Day 39, Wednesday, October 7th

Kingston to Hyde Park

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I woke up in the same spot where I stopped last night, in spite of the tide having come and reversing my direction twice overnight. I think my anchor works very well.

The Esopus light house marks a big turn in the river, and some big ships are carefully maneuvering around it.

I'm keeping my distance, but yesterday I saw some cabin cruisers cutting right in front of one of those big freighters. The freighter captain stepped on the horn and probably had a fit on his bridge.

Just a little further downriver I saw I nice little home, Mt St Alphonsus. Formerly a priest seminary, then a retreat, it's now becoming a high school for the 'Bruderhof'. Not too shabby really.

RoseAnn of Pyxis had warned us about 'deadheads' floating in the Hudson, and indeed I had to keep a good lookout for them - some were large enough to have inhabitants:

I had planned to stop at Poughkeepsie and visit the FDR home and the Vanderbilt mansion from there, but when I studied the map I realized it would be better to stop at Hyde Park and hike from there. Activecaptain listed a little marina called 'Hyde Park Landing', I tried to snag one of the transient buoys, but wasn't successful grabbing it, so I anchored instead.

Next I got out the ancient inflatable dinghy (remember, my good dinghy is floating in Lake Erie somewhere) and inflated it, wondering if it still worked. The last time I used that dinghy I put a mother duck and her eggs in there many years back. A different story.
The dinghy seemed to work more or less and I rowed to shore. It doesn't row well but works in a pinch. But I really need another decent dinghy soon.
Nobody was at the marina and the listed owner Peter Andros didn't answer the phone. I had to search for an exit as all gates were locked, eventually I found a way through bushes on a side access road and made my way to the Vanderbilt mansion.

Today's blog post has lots of photos. Unlike on many of my other cruising days, I actually got to see a lot more than the river today.

The mansion is surrounded by a huge estate, complete with park and an Italian style bridge

The mansion was built for Frederick Vanderbilt and his wife Louise, and was preserved in a state closely resembling the time when it was used by them about 100 years ago. The house is full of furnishings and art bought all over but mostly in France and Italy.

The mansion isn't the size of a palace, but each room is exceedingly well appointed.

Louise had her bedroom (she had her own) built like Marie Antoinette's chambers, including a fence around her bed. Maybe that's why they didn't have children.

The 'Bridal suite' was used by freshly married visitors, all others had to sleep, like their hosts, in their own separate bedrooms. But even the bridal suite has two single beds instead of a double. What's going on here?

Our guide also took us into the servant's quarters and the kitchen:

A great tour, with lots of fun information.

Before leaving the grounds I visited the 'formal gardens'. Frederick loved plants and flowers (possibly more than people). He even had a degree in horticology and his gardens show well.

I hiked south next, past the anchorage (Caprice still there) and on the Hyde Park Trail through nice woods, up and downhill. I eventually reached the former house of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. I didn't want to visit the house itself, as it was getting late and there were too many other tourists. But I walked the grounds and saw the outside of the house.

He and his wife are buried in the Rose garden.

I hiked back to the boat and found my oars had gone missing, and some people pulling the buoys out from the water. I suspected them of taking my oars for ransom to make me pay the marina fee. They soon finished pulling the buoys and returned to shore and it turned out that this was the owner of the marina. We chatted with each other and he told me the marina rate was $35, as expected. I said I had the money but would need my oars back. He pretended that he hadn't taken them but said that we should go search for them since 'kids' sometimes play with things. Of course we soon found them and I gave him his money and he warmed up considerably. We had a long chat and he gave me more tips for the journey south.
The dinghy wasn't quite as firm as when I left it, I think the valves need some new o-rings. Either this or they have a slow leak. I'll have to work on this. Always something to fix on a boat...

Day 37, Monday, October 5th

Coeymans to Catskill

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I had arrived on Sunday afternoon at Albany Airport and had thought of taking the bus to Coeymans. Google maps can show what public transport options exist, cool! I thought. Unfortunately the route exists but is run only on weekdays, and just twice a day. I had to take the taxi after all and got there much faster and poorer (70$).

Caprice was hanging in the crane already, as Eric had promised:

We had been forced to leave the laundry hanging in the boat, since we couldn't finish drying things fully 5.5 weeks ago. I was fearing a mold circus, but was pleasantly surprised - all was well, no mold, no spoiled food (the fridge had worked well through all this time). The only problem was that the bilge pump had been switched off by the yard guys, and my bilge was again totally full. This time it must have come from above, but I really don't know where the leak might be.

I had also planned to clean the ugly diesel soot from the stern but got distracted by my neighbor and when we finished chatting I was ready to start that job. Suddenly somebody climbed up the ladder and said hi - it was Mike from the yard who lives there in a big nice RV. We chatted some more and he gave me some great tips for the route south. By the time we were done it was cold and dark and I thought of cleaning the stern in the morning instead.

The next morning was freezing cold, I could barely get out of bed. After breakfast the guys turned up and put the boat into the water where she promptly touched bottom and wouldn't move. We had to wait another 10 minutes before the tide was at its peak and could move her off. Then I realized that I had forgotten to clean the stern. It will have to wait until I inflate the dinghy I think.

I finally got to fix the wildly dripping (more like streaming) stuffing box with a big pipe wrench and a slip wrench that Mike let me borrow. I said goodbye to Eric, Mike, Hedy and Carl - really nice people!

Carl had told me that it was 28 miles to Catskill, so I called ahead at Riverview and asked for a slip for the night and a mast step the next day. I made good progress by taking off soon after high tide and getting an extra 1.5 knots.

The weather was fine - in fact it was getting so warm that I changed to t-shirt and shorts. Another piece of the Tappan Zee bridge was passing me its way down:

At the town called Hudson I passed the first of a series of pretty light houses 

Did I mention I love bridges? It must be my father's genes, because he's a civil engineer. This bridge is the 'Rip Van Winkle' bridge:

It was only just past 2PM, and to my surprise Catskill was jut around the next bend. Had I known this I'd have asked to have the mast done immediately today. As it was, Mike told me that his helper had already gone home for the day, so I had plenty time to work on other things and take a walk though charming Catskill.

I spent some time cleaning and reconnecting the flexible fresh water tank that I hadn't used for years - when on Lake Michigan I had considered the lake water cleaner than any water that had spent weeks in that old bladder tank. But I'll soon be in salt water if all goes well, and will need that tank. Unfortunately, it turned out that it has a bunch of pinhole leaks at the seam that show up when it's totally full and has high pressure. I'll try to glue it soon. I made friends with a Canadian boat Sante 1: John, Bruce and Marinete (from Brazil). They showed me their beautiful Beneteau 361 - I gotta say that's a very spacious and beautiful boat!

Next door was a Lagoon 38 - the 'smallest' of the Lagoon catamarans - but it's huge. I didn't meet the owners, else I'd have loved to see the inside of that one too. It's part of the fun of cruising - seeing other people's boats.

I walked to town and by the time I got back it was dark and cold already. A salad for dinner and to bed!

Day 38, Tuesday, October 6th

Catskill to Kingston

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I wasn't the first in line for the mast this morning, it was my Canadian friends. But I wasn't in a rush after I figured out that my next leg wouldn't be that long today either. When it was my turn everything went smooth. The only problems were that I hadn't realized that some of the clevis pins were a little different from the others, which had me scramble to exchange the pins on the forestay that was already attached with the upper shrouds. After I had fore and backstay, and the two upper shrouds secured Mike took the crane off and let me do the lower spreaders myself, with the result that I put one inside of the lifelines by mistake. However, that wasn't a big problem to solve. I had met another neighbor, John from 'Holly Jean', and he and Bruce helped me to reattach the heavy boom. Finally Caprice was a sailboat again. I didn't want to lose more time to put the sails up yet and departed soon after saying goodbye to my new friends. I hope I see them again on the way.

The weather was even nicer than yesterday, and the tide carried me quickly south, first past the Saugerties light house:

Then under the Kingston-Rhinecliff bridge

All the bridges we went under are huge - the Hudson is wide in most areas, and to keep shipping unmolested, the bridges all have huge vertical clearance.

The entrance to Kingston Harbor is protected by the Rondout light house:

Just south of Kingston is Vanderburgh cove, a wider and shallow area of the Hudson, and this is where I dropped the anchor for the night.

Day 28, Tuesday, August 18

Tonawanda to Medina

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The old original Erie Canal actually entered into Lake Erie right in the center of Buffalo, but the modern one starts here, in Tonawanda. And we are off!

As a matter of fact, this is still not quite a canal, it's the 'Tonawanda Creek'. The canal system is really a collection of rivers, lakes, and canals that connect them. Tonawanda Creek is obviously a popular place for cottages and boaters. And the properties range from modest (but nice) to quite fancy. No McMansions though, those will come later. It's peaceful and the further we go, the less populated it becomes.

Before we reached our first Erie Canal locks, at Lockport, we encountered some rain but it wasn't a problem since we have our bimini permanently up for this journey.

At Lockport we have to get the pass that allows us to go through the canals for 10 days. At $37 it's a real bargain - I knew it was quite cheap but this is almost a joke. Most marinas charge more for a single night, and we'll get the service of 36 lockmasters and about 30 lift bridges. 

The locks are all beautifully painted in what we later come to understand a color schema that's even applied to the tugs and other equipment of the canal authority.

While I went off to pay the lockmaster the admiral peeked at the first set of lock gates. 

I had docked the Caprice in the narrow channel that once led to the set of older locks here - five in a row. They are now a tourist attraction - and we had to reverse out of it. As we know the Caprice is a stubborn beast and insisted on turning to port when we reversed, heading for an apple tree on shore.

Normally fending off isn't all that difficult, but with the mast overhanging the stern we couldn't reach the shore and our mast ran into the tree. We were showered with a dozen not quite ripe apples, but managed to stop the boat before the tree would have ripped the mast off the cradles. The lockmaster came to help but was polite enough not to comment on our incompetence. Finally, we entered the locks. A few onlookers enhanced the experience.

After entering the lock, the routine is to stop the boat alongside some lines that hang off the wall locks, grab them and use the lines and boat hooks to keep us on the wall but off the wall so not to totally slime up the boat and fenders. We have gloves because the ropes are slimy with algae. While the lock empties, currents develop in the chamber that try to move us around, so it's important to hang on well. 

Finally, when the lock is empty, the exit doors open and we are free to exit. You can see the set of the old locks on the right side of the photo:

We now also encountered the first of many lifting bridges. Even with the mast down, these bridges are too low to pass under, so at each of them we have to hail the bridge operator by radio and request an opening.

We learned that sometimes an operator is responsible for multiple bridges, and drives between them by car. On one occasion the operator opened one bridge for us, closed it and got in his car to drive to the next bridge - we took 20 minutes from one to the next, while he took 5 mins. As he passed us he gave us a friendly honk and wave.

Almost all the bridges seem to be build exactly alike, so I won't post any more of them. But there was a total of 16 between here and Fairport. After than all bridges had enough clearance for us to pass under.
We arrived at Medina in the afternoon and here is where we spent the first night. Medina really tries to attract boaters and provides free docking and bathrooms for boats. We found an Italian restaurant for dinner, and on the way back we encountered Pyxis and their crew, Dave and Rose Ann. We shared a bottle of wine and became instant friends.

Day 29, Wednesday, August 19

Medina to Fairport

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We wanted to get to Fairport today because we'd heard that it's a nice stop. The canal map showed that it was in easy range, so we decided to push on to it. On the way we passed Pyxis who had decided to stop at Spencerport themselves.

The map was a little wrong however, the trip to Fairport did take much longer than expected. When we arrived there wasn't much dock space left, but we squeezed in at the far end close to one of the metal bridges.

We quickly realized that this was a busy and loud place, unlike Medina from the night before. The main train line was close, and each one of the many trains honked with abandon. Each time a car passed over one of the bridges it made quite a racket, too. Activecaptain had warned us that the harbormaster is never around, and indeed he wasn't. Which meant he couldn't charge us either.
We got into a conversation with a nice couple that owned an Albin 27 motor boat which they had beautifully extended and modernized, and were rightfully proud to show us. We chatted so long that by the time we arrived at the ice cream parlor it was closed.

Day 30, Thursday, August 20

Fairport to Newark

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We explored Fairport a little more before leaving and found a crafting and hobby resale shop with tons of knitting books and magazines, the Admiral was very pleased. After that we finally found the mythical ice cream and it was indeed excellent. We finally departed after lunch but soon thunderstorms began appearing on our tail. They caught us just before Newark and gave us some serious downpours. We arrived at Newark in the pouring rain and when we tried to dock Dave from Pyxis came out and caught our lines. He must have gotten totally drenched, but we very much appreciated the help, as the wall here had rings that were hard to reach. We waited out the rain and then used some cushions to build a step to get off the boat.
Dave and Rose Ann invited us over for some wine after dinner, and when we got in we couldn't believe how nice and spacious Pyxis is inside. It's a Morgan 33 Out Islander, and even though it's nominally shorter than the Caprice, the amount of space inside is unbelievable. Add to this the meticulous care Dave and Rose Anne took to modernize and clean her up, and it was a revelation.

We had a great time and found it hard to leave and return to our cave like little cabin. The Caprice is maybe a better sailer, but Pyxis wins the comfort and livability contest hands down, and then some. With a boat like that cruising would be a lot more fun for sure. We were seriously jealous!

Day 31, Friday, August 21

Newark to Baldwinsville

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We did some grocery shopping before taking off today. Pyxis was staying behind for a concert that night, but we wanted to keep going to get into a position to cross Lake Oneida the next day. Today's leg brought us to Baldwinsville close to Syracuse. On the way we traversed 'Cross Lake'. I had read on the blog of Matt and Jessica on Serendipity that this is a bit tricky to traverse, but with that warning I was alert and found the right channel. We got to Baldwinsville in the early evening and went to dinner at a great Cajun food joint, 'Muddy Waters'. We got to learn to make some of that food, Gumbo and Jambalaya would be a great thing to make ourselves.

Day 32, Saturday, August 22

Baldwinsville to Lock 22

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Today was the day to cross Lake Oneida. This is a real lake, with a length of maybe 30 miles and 8 or so miles across. It was important to cross on a day when the winds were not whipping up large waves as we were worried that our mast would shake itself loose from the supports. We were lucky, the only waves were from power boaters that were really infesting this place. On a weekend, of course it's intense here. We happily arrived at the Eastern end of the lake, at Sylvan Beach, to find the town overcrowded and the walls filled with boats to capacity. We didn't feel like joining into that zoo anyways and continued on to the next lock. It was just after 6PM and we found that on this side of the lake and for the rest of the canal, locks only operate to 6, and so were forced to tie up on the wall close to the lock in peace and quiet.

Day 33, Sunday, August 23

Lock 22 to Ilion

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This was a peaceful day and the weather was nice throughout. New York was apparently settled by people obsessed with the classics. Today we passed 'Rome' and 'Utica'. We had of course already left 'Athens' and 'Syracuse' behind, but there were countless other towns with names like those. How odd...
My admiral made me aware of an odd squeaking sound coming from the engine. I had heard it too but thought it was the alternator belt which is a little loose. But I thought we should investigate to be sure. I went below and found the problem - the engine was scraping off the sleeve around the crank handle adapter. There's a pin there that locks the crank handle, but this pin seemed to have gotten a little loose and had moved enough to start scraping the walls of the sleeve, and was in fact almost done. We stopped the engine and ripped the last bit off.

 

We finally stopped at Ilion for the day. Ilion 'Marina' is an odd bird - it's really just a wall to tie up to, and it is connected to the 'RV-Park', which true to style is simply a parking lot with hook ups.

There was a famous fast food/burger place next door that we decided to try, 'Voss'. The burgers were rather cheap, but when we got them we realized that they were also very small, as were the fries. Nothing special about it, really. I don't know why people are raving about this place. Ilion's other claim to fame is the Remington rifle factory, but since we aren't really interested in that either we just took it easy and relaxed.

Day 34, Monday, August 24

Ilion to Fort Hunter (Schoharie Crossing)

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Today we reached the famous lock 17, which is the biggest lock of the whole system, with a vertical drop of 40.5 feet. Here is a quote from the 'NY Canals Web site':

The lock lifts every passing vessel an astounding 40.5 feet, replacing four locks on the old canal by just one. Construction on this lock was challenging. Design elements called for a unique feature, a water saving side pool which would allow about half of water from a locking to be reused on the next locking. Couple this extra feature with its massive size, the need to build it in solid rock, and keep the old Erie Canal open, which this was built directly on top of, required massive engineering. This design included a guillotine style lower gate and a concrete arch of which the boats pass under -- the only implementation of such a design along the canal system.

We stopped for the day at the small town of Fort Hunter to visit the 'Schoharie Creek Crossing' ruins.

This is a good place to see some remains of the previous two incarnations of the Erie Canal. The first one was very small, and often called 'Clinton's Ditch'. There are very few remains of it and most of it is really just a ditch:

The second version of the canal required some larger constructions and several viaducts that span rivers (to avoid the canal being affected by high or low water, it couldn't just be connected). One of those viaducts is here:

The current, third version of the canal is back in the Mohawk river. By constructing a series of dams and locks, the river level is kept high enough, and through dredging the depth is sufficient. In winter the river sometimes floods and overflows the dams, occasionally to very high levels. The buildings around the locks are designed to withstand such forces, and the canal isn't used in winter of course.

Day 35, Tuesday, August 25

Fort Hunter to Waterford

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We hoped to make it though all the remaining locks today, to reach Waterford and the Hudson.

My admiral made a lot of progress on several knitting projects during this trip, one of the hoped for benefits of having little to do (unless we were 'locking through'). 

The main railway line is going through the Mohawk valley, as does several motorways, we were quickly returning into civilization.

We had been on the lookout for eagles during this trip but never seen any, but curiously we were about to see them now, close to urban areas. Just by chance, we saw that majestic bird sitting in one of the trees by the riverside, scanning the area.

We tried to get closer but he didn't want to have anything to do with us and flew off. I had never seen an eagle in the wild, and was quite excited about it, but when I mentioned it to the next lockmaster, he matter of fact stated 'oh, there are a few around here, we see them all the time'.
The closer we got to Schenectady, the darker the sky got behind us, and eventually we were overtaken by rain. The egrets seem to enjoy the rain.

Eventually the rain turned intense and the admiral took her battle stations below decks.

We were actually lucky, because by the time we reached the 'Flight of five' set of locks close to Waterford, the sun returned. 

The locks are protected from flooding by two big flood gates.

We had to wait a little because another boat was coming up, but then we had our turn and went down the last set of 5 locks in little over an hour.

And there we were in Waterford, the Erie canal behind us. We had some trouble docking, since the wall was pretty full and we didn't feel comfortable squeezing in between some other boats with our overhanging mast. It took us three attempts to dock (also because I hadn't prepared long docking lines to throw to friendly people on the dock). I'll have longer lines ready next time...

The people that helped us dock were actually from Chicago, on a gorgeous new Valiant 42, called 'Little Wing'. They didn't have their mast on deck, but had actually shipped it from Lake Erie down to a marina on the Hudson. It's a much more stylish (and expensive) way to deal with the mast.

We decided to walk up to the last of the locks a little to wind down before we went for dinner.

We had a really nice dinner at McGreivey's, I'm really hooked on Cajun food and hope to learn to make some myself soon. Or try it down south!

The bathrooms at the Waterford 'marina' (just a wall reserved for boaters) were really odd looking rooms, a decor like prison showers, but they worked and were clean. We can't really complain since we got to dock for free (like almost all nights on this part of the trip).

Day 36, Wednesday, August 26

Waterford to Coeyman's Landing 

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This is the last day of this leg, down to Coeyman's landing on the Hudson. We had to lock through one final lock, the 'Federal Lock' at Troy. The locks on the Erie are run by the Canal Authority and are set up to accommodate pleasure boaters by having multiple lines attached to the walls, but this lock had none at all. We weren't prepared for this, and had some trouble holding on to a single pipe, since I also didn't have a single line handy to wrap around the pipe. We had some tense moments since the lock master didn't waste any time draining the lock while we were still messing around getting a hold. In the end all went well and we exited the lock unscathed, and happy to be done with this.
We were being followed by 'Little Wing' to the lock and now they passed us. Let's hope we see them again somewhere south.

We passed under the Livingston Avenue Bridge, an ancient and odd looking swing bridge used by the railway. In fact we were scheduled to pass over that bridge tonight on our train ride back home to Chicago. Here is what Wikipedia says about the bridge:

Due to the deteriorated condition of the bridge, trains cross one at a time at 15 miles per hour (24 km/h). DOT considers the swing bridge mechanism to be unreliable and the overall bridge design inadequate for current railroad operating standards.

Charming...
We passed through Albany, which looked pretty calm (not to say, dead) and under several bridges being refurbished. Since the Hudson is used by pretty tall ships, bridges here need to be either able to open for ships (like the one above) or very high, like the ones below:

As we approached our destination, we saw another bald eagle. The really seem to like rivers. Again, this one also flew off as we tried to approach him. They don't like company, or maybe our boat smells too bad?

In Coeyman's Landing the pieces of a huge new bridge construction are being assembled and then shipped by barges down the river to the Tappan Zee. The original bridge is overdue for replacement, and on our next leg we'll likely see a lot more of this.

Hedy, the owner of Coeyman's Landing Marina, had told us to approach the marina from the south and had explained to keep the markers to starboard, but I hadn't quite understood that and got all confused when approaching the marina. The markers seemed very close to shore and I took them to mean to mark the port side and so I kept them to port. Big mistake - the depth finder went from 10 to 8 to 6 to 4. We slowed to a crawl and then saw a little dinghy speeding towards us. Eric, the yard manager, was in it and told us to hug the shore, else we'd be aground in no time. We were probably already making a furrow in the mud, but thanks to high tide we didn't quite got stuck.

Eric guided us to the fuel dock and told us we could only haul out at high tide. I thought it was high tide? Well, he explained they need a high high tide, because the crane well isn't deep enough unless there's at least a 5 foot tide. OK, that means the boat will be hauled in two days. No problem, we don't need to be there.
This is a family operation - Hedy and her husband Carl, Eric and Mike, and a few others we didn't meet. Very nice people that made us feel at home immediately. We decided to collect all dirty laundry and started that first before we ate something and then cleaned up as much as we could. Unfortunately the laundry, especially the drying, didn't go as fast as we needed it to go, and we were forced to hang the still humid laundry up inside the Caprice before we left. Eric, who lives in Albany, actually gave us a lift to the Amtrak station in Albany/Rensselaer.

On arrival at the Amtrak station we learned that the train was predicted to be delayed by 15 minutes. We were much too early anyways, and the station was pretty comfortable, so we had time to relax. The delay eventually grew to two hours, apparently a way of life with Amtrak. Delays are part of the deal here but since travel by train is slow it doesn't make a lot of difference. We only wished they would have let us board our car already (because the delay was due to the connecting train from Boston being delayed). Finally we got in and got into our 'Roomette', a tiny little cabin for two that can be converted into a sleeper with two beds (unfortunately the beds were indeed too small to share one). Those rooms even have a toilet and a wash basin. We immediately went for dinner in the dining car (which was excellent, actually) and when we returned the attendant had converted the seats into beds. This was actually a very comfortable way of travelling.

After a good night sleep, my admiral was a happy knitter.

We also got breakfast on the train and again, it was really good. We'll do this again some other time.

As expected, we got to Chicago two hours later than planned, and a few hours later we finally were back home. The second leg of the trip was over...