Observer

Today dawned bright and sunny (it had been raining since our return a few days ago to Brewerton).  We got ourselves organized and left Oswego at 7 am as we prepared to cross Lake Ontario.   Oswego breakwater on the left and the entrance to Lake Ontario on the right After we cleared the breakwater, I instantly regretted not taking my motion sickness meds as the lake was very rough.  We had 12+ knot winds coming from the west with waves averaging two feet, which means there were plenty of four footers slamming us on our beam.  At one point, I was lying down on the salon settee trying to calm my queasy stomach when we were broadsided, the boat rolled from side to side so much so that all I could see out the portside was a wall of water and the entire settee bench disengaged and slammed into the table pedestal with me on it and Millie underneath it.  The back of the settee then slid down, forcing everything stowed behind it to drop down into newly found storage space (the only bonus

As soon as we could, we attempted to get a mechanic to look at our alternator belt, but were at the mercy of the marina who kept us in limbo.  As we waited to hear back from them, we were given the head’s up about an independent mechanic who had done some work on Bucket List just the day before and had gotten positive reviews from Tom and Tracey.  We were somewhat hesitant to call as he is uninsured, but desperate times call for desperate measures.  We gave him a call and he was on our boat within the hour, diagnosed the issue, went home to get the necessary tools for the repair and returned with his brother to fix our problem.  While I admit this was a bit sketchy, within the hour, our belt was replaced, the rust on the alternator was cleaned and all the jagged edges were sanded down and smooth.  We were good to go!  At this point, after a phone call to the lock 8 lockmaster, we decided to move Observer to the other side of lock 8 so we could get an early start in the morning for

While we were home, Winter Harbor Marina needed to move Observer to maximize their transient dockage space.  When we returned yesterday, we found ourselves wedged up against a wall at our bow and along our port side with a large cabin cruiser’s bowsprit kissing our stern.  I personally was at a loss as to how we were going to get out, but with the help of a few dock hands and our capable captain, we were free without a scratch and on our way to Oswego.  We went through our last lock (23) on the Erie before we took a right hand turn onto the Oswego Canal. Sign pointing to the left to continue on the Erie to Lock 23 The Oswego Canal locks are very pretty and all the lockmasters are wonderful. Lock 6 on the Oswego Canal We traveled through locks 1 through 7 rather uneventfully. (Interestingly enough, there is no lock 4 because after the initial design that called for 8 locks got re-engineered, lock 4 was dropped, but they had already numbered them all)  A little after

After spending a week at home, we packed the rental car up to the ceiling, stuffed Millie into what was left of the back seat and headed west back towards Brewerton, NY where we had left Observer. The Hudson River and the Erie Canal look a lot different from the car than they do from the water!  And, surprisingly, we did not see one boat the entire way back (granted, you only catch glimpses of both, but we saw plenty as we were traveling on the water). The Erie Canal as seen from the New York State Thruway The Hudson River as seen from the New York State Thruway Lock 15 on the Hudson as seen from the Thruway . We arrived at the Marina about 2:30, quickly unpacked the car and, borrowing a loner car from the Marina, we returned the rental, did some provisioning and came back to Observer to settle back into boat living. Looking up from the stateroom to Millie lying on the pilothouse floor

June 13.  Layover day in Little Falls.  We biked over to Moss Island at lock 17 and took a small hike, then toured some of Canal Place (large Antique Gallery) and found a great Alpaca product store - seemed a bit out of place. . .but a welcome surprise. The back side of Canal Place June 14 included a morning bike ride over to the Herkimer House,  actually just happened to ride by it.  Then we headed westward on the Canal through locks 18-20 . We docked for the night at the West End of lock 20 (21 miles).  Great place for Millie to stretch her legs. Taken across the Canal from Observer accessed by crossing over at the lock We met a couple guys from NH (Stan) and Maine (Gil) who were camping at the lock.  They are biking the Erie Canal from Buffalo to Waterford in 5-6 days (365 miles). June 15. We hosted Stan & Gil for breakfast aboard and exchanged stories of our trips.  Then it's off to locks 21 and 22 (first time locking down) and arrived at Sylvan

June 11   A couple sitings in Amsterdam Former Armory that has been converted to a B&B   A cool garage across the street from the Armory (part of a private home) We departed Amsterdam with the goal of heading to Canajoharie.  We traveled with Resolute through locks 11,12 (where we were joined by 17 kayakers), 13 and 14. As we came upon Canajoharie, we did not love the docking.  It was a high wall, under and near Route 90.  We made the quick decision to go through lock 15 with Resolute and tie up on the west side of the lock.  Room for two boats with power and free.  There was a short walk to town to get some groceries. Have you ever been on the New York freeway / Rte 90, looked over at the river and wondered what is that body of water?  Who uses it? Well, it's the Erie Canal. Blue dot on map is Observer June 12    Beautiful morning on the Erie  Tim rode his bike down to lock 16 on the trail along the canal. All kinds of animals, rab

48 Hours on the Erie Canal (btw it's not raining). Thursday evening: My sister, Plummy and husband, GA live about 20-30 minutes away from Waterford and offered to pick us up, drive us back to Albany and have dinner at Albany Ale & Oyster where their son Taylor tends bar.  We had a great time catching up and dining like royalty; Taylor took very good care of us.  The next morning we were on the fence about moving along on the Erie as we really did not have a feel for the conditions up stream where some of the locks were closed.  About 11 we decided to give it a try.  Locks 2-6 must be done in one shot.  There is no stopping for the night in between.  As newbies we had a few stressful moments, but we got through them with some valuable lessons learned and a better feel for what to expect.    Approaching the lock Inside the lock One more lock and we arrived at the Schenectady Yacht Club.  Our son, Sam, attended Union College in Schenectady and it wa

June 6    Our first lock on today’s agenda.  Required: extra fenders, life jackets and gloves on, knives at the ready and we brought along a pair of crutches to assist pushing our boat off the lock walls.  Made the executive decision to shove off and head for Waterford, NY.  We have been told that Waterford is the perfect launching point as it is at the confluence of the Champlain and Erie Canals.  There is a free dock there and if you are lucky enough, you might score one of the slips which has both power and water.  Based on the weather and that we had pretty much done everything there was to do at Shady Harbor Marina (a lovely place to stay, but somewhat remote), we started back up the Hudson at 10:30 (seems to be a trend here).  Today would bring us our first lock in Troy, NY which, admittedly, we were both a bit unsure of, despite all the reading we have done in preparation.  Our sister ship, Resolute, had gone through about an hour ahead of us and contacted us with some help

June 4    Woke to a decent morning.  Tim did a little more sight seeing on his bike (again some great architecture in the area).  Alice and Millie stretched their legs off the boat.  Today was catch up on the blog and tackle a few boat chores kind of a day. Alice working on the blog In a few days we need to be aware of vertical clearance under bridges.  Our air draft is right on the line as to whether we will clear as is.  It is a bit of a moving target the higher the water levels, the more restricted the clearance.  We can lower the radar arch (unbolt and physically lower it) onto a point on the upper deck.  We used today to see what was involved in getting this done.  Could Alice and I handle it?  What could we rest the arch on to support it?  We first jury rigged Millie’s boarding ramp resting on Alice’s yoga mat before Pete from Resolute offered a support bracket he does not anticipate using in the short term. With help from Brian, the marina owner and Pete...voila...it

Left Kingston about 10:30 after a morning shower (rain), but the sun came out.  Little bit of head wind starting out, then picks up a little stronger in the afternoon.  The name of the game today is follow the navigational markers, stay out of the way of commercial traffic and watch our wake going by marinas and boat docks. . . and of course enjoy the sights along the way.   There are quite a few of these lighthouses on their own little islands along the Hudson. We passed the Culinary Institute of America as we headed North. Today, our destination is Donovan's Shady Harbor Marina in New Baltimore, NY.  Word around Looper circles is this place enjoys a great reputation of being a well run facility with very helpful folks.  We received instructions as to where to dock and were greeted by two employees and fellow Looper Peter off our sister vessel Resolute who we had met at Half Moon Bay.   Alice and Millie checked in at the office and Mi