On to New York and the Erie Canal

June 22 Through July 12 (Click on the images to see and scroll them in full size)

Thursday, June 22 we had a long, rough ride on the Chesapeake Bay, We stayed at Chesapeake City and rafted with Encore after we had problems setting our anchor. One of the other boats in the anchorage warned us about the Delaware River......

The next day, we headed out through the C & D Canal and down the Delaware river for a very rough time, 5 foot waves 1-2 second intervals. Glen onboard Encore is my hero as he found canal back entry to into Cape May, NJ that allowed us to not round point in rough weather.

We decided to take the outside route in the Atlantic Ocean because the inside route on the ICW was very shallow and prone to shoaling. Saturday, we had a very foggy run outside New Jersey on the ocean 3 foot swells, but spaced out so waves were the least of our concerns. 50 feet of visibility was more of a challenge entering the canal to Atlantic City. In fact other boats called for an escort into due to the fog but our radar and AIS saw us through. However it dissipated after transiting past the entry canal and we had a beautiful night at anchor.

June 25 we had a good run on the Atlantic Ocean of almost 100 miles. That night we anchored off of Sandy Hook and had to move and reset our anchor due to it being a very rolling anchorage because of wakes from ferries. The next day, we had a short run to New York City, took pictures at the statue of liberty, visited ground zero, ate NY pizza, cheesecake and after a bit of searching, Christine found her corned beef deli sandwich.

The next day we proceeded up the Hudson River and faced a really strong current, of 4 mph+. That night we stayed at Half Moon Bay Marina and ate great Greek food and resupplied at the grocery store.

June 28 we ran to Kingston City Marina, walked a small downtown, and toured their maritime museum.

June 29 we stayed at Shady Harbor Marina, which was a nice small marina, did laundry, made a Walmart run in the courtesy card and found out that in NY state, there are no plastic bags at Walmart. We also found that some boaters are butt heads and one specific butt head in a cigarette boat waked marina several times and got tossed out for his trouble.

June 30 we visited Waterford, NY and stayed 2 nights. The first night we ate at an Irish pub. Not much shopping, but very nice stop and the next night we were entertained by their 4th of July festivities. A band played and we decorated Patriot for the events. The tie up was just downstream of Erie Canal lock 2. We walked the town and Chris found a heavy duty washing machine at a local laundromat to wash our quilt, which after 9 months, really needed it..

July 2, we tied up at the Skotia Village launch ramp and walked the local area. The next night we had a great time at Amsterdam NY where the local kids water ski team put on a great show, there was a band at the band shell and even though it was set off early due to rain, there was a fireworks show and Gert had some most excellent BBQ at Drifter's Restaurant.

July 4 we tied up upriver from lock number 15 on the Erie Canal, and our inflatable Uncle Sam went to lock master Lucas for safe keeping. It was a really warm day and they had a peacock on site that made a Lot of noise. On Wednesday, we tied up on a free wall, walked to dinner at a local Italian restaurant that unbeknownst to us, had Karaoke night on Wednesday.... really, really BAD karaoke. But the marina staff were great and we had a good night.

July 6 we stretched out our mileage to reach Sylvan Beach Pier, where there was a small amusement park, and we walked a local car show. Glenn had to work on his generator to get air conditioning going, since it was still really hot. That night we watched Man from Snowy River. What a great movie for horse lovers. I also had the chance to use my drone to video us going though lock 21 on the Erie Canal.

The tricky part was catching the drone before the battery ran out after filming the lock through! Thanks to the crew of Angel's Choice for the pictures.

July 8 we moved on to Ess-Kay Yards Marina for an oil change and some maintenance on the head (toilet for you land lubbers) that has been my nemesis for the past few months. After spending 3 days and more money than I care to admit, they finally fixed our Vacuflush system and now we can freely flush without fearing that it will be our last flush ever. On July 11, we moved on to tie up on a wall at Minetto NY. After jumping over a 4 foot wall, we walked to the local restaurants to find them all.....closed. So it was gas station pizza, subs and mac and cheese for us which was surprisingly good actually.

Tomorrow, July 13th we will head through the last few locks on the Oswego Canal and out into Lake Erie. After 10 months and almost 6,000 miles, Patriot will be back on the Great Lakes. Onward to Canada, the Trent Severn Canal and the North Shore of Lake Huron.