Ilion Marina

We went thru two locks and got fuel and pumped out and tied to the wall at the Ilion Marina.  There is a nice little malt shop/burger joint right at the marina!  It must be one of the better places in town because there is always a line at the order window.  We had BBQ pork sandwiches and a strawberry shake for lunch, and a black raspberry malt for desert.

I also did laundry, got groceries, and bought some local beer after John gave me a can that he had bought earlier in the day.

One of the more notable things about the town of Ilion is that it is the home of Remington Arms.  We went to the little museum and gift shop.  I will try to get some pictures from John, since we didn't remember to take a camera with us.  The had a lot of really neat guns displayed.  The 870 shotgun is one of their popular items and the had each of the 1,2 and 3 millionth production guns displayed along with a lot of other firearms.  Very interesting place!

Extra Blog Entry, More Pictures...

Here are some more pictures from the last few days on the Erie Canal.  Still struggling with having pictures on about three different devices and trying to use them and or transfer to a single place so they can be included in the blog...

Here is a common scene we have found along the canal...

This must have been the early version of a round-a-bout, Canajoharie, NY

We finally got the bikes out from under the couch because there is a great bike trail along the entire canal!

This is one of the two double locks at old lock 33 near St. Johnsville.  It was discontinued in 1917.

Mindenville Free Wall

We haven't been going too far any of the last several days because the towns have been interesting and we spend time shopping, bar hopping and buying groceries.

Yesterday we left Canajoharie and moved about 4 miles up above lock 15 to a free wall with power.  This morning we moved about 7 miles and locked thru 16 and are tied to a free wall just down the canal from the lock.  There is a power socket at the wall right west of the chamber, but a barge is tied there and was in the way, so the lock master suggested this spot just down the way another 200 yards.

This was the spot Tuesday night, there was a snag boat parked next to us.

And this is a quick shot of a tug pulling a work barge and housing section past the city dock while we were there.

On the free wall at guard gate two

We left the free city dock at Waterford today and moved nearly 3 miles to another free dock just past the second guard gate.  We passed thru the first five locks on the Erie Canal.

There are two web cams at Waterford that show the city dock.  Nice way to see how crowded the dock is.  

http://www.town.waterford.ny.us/harbor-visitors-center.html

We stayed on the east end of the floating dock.

There were boats arriving and departing each day we were there, and there was never a space issue, especially on the west end if you can use 30amp power or don't need power at all.  What a great little town!  We ate a Don and Paul's twice, the cafe once and got a pizza at the pizza place in the same area as the above two restaurants.  We also got groceries at the place on the north side of Broad street on the east side of the Hudson.  They will indeed unlock your cart and let you push it down the sidewalk back to the city dock.  Not a bad walk.

We also walked up the road/trails all the way to the second guard gate, stopping at each of the five locks in the flight.  It is really neat how they let you right up to the locks while they are in use!  Really fun to talk with them and learn more about how they work and ask questions.

In the picture you can see the next lock in front of us as we sitin the chamber of the previous.

Tonight we are staying on the wall just past the second guard gate tonight and plan to go on to Amsterdam tomorrow.  The weather here was a bit rainy this morning and the forecast was correct and there was no other traffic today but i suspect there might be the rest of the weekend. 

We only stayed one day at the Norrie state park dock, watch out of all the poison ivy, it was prevalent!

We have several other photos to add to this entry, but I was having trouble getting them from my phone to the iPad, so they will show up in a subsequent post.

Jim and Jennifer

Short Update, more complete info coming...

We made it to Waterford a couple days ago and are going to start into the first lock E2 of the Erie Canal this morning at 8am.  We got caught up on all the chores while we have been at the free city dock in Waterford.  Here is a picture from the boat looking toward the first lock.

Eastern part of the Erie Canal.

Jennifer is responsible for the very slow and sporadic updating of the blog, but don't mention it, she might get grouchy...

Up and at 'em: Haverstraw to Norrie Point

We were up and away at 5:15 am to catch some of the remaining favorable tide going up the Hudson.  Somebody get me another cup of coffee!

It was another gorgeous day in the Hudson Rvier Valley.  We went past beautiful scenery on our way up to Mills Norris State Park.  Trains travel on both sides of the river.  Passenger trains mostly on the east shore and freight trains on the west.  

Train passing waterfall.

We passed several interesting places:

West Point Military Academy

Culinary Institute of America

The park is close to FDR's home at Hyde Park and the Vanderbilt mansion.  We spent sometime walking the dogs on the trails at the park and considered staying a few more days to potentially tour the sites.  Our slip was a little rolly and with the increase in boat traffic expected over Memorial Day we decided to move on to find something smoother.

Marina at Mills Norris State Park

Manasquan, NJ to Haverstraw, NY

We were going to wait for the slack water after high tide to leave through the Manasquan inlet.  This would have meant waiting till 1:20 in the afternoon. We woke and heard several boats on the radio going out.  The weather looked good so we pulled anchor and headed out.  It was a good decision.  The inlet was an easy out and we were traveling up the coast by 7:30 am.  We arrived in New York harbor around noon and dodged the ferry traffic that keeps the river stirred up.  It was interesting seeing the city from the water and there were lots of people visiting the Statue of Liberty.  The ferry traffic slacked off past Mid-town and it became a very pleasant sight seeing trip up the Hudson.  The Hudson River Valley is very beautiful! We stopped in Haverstraw and anchored in a nice cove with good protection for the night.

Glimmer Glass bridge from the anchorage at Manasquan.  It takes awhile for it to get raised high enough to fit under.

Going out Manasquan inlet

Cargo ship in New York harbor

Lady Liberty

Lower Manhattan

Traffic on the George Washington Bridge

View up the Hudson River Valley. Beautiful!

Ocean City, NJ to Manasquan, NJ

Today we left the marina at Ocean City and traveled about 75 miles to an anchorage in Glimmer Glass basin on the river just a mile or so from the Manasquan inlet.  It looks like we will be able to go outside tomorrow for the final leg of New Jersey into New York harbor on Monday.

While at the marina we walked over to Longport and Margate City and saw Lucy the elephant. Constructed in 1881 she is now a historic landmark.

Scenes along today's route:

Atlantic City skyline

We came past Brighton Beach and parts north of there that got hit hard by Superstorm Sandy. 

Bridge over Point Pleasant Canal

It sure is shallow around here!

Yesterday we navigated thru the C and D canal from the Chesapeake into Delaware Bay and on down the bay to Cape May, NJ.

Today we went another 30 or so miles and pulled into a marina near Ocean City.  We can see out into the Atlantic Ocean thru the Great Egg Harbor Inlet.  Here is a snapshot of one of the three different apps that I use for navigation and planning.

We are planning to stay here until at least Saturday morning as a storm passes over Friday.  We will take three or more travel days to get to New York City harbor.  We are traveling the inter coastal route thru New Jersey and there are a LOT of shallow spots and we have to travel from mid tide on the flow until about mid tide on ebb.  This leaves only about 6 hours during the cycle and cuts down on potential travel times and distance.

These two pictures are a shot of the tide table for our anchorage and location.

This is a big power plant we passed on the way down the Delaware Bay.  The waves were not too bad for most of the trip thru the bay.  The wind was about 10-15 from the port front quarter and we hugged the shore along a 10-20 contour so the ride would be a bit better.  This also kept us well out of the main channel.

Here is the chart with our position icon and two potential routes shown with us between them on an approximate 10' contour.  The ride is better staying closer to the upwind shore line and the depths allowed it and also kept us well out of the main ship channel.  We saw several large ships going up the river toward Philly.

Here is a google map showing a bit of an overview of the route we have ahead of us in the next week or so.  We are currently just north of Ocean City.  We will stay on the inside and make our way to Masaquan, NJ where we will go outside on the Atlantic up to New York harbor.

Jim and Jennifer