The End is Near

Today we completed the Erie Canal leg of this trip. Thank God for that, as after a week, it really gets boring. How many green trees can you look at.....constantly?

We left the Schenectady Yacht Club at 08:00AM and arrived in Waterford, NY at 11:00AM. The Flight of Locks, which are locks 6, 5,4,3,&2 went real good. We were the only boat on that portion of the canal at that time, and once begun, you cannot stop. The locks were all open and waiting for us.
It was another hot and humid day on the canal......

As we pulled out of Lock #2 in Waterford, we spotted some friends of ours just getting ready to enter Lock 2 and begin their Erie Canal leg of the Loop.


Rolfe and Harriet Wall...in front of the Waterford Visitors Center dock.


Rolfe and Harriett Wall, aboard their Endeavor Cat 44, TIME-OUT, have been on the loop now for the past year and a half.
We met them the first time at the Joe Wheeler State Park in Huntsville Alabama. They, along with us, were there attending the Fall 2010 Rendezvous of the American Great Loop Cruisers Assoc. in October 2010. We had become good e-mail friends from that day on.
They swung back into their place on the wall, and we docked directly behind them.....after tying up, we sat and chatted with them aboard our boat enjoying some Gentleman Jack on the rocks and talking of our plans and theirs.

We went to lunch at a place in Waterford called Don and Pauls....a small locally owned diner noted for their homemade deserts. I had a hot open faced turkey and a strawberry short cake....mmmm....mmmmmmmmmmmmm
After lunch, we all went back to our boats for a quick clean up and nap.

Rolfe and Harriett deceded to spend an extra night, so we readied all our bicycles and at 6:00 PM we took off for dinner at a place called McGreivey's....and what a great place it was. Excellent food, and staff!! A short peddle along Broad St and there we were.

After today, we will begin our Hudson River portion of this trip to NYC.....and will keep you informed.

Another Beauty

Today looks like another great day weather-wise.

They are calling for a high of 80 and LOW humidity.

We departed Amsterdam at 9:00AM, and arrived at the Schenectady Yacht Club atb 12:30PM.
After we tied up I headed straight for the pool. My sister Angela lives nearby and she stopped down around 2:30PM carrying a handful of goodies from her local Italian Deli, including a loaf of fresh baked Italian bread.

Damm it was good!!
She drove me to the local Target store where I picked up a much needed computer mouse and some groceries.We hit the local rush hour traffic of everyone who either works for the General Electric Corp or the Robert Lowell Nuculear Energy Plant.....let me tell you, I don't miss city living when it comes to traffic....LOL
We headed out by boat to the Lighthouse Restaurant for a delishous dinner and a few cocktails. Angela suggested this place and it was by far the best dinner we had so far on this trip.

My sister left at about 9PM and off to bed I went, exhausted, but happy that I had a good visit with her.

What A Difference a Day Makes

Well, after a day of doing nothing, high humidity and even higher temps, today is fantastic.

It rained all night last night, and apparently was a bit windy too......which took out all the humidity.
Today the high was 75, and it was really, really nice. Sunny blue skies and very comfortable.

We left St. Johnsville at 8:00AM and arrived at the Greater Amsterdam Riverlink Park at 12:15PM.....just in time to call a chinese restaurant that delivers and had some lunch.



Amsterdam's Riverlink Park




Playground at the park



There were only four locks on this leg today and all went well. A reporter from the Amsterdam Dispatch just left, she interviewed Dottie and I for an upcoming article on the Erie Canal, and it's users.

Here are some pictures I took of this, the most modern marina on the canal as far as I know.

Wedding tent which remains up all season

This is how pedestrians get into the park.....you park across the street, walk across a breezeway, and take an elevator to the park. Rumor has it, that Amsterdams park cost a mere 5 million. It was well worth it, from what we were told by residents.

We Like this Place

In fact, we like St. Johnsville so much, we decided to stay an extra day. So, today is another "do nothing" day, and thank God because they're promising thunderstorms and high wind gusts for late this afternoon and evening. However, as I write this it is sunny, warm and still...............

Just got invited to attend Bernie (the harbormaster) wife's surprise retirement party at the marina later on today......and attend we shall.

Thats it for today folks.....so far were only two days behind, but I promised Dottie we will catch up by doing one day in Schenectady and one day in Waterford instead of two in each.

It's Another Hot One!!

So....I woke up this morning at about 4AM....did my usual online stuff and wandered over to the bathrooms at Ilion Marina to take my shower. Both Dottie and I rate each marina by their bathrooms, and Ilion is an exception to the norm....always clean, cool and bright looking. We gave em a 10!.

Temps today were a high of 91 degrees, but the freaking humidity is 96%......hotter than hell.

I bicycled to the local Bank of America in Ilion, then to Dunkin Donuts for breakfast.....BOA here has Saturday hours 8:30AM to Noon. Ilion is a nice small town, not much bigger than Clyde, and the only large employer is  Remington Firearms, however there are Rite-Aid Drugs, Kinney and Walgreens...McDonalds, Burger King, Dunkin Donuts, etc......unlike Clyde which has nothing of the national chains.

We left Ilion at 10:00AM and we hit the first lock at 11:00....uneventful to say the least. Then to the second lock by 11:45AM and boom....damm wind, knocked the crap out of our dinghy, and now we are out a set of St. Croix davits, dink and motor. It slammed me into the wall hard enough to bend the stainless steel davits and crush the motor.It was the only breeze we had so far on the canal....LOL

By noon, no wind and we did the rest of the trip to St. Johnsville without much hoopla. Bernie is still dockmaster here and has been for the past 17 years.

So here is my bitch.....we bought diesel from the Oneida Indians for 3.859 per gallon and it is sold here for $3.809...5 cents a gallon less, and these people pay taxes. THE INDIANS DO NOT......Hmmmm.
In fact both gasoline and diesel were more expensive there than either at Ilion or St. Johnsville.

Dockage with the Oneidas was $1.50 per foot per night, and if you needed to use a launch ramp for your boat, the Oneida Indians will charge you 10 bucks, and Ilion and St. Johnsville charge $1.00 per foot per night and 2 bucks to use their ramps.....and hot water is included here and Ilion along with cable TV and WiFi, the Indians make you pay a quarter extra for a hot shower...cold showers are free, no cable, but they do have free WiFi, however, none of the employees knew the password.......LOL, kind of too convenient for comfort, don't you think?
Oneida Indian Cigarettes were $39.00 per carton, Seneca Indian Cigarettes were $49.00, which is what Dottie and I smoke, however we bought ours before leaving 5 minutes from home for $32.00 per carton. DAMM ONEIDA INDIANS ARE EXPENSIVE.

We ordered a large pizza for lunch, then took naps all afternoon.....too hot to do anything else.
Dottie made me some sausage which I cut up and put into my left over Greens Francesca from last night, essentially making East Utica Greens.

She had left over haddock Parmigiana.

Well, it's after 8:30PM, and I am done for today.......Bueno Sera, mi  amigos.

Now it Begins......Really, it's going to begin today!

We left Mariner's Landing Marina in Sylvan Beach at 10:30AM, after taking on 80 gallons of diesel at $3.859 per gallon.. We arrived in Ilion, NY around 4:30 PM with lock through times.
Weather was beautiful, with sunny skies and temps in the low 90's....not a cloud in the sky. Bologna and cheese sandwiches for lunch while under-way.




The Old Kitty's On The Canal in Utica, NY

 
Other than that, this leg of the trip was uneventful and straightforward. We have done this leg many times before, and all I can is that the Erie Canal has got to be thee most boring ride in the world....green trees, green buhes etc.....thats it!!

The tug Urger

 Dinner tonight was from Sorrento's in Ilion....Haddock Parm for Dottie and a Seafood FraDivalo for me. Dottie had a side of riggies with a vodka sauce and I had a side of Greens Francesca....same as Utica greens but without the sausage. Excellent food, excellent delivery time too!!. Less than 20 minutes from phone call to table.

Tomorrow's leg is from Ilion to St. Johnsville.....a distance of 20 miles and 3 locks....about a 3 hour day. I'll tell you more about it tomorrow.



Dredge Barge





The tug Governor Roosevelt



A much needed day of rest

We were scheduled to leave Sylvan Beach today and take he 4 hour ride to  Ilion, NY....however we put our departure on the back burner and will leave tomorrow....LOL

Already, one day behind.....but I really needed a day to do nothing, and that is exactly what I am doing!!

Truthfully I could not do nothing all day, I would go "Stir-crazy"....so I decided to sit at my desk in the boat, turn the a/c on high and and pay some bills.  I usually pay bills, around the 7th and 21st of each month, but I got a little jump on them today.

Tomorrow we cast off............................................................

Day Three - Another day of rest

Awoke at 3AM this morning......thinking about clothes I need for convention, and guess what?
I did not bring any and neither did Dottie. We completely forgot about "dress clothes"

Back to Clyde we go....thank God our daughter Karen lives nearby. She picked us up in Sylvan Beach, and drove us to Cicero, where I had left my car last week.
Off we go to Clyde to pick up a few suits and some dresses along with ties, shoes and cuff links. Now we are ready to begin our journey. Back to boat by 2:30PM, and after looking all around boat and other personal property, I cannot find my cellphone. It must be somewhere....but where?

At 4:30 Dottie takes her daily nap, as she has done for the past 35 years....LOL, and I remembered where I saw my cellphone last....on our kitchen table in Clyde.

Tonight is the Big Frog Country Showcase.at the Sylvan Beach Bandstand.
Neither Dottie or I are into country music, but we went down anyway. They had two bands. The Texaco Oil Country Showdown was first at 6:00PM and Big Frog 104 (A local country radio station) was the sponsor of the second band. the second band was called the Moss Back Mule Band, which is a Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson band wrapped into one. In our eyes, both sucked so, we went back to boat by 7:15 and Dottie commenced to make dinner. Some nice stip steaks, BBQ'd with fresh corn on the cob, and a tomato and cucumber summer salad., It was delishous.

At 9:00PM, I decided to drive back to Clyde and get my cell phone. I will sleep in Clyde tonight, and leave here at 6:00AM in  order to be back on the boat before she wakes up at 8:00AM.

All these days of rest are wearing me out.....LOL

Day Two - A Day of Rest at Mariner's Landing

Today was supposed to be a day of rest.....Let's start off by saying that, REST to me, means a day with absolutely nothing to do...

I awoke at 4:00AM this morning, and at 7:00am I drove to Clyde to leave Dotties car at home.
At 8:00am I got my haircut.
Then, Andrea Steele, who works for me, drove me back to Mariner's Landing with a stop at Lake Shore Y&CC to pick up a few items that we had left on our dock there.
By 11:30AM we arrived at Mariner's Landing, picked up Dottie, and went to a place called Eddie's for lunch. An excellent choice for lunch just to let you know.

Back to the marina by 12:45, I took our two bikes off the main deck and wanted to go for a quick ride into town.....Needless to say, I got about 10 feet and the chain came off the sprocket. After sweating my face off in the 90 degree heat and high humidity, at about 2:30PM, I finally got it fixed along with remving the two fenders and tightening up all bolts on the bikes, and off to town we went.

Sylvan Beach is a real tourist community. Amusement park and all. Tuesdays are a busy day here, as are most days....There is a Farmer's Market with an excellent choice of fruit and veggies, then a motorcycle gathering called Bikes at the Beach until 7PM.
Though, we were back to the boat by 4:30PM, and Dottie decided on taking a quick nap before making dinner aboard..
We bbq'd some chicken, mixed it with a Ceasar Salad with some other goodies.....and dinner was done and cleaned up by 6:30PM. Off again into town, but our venture was cut short by a severe thunder and lightening storm.....actually, it felt nice. It broke all the humidity and the temps went down from mid-80's to mid 60's in about 15 minutes. Nice....and for once, welcomed.
We just finished watching Seinfeld on our TV, and now it is time for a cup of coffee and a piece of Eddies chocolate cream pie.....very yummy!!

More to come tomorrow.

Day One - LakeShore Y&CC to Verona

As promised, here is today's update.....

We left Lakeshore Y&CC at exactly 12 Noon. Oneida Lake was like a piece of glass with just a few ripples, mostly caused by the 10 or so other boats that we saw in our run.

Lucky Find III tied up at Mariner's Landing Marina in Verona, NY

The 22 mile hike to the east end of the lake went without issues and the day became a textbook example of how cruising should be done.

The weather was sunny and warm, with temps in the high 80's. We ran the whole lake at 1800RPM which gave us an average of 9 Knots Per Hour and we burned about 6 gallons of fuel.

We arrived at Mariner's Landing at 2:15PM, entering the harbor of Sylvan Beach at 2:00PM.

By the time we registered at the office, tied securely to the dock and ran our electric and water connection it was 2:45PM. We then left for the LakeView Country Restaurant in Sylvan Beach for lunch..

Diesel at $3.859......we will take on 200 gallons on Thurday before we leave here.

We paid ($1.25 per foot per day) for dockage until Thursday, the 2nd of August.

Mariners Landing Marina is an  "Enterprise of the Oneida Indian Nation".

Upcoming Itinerary

The Erie canal, being what it is, boring and tiresome.....we plan on no more than 4 hours a day traveling time. Each time we travel, we will update this blog.....I Promise!!

Monday - July 30th.-We are due to arrive at the Mariner's Landing Marina (aka Skinner's Harbor) on Monday, July 30th. We will probably spend three days here. Mariner's Landing is an Oneida Nation owned Marina, and sells fuel, etc. At my last check, diesel fuel is $3.84.9 per gallon. Not too bad...LOL
(28 miles - 3 hours)

Thursday, August 2nd. - After we leave Mariner's Landing our next stop will be in Ilion, NY. It is a four hour ride from Verona (Sylvan) Beach to Ilion. We plan on staying at the Ilion Marina overnight. There is a nice little cafe, Ilion Dockside Cafe located here, and also Remington Firearms Co., a company that makes guns and ammunition
(4.0 hrs; and 42 miles.)



View from Ilion Marina



Friday August 3rd- From Ilion it is eastbound another few hours to a favorite marina located in St. Johnsville, NY. St Johnsville NY is located on the canal just east of Lock 16.

(2.0 hours and 20 miles)

Saturday, August 4th. - From St. Johnsville, we travel about 2.5 hours and 23 miles into the Arrowhead Marina located in Glenville, NY, east of Lock 9.
(2.5 hours and 23 miles)

Sunday, August 5th. - One night at the Arrowhead is all we need, and then we move to the Schenectedy Yacht Club in Schenectedy, NY. My sister, Angela,  lives a few miles from here, and she will be down to the docks to visit us for a while.
(3.0 hours and 28 miles)



Monday, August 6th. -
Tuesday, August 7th . - Blain's Bay Marina to Waterford, NY. When we leave Blain's Bay, we will do Locks 6 & 5 and then what is known as the Waterford Flight of Locks. They are Locks 4, 3, and 2....all in a row with NO stopping allowed once you begin.
Blains Bay to Waterford, NY is only a 3 hour run including lock through times. We plan on staying in Waterford two nights and leaving on Thursday the 9th of August, heading south through what is known as Lock 1 or the Federal lock or the Troy Lock. (45mins and 5 miles)

Wednesday, August 8th - Waterford, NY....resting for day



Thursday, August 9th - Finally we will hit the Hudson River today.When we leave Waterford, we will be heading south through what is known as Lock 1 or the Federal lock or the Troy Lock. Entering the Hudson River is a big step for us. I have not piloted a boat in tidal waters with a current since 1980.

Thurday, August 9th - Troy to Coeyman's NY. Coeymans Landing Marina. (1 hour and 10 miles)

Friday, August 10th - Coeymans Landing to Kingston, NY. (54 miles and 6 hours)

Saturday, August 11th - Kingston to Poughkeepsie.  While in Poughkeepsie, we will stay at the Shadows Marina, which is one block from the Mid-Hudson Arena and the Grandview Hotel so that we may attend the 2012 NYS Funeral Directors Annual Convention.


August 12th (Sunday)through the 15th( Wednesday) are Convention Days.

Thursday, August 16th - We leave Poughkeepsie and either head south to NYC or North and return to Brewerton.....we are not sure as of yet. More to come as the time approaches, and decisions are made.

Here is a link to the canal mileage chart,
We started at mile marker #308 and we plan to finish the 2012 season at mile marker 0.

This particular leg of the trip is from mile marker 284( Sylvan Beach)  to mile marker # 76 (Poughkeepsie) , for a total of about 208 miles.

Cicero to Sylvan Beach.....New York

Tomorrow we cast off of Lake Shore Yacht and Country Club,Cicero, NY  heading east on Oneida Lake to Sylvan Beach. It is about a 24 mile run, but 22 miles of it are spent traversing Oneida Lake.

We plan to spend a week there and canvass the area and it's ancient amusement park.
Actually we were scheduled to depart LSY&CC today, but there is a cruise ship that is in Sylvan Beach and we could not get a dock reservation.

Later on this week, I will publish our itinery for the trip from Sylvan Beach to Poughkeepsie on the Hudson.

Stay tuned........

A month has passed....

This past month at Ess-Kay was fantastic....Dottie got caught up on the re-finishing of teak, and I caught up with the old timer's that come and go out of Ess-Kay Yards.
However, the summer being as short at it is in upstate, NY, it is now time to move on to our slip at the Lake Shore Yacht and Country Club in Cicero, NY.

Entrance to Clubhouse at Lake Shore Y & CC

It was a short ride to LSY&CC, distance of less than 10 miles and about 45 minutes. Yesterday, the weather cooperated fully, and we left Ess-Kay at around 11AM and arrived here in time for a nice lunch in their clubhouse. Jerry Puma, the club manager, welcomed us back and offered us the hospitality and "whatever you need" that you would expect from a private yacht club.

We decided that we would stay here about month, and the continue eastward to the Mariner's Landing Marina in Sylvan Beach. We have planned a few side trips, that I will let you know about in upcoming posts to this blog.

Clubhouse at Lake Shore Yacht and Country Club

Off to Brewerton

We decided yesterday to get on with it.....we left Seneca Falls toady at 10AM and headed to Ess-Kay Yards in Brewerton, NY.
As you may remember, Ess-Kay is one of my favorite marinas.....Kim and Ethan (the owners) always make you feel as one of the family, and the "loopers" and boats you meet there are phenominal, especially with their cruising stories, etc.

If you ever need to travel the Erie, you need to stop here.....sit in the ship's store and just look around and you are guaranteed to fall in love with this place.

More to follow, later on

Just one of the boats at Ess_kay....she took on 1100 gallons of fuel

Notice the upperstructure had to be "put down" to meet the air draft spec of 20' along the canal.

It's Time to Move Onward...

We decided to take the boat from Barrett's Marina in Geneva, NY to the wall in Seneca Falls, NY....a trip of just a few miles and about 90 minutes. It way too "cool" to get her back underway.

Today's weather is called for blue skies, and warm temps....as it has been for the past 3 or 4 weeks so far. Again, the weather-man was correct. It was a beautiful day, and the we enjoyed the slow lesiurely ride along the Cayuga-Seneca Canal. Each time I make a trip on the Canal System, I am left in awe of the beauty of this remakable feat of nature and man.

We departed Geneva at 9AM and arrived in Seneca Falls at 10:30AM, we will be staying her a week or so, and the we will head to Ess-Kay Yards in Brewerton, NY.

Dottie relaxing under the hemlock tree



Ships Chandelry and office



Launch Day, 2012

BARRETT'S MARINA, GENEVA, NY - Today is splash day.... We were in the water by Noon today. Fran Barrett launched the boat and set it in her slip for us. When we showed up, the Lucky Find III was all ready to be re-commissioned and put everything everything back to normal....we will keep you posted.

The Great American Loop Begins!!

Our 2012 Trip:

This year we are planning to begin our Great American Loop Trip. Although this trip usually takes between 6 months and a year to  complete, we have set no final return date as of yet. We will end the 2012 season in September in the NYC area, then in the spring of 2013 head further south....maybe making it to Florida, maybe not

Please check back later into the season to get an update on our itinerary and also we invite all to follow along with us as we depart on our trip of a lifetime.

Where did 2011 Go?

We apologize for not adding to our blog in close to a year, however, our blogging will continue in June of 2012.....See you then!

REASONS AND EXPLANATIONS WILL BE POSTED AT THAT TIME

Yacht vs Boat - A Lesson in the English Language

The english language is a rich and colorful language, and that is one of the reasons it is so difficult to learn. Only the english language has numerous words that have the same meaning. It is a real expression of how we feel, and not a language to be used sparingly.

Back in the summer of 2010 someone asked about our "yacht". It was a person in their late 40's maybe early 50's. I just looked at them and said "Yacht?? We don't have a yacht, we have a boat". They asked if I could explain the difference.

A boat is a vehicle to carry people or cargo for pleasure or for business. It is kind of a general term to mean the vehicle used to convey someone or something over water.

Roman Abramovich's 538' Eclipse - ranked #1 as the largest privately owned yacht in the world

A yacht is a boat specifically built for the conveyance of people for pleasure in luxury. Over the years, pleasure boats have gotten larger and larger, and in the great marketing scheme of things more luxurious. Back in the 1930's & 40's any boat built for pleasure over 34' long was considered a yacht. Then in the 1950's & 60's it was boats over 45 feet long, in the 70's, 80' and 90's you did not get into a yacht unless it was over 75 feet long. Today, the modern classification of yachts is as follows: Personal pleasure yachts are 75 to 100 feet, mega yachts are 100 to 200 feet and super yachts are over 200 feet. Pleasure boats are measured by length, whereas ships are measured by gross tonnage.

And yes, even by today's standards, 200 feet is not a large private yacht. It is not unusual to see yachts ranging from 250 to over 450 feet. The M/Y Eclipse above is an example.

People that own yachts don't go boating....they go yachting. I compare those terms with the more common eating out and dining. Most of us eat out once a week, we rarely dine out and if we do we usually mean a 4 or 5 star restaurant. "We'll be dining out this evening". Who you kidding, we are eating out at Denny's.
Yachting is really for the more affluent and wealthy familes of this world. Actually 95% of the owners of mega & super yachts only board their boats once or twice a year for a week or so. Those boats are specifically purchased as a charter vessel....meaning that they are rented out, some for a mere 200-300K per week including crew.
See, there again another word for the rich....we rent a boat when we go away on a vacation, maybe for a day or a half-day of fishing or just playing around. The rich charter a yacht for a week or two.

That is another sign of a yacht...a crew. Usually a crew consists of a paid professional captain and at least one stewedess, who also acts as the chef. Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft, owns 4 or 5 yachts. On his 416' M/Y Octopus, (pictured above) he has a permanent crew of 60 and a annual maintenance expense including salaries, of $20 million. Now...Thats a yacht, with both fore and aft choppers, 8 tenders (boats) and a slew of other toys. BTW, in 2007, Octopus ranked as the 3rd largest yacht in the world, in 2009 it is ranked as number 11. It doesn't take long to get outdone in the world of the Rich & Famous.

Our 27 year old boat, the Lucky Find III is a 38' trawler built back in 1984, and has a NADA book value equal to that of the price of a used two or three year old Cadillac....but remember, it's a boat, not a yacht.

Spring is just around the corner

Well, if it's not just around the corner, it's certainly not too far off. We set our clocks ahead one hour in just two weeks, and the calendar says spring arrives at 2AM on the 21st of March, which is just 3 weeks away. Of course, calendars are not written for upstate, NY.!...LOL

This has been one, long, cold and snowy winter. Temps remained under 20 for almost 2 months straight, it snowed 15 days straight in December, and every other day since then. But, by all counts, supposedly the accumulated snowfall is over, and we have just a few snow shower days left. We shall see about that,

Actually the winter was not wasted. Dottie and I decided on a few projects that we need to get done before launching the LF3 in April. You can check out our progress on these projects by clicking on this LINK.

I will keep this blog updated as we progress through Spring & Summer......although it may not be too timely.