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09/14/11 - 1409 hi all,
we are now out of the canal and lock system. went through the troy lock this morning and are now in catskill ny. looks like 3 or 4 days to make it home if the weather holds.
see ya soon,
ginger and len

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9/13/11 - 1805 -

the champlain canal opens tomorrow and we are OUT OF HERE. should be at catskill ny tomorrow. you can not believe the devastation in this area do you remember hurricane diane???.  Stiwell ny 500' above the hoosick river was class 9 rapids 5 days ago.

ginger and len
stiwell ny lock4

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09/08/11 - 2136 - hi all,
we have been struggling with irene since last sunday. this has been the worst weather that the canal workers have ever seen. after the rivers subsided the canal workers placed the buoys back on station so we left ft edward to get to mechanicvill, a 40 mile trip. cleared a few bridges by about 6" or so. when we got to the lock before mechanickvill we were stopped at the lock. apparently as we were making our run down river the hoosick river went into flood stage. it has been there for three days and continues. to be safe they put us in the lock chamber for the night, and there we are. tropical storm lee brought more rain and created a situation similar to irene. the hoosick river which is normally almost dry during the summer was at 12' or so well above flood stage. all the work done by the canal crew with buoys and lock work was for nothing. we decided to rent a car and get off the boat for a few days. so here we sit at a holiday inn. it looks like the rivers will get back to normal by this weekend. at this time we hope to get out of the canal by the first of next week. this has been going on too long.

ginger and len

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09/01/11 - 1147 - we are tied up to the town wall in fort edward lock 7. this is where the canal joins the hudson river. this is also the place where they are dredging the pcb's that GE dumped in the river. we are waiting for the canal to open so that we can move south. should be at least 2 to 3 days.
we have power and water with restaurants etc within walking distance.
sitting tight
ginger and len

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08/29/11 - 1815 - hi all,
this is the image of where we were trying to find the sunken wall. things are not great in the canal system. erie canal lost 3 locks they can't even find the parts of lock nine. the erie will be shut down for the season. no word on the champlain canal, but all should be good in a few 3-4 days for travel. the hudson is a mess at this time and will take time to settle down. the lockmaster where are took me down to where we were staying the day before to see what it looked like. the dam was open as was the lock gates. it looked like a mini niagra falls. water was trave ling at least 20+mph. the day before we were tied up several hundred feet from this mess. the boat would have broken loose and been destroyed. the marina below the lock lost most of it's docks with boats attached. nobody knows where they are. the lock was filled with several round bails of hay along with a variety of assorted junk. at least the hay had shrink warping on it. we are taking it a day at a time

g&l

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08/29/11 - 1213 - To all,

We have survived Irene, thus far. We thought that we would be waiting out the storm on a lock wall in Whitehall. Not so, the lock master came by and recommended that we move down to the next lock 6 miles away as they were going to be opening the gates at the dam next to where we were. There would be tremendous pressures on the boat and if a line broke we would be going over the dam. Not a pretty picture. So we moved the boat in the wind and rain to the next lock 0730. We were scheduled to go into the lock and wait out the hurricane nice and safe. Not so. The lock had lost it’s power and was not able open , so we needed to spend the night on the wall. Not a big deal, so we thought. When we tied up to the wall I needed to climb on to the wall to attach our lines to some bollards. As the night went on the water kept rising. At 0300 we realized that we have a problem, the wall was going underwater and our fenders had no place to function. In reality the boat was going over the wall and hitting it below the water line. Ginger and I spent the next 4 hours fending the boat off the wall with boat hook and oar. During the evening around 0330 a fellow in uniform stopped by to see how we were doing. We thought he was a lock person, no such luck he was a guard at the prison across the canal. At 0800 the lock mast arrived and let us into the lock, where we are now. We were fortunate in that we had a light west wind pushing us off the hidden wall. Anchoring in the lock entrance was a thought but it was 27’ deep and if we couldn’t set the hook, than what. Our last option was to tie to the lock door and wait. So here we are in Comstock ny waiting for the canal to open. Should 2 to 3 days .

Ginger and len

8/22/11 - 2046 - hello all,
back in the USA. cleared customs at rouses point at lake champlain friday afternoon. planed on anchoring out for a few days but the weather changed our plans. rain thunder lightning wind all the good things, so were were here for four days. will be in burlington tomorrow or wed to take on diesel and food for our trip home. arrival home will be dependent on weather.
after ottowa there was just a lot of days running the rivers and locking through. went through the tallest lock in north america. 62 foot lift contains 17000000 liters of water and it flows out at 1000000 liters per minute. also did the two st Lawrence seaway locks. 10 locks to go to get home.
will send pictures soon.
ginger and len

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Aug 2 2011

After negotiating the narrows we get to chaffeys falls. Not much there but had a great dinner at the Opticom lodge, this place has been around for years (and shows it except for the food) it is made up of several cabins in a rustic setting . the present owner of chaffeys mill gave us a tour through the building. He plans to turn it into a b&b in the future. Thr majority of the structure is original. At one time when it was a grain mill it had three turbines to power the mill. Now it has a hot tub and the plans to put a turbine to create hydro for the building and sell it back to the hydro co. Of interest to nature lovers there are 7 eastern milk snakes living there. They sit on the rocks at the bottom of the weir and catch fish. Leaving there we again went through a cut until we got out into open marsh. We went through another lock and were now in Rideau lake, the highest point on the cannal. At this point the markers reverse themselves green on staboard. This is the best of the canal system . clear water no weeds and is deep. Makes for difficult anchoring when you have 50’ close to shore. Spent time in Westport to stock up and wait for some mail. It was late coming so we took of to big Rideau and anchored at cornel by island. We are sorry that we couldn’t spend more time in these two lakes. Back to Westport to get the mail and on to the narrows lock. Spent the night at the bottom of the lock and on to smiths falls. Checked out the local museums had dinner went shopping ect. Unfortunately we were tied up under a street light on the wall and the bugs were unbelievable!!! Every morning we needed to remove the dead bodies from the deck along with the spider webs. Glad that ginger had the smarts to bring a roll of screen cloth to make a screen for the door and the hatch. Today we are in merrickville. Smiths falls and merrickville are about mid point on the canal. This is actually where the canal had its beginning working either way to build it. When the canal was finished there were many stone cutters, masons without work. They were mainly scotts ,irish, and English. In merrickvill ,and other towns they were hired to build houses,churches ect from the limestone. The buildings still stand and are beautiful. All up the canal you can find stone buildings. Tomorrow we will do 24 miles to a marina to provision, laundry, pumpout , and top off diesel . the day after we will be in ottowa.

BTY the cruise ship that I sent a picture of travels the Rideau and trent severen canals. The bow of the ship folds up so that it can fit in the lock and the beam just fits. The bridge is hydraulic and can be lowered to clear the bridges. Remember all the cuts, somehow this boat can make it through.

Left merrickville to get diesel and pump out at hurst marina. Took on only 60 gal of fuel, the first fueling since Kingston. Today was 7 locks and slow going. The Rideau river is still twisty , marshey and shallow. As we get closer to ottowa civilization increases with houses getting larger. After a night at hirst marina we are on our way to ottowa. Seven locks and waiting for the locks to open in our direction made for a long day. The river is getting wider and we can get up to 8k in places. As it is still shallow I found that if I went too fast the stern would squat and the prop was cutting through the grassy bottom, slow down and went faster. There are many no wake zones on this last leg. Just after the last set of locks the river splits with the canal and we are in a long run into the city. After dowes lake we enter a canal that borders a park with bike trail with walkers, bikers, and rollerbladers. They were going faster than us. So we have a major avenue to starboard and concrete bike trail/park to port. We will be tied up here until Tuesday at which point we will go down the last set of locks (seven) called the flight and proceed down the ottowa river to montreal. We are on our way home.
Ginger Snap

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7/22/11 - 1227 - Have pretty much been moving every day last week. Now that we are in the middle of the Rideau we are slowing down to enjoy. Lake Ontario is great for sailing. It has wind. The seas are not the kindest for slow power boats. We had 12 to 15k on the beam going over to sacket’s harbor. Short 1 to 3 foot waves close together and square. Just uncomfortable. Next day from sackets to cape Vincent was about the same until we turned east to enter the st Lawrence river. Stayed at cape Vincent, clayton, alex bay. Did the tourist thing and took in the wood boat museum, just an unbelievable collection of old wood boats, engines, hydroplanes etc. Never have time to see it all. Then on to bolt castle. Got a spot on the dock at heart island and walked around the castle and went over to the boat house to check out some more old wood boats. Also there was a steam engine that was produced in weymouth ma. Later that day we anchored in the summerland island group. This time it took several tries due to the grass, but we prevailed. Quiet night. That morning went over to the Canadian side to check in to customs. Must have been a slow day because as the girl on the phone (you called in on a phone to give them your info and they would give you your clearance number) she said that we needed to wait for the agents to check us out. No problem it was a training mission and they only wanted to see our passports. We than went traveled west along the Canadian middle channel. More beautiful homes. Found a dock in one of the admiralty islands for the night. The next day on to Kingston Ontario for three days to stock up the boat and change out the engine oil. From there we entered the Rideau . we have been staying at the lock walls so far we have stopped at upper brewers, mortons bay anchored out for two nights. Took 30 min to get the grass of the anchor chain and anchor, jones falls , and the next two days at chaffeys lock.

Weather has been good if it has rained it did so at night. We had one really good squall come through when we were in Kingston. Short but nasty. Topped of the diesel in Kingston 1.53 per lieter. Vodka is 53.00/1.75 lieter. Everything is expensive except for food. But there is a 13%tax on everything including food. In talking to the locals they say it is to pay for their free health insurance. They joke about it but seem to like the insurance. When you go swimming to cool off it helps to where a t shirt so that the blue gill don’t nibble on you. They have teeth.

Channel is well marked buoys are close together. Going through the river styx you can’t leave the channel. The river was created by damming it up so garmin shows as one big weedbed. This morning we came through an area called the narrows. Roughly 80’ wide rock and trees either side, after making a 180 degree turn you are in a area that has only room for one boat to pass. The garmin has been great.

This weekend will be a day or two to restock the boat for the trip to ottowa, unless we decide to do something else.

we are in westport ontario with free wifi should be here for at least three days 44 4 .737 076 23.619

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7/11/11 2258 - we are in canada.  went through customs about two days ago.  at this time we are in kingston ontario  beautiful place with ton's of history.  will be here for a few more days to change oil, top off tanks, clean boat and provisioning.  am on a public wifi at this time as verizon is costly.  use only when needed.  will write up something with photos and file it when i get to a free wifi i will download.  say hello to everyone.
len

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7/6/11 1817 - quick update we are in cape vincent. it is the beginning of the st lawrence river. the area of the thousand islands. tomorrow clayton ny than on to bolt castle for a tour and than into canada customs. going west through the canadian side of the st lawrence to kingston than on to the rideau the oldest canal in north america. all hand made and hand recuperated we will be there for about 30 days and wind up in ottawa. time is running out. sept is not that far away. tell scott to call if he wants to meet us. ps this mini loop is usually called the scenic triangle. we are traveling with a few boats on and off.

ginger and len

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7/4/11 1608 - crossed lake ontario this morning. wind 12 - 15 waves 2 to 3' in the middle. about a 25 mile treck until we turned the corner at stoney point and had some cover. we are at sackets point ny. fireworks tonight next day cape vincent, clayton, bolt castle and than in to canada. hope to be in kingston by the end of the week if the have room. will keep in touch when we have free wifi

g&l

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6/29/11 1644 - Today 6/29 we are in phoenix ny at lock 1 of the Oswego river. Turned the corner at three rivers and turned north.

Since we last talked we went from Amsterdam to Canajoharie, little falls, sylvan beach, across lake onida to ess-kay and here today. Marinas around here are about a 1.00/ft some nicer than others. If you go ta lock wall there is no charge. We figure about 50% of each. Diesel has been around 4.00/gal so far went through 180.00 gals. Boat speed here is slowww. Everything with a dock on the canal is posted NO WAKE so we run about 5 to 7 knots. Canal here is rather straight in many sections and fairly narrow. Currents are all over the place as rivers creeks and spillways are everywhere . as to locks our largest lift has been 40’. So you pull into this chamber look up and see the top of the lock wall (one of the only two lock doors that are overhead) this lock was built into the side of an island at little falls. When all the boats were in the wall comes down sealing off the chamber and it is flooded with about 6 million gals of water. This was the highest that we would get in the canal. roughly 400’ above sea level. Now all our locks are down. You pull in grab the ropes and down you go. So far we have done 23 locks.

Meeting people has been one of the greatest parts of the trip. Everyone is really nice, talkative, and helpful. We met a couple from nc on a backcove 33. They are going up to Georgian bay. All the other boats are big. 36’ plus mostly trawlers, monks,krogens, a variety of boats made in Taiwan and a number of grand banks, very few sail boats. Again we are the smallest boat around, but big enough for this trip.

Weather has pretty much not been great. Rained last night, and is blowing out today, sweater weather. Looking for a good day to cross lake Ontario. It is only 25miles to Henderson harbor in ny but than the east shore Ontario is a lee shore. Don’t need 4to6 footers on the stern quarter. Plan is to leave early am 0600 from the breakwater and get there in about 2 to 3 hrs. NOAH has a great site for great lakes weather. So we will hold in Oswego and wait for a weather window. Than to Henderson harbor ny, cape Vincent ny, clayton ny , at which point we will take the ferry chanel east of wolf island to the admiralty islands and we will be in CANADA. Need to clear customs hope we can phone it in. they can be difficult. Guess they don’t want us to bring our drugs and booze to sell to the Canadians. Than down to Kingston Ontario re supply and on the Riedau canal. Looks around 200 miles over the ground with all the twists and turns. This will bring us to ottowa.

Dick, picked up some labatts blue you will like it if there is any left. Will build a hold for the collection of beers that you won’t be able to buy in the states.

Phoenix is a neat little village lots of little shops. Tonight is a old car show if it doesn’t rain.

See if I can get back to you next week

Ginger & len

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6/24/11 1859 - we at lock 20 the highest elevation on the erie 400' we are tied to the south wall west of the lock. tomorrow is down hill. should be in lake Ontario early next week. ginger is lax with her blog so i will keep you informed. several t storms have passed but we are tied up to a concrete wall. what's up back home?

len

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6/22/11 1127 - So as you know we left westbrook a few weeks ago and worked our way to manhattan and the Hudson. Lower Hudson , the battery is crazy, as we went north things slowed down. By the gw bridge we were mostly the only boat around. At this point we are entering the palisades, great rock formations. Our next stop was tarrytown. From there we went to newberg. Never again unless we need a ½ gallon of milk. The trip from tarrytown to newberg took us through the Hudson highlands, past bear mountain and west point. You have to see it to believe it. Narrow curvy and a great view around each bend. As we entered Newberg bay the Hudson cuts through the Appalachian mountain chain. If you appreciate rock formations it only gets better. Than to round out creek for the night . as we have found out there are no places to anchor so it is marinas, 1.00 to max 2.00 per foot. Next day to the catskill creek. Hop-a-noes. Great place with a decent price for fuel. 120 gal. now to watertown the entrance to the erie and champlain canal. A plus to this trip is that you get to listen to the freight trains with sound signals pretty much every night as the tracks parallel the canal along with I 90 in spots. So you are heading west with trains on your starboard and i90 on your port . our second encounter with locks. Our first was the troy lock down river from Waterford. Met some great people there all travling west or doing the loop. Meeting people is a whole other book. The Waterford flight is a series of five locks that raise you some 150 feet above sea level. These locks are about the length of a football field and 60 or so feet wide. To fill the lock takes 3.5 million gals of water. Takes about 12 minutes. Spent much time with a lock master and he explained how the system works. Another book. So we get to the top of the last lock in the flight and the engine won’t start. Not good. Fortunately we were traveling with other boats and one offered to tow us out of the lock to a lock wall. Around here everything is concrete yhere is no forgiveness. As I was trying to figure out the problem ginger is handing on to the dock line around a bollard until I could get more line to her. Not a good time. After crawling around the bilge shaking wires the panel came alive and we got the engine started. Made our way through another lock, have set a rule NEVER turn the engine off until you are tied up….made it to schectenady yc. Great place engine started and moved to Amsterdam to spend a night and go to Russo’s for dinner. Every lockmaster knows about this place. Tried starting the engine later that evening to no avail.dead. in the am called Cummins ne in Albany and a tech came to fix the problem . very bad ground. Had 2.5 meg of resistance between the block and the batteries. Problem solved$$$$ next day a free dock at Canajoharie the home of the largest collection of winslow homer paintings. They were on loan when we visited. Oh well. Tonight in little falls ny will be here tomorrow. The bow babe was not to happy doing her job through the locks as it has been raining .

Some observations:

Everything is a marina from 4.00 to 1.50 no place to anchor

Can’t grill many dinners out the food has been great and priced right

Scenery is outstanding!!!!!! Every turn is a new vista

The further west you get the narrower the canal the slower you must go our avg speed is around 7knots NO wakes

Every day brings a new experience should be crossing lake ontorio next week

Len

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6/14/11 1827 - we are alive and well. thanks for the pick of us leaving. went to port jeff, port washington, jersey city (liberty landing) tarrytown, newburgh,and today we are in kingston ny. were at tarrytown and kingston for two days to get some rest. new york was hot and now it is cold!! east river was no problem until we arrived at the queens borough bridge. talk about turbulence short steep waves from all directions. between manhattan and Roosevelt island. glad there wasn't a barge in the vicinity. the battery was a zoo water taxies and boats of every calling buzzing around. once we moved north to upper manhattan things calmed down. follow the buoys on the chart and go up rivver. the river is really beautiful once you leave manhattan. the palasides start and continue to the tapanzee bridge. the marinas are not like you would expect but they are usually 2.00/foot above ny. If you remember Tony's on the clinton madison border that was a nice one. newburg we will never go back to even though the food is great. talked to the bartender and she said that she now knows what it meant to be "on the other side of the tracks" from the train tracks to the river is nice and safe. one never ventures on the other side you may not get back alive. so much for newburgh, except the run brought us through the most beautiful scenery that we have seen so far. this was the hudson highlands. sharp turns in the river and it narrows down to a mile or so, this is where west point and bear mountain are.as you leave the area and enter newbugh bay the river cuts through the applacian mountins with this narrow cut and tall mountians on either side. the mountain to the east is storm king mountain. from there to kingston was another easy run. no mountains but as you got further up river you could see the catskills in the background. arrived at kingston roundout creek and here we are. leave tomorrow for catskill for deisel and a place to stay. need to put on about 100gal. from there to the troy federal lock and to waterford for some provisioning, and than west to the erie canal

g&l

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6/9/11 1421 - So we are in Manhattan actually just across the river in Jersey at Liberty Landing. HHH Hazey hot and humid could barely make out the Lady this morning. Hell Gate was no problem today but!! standing waves under the Queens bridge. we were there early 0800+ at the Triborough and didn't haave any traffic until the battery. tomorrow will be west nyack.

g&l

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6/7/11 1923 - dead to windward never had to tack. dock to mooring 4 hrs about 40+miles. had current all the way. will check out town tomorrow am.
L&G