Waterford NY (2013-10-05)

N42° 47.284', W73° 40.819'

This evening finds us tied up to the dock at the Waterford Harbour Visitors Center, in Waterford NY.  We'll take a well deserved break for the next few days while we figure out where we'll leave the boat when we travel back to Ottawa for our daughter's wedding.


The last couple days have been long and tiring.  Yesterday we left Little Falls NY to begin the push to get through the area of the Erie Canal that had been closed for repairs.  While we had three days to get through, we knew there would be a lot of boats heading the same way as us, making for a real madhouse on the river.   Making the situation a bit more difficult was that due to the nature of the work on lock E-13, we wouldn't be able to stop anywhere after locking through E-14 until we cleared the lock at E-12.  This meant that we'd have a long day of travel ahead of us.

We decided to head out early and try to maintain position with the herd, as we had done the day before.  Well, we caught up to part of the herd less than a mile down the river, as we rounded the bend above lock E-17 and found four other boats waiting to enter the lock.  We ended up spending most of the day locking through with this group, and even picking up another boat a couple locks further down the river.

Friday Flotilla

When we cleared lock E-14 we started to see the impact of the problems at lock E-13.  We had been told the water levels would be reduced, but it was a little surreal to see the water levels almost ten feet below normal.

 
After our flotilla (as the boat leading our group referred to us :)) had carefully picked it's way through the low water between locks E-14 and E-13 we approached lock E-13 and got our first look at the work being done.  One of the dams was pretty much torn apart, with a huge temporary dam constructed in front of it.  We heard from one of the lock staff that it was the center column of the dam that had the void beneath it, and that was where most of the activity was concentrated.

The Doozers hard at work on lock E-13

Dam repairs at lock E-13

We picked up an additional boat between lock E-13 and E-12.  Take a close look at the name on the side of his boat.  Imagine having to say that name on the marine radio.  That was probably why he only used the first two words when he referred to himself on the radio...

What a clever name - poor boat...

Finally we cleared lock E-12 and we were free of the closure area.  We had checked ahead and found that our best choices for a place to spend the night was to either tie up on the wall above lock E-11, or to lock through and head to the Amsterdam town dock at the Riverlink Park.  The Cruise Director and the Admiral of the boat we were travelling with conferred for a moment before it was decided that we'd press through to Riverlink Park, as there was a large dock there with shore power.  When we arrived we found that most of the wall was already occupied, and the only part left was a very high wall, towering almost above the level of our flybridge canvas.  While we were a little disappointed at the difficulty this would present for getting on and off the boat, in the end it didn't really matter that much as we were exhausted, so we were just happy to be off the river and done for the day.  While there was shore power available, unfortunately the office was closed for the rest of the season, so we weren't able to access the rest of the facilities such as the washrooms or showers, and didn't have the password for the wifi normally supplied to the boaters that stopped there.  However, seeing as the facility was closed for the season the stay for the night ended up being free, a price we could definitely afford.

This morning we also headed out fairly early, as we were hoping to push through to the end of the canal.  This would mean going through 9 locks (E-10 thru E-2 - there isn't a lock E-1).  Once again we ended up with quite the little flotilla, having upwards of six other boats with us in most of the locks. 

While another long day, everything went fairly well today.  The sky was threatening rain most of the day, but we only received one brief sprinkle just before we reached lock E-6.

Anyone missing a castle?

It took two hours to get through the last five locks, E-6 to E-2, which were all about 1/2 mile from each other.  Finally, just past 1600 we cleared the last lock on the Erie Canal.

While we were passing through lock E-6 the lock staff had told us that the docks in Waterford were full.  This was disappointing, as we were hoping to dock there for a few days.  Our travelling companions, who had friends waiting on the Waterford dock for them, called us on the radio and let us know that they had been told there was at least one free spot, and that the dockmaster had told them to come on down and no matter what, he'd find room for us.  Our alternative was to stay above lock E-3, but after discussing it for a minute we decided to roll the dice and go for it.  Luckily for us, as we cleared the gate at E-2 we saw that the near end of the dock was free.  Our travelling companions quickly grabbed one spot and we took another.  This left one spot in front of us, and it ended being taken later on by one of the other boats that had been with us in Phoenix NY.

Safe and sound in Waterford NY

So, this brings to a close another chapter in our travels.  We've now completed our transit of the Erie Canal.  The next stage of our travels will be heading down the Hudson River to New York City.  We'll start this leg after we return from our daughter's wedding.  Then we will start our southward pursuit of the sun in earnest...