Aug 31-Sept 2, Troy, NY

We're back in the Hudson River heading south toward NYC.

Spillway next to Lock 1 as we head down the Hudson river.

We moved from Waterford south through the Troy Lock (lock #1 of the NY Canal System) and are watching three hurricanes move north in the Atlantic. The first hurricane is 'Earl' with winds of 135 mph and expected to pass offshore of NYC on Friday. So we plan to stay a few more days in the Hudson River well upstream from NYC to let the hurricane(s) pass us by.

Approaching Troy and the downtown wall.

We are docked at Troy, NY, 150 miles north of NYC, at the Troy Municipal Docks right at the foot of downtown with power and internet.

Downtown Troy, NY.

1900's stone house in Troy is now a Phi Kappa Pi fraternity house.

A chair made from oars, paddles and waterskis.

Interesting bench also made from nautical gear.

Uncle Sam Wilson is a local character from the 1800's.
Sure looks like our USA's 'Uncle Sam'.

There is a business district within walking distance including a used bookstore, several shops selling antiques and collectables and several restaurants. El Porto (Italian) is our favorite restaurant.

There are several interesting boats here in Troy.

Brand new PDQ power catamaran being delivered from Wisconsin to South Carolina. Cruises at 20 mph and burns 10 gph. Two miles per gallon. Very efficient at 20 mph.

Tug MV BEAR heading to the 'Tug Rendezvous'.

65 foot Marlow Explorer HOLIDAY is from Aspen, Colorado.
Note the hard top now lowered as she returns from the Erie Canal.

We have decided to wait out Hurricane Earl here in Troy, NY. This location seems sheltered and we are further away from the storm track here than we would be if we move south on the Hudson. We will rent a car and see some sights. Hyde Park, NY, is about 50 miles south of us and our AAA tour book says there are three 'GEMS' to see there.

Frederick W. Vanderbilt Mansion (1898) from the driveway. Home of one of Cornelius Vanderbilt grandsons. Represents the 'Gilded Age' in America (1865-1925).
Rated a 'GEM' by AAA.

Vanderbilt Mansion from the rear.
We think that is a proper back porch.

Our marina manager, Joe Berlino, also recommends the NY Culinary Institute as a great spot. We agree.

NY Culinary Institute was established in 1949.

We had a great lunch in the Medici (Italian) dining room. There are over 1000 students here in a college atmosphere learning all aspects of the food service industry. We were happy to be 'guinea pigs' while they are learing.

Class room instruction.

Students working in the baking center.

Hyde Park is the Roosevelt ancestral home. Franklin Roosevelt grew up here and returned over 100 times during his presidency.
Rated a 'GEM' by AAA.

Franklin Roosevelt Presidential Library. The first Presidential Library was estblished by Roosevelt in 1941 while he was still in office.
Rated a 'GEM' by AAA.

We rate all three as very worthwhile spots. Nice way to spend the day as we wait for Hurricane Earl to pass by.

Aug 30, Waterford, NY

We transited another 12 locks today and covered about 60 miles in 9 hours. We made it all the way to Waterford, NY, which is the end of the Erie Canal near Albany, NY.

Sunrise at Canajoharie as we get underway.
A bit of fog on the water.

The scenery today was the prettiest on the Erie Canal as we were in the Mohawk River portion of the canal and the hills around us make for a really interesting area.

Further down the canal we enter the Mohawk River Valley and the scenery gets more dramatic.

Volkswagen on top of the chimney of an abandoned factory.
We see lots of abandoned factories along the canal here.

The water is flowing over the dam.

Lock and dam as we head downstream.

Amsterdam has a welcome center for boaters.
We are moving on.

Train heads over the trestle as we head under.

Interesting river bank forty feet high.

Large home overlooks the Mohawk River.

Islands in the Mohawk River as we approach the last 5 locks that will drop us 35 feet each (total of over 160 feet in a mile)

As we exit lock 3, we meet some kayakers.

The kayakers enter the lock to go up. The locks must take all size boats.

We shared these five locks with a sailboat from Sister Bay, WI. They are headed south for a two year cruise. Here in Lock 2, we can see the town of Waterford ahead.

We ended the day on the wall at Waterford with no power. We are picking up some spotty internet here from somewhere.

Waterford Erie Canal Welcome Center.

KOKOMO II at Waterford on the wall. In a park near town.
Free dockage, no power, weak internet. Ran our generator but warm overnight.

Downtown Waterford, NY.

This is Ken Horner's last stop as he will fly out of Albany airport tomorrow heading for Orlando to see Mike and Robin for a few days, then a few days in the Florida Keys before heading back to work in Indiana next week.

Aug 29, Canajoharie, NY

We ran another 70 miles today and went through 9 more locks on the Erie Canal before finishing the day at Canajoharie, NY where we docked at the town dock with 50 amp power. Another long day - almost ten hours.

Leaving the lock we find a lone fisherman in the middle of our channel.
He moves out of the way.

LIL' DIAMOND is a tour boat based in Ft Lauderdale.
Must be more business here in the summer.

A tourist, Jeff Bancroft, on LIL' DIAMOND takes our picture as we go by and e-mails it to us. That's Ken Horner in our stern.

We transited nine more locks today. As you can see in the above photo, we just leave our fenders down between the locks. Not real pretty, but very practical.

These bouys have moved off station.
Carried away by the current.
If we go between them now - we will end up in the pile of brush.

Our biggest drop. Over 40 feet.
This lock at Little Falls, NY.

Logs removed from the canal.

Tug GOVERNOR ROOSEVELT.

We walked into the town of Canajohharie, NY, for dinner and found 80% of the stores vacant. Sad to see these small NY towns in such an economic decline. Ended up with pizza and wings (only restaurant open) and brought them back to the boat.

KOKOMO II docked at Canajoharie, NY, at the town dock.
Free dock, free power, in a park, no internet.

We were helped in docking by a sailor who had come from Hamburg, Germany, on his 35 foot sailboat.

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He had sailed from Spain to the Azores and intended to land in Florida. Instead he got caught in a 4 day gale and ended up making landfall in Nova Scotia. Said 'at least it was the right continent'. Then he sailed down to NYC and up the Hudson. Now planning going around to Chicago and down to Mobile and then a 40,000 mile trip through the Carribean to the east coast of South America then around the Cape Horn in Argentina (the southern tip of S. America) then to Chile and out to Australia and then back through the Panama Canal and home to Germany. Plans to be gone four years. Has a blog: www.hinneru-weiler.de (in German).

Aug 28, Sylvan Beach, NY

The Oswego Canal is open!

We got word at 8 am this morning that the Oswego Canal has reopened and we were the first boat through heading south to the Erie Canal.

We exit the first lock of the day and find lots of debris ahead.

Still plenty of water over the spillways.

Approaching another lock. Very beautiful day and good to be moving again.

Many of the bouys are covered by floating debris.
Some are off station, but we can see where they should be using our electronic charts.

Several of the locks are in rural settings. This looks like it is in a park.

We transited eight locks on the Oswego Canal today and one more on the Erie Canal for a total of nine locks and covered about 60 miles. We stopped in Brewerton at Winter Harbor Marina and filled up with diesel fuel before heading across Lake Onieda, which was flat calm, and ended the day at Sylvan Beach which is at the east end of Lake Onieda. We had a long day from 8 am to 5 pm. Nine hours on the water today.

Festive time for summer boating at Sylvan Beach.

KOKOMO II is on the wall on the quiet side of Sylvan Beach.

URGER is a famous tug based ion the Erie Canal.
It is here on tour.

Sylvan Beach has a roller coaster and some amusement park rides and is billed as the Coney Island of northern New York. We noticed lots of other boats most with families but some with just young men with high levels of testosterone. We enjoyed our stop but are ready to move on.