Regular or Premium?

Holly says:

We're still here in Clayton, waiting for the right conditions to move on. Today there was a small craft advisory for 3 to 5 foot waves building to 4 to 6 foot waves, so we stayed put. The boat was battered by waves, even here at the marina. Looks like the same may be true for tomorrow.

Just thought I'd post a couple of photos. Top is Islanders Marina, where we are now. Next is last night's sunset (has anyone noticed I'm partial to sunsets?). Then, imagine our surprise when we passed by a gas station today and spotted a horse and buggy at the pumps!! Wonder if they were getting regular or premium...

John says:

Looks like we're in for another night of banging into the dock. I'll be putting extra lines on for the (inevitable) storm.

The Thousand Islands

Holly says:

We spent only one night on Association Island, at the Association Island RV Resort and Marina. The place was a little less than we expected. For example, the advertised restaurant had been closed since last year, the promised wifi was nonexistant, and the beach was rendered unusable due to geese droppings!! They kindly gave us a handout explaining the geese situation and we were surprised to learn that each goose produces 2 pounds of droppings per day. Enough said.

On Saturday we decided to head out for Clayton, NY, in the Thousand Islands. On the way, as we were travelling on Lake Ontario, we lost both engines. We bobbed around for about 40 mintues while John figured out that there was not enough vacuum in the fuel line for the starboard engine, so he made the appropriate correction. We then turned into the St. Lawrence River and found our way to Clayton. This town claims to be the place where Thousand Islands salad dressing was created. We docked at the Islander Marina. The top photo is of the town--very nice but pricey shoppes (I'm using their spelling).

Yesterday (Sunday) we went on a tour of the Boldt Castle on Heart Island. George Boldt, the owner of Heart Island and partner in the Waldorf-Astoria, started construction of the castle in 1900. It was meant to be a Valentine's Day gift for his wife, Louise. Unfortunately, Louise died in 1904 before construction could be completed. George Boldt never returned to the island and construction halted. In the present day, the Thousand Islands Bridge Authority undertook rehabiliation of the castle, which had deteriorated during all those years since George Boldt left. The next 8 photos after Clayton town were taken on Heart Island (Digger--this is for you!). In the second photo, see if you can find the duck hiding amid the flowers. The last photo is of one of the many beautiful homes along the river.

Ciao for now...

By the Time We Got to Phoenix...

...we kept on going! Phoenix, NY, that is.

John says:

Phoenix was too close to Brewerton to stop because we lost a day at Brewerton; not due to inclement weather but to purchase a generator. I met a guy named Matt (in the slip next to us at Brewerton) who told me that everybody who visits the Thousand Islands has a portable generator if the one on their boat died like mine, or if their boat was too small to accommodate one. The marina owner was kind enough to let me use their van to go to WalMart and Home Depot to get a portable generator. I stowed it on the flybridge and it is out of the way yet easy to access and works great. Hoping the problem of the generator was solved we passed through lock 23 on the Erie Canal before heading up the Oswego river (canal) and two more locks to stop at Fulton. We got to Fulton as what seemed like the heavens opened up and we were drenched with, guess what, that's right, more rain. We had little time to check out the town and it's empty stores but had a nice dinner before dodging more raindrops.

The next day we left Fulton and went up the Oswego River, through five more locks and docked at the Oswego Marina. The wind gave us some trouble entering, within, and exiting the locks but Holly and I have learned what to do and how to handle this kind of situation. I guess one scrape on the side, which after cleaning proved very minor, is all it takes. We docked right next to the Homeland Security Customs and Border Protection patrol boats and they had four three hundred horsepower outboard engines on each 33 foot boat. The boats were a type of inflatable with aluminum housing. I asked them how it was in thunderstorms and they said that if they are not in pursuit they were to return to the dock in such a storm. Hey, good thinking as the entire boat was a lightning-rod! We had to stay another day at Oswego because of, guess what, rain and wind. The lake (Ontario) was too rough because of the wind. So, we had dinner and lunch in town.

We departed today for Association Island. We had 1 to 2 foot seas and swells that were 3 to 5 feet high and the boat handled the conditions admirably except in the following sea which you (boaters) know is always a pain in the rear (ha, ha). Association Island is not what it was promoted to be and we will be leaving here for Clayton and Alexandria Bay either tomorrow or the next day, depending on, of course, the weather.

Holly says:

The photo top right is the sunset as seen from Patz' Restaurant at the Oswego Marina. Oh yeah, the forecast for tomorrow is... RAIN!! :-(

Sylvan Beach

Holly says:

After a cruise of about 6 hours from St. Johnsville on Friday with great weather, through locks 19 - 22, we arrived in Sylvan Beach on Oneida Lake. Sadly, it was only to find that "there was no room at the inn"--all marinas were full! We called every marina in the vicinity, with no luck. We decided to tie up at the town wall, which doesn't have any electricity or water hook-ups. On the way to the wall, we noticed a group of about 6 people in a small boat, just sitting there looking like they were floundering. John asked them if they were okay--the answer was "not really". Apparently, their engine flooded and they could not get it going, so they were just floating there; they had no oars. John then asked if they wanted assistance, and they did. We threw them a line and towed them to the dock. That was our good deed for the day. Undaunted by the lack of marina slips, John proceeded to scour the area for someone willing to rent us a private slip, to no avail. However, he did find someone willing to let us hook up to the electricity in his home (for a slight fee, of course).

After dinner at a nice Italian Restaurant (the owner originally from Brooklyn) we headed for the amusement park. We went on several rides (me screaming the whole way) and the bumper cars before going back to the boat. Saturday was another beautiful day--I went to the beach for a few hours while John did laundry. I attended the Sylvan Beach Union Chapel for service this morning, and we then traversed Oneida Lake to reach Brewerton at about 2:00 pm.

I've attached a photo taken at the amusement park and one showing the boats on Oneida Lake at the beach.

Just another day...

John says:

We stayed at St. Johnsville a second day so I could tend to my sleep cycle in an attempt to better focus and concentrate. It was very overcast anyway and it is very difficult trying to match a schedule, my sleep cycle and the weather. But enough of that.

We left St. Johnsville under a sky of thick clouds and a light intermittent rain. So what's new. I think we have seen the sun twice since we left Minisceongo and when we had sun we also had high winds. Today was no exception as the wind had boats going every which way and the crossing currents made it exceptionally difficult to maneuver. This made cruising difficult and locking even harder. After pushing off of the lock wall, starting the engines and assuming my position at the helm on the flybridge the boat was already back at the wall. I went to school at that lock and learned how to compensate for this only after scraping the hull alongside the lock wall. A scratch that needs repair and something I will never forget. Luckily when in the channel and under power, cruising takes on a new feeling of calm assurance and the stress level greatly subsides but then we come to another lock and the stress level rises again. We have done very well in some bad situations according to the lockmasters, but they did not see the times I had trouble. Once we were the first to enter the lock and had to move to the front and when the lock was filling it took all of my strength and cunning (and Holly's help) to keep the boat in position.

We arrived at Ilion early in the afternoon, tied up, hooked up the power and went to town. We had Chinese food for a late lunch that was good and the walk to the grocery and wine stores were close by, although the walk back to the boat seemed to be a lot longer while laden with our purchases. Ilion is a lot more lively than St. Johnsville but again there were too many empty stores. Sorry for digressing.

We are getting ready for dinner and one of the burners on the stove is not working so that will be my next item to troubleshoot and repair. I expected some problems but this is getting to be a bit more than I anticipated. Oh, did I mention I burned the fingers on my right hand the other day trying to brush something off of the other burner ? I am the epitome of Murphy's Law.

We will press on with hope for better weather and an absence of technical problems.

Holly says:

After 4 hours with the wind and rain hitting me in the face, I was ready to cry!! I was never a tomboy or a girl scout, so I am really boat-challenged at this point. John always says that for me, roughing it is staying at a Holiday Inn. :-)

But, I am hanging in there. I've included a photo at the top of the sunset at St. Johnsville, and the other is of Lock 17, which is the highest lock with a vertical gate at the entrance. It raises the boat 40 feet, and then the exit gate is the regular type.

Ciao--more later.

Murphy's Law

John says:

The trip to Waterford was pleasant and we went to tie up at the Municipal Dock. We could not get a spot with electric so I said, " so what, we have a newly rebuilt generator". After tying up at the end of the dock I turned on the generator and after a few minutes to let the generator warm up and settle down (settle down = steady output) I turned on the hot water heater and after five minutes the generator died. I then went down the dock and asked some people to move and I tied up with electric. We went to dinner with the dockmaster and his girlfriend and a good time was had by all.

The next day we took a shorter ride than planned in order to stop at the Albany Marine Service marina that had a generator specialist(not in Albany at all, but in the town of Cohoes, NY). I spent the day troubleshooting the generator and did all I could without a gauge for a compression test. The mechanic came a 6:30PM and found only 90 pounds of pressure (it should be at least 120) which confirmed my suspicion that the timing chain had somehow slipped or skipped a gear or two rendering the generator useless. Lucky us. Now we will be planning the trip around marinas with electric. Which also probably makes the new tender and outboard engine useless because we will not be on the hook or a mooring as previously planned.

With an 850 pound anchor (the generator) in the bilge, we continued on. Our first stop was to be Amsterdam but Holly wanted to go to another place so we went on to the place she suggested but it was closed. It was not Holly's fault though because I gave her an outdated guide book to peruse. So ok, it only took five more hours of motoring along the Mohawk River to find a marina with electric and all the other amenities, in the town of St. Johnsville. A grand total of 9 1/2 hours of cruising. The town is small and most of the storefronts are empty as I imagine a lot of the storefronts in small towns in upstate New York are. Wait, let me retract that. Most of the stores have closed like stores in every small town in America. But that is just my opinion.

We will press on...

Holly says:

The photo top left is of the view from the Albany Marine Service marina. The top right photo was taken on the way into Lock 7 of the Erie Canal, and the bottom photo is of the Mohawk River heading towards Lock 14.

Holly says:

Don't be fooled; the photo above was NOT taken today! It is, though, a photo of the marina at Coeymans Landing on a GOOD day. We had rain just about all day long, and decided to stay another night here. Hopefully, tomorrow we'll head out early for the Federal lock at Troy, and then on to Waterford for an overnight stay before entering the first lock of the Erie Canal.

We realized that some people might not know the itinerary, so here it is:

We're headed for the Erie Canal, then west to the Cayuga Canal and will spend some time on two of the Finger Lakes. Then, we'll go back eastward to the Oswego Canal to Lake Ontario and the Thousand Islands area. After that we'll enter the Rideau Canal and go to Ottawa. Then, along the Ottawa River to Montreal, the Richelieu Canal to Lake Champlain and then down to the Hudson River. Now, if only all goes as planned...

,

A Beautiful (But Challenging) Day

Holly says:

Today was beautiful in terms of weather and scenery. The trip up the Hudson is truly lovely, as evidenced by my photo above. It was, however, a bit troublesome due to a new mechanical problem we encountered. We left Kingston/Rondout Creek at around 9 am, headed for Coeymans Landing Marina--about a 25 mile run. After about one mile, the CO detector in the salon starting sounding the alarm--continuously, like 3 blasts every 5 seconds. Then, we saw what looked like steam coming out of the back of the boat from the engines. Needless to say, John was anxious about the cause and eager to fix it. He decided that rather than stop somewhere sooner, we would continue on past Catskill, Athens, and New Baltimore, to arrive at Coeymans Landing at about 1 pm. Immediately, John started taking the boat apart (my terminology, probably not the best way to describe it ) looking for the source of the alarm.

This section is from John's description for those who know about boats (and I am not one of you!):

While trying to solve the original problem he discovered another small problem--the trim tabs needed fluid. After checking in at the dock, and purchasing the needed fluid, we decided to relax for a little while and have lunch at a nice restaurant at the marina. After lunch, John put the fluid in and then continued the troubleshooting. He found an air intake hose dislodged that had turned face down, and was blocked, resulting in no fresh air in the engine room. After securing the hose, he closed up everything and turned on the engines--no alarm--problem solved!

By the way, this marina has nice, hot showers and laundry facilities. I realized that some of you may not know that we do have hot water and a shower on the boat--we just conserve water by using the marinas' facilities.

The weather report calls for rain tomorrow starting at noon, so we are considering staying here until Sunday and then pushing forward to Troy.

Until next time...

A Good Day

John Says:

We departed Newburgh this morning after one hell of a night. The boat was slamming against the dock all night and the vigil was on. It was a calm morning, though cloudy, so we made Kingston in under two hours and should have gone further but I had never been to Rondout Creek before and decided to take the time. Kingston is obviously trying to revitalize their waterfront and their efforts are mediocre at best. That said, we had a great time walking around, looking in the shops and having lunch. The Municipal Dock no longer exists as it has become commercial by and for the Town of Kingston. And the showers had no hot water!

We plan to leave early tomorrow and see how far we get before the rain comes and we are considering our marina options to ride out the storm that we are predicted to endure Saturday and Sunday. I love the Hudson but it is time to move on. The picture is of the Roundout Lighthouse that is now abandoned and would make a great home for the person with imagination and perseverance but it's fate is still undetermined.

All boat systems are working up to expectations except for Direct TV as is seems to have a mind of it's own concerning when it will give you a picture. I will attempt to troubleshoot this but it will have to be by trial and error and could take some time but somehow I think I can find a solution. I think that we are starting to unwind and are looking forward to safe and fun trip.

We will see what happens next.

The Beginning

Holly says:
Well, here we are at Riverfront Marina in Newburgh. We left Minisceongo yesterday at about 12:45 pm, and arrived here 4 hours later. It was very windy yesterday, so we had to go very slow to avoid having the bimini cover ripped off of the frame.

John was ever vigilant concerning the boat's systems, and consequently had quite a few adjustments which included swearing at the mechanical systems!!!:-) Later we discovered a couple more issues for John to work on, so we decided to stay put in Newburgh. We are docked just off the channel, which is not protected, per se.

Today, with the rain storms, the boat has been pitching and rocking violently all day, so we're staying at the marina until tomorrow. We plan to leave early in the morning, with Kingston our destination.

John says: Stay tuned for more!!