Today we begin traveling on the Erie Canal!!  The Erie Canal is approximately 338 miles long.  We will not be traveling the entire Erie Canal.  We cannot because our boat is too tall.  We will be turning north at the Oswego Canal to go to Canada at about 155 miles from here in Waterford.  The remaining part of the Erie will take you to Niagara Falls and ultimately to Buffalo, NY.  See the map below.

http://www.canals.ny.gov/maps/index.html

The first 5 locks near Waterford are called the “Waterford Flight”… the first 5 locks move you up over 169 feet in 1.5 miles. “The largest lift of any system in the world in the shortest distance.”   The locks are very close to one another so whomever you begin locking through with, you will lock through to the end of 6. The first 5 locks should take about 1.5 hours.  We are excited…. come along and join us!!

The first lock – # 2  – We have made it to the Erie Canal!!

After all the angst yesterday about the height of the water and would any of the tall boats actually make it without problems, we noticed the water had receded about a foot over night.  If we understand the Mariners Notice from the NY Canal people, we should have about 20feet.  Plenty for us.  We couldn’t wait forever for someone else to take the lead, so we left.  (https://wwwapps.canals.ny.gov/news/notices/ntm.aspx?id=550)

Of course, to be sure, I stood out back like I had done early in our boating travels and watched.  Wayne was confident we could get under this construction mess.  Two things of note…. as we were getting ready to throw our lines we had lots of help. We really appreciated their help.  They also wanted the boats to get closer together so more boats could share the electricity pedestals.  The other fascinating event is the men folk followed us along the marina sidewalk as we boated toward the bridge with the construction panels hanging 3 feet below the underside of the bridge.  The men folk even climbed up the embankment to make sure we had plenty of space.  I did see a thumbs up from at least one of them.  Selfishly, I am sure, they wanted to know IF we could make it, they could also!!

What do you think?  Plenty of space!!?  I took a picture standing on the top of the boat to prove to Wayne we had plenty of room!!  hahaha  I knew it all along!!

Construction workers yelled at me – “22 feet!!” Thumbs up!

Piece of cake!!  We locked through with a sail boat and another Trawler “Sea Tiger III”.  3 boats in the lock and we had plenty of room!

Lock 2 at the Top – UP 33.55 feet!

Literally, these locks are right after one another.  If you look at the sign above you can see that Lock 3 is just a 1/3 of a mile up ahead.  Here it is!!  Open and ready for us.

Entering Lock 3

Hello there!! I am looking UP at the Lock Master.  Or is he looking down at me?

Lock 3 – going UP 33.5 feet

Top of the Lock 3

Tug at the top of Lock 3

Entering Lock 4 ( third lock of the Flight of 5)

Lock 4 – UP another 34.5 feet

These locks have cable that we had latch our mid-cleat to.  Here is Wayne waving at me as he holds our line around the cable.  As the water rushes in below and pushes the boat up, the line (rope) slides along the cable.  Pretty neat.  I am out back making sure our stern doesn’t drift too far off the wall by holding onto a rope the lock has dangling down the side.

Wayne holding the boat steady at the mid-cleat location

We had to wait before we could enter the next lock.  The locks had been open for us up to this point.  There must be a boat coming south?  We patiently waited for the doors to open.

small boat going south from lock 5 –

They look like they are enjoying the Flight of Five as much as we are!

Entering Lock 5 – UP 33.3 feet

On top of Lock 5

Always Home in Lock 6  – UP 33 feet

Guard Gate 2 – after Lock 6

Feels like we are on Top of the World!

We must be approaching lock 7 with the dam next door.  See the swirly foam?  Almost looks like a Latte.  An instant when real life looks like art.

Approaching Lock 7 – UP 27 feet

Lock 7

As we were leaving the lock, Wayne noticed the next mariners to use the lock.  A Mother Duck and her 3 ducklings?  She was paddling toward the lock doors.  I wonder how that works.

Mamma Duck and her 3 babies ready for the ride down 27 feet

We are done with locks for the day.  We stopped at 3pm at the Schenectady Yacht Club that offers a couple of spots for transients.  Glad we made it an early stop.  We were just plain worn out.  The excitement of getting on the Erie Canal.  Working the lines and using their cable and ropes made our muscles sore.  We have many more locks to go through in our near future.  Time to bulk up!

As evening fell, lots of local boaters out enjoying the smooth water.

Evening Rowers along the Mohawk River in Schenectady, NY

Sunset in Schenectady, Ny

Sunset looking down river – Schenectady, NY