After the past two weeks of hectic activity moving from our apartment to the boat, we’re finally on the way.  Sunday afternoon we shoved off after visits with friends.  Motored just a few miles or so down the Niagara River and into the canal at the Tonawanda’s.

We motored over to Lock 35 in Lockport to save time on our ten-day pass on the Canal.  We expected to find a decent wall upon which to anchor, however, found nothing at the lock.  So we went back a few hundred yards to an area used the State Canal boats and tied up to their huge bollards.  Our only concern that evening was that some kids were hanging out nearby and we’ve read about youth who occasionally like to untie boats at night.  It wasn’t Lockport but you never know.  Uneventful night and we slept well.

The next day we locked through #35 and obtained our ten-day pass for $50.00, then on through Lock 34.  About a mile past Lock 34 we came to the Nelson Goehle Marine Park (water, showers, pump-out, etc.).  As we pulled in and tied up at the dock we noticed another sailboat tied up ahead of us.  Funny, when you see another boat with the mast across it you think, “Well, there’s someone who really knows what they’re doing and has it all under control.”

After we took showers and added some water to the tank, a lady from the other boat came over and asked if they might follow us eastward down the canal.  It seems she is the secretary to an 84 year old doctor (osteopath/psychotherapist, believe it or not!), who convinced her to travel with him on the sailboat, from Buffalo to Albany.  The boat apparently had been left in Buffalo about two years ago.

As we talked further with the lady she said the doctor had fallen in the water just after locking through a couple days ago and had to have the Lockport Police and Fire Departments pull him from the water.  He turned out to be an extremely stubborn curmudgeon who was deaf and could receive communication via written notes only.  He could speak but couldn’t read lips.

The doctor said he had engine problems (something about the pump cavitating and causing problems, and I wondered if it wasn’t something similar to the problems I had when I put an O-Ring in the wrong location on our secondary fuel filter), but he wasn’t interested in listening to my thoughts (as written by his secretary).  I helped him position his anchor as he was complaining that someone disconnected his chain from the anchor.  He was knowledgeable enough to use seizing wire to secure the shackle bolt, although he used just a chunk of marine wire, plastic and all.  The old gent appeared ready to cast off his lines and he said we should go ahead and that he’d catch up with us.  As I write this on May 26^th we’ve not yet seen them.  Of course we’re traveling at about 6.0 – 6.2 mph and making good time.

May 23rd—

Stayed overnight a Brockport.  Nothing important to write about here as we tied up to the wall with no amenities.

May 24th—

Got up early as it was starting to rain.  We put the tarp over the cockpit area at about 5 AM.  The day was extremely cold, rainy and windy, always a headwind, in fact.  At one point we were approached by Sheriff’s Department frogmen and warned to keep moving at the same speed under the I-390 bridge (the presidential motorcade was about to pass overhead, as the President was visiting the Town of Greece). 

In the evening we tied up at a great area in Fairport, had numerous friends visit, went out to dinner, and just had a super few hours.  Free electricity, water, etc., as the summer season hasn’t started and there’s no dockmaster yet.  Oh, we saw several of the rental houseboats in the area and met one family from Iowa, just fishing, and enjoying the canal.  Also, as we arrived in Fairport the bridge operator came over and said he had tried to radio us but we didn't respond.  It seems a sailboat headed west had earlier run into the bridge while it was in the down position and knocked his mast into the steering wheel, causing the boat to be unsteerable.  The operator was afraid we would also try and he'd "have to fill out two accident reports in one day!"  Obviously we waited for the bridge to go up before going under.

May 25^th—

Traveled from Fairport to Lock 25, stopped in Newark for groceries on the way by.  Good place to do so as the stores are close.  Several locks, we’re getting better at locking through (each lock is slightly different!).  Be sure to have good leather gloves for traveling though the locks.  No amenities at this lock, only a wide grassy expanse next to the canal and we had to use long dock lines to reach the huge bollards well off the canal (actually normally used by the state boats and previously, large commercial vessels).  A couple men were fishing across the canal, but we didn’t see them catch anything.

We’re seeing many great blue herons, deer, small animals and of course thousands of geese and ducks, with just an occasional cormorant. 

May 26—

We got an early start, beautiful sunny cool day.  Traveling on the Seneca River portion of the canal headed for Cross Lake.  Just passed a trawler and sailboat, headed for Ithaca.  Had a nice conversation with them on Channel 13, the canal channel.  Stopped in Baldwinsville.  Nice town, easy shopping, Post Office, Library (for this update), lunch, etc.  We think we'll stay here tonight and get an early start in the morning.  We have 19 miles to the next lock, then 29 miles straight across Oneida Lake. 

Got an early start from Baldwinsville. Rather uneventful day except for traveling across Oneida Lake. Many cruisers have warned about how rough this lake can get, and further of their concern for tossing the mast off the supports. We picked a great day to cross (pure luck!). The westerly end of the lake was calm and the weather was clear with large cumulus clouds, but scattered.

By the time we went the approximate 25 miles the wind had come up some and with roughly a 10 mile and hour wind the waves reached two feet with an occasional wave of three feet. You can imagine the wave height if there was real wind. We’ve heard frequent stories of 6-foot waves. The main reason for this is the long fetch directly downwind from the prevailing westerly winds.

We stayed the night at Lock 20 in Marcy, NY, just outside of Utica. Friends that used to work with Roland when he lived in the area stopped by and we had a great chat.

May 28^th—

Did not start early as we expected to only go as far as either Frankfort or Ilion, which are only 15-20 miles from Lock 20. We couldn’t determine the water depth in Frankfort Marina so we went on to Ilion. This is a municipal marina and very busy. We paid $41 for the one night, which included water, electric, cable tv, etc. Coincidentally, the small restaurant was just having an open house with music and all, so we enjoyed the ambiance. We met another of Roland’s old work buddies. Seems their home had been destroyed by fire back in December and they were living in a large mobile home at the marina while contractors were completing refurbishment of their home.

Bicycled into the Village of Ilion hoping to buy a steak for dinner, however, Aldi’s was closed and the next grocery store was back in Frankfort, so we wound up going to Chinese buffet for dinner. Typical Chinese buffet faire, except for a couple teenage employees who spent their break arm wrestling, to the delight of most patrons. The one with a poor attitude just couldn’t win, so right triumphed over evil (as it should be!).

May 29^th—

Stopped in St. Johnsville for fuel and pumpout of the holding tank. Took on 26.4 gallons of fuel, which means we’ve averaged over 10 mpg (happy, happy, as we guessed 6-8 mpg!).

We stopped just outside Lock 12 in Fort Hunter for the evening. Very nice long wall and extremely tranquil except for the large trains which rolled all night long. We slept through the train noise as we both have no difficulty falling or staying asleep.

Monday, May 30th (Tara’s Birthday!)

We arose early and walked over to visit the Scoharie Aquaduct historical site. This is an early engineering marvel (no professional engineers were involved in designing the Erie Canal!), where the early canal was ducted over the Scoharie Creek to avoid the rough waters of the river (many early boats were lost over the dam during flood times). Fourteen arches were built to carry the water and boats in a narrow shallow channel over the river. Only a few remain standing but still enough to get an appreciation of the workmanship (nearly everything done by hand).

We tied up near Schenectady tonight at Lock 7. Nothing here but a park and lots of spectators. On to Waterford tomorrow. Hopefully we’ll catch up with Roland’s son, Kevin. He’s supposed to help us store about a ton of spare parts and spare sails, etc. The boat is still way too heavy but we’ll keep offloading things as we find trash receptacles.

We just helped a Canadian couple dock their 40-foot Allard catamaran . They decided to stay here tonight as we’re doing. No conveniences but it’s safe. They had a difficult time going through the lock as the windage on that boat made it difficult for the wife to hold the boat from moving rearward. The catamaran has about four suites, and believe it or not, they built it themselves!!! What a labor of love that must be. We’re 8 days from home and so are they, except they’re at the end of their trip, not the beginning. The wife says, "Make sure you have plenty of good anchors!" Apparently they hit one small hurricane and also some poor weather in NYC, too. The boat seemed to have only minor scrapes, nothing that epoxy and paint won’t cure.

Tuesday, May 31, 2005—

We stayed at Lock 7 another day, rode to a Stewart’s convenience store for groceries (about 7 miles round trip), and had a picnic with our son, Kevin’s family in the evening. Many people fishing but not many catching! Did find electrical power after other boats left, all at no charge. Nice spot to stop, wide water pond with boat ramp and a power dam on the other side of the river. Again, some of Kathleen’s "bookies" came to visit.

Wednesday, June 01, 2005—

Completed a couple tasks on the boat and left Lock 7 about 9 AM. We went through the last 6 locks on the Erie Canal and arrived at the small town of Waterford, near the juncture of the Hudson River. Great place to stop with free water and power for the first two days, then only $10 a night thereafter, with no time limit. Many trawlers or large power boats headed north or west. Free Internet services, grocery shopping handy, library and post office here as well.

Looks like we’ll spend several nights here as again we expect friends to visit on the weekend. We’re finding time to relax and hopefully we’ll get some more projects completed. Hope all of our friends back home are well and enjoying these little snippets of information. Must try to get some photo’s into the website.

After leaving Waterford we went through the Government Lock in Troy (lost a boathook here. A mid-boat line came loose and Roland attempted to retrieve it with the boathook and pulled on the handle. All that came was the rubber handle from the boathook, leaving the hook to fall in the water). Other than that the locking through was accomplished without problems.

We anchored one night off Coxsackie Island and the next day we arrived in Kingston, anchoring in Rondout Creek, about four miles up from the Kingston Inlet. The next morning we went to Hideaway Marina, as recommended by a fellow cruiser we met in Waterford. $50.00 wasn’t bad considering the owner and his two helpers all helped with equipment and dropping the mast into the keel step.

The remainder of the day and the next few days (again back at the Rondout Creek location, an excellent anchorage) was spent connecting stays, wind generator, radar, solar panels, etc. We had extremely hot weather during this period. Some days all we wanted to do was sit in the shade. Roland went up the mast about four different times to straighten out lines, install a swivel on the roller furling, etc.

We left Rondout Creek on June 17^th, our fourth wedding anniversary, and stopped at the Torches Restaurant in Newburgh for dinner. Dinner was great, if expensive, and about ¾ of the way through the meal an unexpected rainstorm hit. It didn’t ruin the meal, however, it sure soaked everything on the boat (outside) as we hadn’t adequately prepared for rain (another lesson, just one of many, always put things away when leaving the boat for any reason).

The next stop was Nyack, within sight of the Tappan Zee Bridge. It really was a lousy anchorage as the tide and wind combined with the wake from a variety of power boats causes the anchored boats to continually be tossing and turning. Nyack is a nice town to at which to stop, however, our dinghy chose this time to give its last gasp. It was fun and games, trying to row and pump air at the same time. The outboard has not yet seen the water as the dinghy leaks so bad we are afraid the engine would sink the dinghy. We are now looking for another (newer) inflatable dinghy.

Our next anchorage was one of the highlights of the trip so far as we effectively anchored in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty. There’s a small area of Liberty Park where boats are allowed to anchor. On this particular night we were the only ones anchored there. It’s a great spot and we hope to put up a picture or two of Lady Liberty for all to see.

After leaving the City it was time to test our mettle in the North Atlantic Ocean! Day One was spent largely motoring as the wind was right on our nose. It’s either spend an inordinate amount of time tacking or motor much of the way to accomplish some distance. The waves weren’t too bad the first day, perhaps 1-3 feet and we reached Manasquan Inlet, where we anchored for the night. Again, it was a little rough as it seems this inlet has more fishermen than any other area we’ve ever seen, and they come and go all night long, both amateurs and professionals alike.

Our second day was spend motor-sailing (running the engine, assisted by sails when the wind was in a favorable direction). The morning was extremely smooth and pleasurable, however the afternoon was really rough with waves 3-6 feet, tossing the boat at every turn. As usual the boat stood the rigors better than the passengers, arriving at Absecon Inlet (Atlantic City) in good shape.

The next morning Roland changed both fuel filters (the engine oil was changed earlier) as the tossing from the day earlier was certain to have dislodged contamination in the bottom of the fuel tanks. Diesel engines must have clean air and fuel and we’ve read many stories of cruisers who had engines quit just after a rough ride, again likely from picking up crud from the tank bottoms.

After refueling in Atlantic City and leaving late (approximately 10:30 AM), the trip from Atlantic City to Cape May was a real pleasure. The wind was from the west, allowing sails to drastically increase speed and smoothness of the ride. We arrived at the Cape May Inlet just as a large thunderstorm hit. Naturally we got drenched and had to anchor in the pouring rain, however, we were lucky in that many other sailboats were already anchored, making it easy to locate the anchorage most people use (another one just off a main channel transited by fishing boats all day and night. Rock and roll! LOL).

As this is written we’re anchored just off the Cape May Inlet, adjacent to the Coast Guard Station, the single remaining training facility in the country. We frequently see squads marching, cutters going in and out and we also hear the band playing, cannons going off, the national anthem being played, etc.

Last weekend Joanne Kois and Dave Klein, friends and fellow sailors, visited for a couple days. We went into Utsch’s Marina for a couple days to make access easier, especially since the dinghy is not practical. We had a great couple of days visiting the Cape May tourist areas and helping to keep the area restaurants in business. Thanks you two, for everything!

Well, we bought a new dinghy! Roland’s daughter Karen, who lives in Indiana, found a new one on eBay. It’s a 9’3" two year old Bombard, which has not been in the water. Seems this fellow bought it new for a trip to Alaska which never materialized and he decided to sell it as he still hadn’t used it. We’re having it shipped to a UPS center in Salisbury, Maryland. We will have to rent a car or get a taxi in Ocean City to pickup the packages.

Today, July 1, 2005, we will again attempt to take the dinghy to town. We spent some time yesterday gluing and patching, which hopefully was sufficient to keep some air in it. Also yesterday, Roland made a bracket to hold the outboard engine on the stern rail. The outboard started nicely considering that it hasn’t been used in a couple years. We’ll send our two Lowrance chart plotter antennas off to the factory for update as they stopped working recently. Likely this malfunction is due to another government change to the data string on the satellites which provide the GPS data. We’ll also try to get to the local library and update this website. Guess what? We took the dinghy to town, went to the Post Office and sent the chart plotter antennas, had lunch, got groceries, but we forgot to bring the disk with this update. Sorry folks.

Last evening a fellow sailor anchored nearby and said he was thinking about giving up sailing as he just got caught in a storm up on the Delaware Bay, 35 knots of wind, etc., and he couldn’t determine the buoy number of a particular buoy, thus was scared to try going into a local inlet. He said he couldn’t find anyone to sail with him and was tired which likely was more of a problem than anything. He said the boat withstood the weather fine, but he wasn’t so sure. Perhaps he didn’t have a good chart plotter, GPS, or proper chart. At any rate, he left early this morning, despite heavy fog. We don’t know if he was headed home or continuing his planned journey.

Kathleen says, "Another milestone, we made it to the end of New Jersey!" Many more states to go, all in due time! Hope you’re all doing well back home. We’re enjoying the trip although it is work, make no mistake about it. We’re moving much more slowly than we anticipated but each day we accomplish several tasks and are enjoying ourselves.

As an aside, the contact cement (two brands, one in the patch kit and Fel-Pro) didn’t do much for the dinghy, however, we decided to try using gorilla glue and darned if it didn’t do the trick. It still leaks some but now we can go at least one day without having to blow it up again.

We left Cape May on Saturday and motor-sailed some of the distance until the wind died and what little there was right on the nose. Had a real downpour about half way, so naturally that was interesting trying to get rain gear on and protect cushions, radio, other gear, etc., as we still haven’t finished the modification of the dodger yet. This will help make it a lot more comfortable when getting hit by sudden showers. We saw another couple dolphins, briefly. Rather uneventful trip of 42 miles or so.

We are now anchored just off the Ocean City, Maryland inlet, in Sinepuxent Bay. The Outer Harbor in Buffalo is calm compared to this morass of crazy boaters. Thousands of speeding boats of all varieties, fishermen drifting down the middle of the channel, boats advertising restaurants, pontoon boats doing 30 mph, and nobody worried about which side of the red marker to travel, etc. We were amazed that no one had an accident, at least not nearby. Towboat US and SeaTow are exceedingly active all up and down the coast with boaters in distress, whether dead batteries or out of fuel, whatever.

We did a couple chores today (Sunday, July 03, 2005) and then spent most of the day fishing. It seems licenses are not required for coastal waters so we threw out lines and tried a variety of lures all with no success. Kathleen has never fished a day in her life until now, so for her it was all new. A couple of the people fishing mentioned that flounder is popular here and certainly would be a nice treat, however, we did notice that most people fishing were using live bait of one type or another. Guess we need to catch a small fish to catch a larger fish (as one fisherman at one of the Erie Canal locks told us).

Tomorrow’s Independence Day. Hope you all had a great fourth! We’ll maybe wait until Tuesday before going to town to avoid the crowds. If the crowded waterways are anything like the Boardwalk (3 miles long, here) we had better wait for a weekday, although people watching is one of our favorite activities. We will get to the library and get this information to you soon, we promise.