spent the morning getting some "oil" for the thirsty engine, mailing letters, and going to the Arkell Gallery to see some original paintings by Winslow Homer , John Singer Sargent etc. etc. It was well worth the visit.
We slipped off the dock lines, traversed lock # 13 a few minutes later, passed through a little town called Fonda. (The Henry Fonda clan came from here). We did lock # 12 and # 13 and called it a day in Amsterdam NY at about 1700 hrs. Riverlink Park's 600 foot dock, was right in front of a small cafe hosting a medical seminar. The food, prepared right there looked and smelled delicious, as we walked by the kitchen when changing our loads of laundry.
The next morning we did lock # 10, which was just a few miles away, and motored the final 37.3 miles , while descending into locks, 9,8,7,6,5,4,3, and 2 (a total vertical drop of 227.8 ft)  We arrived in Waterford NY at the entrance of the Hudson River at about 1700 hrs.  Heritage,(George and Jackie's S/V and Miss Ellie  tied to a 1000 foot floating dock. We walked into town for dinner at McGreivey's restaurant. Guy is getting his fill of crab cakes already. It was delicious!

                                        One of many interesting churches along the way

                               George and Jackie of S/V Heritage at the bottom of a lock

      Trains run all along the Erie Canal .......making it quite noisy at night...we are getting used to it!

            A dam beside one of the locks.....this one had been damaged by hurricane Irene last year!

        One of many bridges

 Me standing in front of a poster at the Arkell Gallery . This is Mr. Arkell,the business/art collector that donated many original pieces to the gallery. (Hence the name of the gallery)

                     Guy is in the original gallery/library dating back to the early 1900th century.

                     Both our boats stern to stern.......dinghy to dinghy in Canajoharie NY

 We had a bit of a fire on board as we were leaving Amsterdam. I had put my large, favorite plastic tray on the stove not noticing the one burner was still on low! Yikes! What a smell and lesson learned!   Guy has been nicknamed "Pyromaniac" in the past......but this time it was me.....(we've been together so long we are acting like each other .....Yikes Yikes Yikes!

                  The repairs continue on.....it's been a little over a year and they are doing a great job!

                                                                     Exiting a lock

                                                               Me, preparing to enter a lock

Erie Canal/Lake Oneida to Canajoharie NY

 

Yesterday, Tuesday Sept 11^th, we crossed lake Oneida. It’s the largest body of water on the Erie Canal. It is 29 miles across. Luckily for us it was a calm day. It seems so weird to be out on a lake without a mast or sails. It won’t be to much longer till we get to Hop-I-Nose NY to have the mast stepped. We traversed 2 locks, both of them lifting us 25 ft. for a total of 50 ft. The turbulence in lock # 22 was so strong. It took all of our strengths to keep Miss Ellie from banging into the wall! (I think the lock master let the water in to quickly). Phew! It was a pleasant sunny day so I busied myself baking, preparing lunch and dinner, Guy, played his harmonica while behind the wheel and once we were tied to the wall he got the hose out and cleaned the decks. Later, he checked our engine’s oil level. Although the engine is working well, we are still leaking oil. Poor Guy religiously cleans the oil spill every night and places the “diaper’s” beneath the engine before any of it enters the bilge. We plan to have a diesel mechanic fix the problem once we get to Annapolis Maryland at the end of September.

Our pics of the day!

 Last night's meal, beer and Cheddar bread and stuffed peppers. Thanks Kim and Ross for the bread recipe and dry ingredients! It was yummie!

                                                       Another grey heron

                                                           Getting close to a lock!

                                            Here I am at the bottom of a 20ft lock

                         Now after just a few minutes we are at the top! Just amazing !

These two must be mad at each other!

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Today, Sept. 12th ,we did 7 locks. Lock # 17 is the largest lock on the Erie Canal. A vertical drop of 40 ft. ! I did a few basic boat clean-ups below decks while Guy practiced his harmonica while motoring between several buoys. In the afternoon, we listened to some Putumayo tunes. Again a cool start to the day and warming up nicely after lunch. At 1700 hrs, we tied up on a new dock east of lock # 14, went for a pizza and a walk around the town of Canajoharie. 

 Guy holds the boat off with a boat hook at the bottom of the 40ft deep lock. The current kept pulling us into the middle!