We made our way 55 miles from Great Kills Yacht Club to Haverstraw Cove and anchored in 20' of water with great holding. Although this is a very protected cove, we were thankful we had calm winds to go along with the rain that started 2 miles before we got to the anchorage. At least when we set up anchor it wasn't raining sideways.
A bit of bad news as we were traveling, the Erie Canal is only opening a few sections on the 17th due to high water. We knew it was coming, just kept hoping that somehow the storms were not affecting the canal. No sense rushing at this point to make the opening, we are sure Waterford, where the canal starts in Albany will get backed up with boats right away. Rule #1 - never have a schedule! Rule #2 - always follow rule #1. Of course those are pretty tall orders.
Sunshine came streaming through the windows Wednesday morning and it couldn't be a more welcome site. The Hudson River is just so pretty in the sun and although it was brisk out, the sunshine really warmed things up. We made our way 58 miles and anchored in Rondout Creek, Kingston, in 18' of water with good holding. A few sprinkles on and off late afternoon but that seems to be the norm these days. Still no updates on a new date for the canal to open.
We were delighted once again to wake to sunshine on Thursday as we made our way to Shady Harbor Marina in New Baltimore. We are now about 25 miles from the Waterford lock...so close but yet so far with the canal closure. The effort now is trying to find out if there is any information on when the entire canal will open. To that question, no information except they are working on it. They realize there are a lot of boats anxious to move but there are no guarantees and it depends on how much rain falls. Of course we are back to rain Friday which just doesn't bode well for the canal. The lock wall at Waterford is full as well as the marinas in Albany, they are telling boaters not to come. At Shady Harbor people were told to hold off even putting their boats in the water as their home ports can not accommodate them yet. The quandry for the boaters waiting is, do you stay put and wait, go home for a week and come back, rent a car and go see some of the sights? We are weighing out all of our options ...
We opted to rent a car on Saturday and drive home with the knowledge that the canal would not open past Albany for at least 4 days. We were not alone in our decision as a few other boaters here at the marina decided to do the same thing. We got a lot of work done at home and headed back to the marina today (Thursday). The canal is now open from Albany to Syracuse...the Champlain Canal and the Oswego along with Syracuse to Rochester is still closed. We are hopeful that by the time we get to Syracuse the rest of the canal will be open. If not... well there is always plan B, C or D.
More like a Stephen King novel than
a chamber of commerce day in NYC
Captains Choice making our way past the piers in NY
photo courtesy of Summertime
The Hudson River - West Point in the distance
West Point
Views of the Hudson
Esopus Meadows Lighthouse
High tide, high water as we enter Rondout Creek
Rondout Lighthouse
Thursday morning with calm winds on the Hudson
You get a good idea of the size of the tree floating
next to the small boat
If you enlarge the picture you can see all the debris
floating in the river that we had to dodge
Cargo ship SBI Achilles going south as we head north
After rain on and off Friday, a beautiful evening
in New Baltimore, NY with an almost full
Full Flower Moon.
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