The first lock going north is at Troy, also called the Federal lock.  Next up is Waterford, where the iconic sign points the way to either the Champlain or Erie Canal.

Locks, locks and more locks.  We’ve been traveling with Kevin and Steve on Lone Star for the last ten days, starting in Waterford, NY continuing up the Erie and Oswego Canals, crossing over part of Lake Ontario from Oswego NY to Sackets Harbor, then on to Clayton, NY, a side trip to Boldt Castle, and finally crossing over to Kingston, Ontario where we cleared into Canada.  Tomorrow, we will move up to Trenton, where we will enter the Trent-Severn Waterway and the Canadian Canals.

I am often asked how Skipper gets on and off the boat.  He is quite the old salt by now.  As we finish our walks, we tell him “House!”.  He will take a running leap (of faith) and will either jump directly onto the back deck if the angle and height are correct in his expert doggy opinion, or will leap onto the walk-around, shimmy under the side ladder, and push in through the back canvas.

LerryLynn, Abaco Lady and Lone Star at Waterford, NY passing by Leap of Faith at the dock before the lock.  Lone Star stayed over and we have travelled with them the last few days, along with Orphan Girl – who is headed up the Erie but not looping this time around. Note the Green light that indicates you may enter the lock.

After leaving the mid-Hudson, we moved up to Kingston, then Waterford.  At Kingston, we were fortunate enough to stay at a dock at the Ole Savannah restaurant where we had a nice meal and a quiet stay.  Waterford is the crossroads, where you can choose to go west up the Erie Canal, or north up the Champlain Canal.  Both will lead you to Canada eventually.  We met up with a few other loopers at our first stop; we then moved on to Waterford intending to stay there to visit with Artie’s sister (Hello Gail and Joe!  Get that RV and get moving! Life is too short!) and to also take care of an appointment.  This was over 4th of July weekend, and Waterford was hosting a steamboat festival.  We were asked to move up to Lock 3 for a few days, where we stayed on the lock wall.  We then moved back down to Waterford, waited for a few other loopers, and have been moving through the Erie in tandem with Lone Star for the last few days.

Ok, so we won’t be seeing dolphins for a while.  But we do get to see EAGLES!

To get from home and head north, we turn out of the Great South Bay through Jones Inlet, into the ocean, westbound, past Coney Island (Brooklyn) and then under the Verrazano to go north up the Hudson.

Great South Bay – nice to see that the Osprey are back.

Ocean off the South Shore of Long Island and Brooklyn / Coney Island. Notice the “parachute drop” at Coney Island, the view of the lower Manhattan skyline past Coney Island, and details of the Verrazano Bridge.

Waved goodbye to the boatyard, waved goodbye to the condo, headed out into the Great South Bay to move on north.

In between a million appointments and some visiting with friends and family, we did a bit of boat maintenance.  Its been just about a year since we launched the boat and we did sit for a few extended periods.  Not too many barnacles, but we did find some live oysters.  We refreshed the bottom paint with a new coat of ablative, changed out the zincs, and painted the running gear with zinc paint.  We felt a slight vibration and decided, better safe than sorry, to change out one prop and rotate the old one into the spares locker. Changed out the impellers, did the oil change, called it a day.  Did a bit of trouble shooting on the solar panels; we have one in series stop working, which caused the port side to only charge intermittently.  Thanks to Chuck and CJ  at LaSala for all of their help.

We are now moving north, having completed our maintenance and visits at home on Long Island.  We were able to make it to Half Moon Bay, Croton on Hudson the first night, meeting up with some fellow loopers. We then moved on to Kingston, staying at a free dock at Old Savannah restaurant right downtown. Our next stop would normally be the Waterford visitors center, but there was a steamboat meet and we were directed north to Lock 3, where we spent two nights. We then headed back to the Visitors center and will move back north with fellow loopers Lone Star tomorrow.
Photos to follow.

We wil be here for about two weeks, taking care of some personal business, visiting with family and friends, and making a few minor repairs and updates to the boat.  We expect to back in the water and heading up the Hudson River by approximately June 28th.  At that point we will hustle up the Hudson and the Erie ( we’ve been through a few times on prior trips so don’t feel the need to stop this time around).  Then we will hopefully join the pack by the end of the Erie / begining of the Trent Severn in Canada.  Hey all, slow down and smell the roses, we’re on our way!

Saw the usual suspects as we came into the inlet, hurrying every which way, wakes be damned.  Able to get through two bridges without having them open. Came into LaSala Boatyard. And had our good friends, Craig and Denise, along with their new addition, Missy, standing by to meet us and catch lines.  Good to be home for a little while.

Back home.  We entered through Jones Inlet, and saw a large pod of dolphins just outside the inlet.

After a few weather delays which caused us to wait in the C&D to cross the Delaware River, then stop in Cape May, then stop in Atlantic City, then stop for a few days in Mantoloking at Treasure Cove Marina, we crossed over to New York.  When we are underway, we watch the radar and also have an AIS feed on our radio.  In this shot of the radar, you can see the landmass of New Jersey to the left, and something reading at the top of the screen.  We were too far out to have the NY landmass on the screen, but did see a few signatures in front of us. On the AIS, each dot within the circle represents a ship that has an AIS signal being sent out. On the chartplotter, there are shipping seperation zones.

As we approached Jones Inlet, we saw a large group of ships at anchor.  We are presuming that they stopped here to either wait for a pilot or wait for a slot to go into Sandy Hook or New York. Kind of fun pulling up the AIS information on the ships from the radio, and matching it with the ships as we moved through the group.