Homeward Bound

The last three days in the canal system have not been very note worthy in themselves, but as our trip comes to a close I find myself reflecting on the past two and a half months of travel.

This journey has been quite remarkable in more than just the scenery. We have seen more of the United States coastline than I ever thought I’d see, from the tropical foliage and beaches of Florida to the beauty and grandeur of the Hudson River. But I find in looking back that it is about so much more than places and people. The memories we’ve made together, the family bonding time, the love, that’s what stands out for me.

I have had so much precious time spent with my family. Andy and I have bonded in a way that would not be possible without spending 24 hours a day together experiencing the world from such a small space. We have also been able to spend this short and precious time in Henry’s life together. Most mothers are alone with their children most of the time. We’ve had time as a family. It has been quite magical. Our pictures and our memories of this time will be treasured always.

Henry has flourished during this trip. He has grown so quickly. I think that he has benefitted from the fresh sea air, the sense of adventure, and the attention and dedication of two adoring parents.

Charlie has really found himself on this trip. Many people along the way have asked us if he is part Schipperke, pronounced ‘skipper key’. We looked online and it was like reading Charlie’s horoscope. The translation for Schipperke is ‘little captain of the boat’. That’s Charlie. He is a sailor at heart. He runs around on deck, barks at anyone who happens to come too close to the boat, and seems right at home when we’re at sea.

Then we have Buddy. He loves the Florida sunshine, and the time spent with us. He does not love the sea, and is a ‘Nervous Nelly’ who sits and quivers when the weather is rough. Buddy is afraid to follow Charlie when he jumps ashore, but piddles every time we pick him up. He does, however, love the adventure of discovering a new place at every port. As Andy often says, it is nice to be able to provide them with a good life when their lives are so short.

Living on a boat wouldn’t suit everyone. The space is limited, life is simpler in a lot of ways, and more complicated in others. I wouldn’t trade this experience for anything. I hope we get to continue this lifestyle for awhile, but even if life doesn’t lead us in that direction I am so thankful for the past five months that we’ve been aboard.

Thank you to everyone who has kept up with our journey and read my stories. You inspired me to write them. I plan to keep up with the blog while we’re at home. My entries may be less frequent, as there will probably be less to report, but I have enjoyed this form of journal keeping and plan to keep it up. Hopefully we will be able to continue our adventures and head south again come autumn.

A Day in the Erie Canal, Lock...Lock...Lock...

We started out today at 9:00am. The first section of the Erie Canal, headed west, has four locks in quick succession. I found it interesting that after heading north for so long we're now going west. I'd kind of forgotten that we were on the coast, and Toronto is definitely not!

After the first few locks Andy and I were really getting a good system going. It was actually easier than I thought it was going to be. The height of the locks varies, with their being more turbulance in the taller locks, but once we got the swing of things we felt like old pros.

There was a free dock with power just after Lock 11. It was approaching 5:00pm, so we decided to stay there for the night instead of trying to push on to the next dock, which would have taken another 3-4 hours.

We were docked with three other boats. One of them had a couple that we had seen in Waterford on our way out. They had commented on our "three babies" and she had said that she wanted one of them. We offered her Charlie, but she seemed to want Henry...

They were a Russian couple in their fifties. Lana and Boris, very nice people. Her sister was with them for a vacation. She still lives in Russia, and spoke very little English. We visited with them for most of the evening. They invited us aboard and fed us snacks as they oohed and aahed over Henry. We were asked to stay for dinner, but it was getting on towards 9:00pm and Henry was ready for bed.

We wanted to get to bed early, too, as we had a longer day in the locks to look forward to tomorrow.

Waterford

With mast on deck, off we went. It was a short 16 miles the rest of the way up the Hudson River. This section was not nearly as scenic as the previous two legs.

We arrived in Troy, at the first lock of the Erie Canal at about 2:00pm. We locked up with little trouble, as Andy had rigged a fender board and all of the fenders in all the right places. Andy had some experience with locking in the Welland Canal from his solo trip home with the Cal 3-30 when we bought it.

Just beyond the Troy Lock we came upon the town of Waterford. They had a free dock and Visitors Center with information about the Canal System. So, we docked, walked the dogs, and went inside for some maps and such.

The people running the Visitors Center were extremely friendly. We purchased an information booklet for $1.00 and I found a book exchange, where I was able to leave a novel and find two more.

We got talking to some fellow cruisers on the dock who had a lot of experience with the canal. They were incredibly helpful, and one gentleman went so far as to make us a list of all of the locks, pertinent information, the mileage between them, and where all of the free docks were located along the way. With this information in hand we decided that there wasn't much point in starting through the canal today. Waterford's free dock was great, they even provided power and showers! So we decided to call it a day.

The lady at the information centre recommended a local restaurant for lunch, so after the dogs were walked we headed into town. Waterford is a lovely little village. We found the quaint little coffee shop/restaurant to be very reasonably priced and the food was delicious. They didn't deep fry their French toast!

After lunch I was on a mission to get my hair cut! I hadn't been to a salon since Marathon, and I was feeling rather shaggy. There were three salons in one block, but only one of them was open (poor economy?), so we stopped in. The wait was 20 minutes, so Andy took Henry back to the boat in the hopes of napping, while I awaited my hair cut.

I was very pleased with the cut, and it was only $10.00!! I don't think you can find a hair dresser in Toronto who charges less than $40! It sure would be nice to settle down in a small town once we've finished our travels.

Andy was feeling rather lousy from his allergies, we've all noticed allergy symptoms since we've gotten north of Virginia. So Henry and I ventured out across the bridge to the pharmacy and grocery store to let Andy get a good, long nap.

We had a nice walk and returned with a few provisions. Andy had just gotten up, feeling quite a bit better. Aren't naps wonderful?

All in all we really enjoyed Waterford. It's a nice place to stay before embarking on the long trek up the canals to Lake Ontario....almost home!!

Down with the Mast!

Today we travelled the six miles remaining before arriving in Castleton-On-Hudson. The next leg of our journey can't be done with our mast up, and we had read in Skipper Bob's book that the Castleton Boat Club had a mast crane for do-it-yourself mast stepping.

Andy was hoping that it would be a fairly quick three hour job to build cradles to hold the mast on deck, take the mast down, and tie it on deck. I'm afraid he has a tendency to underestimate the amount of work involved and the amount of time required for jobs such as these.

Henry and I went around the corner to a laundromat, and Andy set to work on the mast stepping. When they said do-it-yourself, they weren't kidding! There were a few members sitting on the lawn for most of the day, but with the exception of one gentleman who helped Andy a little in building the cradles, he was on his own. What a huge task!!!

I was little help, as Henry is a full time occupation, and as Andy says, "this was a Blue Job". I did, however, go up the mast in the Bosun's Chair to tie a rope around the mast above the first set of spreaders. For those of you who are not boaters, that means that I sat in a little nylon seat/harness and Andy hoisted me up about 30 feet in the air, where I was suspended from a piece of rope long enough for me to tie a knot around the mast. Afraid of heights? Who me? Definitely. Just don't look down!

So the mast stepping operation was started at about 10:00am, and finished just after 8:00pm. What an exhausting day Andy had! Doing almost two weeks worth of laundry was a walk in the park compared to that chore!

Now we are all set for the final leg of the trip. We are stocked up with groceries, water and fuel. We have pumped out, done the laundry, and the mast is on deck.

From Newburgh to Coeyman's Landing

Our second day on the Hudson started out just as calm and lovely as the first. When Andy went down with Henry for an afternoon nap, I settled in at the helm with my book. The river is extremely deep, and the auto-pilot gave me the freedom to relax and enjoy the ride.

Unfortunately I didn't realize that the Hudson River was 'Red Right Returning' at this point. For those of you who aren't boaters, that means that you keep the red markers on the right side of your boat, instead of the usual left for red, right for green. This error led to some pretty wild navigation on my part! I was thinking to myself that Andy chose to nap at the trickiest part of the channel! Little did I know that I wasn't even in the channel!

I really should have clued in when I saw a freighter on the other side of a shoal, but in a blonde moment I just figured that there must be a channel on both sides at this point.

Luckily I managed to narrowly avoid disaster, twice, as the depth dropped to six feet in front of an island, and then, when I had finally figured out that I was on the wrong side the depth dropped below five feet when I tried to move over to the channel on the other side!! It was the depth sounder alarm, along with my crazy manouvering to keep from running aground that had Andy bolt out of bed and run up the companionway.

Crazy woman driver! I'm not sure he'll be so quick to take another nap. Oops!

We ended this jaunt of just over 70 miles at the town dock in Coeyman's Landing. The town's people were incredibly friendly, despite the fact that the free dock reported in Skipper Bob's book was in fact only a boat launching dock. Once we were tied up, the locals we talked to told us to stay and not worry about it. One elderly gentleman even drove Andy to the grocery store. Henry and I stayed behind and watched some elderly ladies feeding a flock of ducks. Very relaxing.

Andy went into the bar at the marina next door to inquire about the tides in this area. He had a wonderful time, meeting some great, helpful people, and came away with a Birthday martini for me along with the advice he was seeking.

I don't know what they put in that Chocolate Martini, but my, oh my did it pack a whollop!! Thanks Andy!

On up the Hudson River

Since we had enough of New York the day before, we were more than ready to make our way up the Hudson. We had heard tell of the strong currents in the Hudson River and were told that there was really no point in heading up river until the current was with you. This was fine with us, especially since Henry had another rough night and we were quite happy to wait until after our morning nap to head out.

We left the mooring field around 11:00am. The tide was coming in and we were making 8-8.5 knots!! The rest of the morning was spent watching the city thin out and disappear behind us.

I had no notion of what to expect from the Hudson River. Andy was expecting more of what we'd seen in the ICW, houses and docks lining a thin, uninspired waterway. We were surprised and delighted to find some of the most awe inspiring scenery we've seen since we began this journey! The Hudson River is gorgeous!! Once you get about 10 miles north of New York City you are surrounded by glorious rock and tree lined mountains. The river becomes serene and flat and the scenery is just breath taking. We enjoyed it immensely. A much needed calming after the hustle and bustle of the big city. This is what we came to see!

We were also surprised by the Hudson River's depth! It is deeper here than anywhere we've been in 2000 miles of travel, including being miles offshore in the Gulf of Mexico and the North Atlantic! The Hudson has depths of up to 180 ft!!

We had a wonderful day. The weather was hot, but blue skies and a nice breeze combined with the lovely view had us flying high. We travelled 55 miles and ended our day at the Torches Restaurant. They have a dock that is free with dinner, and you can stay overnight if they aren't too busy.

The restaurant was one of the nicest we've seen...ever. It was elegant, had a lovely view, and a surprisingly reasonably priced menu. Henry enjoyed the huge salt water aquarium and his encounter with an adorable nine month old girl seated next to it.

The portions were huge, and after the complimentary bread and our calamari starter we were too full for the main course. Henry was pretty much ready for bed anyway, so we got our meals to go and headed back to the boat.

What a great day. This was the kind of day that you always remember. This is why we're out here.

A New York Minute...

Well, today we spent an afternoon in New York. I had some preconceived notions about what to expect. Mostly from what you see in the movies. Wrong!

Andy had to do some work on the dinghy engine before we could head ashore, so we didn't get there until about 4:30pm. It was a Sunday afternoon, not too busy, right? Wrong again!

Our walk through the riverside park was lovely, and then we headed up 79th Street to Broadway. The buildings on 79th were old and grand. The incline was really steep, it reminded me of what I imagine San Fransisco might be like. So, after a vigorous walk pushing Henry in his stroller we arrived on Broadway. (No we didn't sing or dance!)

Broadway was bustling!! Their are a lot of people in New York, and it felt like they were all out and about. Andy wanted to try some New York pizza, so we ate at a little whole in the wall called Nick's Pizza and Burgers. We were uninspired by the food, but found the experience gave us plenty to talk about, between the odd and diverse menu and the equally odd and diverse clientelle!

After dinner we went out in search of a grocery store so we could buy a few provisions. On the way we found a little street vendor (her and her shop!), and I found a lovely sundress. It felt odd to put it on over my clothes and peer into the mirror she had set up on the sidewalk, but I got a pretty good idea of how it would look despite the fact that her mirror was like those funhouse mirrors that make you look really tall and thin! I wonder if all of her patrons notice...I bet she sells a lot of dresses!

We asked around and went to the market that was most often recommended. What an experience! It was like nothing we had ever experienced before. Picture a store the size of two 7-Elevens, with isles the width of a sidewalk, piled floor to ceiling with stock. Then picture it jam packed with rude people in a hurry. Yikes! Talk about frazzling!! Andy dove right in and got the job done. I hated every second of it, I would have been happier having a root canal!!

Initially I had wanted to visit Central Park, but the sky looked ominous, and after the hectic pace of the market we were more than ready to return to the serenity of our boat.

On the walk back we ran into an English family that were moored behind us. Andy had made their aquaintance earlier, and so we fell into step with them for the rest of the walk. They are living aboard and cruising with two boys aged two and four. Yikes! These boys had energy to spare! After visiting with them for a half hour Andy and I had made up our minds that Henry was to be an only child.

New York may make a better impression on us the next time around, who knows, maybe nicer weather and a different agenda for our trip ashore would make a difference. This time, lets just say that a New York Minute was enough for me.