Troy NY West on the Eire to Oswego

It is time to leave Troy, NY and head West on the Eire Canal. Captain is geared up and looking for the directions to Eire Canal. Knowing that it is hard to communicate early on we got the wireless head sets and light weight life jackets to make working the lock system on the Eire. We have had very little experience locking the boat through. The locks vary in tie ups to stablize the boat as water is fed into the lock to raise the boat and let out of the lock when lowering. We had worked out a system, so that Nancy would manuver the boat close to the lock wall, and I would reach out and grab a rope at the bow, cleat it off, run to the back of the boat grab another rope and pull the stern close to the lock wall. Over the head set I would tell Nancy I am ready, she would leave the helm, come to the stern and take the stern rope, I would run back to the bow to man the bow rope. The Eire consists of 20 locks up, for a raise height of 420 feet, and three locks lowering about 40 feet. Then the Oswego canal has 7 locks that lower the boat to the height of Lake Ontario. These were busy and tiring days. These days we spent the night on the wall. Some of the pictures show the locks, some of the Eire Canal and Mohawk River. The other pictures are of the towns we passed thru. Also, you will see the Security Gates that were to help to reduce debris and assist with water control during flooding. The last 2 pictures are Onidea Lake which we crossed to go to Brewerton, NY where we spent the Forth of July. We had firework displays on the 3,4,and5 of July. Had a great time before moving onto Oswego, NY. It is July 13th and we will try to leave for Kingston, Ontario in the morning. Hopefully we will cross Lake Ontario tomorrow.

Kingston NY on the Hudson

From Rondout Yacht Basin we rented a car and drove to the Vanderbilt Estate, Roosevelt Estate and not far from the Vanderbilt Estate and the Roosevelt Estate is the Culinary Institute of Amarica. This is an education center for Chefs. It also has several resturants within the Institute and you can go in and eat. Reservations are required at most and we were only able to get into 2 as walkins. We ate lunch at St. Andrews Cafe and dessert at the Apple Pie. All was very good.

The following pictures are of the Roosevelt Estate. We were not allowed to take pictures of the interior home or the Libary and Museum. The Roosevelt Estate was located just South of the Vanderbilt Estate. Both estates were on the East bank of the Hudson River. Franklin's car was very interesting. The car had been modified by a local mechanic to allow Franklin to accelerate and brake by hand levers. He also had an automatic despenser for lighted cigarettes mounted to the steering column.

These pictures are of the Vanderbilt estate near Kingston, NY. We were not allowed to take pictures inside of the mansion. All that I can tell you is that this was the smallest of the Vanderbilt homes and it was used twice a year spring and fall. It had about 60 staff for the 700 acre farm. When donated to the US Park Service, it had all of the original contents as left by the Vanderbilts.

Hudson River To Kingston NY

It's time to leave NYC and head North on the Hudson River. Our goal is to go to Troy NY where we will turn West on the Eire Canal. Our trip will take several days and on the first day on the Hudson will to go to Half Moon Bay Marina near Haverstraw, NY for just a 1 night stop. These pictures are some of the sites we saw. The first picture is on of the light houses marking the entrance to a marina on the Hudson, sorry I do not remember which one. I just remember it was early in the morning. As we moved North fog begin to develop and this was a neat shot. There are a lot of bridges crossing the inlets to the Hudson. The large brick structure is West Point, it is now off limits, so I took this picture from far off so as not to draw attention to the patrol boat we saw. We did see some commerical traffic such as tugs and barges moving South on Hudson. We also saw several trains both commerical and passenger on both banks of the Hudson. I guess this is how many people get to work in NYC and live outside of the city.

New York City

Well the weather has got as good as it will get to make the run from Cape May NJ to Sandy Hook, just South of New York City. This will be a long,long day with many concerns about the unknown. We have never run outside, that is in the Atlantic Ocean or any ocean. This will be a run of about 120 miles. The first photo is heading out the inlet to the Atlantic and it is early morning about 5:30 am. As we headed North, we were concerned that we might run close on diesel so we pulled into Atlantic City NJ. Did not have the time to visit the city knowing that this would put as at least an hour later getting in and anchored for the night. Headed out after fueling. We arrived at Sandy Hook and anchored about 9:00 pm, it was too dark for any pictures, take my word, there was nothing to see. Next morning we were up early and headed to New York City trying to beat the traffic into the bay. We had heard over the VHF radio, that the Coast Guard had closed a part of the harbor because the RED BULL Air Races were scheduled for the weekend in the harbor in front of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. As we entered New York Harbor, we were escorted to the East Channel by the Coast Guard. We finally made it to Liberty Landing Marina. While there, we visited the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Battery Park, and the Financial District. We went to Wall Street to see if we could find our money, hoping it was laying around somewhere. I will continue to catch up, we are currently at Brewerton, NY. We have just come through 20 locks on the Erie Canal, that has raised us up 420 feet from the Hudson river and 2 locks that have dropped us 32 feet. We will stay at ESS-Kay Boat Yards through July 4th. Hope all is good with each of you, have a happy July 4th. Eddie, Nancy, Cocoa, and Piper.

Cape May

Cape May was a great place to lay over and wait for good weather to make the outside(Atlantic Ocean) run North. The run North to Sandy Hook (South of New York City) would be about a 120 mile run and would be a very long day. We walked about the town and saw very intresting homes and many from the North who come down for the beaches a slow pace living. The car is a 1911 Cadallic. On NJ beaches they have a charge just to walk on the beach, it requires a day pass which cost $5 per person. We rested and stocked up on a few items.

Baltimore to Cape May

Leaving Baltimore, we planned to go to Chesapeake City on the C & D Canal. Which is normally a good run for the day. We arrived at Chesapeake City about 11 am. Knowing that we needed good weather (a South Wind and waves 1-2 feet) to run South down the Delaware River into the Delaware Bay to Cape May we decided to press on. We had the tide also running in our favor which would give us 1-2 knt added to our normal 8 knt speed. Completing this trip would give us a 117 mile day, which makes for a very long day. This is mostly open water and can get rough very quickly. But we needed to make up for some days we had lost. Also knowing that once we had reached Cape May we would need a good travel day to run outside (in the Atlantic Ocean) to get from Cape May to Sandy Hook, just South of New York City. This would also be a long day of about 120 miles. A normal day for us at 8 knts would be 7-8 hours and 50-60 miles. These 2 days both were 117-120 miles and 12-13 hours. I will pick this up with the next post with the stay at Cape May and trip to Sandy Hook. Thanks for reading the blog.