Our Great Loop Adventure

We continued up the Hudson River on Monday, May 26th. The first landmark we passed was West Point. The banks of the Hudson are filled with tree lined hills. Along the Hudson, even though we had beautiful surroundings, we had to be ever vigilant for debris in the river and eddies. Tuesday we continued on the Hudson and that evening we anchored near Stuyvesant, NY. We had three storm fronts come through. Wednesday dawned cold and overcast. We went into a marina for fuel and a pumpout and were greeted by Steven and Gina from Island Time, who were docked there for another day. We had an interesting journey dancing with a freighter, that was headed for a dock in Albany, we asked the captain if we should follow or speed up and get out of the way. The captain said we should get ahead before the turning basin where the tugs would turn him around to and push him into a grain shed. Tony gave it more throttle and pulled ahead just before the turning basin. We continued without incident to the Troy Lock, which was the beginning of the Erie Canal. We docked at the Waterford Welcome Center. We walked to the Hannaford Grocery store to restock. They have interesting grocery carts, either of us have ever seen. If you try to push a cart past the end of the parking lot the wheels lock up at the entrance of the driveway. However, they make an exception for boaters. When we came to the end of the parking, our cart was unlocked and we were able to take it back to the Welcome Center. Wednesday evening we were walking to dinner in town and were intercepted by Carla and Bill. They live in Waterford. They took us to their home and generously shared dinner and drinks with us. We stayed in Waterford on Thursday and were joined by Island Time and Erben Renewal. We had docktails with Steve and Gina from Island Time and Carla and Bill also joined us. Later we went out to a delicious dinner with Carla and Bill. On Friday, we began our journey on the Erie Canal with Island Time and Erben Renewal and 2 other boats. We started by locking through E2 through E6, otherwise known as the Waterford Flight. This series of locks took us up 169 feet in less than two miles. The Erie Canal Locks were a new experience. These locks are different from the ones we experienced on the rivers going south. They have weighted lines to hold on to as you go up. Some have pipes or cables that you can attach a spring line to. Some locks are in good condition. Others have lock walls that are pitted and could cause damage to boats. After the Flight we did four more locks before docking at the Riverview Landing in Amsterdam, NY. It is a a honor system dock, there is a number to call, they give you a code for the lock box which has a key to the showers and rest rooms. You place the money for the night's dockage in an envelope leave it in another locked box We spent the night with Erban Rewal and Bon Foeyage. We continued on our journey early on Saturday, May 31st. We pulled out of the dock first and when we entered the first lock the lock master told the Erban Renewal and Bon Foeyage the lock was full and they would have to wait until we had had locked through. This lock was repairing the port side of the lock so only three boats could lock through at a time. Because of this we traveled with a sailboat called Island Dancer. They are going to Sarnia. We locked through E11 to E18. The canal continued to be treelined and almost resembled the Dismal Swamp. Debris continued being a constant threat. Lock E17 was the greatest challenge because it was a lift of 40 feet. We only had weighted lines. In the lock we fought a great amount of turbulence because Summer Recess has less displacement than other trawlers. As we left the lock the debris field was filled with many large logs. Fortunately, Summer Recess and Island Dancer made it through safely. After a second long day we docked in Ilion, NY at 6:00pm. Cooyon, another looper boat, was already there, we agreed to travel together on Sunday. Both boats left about 8:30 on Sunday. We locked through E19 to E22. Even though we had some debris, locking was fairly easy. We had a new experience in E21 and E22 because we were now going down to Oneida Lake. We had an early dockage in Sylvan Beach. Tomorrow we go into Oneida Lake to finish the Erie Canal and continue into the Oswego Canal.