Sunday Sept 16 - Monday morning Sept 17: Portsmouth and Kathy comes home

Sunday we left Rockport for the easy trip to Portsmouth, NH where we had planned to meet up with friends we'd met earlier this summer in Camden, ME.  Dan listed himself as Captain of the Port for Penobscot Bay and we were contacted in early June by a couple from Minnesota who had left their Monk 36 Adirondack in Rockland for the winter.  They were looking for a mooring and other information.  They've been cruising these waters before (they've cruised all over, having done both the Down East Circle and the Great Loop) but any and all knowledge sharing and chit chat with kindred souls among cruisers is always welcome.  Dan offered them our mooring in Camden for as long as they needed it and they invited us to cruise here for a weekend in June, then offered the boat to us to use while they spent time in upstate New York with family.  Their boat, Adirondack, was exactly the kind of vessel we'd been looking for and we jumped at the chance to use it, but only managed a quick overnight ourselves due to our own crazy schedules this summer.

Jeff and Sally had secured marina sites for both our boats at Badger's Island Marina on the Kittery side of the Piscataqua river, the river that is the border between Maine and New Hampshire.  Again we ended up on a side dock, this time broadside to the river with its very, very busy traffic, most of whom completely ignored the 'no wake' zone.  To escape our bouncing vessels, we walked to the market for some supper items and took advantage of the marina's grill and patio area for a nice cook out and a lengthy chat about our respective adventures this summer.  The meal was great and the company was outstanding.

Adirondack rounds Whaleback Light into the mouth of the Piscataqua.

Monday morning Adirondack departed for Boston and points South.  I gathered my things together to jump ship.  It's been a wonderful month of cruising, but I have commitments I can't ignore, even for a few more days.  A good friend of ours, Bill Page, drove down to join Dan for the last leg of bringing Wille Dawes home and kindly let me drive his truck back to Camden.  Dan will finish this blog when he is home, probably Thursday or Friday, weather depending. 

Friday Sept 14-Saturday Sept 15: Through the Cape Cod Canal; whales; Rockport MA

It was a beautiful clear day in New Bedford on Friday morning.  I can't say I've only been there in the fog now.  We had planned a somewhat lazy day - taking our time before leaving, with Onset Harbor (thirteen nautical miles away) as the destination.  But the day was so pretty and the timing with currents and tides was right, so we passed by Onset and entered the Cape Cod Canal around two-thirty that afternoon. 

Entrance to the Cape Cod Canal

We decided to stop for the night in Sandwich MA instead, at the end of the Canal.  Yes, it meant yet another marina stay - we have stayed at a LOT of marinas on this trip - but it would get us ten miles closer to either Gloucester or Provincetown for Saturday night, making it a possible eight run on Saturday instead of a ten hour run, with time built in for some whale watching.

Sandwich Marina is a harbor of refuge - a man made basin stuffed with docks - just inside the East end of the Cape Cod  Canal.  It's not a harbor; there is no room for anchoring.  There isn't a lot of room for larger cruising vessels, either.  They assigned us to the dock that was right on the launch ramp channel.  It's a very busy launch ramp - for hours after we arrived, well into the night boats motored up to the launch ramp to be trailered away.  (Just before dawn they started being launched, one right after the other.  We had to interrupt their surprisingly smooth operations in order to leave our dock.)

We walked the mile or so into the Cape Cod town of Sandwich Friday evening, admiring the Cape Cod capes and the other buildings erected in the late 1600s.  There is a working grist mill in the center of town which still grinds corn (as a museum) and sells the meal to tourists.  On the way back to the marina we found a great food wagon that would have fit in well in the Bahamas, and we stopped for some pulled pork and blackened cod for supper.

Saturday we interrupted the steady stream of boats being launched (they'd started well before dawn) to pull away from the dock and set off.  The day couldn't have been much nicer for cruising Cape Cod Bay into Massachusetts Bay - the seas were glassy with a slight rolling swell and there was very little wind.  A bank of fog lined the shore, but out on the Bay we had at least ten miles visibility.  We set a course that would take us across the edge of Stellwagen Bank, hoping to see some whales.  It didn't take long for us to see the clump of boats that usually means there is whale activity.  We spent over an hour watching humpbacks move lazily around.  Some were even sleeping, their bodies barely breaking the surface, snorting occasionally to let everyone know where they were.

As we turned toward shore to find our spot for the night, we spotted an unusual black mound that we couldn't quite make out, so we headed toward it to see what it was.  It turned out to be a dead humpback whale floating on the water.  We don't know why it had died, but it was a sad, somber sight.

This whale is belly up, with one flipper off to the side.

We ended up in Rockport, MA for the night.  Rockport is a crowded little ancient village that has become quite the touristy attraction, with a very tiny harbor sporting the most photographed scene in the entire US.  They call it Motif #1.  We called the harbor master hoping for a mooring and were told they had just given away the last mooring, but we could dock at Motif #1.  As picturesque as it is, docking there is a stressful event.  There is a ten foot tide and you need fender boards the length of your vessel as well as extra fenders and very long spring lines to stay there.  And it's not always easy to get on an off the vessel.  

Stock photo.

We called some local friends of ours - Mark and Jenny - to come down for a visit, and we spent a nice evening with them at a local restaurant catching up.

Willie Dawes at Motif # 1

Thursday Sept 13: New Alternator in New Bedford

It rained all night and most of the morning on Thursday.  I've been to New Bedford/Fairhaven three times now, twice by boat and once by car and this was the only kind of weather I've experienced here.  I guess we'll have to come back sometime when it's sunny.

Dan took an Uber ride to the alternator place, lugging along the starter too, in case they could also fix that.  Leo Boulanger & Son (Jerrod) are the real deal when it comes to rebuilding engine parts.  They couldn't help us with the starter, but during the course of the day they took apart the alternator and declared it "toast", had the replacement parts to fix it, and had it ready for us to pick up at 3:30 this afternoon.  Dan returned to the boat to re-install the starter (it works, and it will get us home) while I worked on office stuff and other things (finished the laundry, cleaned the heads) and just after noon we set off on foot to walk back to town and find a place to eat. 

New alternator!

New Bedford is a diverse area of blacks, hispanics, and Portuguese.  Catholicism is the predominant religion and there are very large churches everywhere. We also noticed carports consisting of grape arbors.  Very cool to see the bunches of grapes hanging down and the cars tucked under a ceiling of leaves.  Shady in the summer - wonder how it does in the winter?  And would such a thing be possible in Maine?  We found a great little hispanic restaurant with "authentic Guatemalan sauce" and had a late lunch.  Dan had shrimp and fried fish with his beans and rice and I had chicken taquitos.  That authentic sauce was very spicy and very good.

We collected his newly re-built alternator and headed for home.  Just outside the marina we came across a statue of St. Henry the Navigator, donated by Portugal and the St. Henry Society.  The inscription reads: "God wills, Man dreams, the work is born.  God willed that all the Earth be one.  That seas unite and never separate."  Fernando Pessoa in "Mensagem"

St Henry the Navigator

Tuesday - Wednesday Sept 11-12: Through Long Island Sound

Tuesday the forecast was for calm seas and light SW winds.  We got up at dawn planning a long day.  Anchor was up and we were on our way before seven am, eating breakfast on the way.  The seas were still a little lumpy but the wind was very light (they were NW, not SW) and we were determined to get as far as we could, initially planning for either Fisher Island, or Gardiner Island.  By noon everything calmed right down and the sun came out and we started thinking about getting even farther if we could.  The long range forecast was all about what Hurricane Florence might do, and we were hoping to get out of the Sound and into Massachusetts Bay sooner rather than later.  We had one window of good weather before the wind turned Easterly again, and an East wind on Long Island Sound is not a very comfortable wind.  As we came past Gardiner Island we started encountering big swells and we headed toward the Connecticut shore thinking it would be better over there.  You can tell a large storm is brewing.  Our last several hours on Tuesday were a bit of a roller coaster ride, but we made it a 90+ mile day - a record for us - and got all the way to Block Island despite the fog setting in.

The sun through the fog as we come to Block Island

We were hoping for little to no fog on this trip.  Dan had installed a radar, but it's choosing not to work.  Add it to the list of things that need to be fixed or replaced, along with the finicky starter.  We noticed starter problems back in the Canal; the boat started just fine every morning, but sometimes after a short run she didn't want to start back up again.  This happened a couple times in locks, when Dan would turn off the motor briefly as we waited for the water to fill or lower.  So far it was working when we needed it to, but the unreliability was a concern. 

Wednesday morning we got up even earlier to get underway during the calmest part of the day.  It was also the foggiest part of the day.  Thick, thick pea soup fog surrounded us, and like days of yore when people traveled without all the electronics that make cruising so much easier, we headed out into it.  Monster swells greeted us in Block Island Sound.  We sat on the flybridge so we could see better, blowing the fog horn every few minutes, and watching the very occasional (and die-hard) fishermen materialize out of the fog.  We sat through the rain.  And finally, about noon, the fog shrank back enough to where we could see for several miles, and we came back inside to shed our wet clothes and have a hot lunch. 

That's when Dan noticed the tachometer had stopped working...  we had lost our alternator. 

Dan checking the alternator.

Ok, plan B - instead of trying for Onset Harbor, which had been the original destination, we set our sights on New Bedford, where there was a highly recommended 'alternator guy' who might even be able to fix the starter.  We called ahead to make arrangements for the guy and a marina and entered the hurricane barrier of the New Bedford/Fairhaven harbor by 3 pm.  If Florence should make a turn for the North (not likely, we hear) we'll be in one of the safest places we could be.

The entrance to New Bedford/Fairhaven

Saturday-Monday Sept 8-10: Oyster Bay, NY

Oyster Bay is a cute little upscale bedroom community of New York City, and was home to Theodore Roosevelt, as plaques everywhere like to point out.  This is where he ran the 'summer White House' while he was in office, and this is where he died at the age of 61.  There is a large waterfront park named for him, with walking trails, a large baseball field, tennis courts, playgrounds, beach area, and many pavilions for picnicking or just gathering.  On Saturday afternoon, the nicest day of our weekend here, we walked all through the park, and came upon this great little memorial of stones commemorating all the milestones in TR's life.  Embedding in the walls are rocks or bricks from places, representing where he was born (New York City), when he ended the coal strike in Pennsylvania, when he oversaw the building of the Panama Canal and more.  The artist who put this together called these "chapters" in Roosevelt's life.  There are more than twenty chapters depicted here.

We also found a small motorcycle shop that was actually a motorcycle display of Billy Joel's collection, and we befriended the man who worked there.  He gave us tips on where to eat and who might possibly be able to replace or fix our starter.  (More on that in the next blog.)  We took note of the restaurants and their menus for a meal on Sunday - the weather looking like we'll be in place through Monday.  We visited the library and walked the side streets until it began to rain lightly, getting our steps in until we returned to the boat for the night.

Sunday it was cool and misty - promising more rain.  We had a leisurely morning, then suited up for the trip ashore to see if we could find the football game playing somewhere.  We had to settle for watching the Jaguars beat the Giants in a small bar/restaurant, then we took a short walk, had an early supper at a small diner advertising the biggest and best burgers of New York State (there were big, and they were very good) and dinghied back in the rain.  The forecast says Monday is going to be all rain and wind.  We weighed anchor and moved to a more protected spot in the harbor, right off the beach of the Theodore Roosevelt Park.

Monday was a long, quiet day of reading, tinkering, and playing Scrabble.  Outside the wind howled and the rain whipped at the windows. 

Tuesday Sept 4 - Friday Sept 7: Down the Hudson and into the Sound

It’s time to start South now, and say goodbye to the Erie Canal.  Tuesday we spent a few hours getting ready.  Dan called for an Uber ride to the nearest Walmart to pick up a spare battery while I took care of business and pleasure and did a good walk-through of the boat to make sure things were stowed properly.  The coming journey into the Hudson with its strong currents and possibly windy conditions was going to be very different from the placid cruising we’d done so far.  We didn’t want to be forgetful that the counters should be empty and the cabinets locked.  The weather was already hot when we left at 1015, and this heat wave is supposed to last for several more days.  The Hudson was very calm and any wind was self-made.  We decided we’d splurge on a marina for the night, and found a nice little one just inside Catskill Creek at Riverside Marine.  The temperature was hovering around 90, humidity level close to that, and dead calm 1.  We waited til sunset to go for a walk in the cute little village of Catskill, which sported magnificent architecture as well as a collection of decorative cat statues all up and down the main street.  There will be an auction at the end of this month. 

Wednesday we tried to beat the heat by getting underway by 0700.  The early morning was nice and cool, but as the sun rose and the low-lying fog burned off, the temperature started rising rapidly.  We did have a breeze, though, which was very welcome.  Wednesday was our longest cruising day so far - we kept a steady 7 knots or so for the next 65 miles, and anchored off Rockland Lake State Park, across the river from Croton-on-Hudson.  This was our first anchorage in this boat.  Dan set a trip line and we kept a wary eye on everything for an hour or so.  Once we trusted that we were holding well, we decided to go for a swim.  This river has a current even at slack water, so we had the life ring out with a long line to hang on to.  Oh that water felt good!

The trip line decided to dance with the prop in the early Thursday morning:  Dan ended up having to dive to cut it free.  Good thing the water was warm and we have a hand swim platform for him to hang onto.  I stood by with the life ring and a life jacket to throw, as the current was fairly swift, but he managed to cut it off without incident and there was no damage done to anything but the line itself.  We spent a leisurely morning waiting for favorable tides for the rest of the ride down the Hudson and through New York Harbor into the East River.  Once we got going, the currents were almost a slingshot through the area:  we were making 12 knots at one point.  We’ve been through this area four times now, and this definitely was the fastest passage.  We tucked into Manhasset Bay for the night, as the predicted thunderstorms started taking over the skies.

Friday we thought we’d get a good start into Long Island Sound, hoping to make the islands off the Connecticut shore for the night.  We changed our minds out on the Sound - whitecaps and wind made it very rough going, and though the current was against us, it would soon turn, which meant it would be against the wind.  We didn’t want to face that and turned around.  Dan spent some time familiarizing himself with the wires, hoses, and plumbing that travel through the engine room.  I made Eggs Benedict for lunch.  About midafternoon it seemed calmer and we decided to head out into the Sound again.  The new Willie Dawes was slightly more comfortable than the old Willie Dawes, but it was still a roller coaster ride.  And we learned what things need to be more secured during such a passage.  This time we stuck it out long enough to make the next bay over and dropped the hook in Oyster Bay.  

The Easterly winds are predicted to be steady and strong over the weekend.  We will probably be here for the duration.

Labor Day Weekend: Guests Aboard

We spent much of Labor Day weekend in or near Waterford.  Our son Joe and his fiancee Joanna were coming to join us for a night and there were things we wanted to do to get ready for them and for the coming trip down the Hudson and into the ocean waters.  Dan has a growing list of repairs and changes he wants and needs to make, and Saturday was a day for prioritizing.  He wanted to change the placement of the hose for the propane tank, hoping to put an end to that alarm going off, he hoped to change the oil, and he wanted to do some electrical work.  There seems to be an issue with batteries charging.  All of his plans necessitated supplies, and we found a NAPA place that delivered, which was great.  But it also meant a couple of long walks for us chasing down a bronze piece for the propane and a few other things… much of Saturday afternoon was taken up by walks to various auto and hardware stores in the area.  We walked over ten miles and got to the know the greater Waterford area pretty well.  Dan didn’t get to most things on his list, but he did re-lead the propane hose and we are fairly well supplied now with oil and filters and other things.  In the course of our walks, we found a section of the old Champlain Canal with a winding path through the woods.

Sunday morning was laundry and grocery day.  (There is a Hannaford’s here that allows boaters to take their carts off property and leave them here at the harbor.  How is that for service?!)  AND there was a Farmer’s Market right here at the Waterford Harbor Welcome Center with many stands and live music.  Lots of fresh veggies, and meats and eggs…

we shopped there first before walking over to the grocery store.  Joe and Joanna arrived about two pm and we set off shortly thereafter for our overnight adventure into the Hudson and turning North to go up the Champlain Canal, to give them some lock experience and us some new scenery.  We put in for the night at the small town of Mechanicville and took a walk around, stumbling onto this tie to Henry Knox of Thomaston fame:

"Through this place passed General Henry Knox in the winter of 1775-1776 to deliver to Gen. George Washington at Cambridge the train of artillery from Fort Ticonderoga used to force the British Army to evacuate Boston"

Labor Day we went up through Lock 4 on the Champlain Canal, tied up for another little walk through a small park there, and then came back down the Canal and to Waterford.  It’s a five hour trip back to Portland for J & J, and they didn’t want to get on the road too late.  It was wonderful having guests aboard!  We’ll spend the night in Waterford and get back onto our journey tomorrow.  

Tuesday August 28- Friday August 31: Phoenix to Waterford - end of the Erie Canal

Tuesday we headed out from Phoenix at 0745.  We had a twenty-some mile traverse of Oneida Lake and we thought it best to get an early start to take advantage of calm conditions.  The very hot, very humid weather is holding, and not a breath of wind until we got to the lake.  Then it was hot and humid with two foot seas and 10-15 kts from the SW.  It was an uneventful crossing:  very few other boats out there crossing with us.  We spotted a few fishermen at the beginning of the lake and a couple small sailboats at the other end.  We took a short break while still in the lake to practice using the anchor and go for a refreshing swim.  Cold water never felt so good!  The anchor windlass worked well, and the anchor held.  Good to know.

We had initially planned to stop in Sylvan Beach, but we really wanted electricity for the fan - who would have thought we would be those people?  - so we kept on going to the next town, which advertised electrical hookups at the town dock.  The advertising was correct, but the one working hookup was in use, so we pressed on to Whitesboro, where the one post was hidden but available.  Once we had the fan up and running, we walked to town for dinner in 69 Steakhouse and came back to find Tommie exploring the shore a little.  (Dan had left a window open and she took advantage of it.)  Fortunately for all of us she jumped back on board when she saw us coming.  New checklist - shut the doors and windows before leaving her alone…

Wednesday we left Whitesboro about 0945, after a short walk around the Canal towpaths.  Trying to get our steps in!  The plan today is to get to Little Falls where there is a very nice town-run marina and to have our first dinner guests aboard!  Dan’s Coast Guard Academy buddy Tim and his wife Sue came down from Richfield Springs to go for a short Canal cruise and enjoy some pizza. The thunderstorms (finally! a front coming through to drive away the humidity and lower the temperature!) held off until we were done with our little cruise.  Sue helped me put the toneau on while Tim helped Dan dock at the marina, then we sat inside our spacious saloon and chatted for another hour or so.  We had visited their dairy farm in 2015 when we came through, and it was good to see them again and catch up on all the family news.  

That propane alarm on the fly bridge went off again around 4 am Thursday - Dan has added it to the list of things needing to be tended to sooner rather than later - but at 4 am he just turned off the battery switch.  No fan, but no alarm, either.  Got underway about 10 and locked down 40 feet at Lock 17, the largest drop/lift lock in the US.  

Lock 17 - 40 feet drop

We made an afternoon stop for ice cream in Fonda, remembering our time there back in 2015 when my cousin was visiting, before pushing on to Amsterdam for the night.  We took a very long walk in the evening to find a place showing the Giants - Patriots preseason game - all uphill - which gave us a good tour through some of the neighborhoods.  There are some beautiful, stately homes with carriage houses here in Amsterdam.  

Friday was our last day on the Canal.  We had ten more locks to get through to Waterford, including the Waterford Flight, which consists of five locks in the space of a mile and a half. 

Lock 6 - the beginning of the West end of the Waterford Flight.  You see see Lock 5 in the distance.  Each of the five locks in the next mile and a half dropped us about 30 feet.

Last lock before Waterford Harbor. 

We arrived at the Waterford Harbor Welcome Center about 5:15 pm, and jockeyed for space at the dock with another vessel, seeking the elusive working electrical outlet.  Another boater came to our rescue, offering his splitter with a 50 amp adaptor so we could share the last working outlet.  Boaters are the friendliest, generous people around.  

Sunday Aug 26-Monday Aug 27: Lyons to Baldwinsville to Phoenix

Sunday we had another short walk about town in Lyons and then topped off the water before leaving.  Very hot and humid here but today a small breeze from the SW, which is very welcome.  Thunderstorms were forecast, so we played toneau on-toneau off on the fly-bridge, and then we ended up taking down the bimini when we heard how low the upcoming railroad bridge was.  Good thing, because Dan could touch the underside of the bridge from a standing position as we passed under it.  After this bridge, we’ve heard we don’t have to worry anymore about the bimini, as the heights are all 18 feet or more. 

We spent a leisurely day cruising through the Montezuma Heritage Preserve.  Just inside was a spendid example of an aquaduct - pity it isn’t used any more. 

Saw lots of herons and kingfishers, a few turtles, and some great white egrets as well as one bald eagle.  It’s a thirty mile stretch through this preserve to the next lock, which made for a long day, but it was a pleasant one. 

Great blue heron

We got to Lock 25 - Baldwinsville - just after five pm and tied up at the seawall, pleased to find electricity there.  We don’t use the fridge, and we have plenty of battery power for lights, but it is very nice to be able to hook up the box fan to get the air moving.  The temperatures haven’t been going down much at night.  I think in the future we’re going to want to put in some a/c.  

Baldwinsville is yet another charming town with grand, historic houses and a lot of history they are proud to display on plaques.  We took a long walk, in search of ice cream, and finally came to what looked like a gas station/convenience store called Byrne Dairy.  We not only enjoyed some great ice cream, but scored some River Rat cheese!  We discovered River Rat cheese on our last big adventure, when we spent a couple nights in Clayton, NY on the St. Lawrence River.  (We love the cheese so much, we’ve even ordered it online for Christmas presents.)  As we sat eating our ice cream, we met a wonderful woman from Baldwinsville who told us she was 90 years old and filled us in on her growing up in town (no plumbing, no electricity) and her many vacations in Maine with her husband.  She was funny and full of stories and I hope she enjoyed our company as much as we did hers.  

Monday we awoke to a high-pitched alarm going off somewhere outside- we finally traced it to our own fly bridge, much to our chagrin, as the Monk 36 right behind us was also searching to find the source.  It was a propane sensor - no propane nearby, but the sensor was diligently alerting us anyway.  Dan spent the morning dealing with that and working in the engine room changing the fuel filter and inspecting the impellor while I tied up and kept Tommie distracted from the open hatch.  We had a short day cruising to Phoenix, so we weren’t too upset that we didn’t set off until just after noon.  We got to our destination about 2:30, plenty of time for a walk and a visit to the laundromat, which is located just steps away from the tie-up. 

Phoenix is at the mouth of the Oswego Canal, in 2015 and decided it would make a good overnight stop before we travel into and through the Oneida Lake on our eastbound course.  We have officially traveled halfway through the Erie Canal and are now retracing our 2015 path.  Phoenix is a great, friendly little town, famous for the Phoenix Bridge Brats - teenagers doing their community service for church, scouts, or school.  They offer to run errands of any kind for the boats tied along the seawall here.  There is also a cute little canal-side park with a band pavilion and tonight it’s busy with a church supper/fundraiser and dancing courtesy of the local band.  Unlike other canal-side parks, we get the feeling the town would be doing this whether or not boats were in residence - many townspeople are here dancing, eating, or just sitting in the lawn chairs they brought for their evening out.  We had hotdogs and 'coneys' (think red hotdogs only they are white) and pie and listened to a mix of country and sixties music.  So fun, so small town.  

Church supper table.

The band pavilion and dancing.

Friday, August 24-Saturday August 25: Spencerport to Macedon to Lyons

Friday we left Spencerport around 9:30 am and headed back into the Canal.  We had consulted our new friend Dick the Canawler about choices to spend the night and he strongly urged us to consider Pittsford, so that was our preliminary destination.  As we traveled closer to Rochester we encountered more roads, and that meant more bridges to pass under.  The lowest height of fixed bridges on this part of the Canal is 16 feet.  We are just over 15 feet with the bimini up, so we had some nail biting moments.

The top of our bimini just clears the bridge by inches.

We also performed a man overboard drill on a drowning bat.  We both spied something floundering in the water at the same time and Dan plucked it up with the net.  We laid him out on the back deck to dry out, hoping he wasn't injured.  It took a couple of hours, but our bat friend perked up enough to start hissing and snapping at us.  We scooped him into a hat and put him ashore when we arrived in Pittsford just after lunch.

Rescued bat.

We opted for a walking stop in Pittsford instead of an overnight stop because of the time.  We criss-crossed the Canal at the lock we'd just come through as well as at a couple of bridges and ended up at a brew-pub Dan had read about called Lock 32 Brewery.  We stopped for a beer (Dan) and cider (me) and left unimpressed by the lack of interest in service by the lone bartender.  We were the only two people in the bar for a good twenty minutes and he never greeted us or even made eye contact until I bluntly asked if he was serving.  He was more interested in his phone, but we noted that he did manage to welcome a group of bicyclists who came in just before we left.  Because of our dawdling at the brewery, we ended up missing the lock opening at Macedon and tied up to the seawall for the night.  Locks close at 5 pm - something they failed to mention in the Boater's Resource guide the lock master hands out.  Now we know.

Macedon is a very small town, whose main claims to fame are being one of the few places in New York where you can see all three versions of the Erie Canal side by side and a very large plastics manufacturing company.  The town itself is a ten minute walk from where we tied up, and there were no amenities.  Friday evening we took a walk around and literally stumbled on the remains of an earlier version of the Canal. Saturday morning we took a walk through a nearby Butterfly/Memory garden and came upon the site of where the three different Canals sit side by side.  (In Macedon they use the older canals as spillways.)  The original Canal was 4 feet deep and 40 feet wide.  The second Canal was 7 feet deep and 70 feet wide.  The latest one is much wider and much deeper.

Three canals side by side - the sign points to each one.

Saturday we set off from Macedon close to 10 am, this time with no destinations in mind.  The lock keepers always ask and we just tell them we don't know.  (They ask because they call ahead to the next lock or opening bridge to warn them we are coming.) The weather was very hot - nearly 90 degrees - but with a good breeze.  We've been told it's been hot since the beginning of June.  There was more activity on the Canal today - lots of people out fishing, though several of them said they hadn't caught anything and that fishing in general has been slow this summer.

We stopped for a quick walkaround in Newark, and made a quick trip to the grocery store to pick up some hamburgers for supper.  We've been making great use of our little grill!  Newark had some charming trompe l'oeil murals:

We opted to spend the night in Lyons, which is a very boater-friendly place with free tie-ups, electricity, and water, and great showers at the fire station.  Unfortunately, the town is also enjoying an extended vacant building festival.  It's such a fine line for these waterfront places - they work hard to attract boating and cycling tourists, but when you get beyond the actual dock there isn't much there.  We saw this in the South along the Intracoastal Waterway too.  We took another walk in hopes of seeing the remains of aqueducts that used to line the Canal but it was hard to tell without accompanying pictures what the remains actually are.  We've been told that tomorrow we'll see some better ones as we cross through the Montezuma Nature Preserve.

Bringing Home the new Willie Dawes: Aug 19- August 23 Grand Island NY to Spencerport NY

We spent several months this past spring thinking about, looking at, and deciding what we wanted in a new boat.  Don't get us wrong - we love our 30 foot motorsailer, and she served us well on the Down East Circle, down the ICW, and to the Bahamas.  But we thought, if we could find something a bit larger, maybe with two cabins/two heads, maybe with the galley up on the same level as the inside helm, maybe with a fly bridge....?  Well, we wouldn't say no.

Introducing the new Willie Dawes.
Yes, we're keeping the name. She's a Newburyport 37, and met all our criteria, including being in the price range we wanted. She's a trawler. We've gone fully to the dark side. And we LOVE her!

Dan took two trips out to Grand Island, NY this summer - once to look her over, and the second time, after the sale had gone through, to bring out the initial load of stuff every boat has.  On Sunday, August 19, after we'd finished with our very busy summer schedule of commitments, we rented a truck to bring out the dinghy and everything else we thought we might need.  The truck turned out to be a lot larger than we wanted (Dan had asked for a 12 foot truck, they 'upgraded' us to a 16 foot truck) and despite our best efforts, we only managed to fill it less than half-way.  With the awesome boat cat Tommie in the cat carrier, we set off early Sunday morning.  We spent the night in a 'pet-friendly' room at a hotel in Syracuse ('pet-friendly really means DOG friendly, but Tommie tolerated the smell) and arrived at the marina in Grand Island just before noon on Monday.

We spent the entire day Tuesday unloading and stowing, taking breaks only for meals and to make a large provisioning stop at the local grocery store.  By dusk the truck was empty, the bed was made, and we even knew which cupboard everything went into.  We toyed with the idea of setting off in the morning, but the looming thunderstorms and 20 kt winds kept us at the marina for another day.  We found things to keep us busy, and ran into previous owners Jeff and Eileen at the grocery store when we stocked up on the last minute fresh produce and meat.  They offered to help Dan get the rental truck back.

Tommie has settled into boat life as if she never left it, and has, in fact, explored every inch of the boat.  She thoroughly enjoys a good game of hide and seek - she hides, we seek - and has shown us several access portals into the engine room.  She loves the large dashboard and the big windows, but still doesn't care for the sound of the engine.

Diarama of the old locks next to the new locks.

Wednesday we set off at 9:25 am and entered the Erie Canal five minutes later to start the journey across the state of New York.   We began our journey on the flybridge and had a weather-drill hastily evacuating everything to below decks and snapping on the toneau (the canvas cover that goes over the flybridge helm and seats.)  Nothing like a sudden rainstorm to sharpen our skills!  We traveled about thirty-five miles, with a break just after the first two locks in Lockport to have a walk around the town and visit the history museum.  Lockport initially constructed a 'Flight of Five' - five locks to raise or lower boats along the steep Niagara Escarpment.  There were two sets of locks - one for each way - an engineering feat for the early 1800s.  Today the remains of one set of locks is right next to the two modern locks.

The remains of one set of the old locks in Lockport.

We continued on and spent the night in the charming small town of Medina, whose claim to fame is the quarrying of quality sandstone used in Buckingham Palace, the Brooklyn Bridge, and other famous buildings. 

So far, this section of the Erie Canal has been entirely man-made, mostly hand dug with shovels.  When you think about it, the whole Erie Canal is an engineering marvel.  We were actually above the surrounding landscape, which often comprised of large farms on one side, and small towns on the other.

See how straight the dike is. 

Farm lands on one side.

Towns and houses on the other side.  

Many of the towns along the Canal exist because of the Canal, and so far all of them have shown to be extremely boater-friendly, with seawalls to tie to, bathrooms and showers to use, and the downtown area just a block away.

Thursday (Aug 23) we set off from Medina around 9:20 am and spent a leisurely day viewing deer grazing in ball fields and herons playing on the Canal's edge, working our way from lift bridge to lift bridge until we stopped for the night in Spencerport.  This town has a small museum/welcome center with official packets for the boaters offering a walking tour of the town as well as free Wifi and suggestions for meals.  Dan and I spent an hour sight-seeing and enjoyed an ice cream on benches in the shade alongside the Canal.  So far the weather - though somewhat showery at first - has been quite warm.  Ice Cream sounded like a good idea to me!