Our Last 'Flight' downstream, Birthday on the Hudson and Finally a Sailboat!

It's been just 20 days since we left Mimico Cruising Club on September 7, but it feels like we've been gone so long. Our days are so busy yet not like a typical 'work' day as there is always something new to do, places to see and interesting people to meet.
Fri. Sept.18: We've arrived in Little Falls, New York, an adorable old town nestled among steep hills of the valley that descend to the Mohawk River and Erie Canal. Similar to the lil' engine that could, it's the little town that could - offering you great dining, outstanding mountain/valley/river scenery and kind people who live here.
We met Dave, the harbour master, offering us a stay on the wall here for $1.00/ft/night, a key to the marine office for after hours bathrooms and laundry :) and even a mini-tour of the town after his days work.

On our tour he points out some areas of interest and talks about his heritage - Czech Republic. His family settled here in the 1920's not on purpose, but by accident. When his family arrived at Ellis Island, as many did in those days from abroad, they were asked where they would like to live. Hearing that a job in textiles was promising in Little Falls, New Jersey, the form was completed and as it would happen, the NY, was mistaken as NJ. Dave says they were meant to settle here.

Tony and I enjoy the tour and stop for a big dinner at the Copper Moose restaurant, after our 8 hour day motoring the canals/locks, Big burgers and sweet potato fries and of course some craft beer. Room for dessert? Of course! Our weather has been outstanding, however light rain is on the way.
With another great day, I wake up and walk into town to shop while Tony putters (he is an expert at boat-puttering these days) but I put him to work doing some laundry.
The walk into town is only 10 minutes but wow - what an incredible walk over the bridge with mountains all around and the church steeples in the distance. I am eager to visit the old part of town that Dave talked about, as the shops are housed in the old mill buildings along the river's edge.

Luck would have it that the farmer's market is well under way. I buy some blueberry jam, fresh tomatoes and a nice red onion.

Little did I know that the Mennonite woman that jarred that jam had incredible strength and it took me a few days and several loud grunts before I could loosen it for Tony to open (hee hee).

Blueberry bagel with cream cheese and blueberry jam.

My first stop is into the Stone Mill shops,

which has a combination of businesses going on: ice cream parlour, cafe, antiques and trading post all in one stop! I chat with one of the shopkeepers, a retired social studies teacher, and ask if he'd mind if I took a few pics. After shopping for a half hour, I can't believe the great finds and cheap, cheap prices. I think the ice coffee was more than my treasures I bought. Gently used items purchased: sundress $3, Abalone shell necklace $2.25, Flowered scarf $4.50, and the best deal was a Charter Club spring/fall jacket for a whopping $3! 

 Next I am off to the post office and a wee walk down main street before I head back with my goods to check on Deja Vu and put laundry away :)

We finish chores and rest before our next long day through Lock 17 at Little Falls which has the steepest drop of 40 ft. I am bit anxious about this one, as the route begins off the wall and for me to avoid the huge dam that I walked over the day previous.

I prepped my smaller camera to shoot video as we scale down the walls. A bit jumpy and short, as not a huge file can be uploaded, but you'll get an idea of what it's like.

We were going to leave on Sunday but with leftover winds from Saturday nights rain, we heard that travelling the canals with winds can be very dangerous. We settle in for another night and meet the crew from a sailboat called "Blew Jay" from St. Catharine's. Their crew are bringing her down to a marina on the Hudson River to mast up then continuing south...hmm, we soon realize we are one boat of many with the same dreams. It's nice to chat with our new friends and we decide to tag along with them on a cool, foggy Monday morning (just 3C). We wait until fog lifts at 9 am to head into Lock 17. It's nice having company in the locks and we say to each other this is what our ICW adventure will be like; following other boats and hoping they are watching their depths too!

View west from the back of the boat in Amsterdam.

 We stop along the shore near a town called Amsterdam, listen to the freight and Amtrak trains that toot their horns not once but 4 times as they pass us, even in the night. We grab a piece of rough wall before the next lock and settle in for the night to watch the sunset, of course.

Construction site beside the lock had an interesting monument.
Ironic that VW is on the rocks says the news this past week.

Tony and I are planning our day ahead as we find out that the last and final locks are done all at once. It's called 'The Flight", at Waterford. If we are at Lock 7 by 3 pm, then the dock master will allow us to continue to Lock 6, where the 'flight' begins. They say to allow for 2 hours to go through the remaining locks, however it was just a little over an hour.

Snippet from our chart book. There is a trail you can walk up to the top of the 'flight' to lookout over the whole canal basin.

As soon as we come out of the lock at Waterford, the visitor's centre is directly on the left hand side. We don't see a lot of room for our big boat along the wall, and going in reverse is not my favourite so I hand the wheel over to Tony and I get ready to throw lines to our friends from Blew Jay on the docks. With a quick hello and check in, we are super happy to find out the docks are free for 48 hours, with just $10 for power! We LIKE free dockage.

Just straight under this bridge and hang a right down the Hudson River!
If you turn left instead, you would go up towards Lake Champlain.

There are several boats here heading south, our friends leave a day before us down the river to a marina to put up their mast.

Thursday, Sept. 24 - My 50th Birthday! It's a beautiful, 25C warm and sunny day as we leave Waterford and spend the next 5 hours on the Hudson River. I take a birthday phone call from Shannon and Taylor as I am on the river and even check Facebook and texts messages for all the birthday wishes - I am overwhelmed. Thank you to everyone. I am so very happy with the cell service.

Albany shipping yards are spitting out more barges that you can imagine. One after another they appear on the shoreline ahead and then in the canal. We share a very narrow passage with the big ones! Bob, thanks for reminding us to give them lots of room. We actually had to turn around twice along this route to allow the barges (pushed by tugboats) to make their turn in the channel within the markers, before we could pass them.

It's around 1:30 pm and we've tried calling Castleton's Marina on the cell phone and on VHF radio, but there is no answer. We try again and decide to just do a drive by to get their attention. NO luck. Small place, but as we see they are super busy masting boats and it is obvious there is no room on any slips for us regardless. We wave to the crew from Blew Jay, as we see their mast is up. Perhaps we will see them another time along the way. I turn back into the channel and move along to our next choice which is Shady Harbour Marina in New Baltimore, NY. It`s very important to have other options.

We've been using an app called Active Captain. It has been such a tremendous help to us as it provides not only GPS located marinas/anchorages/obstructions/shoaling but details about each marina or yacht club with reviews too! After a delightful conversation while under way, with the owner, we are excited to locate the docks that are clearly marked with coloured flags! This was SO helpful as we approach new docks in the 2+knot current of the Hudson.

I think all marinas/yacht clubs
on Lake Ontario should have these!

Tony calls customs and we check in. It's a bit pricey at $95 for the night dock.

They put us on the end of the T-dock because of our mast hanging off the bow. A bit bumpy but safe and secure and power!

My birthday dinner at The Boathouse Grille, an elevated restaurant overlooking the marina and river.

We are super excited for today, Friday, Sept 25, as we leave at 9:20 am to Riverview Marina in Catskills, NY, so we can have our mast put up! Finally we are going to be a sailboat again. Our v-berth has been loaded up with both sails, all the rigging and the boom-vang. The deck holds the boom on starboard side and well, it`s just a mess inside and out. We can`t wait to clean her up and get her ready for NYC!!

We arrive just 4 hours later to Riverview, had fueled up, pumped out all by 1:15 pm. Mike and Susan, the owners are extra nice and helpful and guide us in, letting us know they are ready when we are, to get the mast up. Once again we have to do a bit of reversing back down the river, as this marina (as the name says) is on a river off of the main channel. Captain Tony takes over and we are safely at the fuel dock.

Diesel price: $3.00 U.S. gallon

Mike tells us to go ahead and move over to the crane dock and yells to us the dock is about 60 ft long and we should fit no problem. It doesn`t look like it to me. I turn down the river, reminded to not make my turn too big as the water is shallow on the other side. I do my turn, make it to the dock and Tony throws them the lines to pull us in. It`s a tight fit but we are really happy to have Mike take care of the next part. With only one other staffer, Dave, helping, Mike driving the crane, Tony and I are put to work. Our masting team from Mimico know all too well about the work needed to put up a 50+ foot mast and all the rigging etc. We do a great job, only one pin dropped in the drink, but Mike has spares, and it`s all up in half hour.

Tony and I put up the main sail, I take a taxi into town for provisions then after dinner we call it a day. We`ll put in the head sail and work on dinghy the next day.

Evening attraction is as seaplane leaving the marina area.

We`ve been very lucky to have decent weather for the majority of our trip, however it seems El Nino is cooking up a Nor`Easter and we will staying put until we have a good weather window to continue south. Although we had plans to be in NYC for our 9th anniversary on Sept 30, we may not make it there by that date. We`d rather be safe and secure up river than in the New York harbour during the high winds they are forecasting.

Meanwhile, we will enjoy the adorable little town of Catskills, NY, and hope we can see a bald eagle soon.

Watching the lunar eclipse right now. Clear night and moon is slowly fading. Incredible.
Sailor Christine
xo