Adventures With My Family

Waterford, NY.   We did it!  We successfully transited our first lock just above Troy NY in the Hudson.  It was a thrill.  Brian did all the hard work holding our boat to the wall as the water lifted us up. Proud of him! We took a bit of a chance moving into the canal system knowing that some of the larger lock system was not yet open.  We, along with about 20 other boaters are now camped within 50 yards of the first lock on the Erie Canal along the canal walls of Waterford.  Almost all the other boaters, many Canadians, are waiting for the locks to Lake Champlain to open.  The rest are waiting for the Oswego Locks, which splits off of the Erie Canal, to open. Seems both places have been fraught with high water keeping the canals closed.  As a result there is a backup here in Waterford and back down the Hudson of boaters waiting for the words, "It's open!"  Today we learned that the Owego is opening tomorrow so some traffic should star...

Catskill, NY Old town with young entrpreneurs. Main Street in Catskill is worthy of a day of exploration.  Old buildings repurposed to Texas hot dog cafe, gyms, used book store, galleries, and bistros.  Catskill is home of the Hudon River Landscape Movement.  We layed over here three nights to take down our mast to transit Erie Canal..."Low Bridge, everybody down..."🎶

We anchor where it works for us.  Ended up past two night adjacent to Revolutionary war sites.  Stony Point St Pk were continental's defeated British to drive them off the Hudson.  Last night we were off an island where Brits staged an attack on Kingston...then the capital of NY.  But mostly it was a place for Brian to stretch his ever growing legs. Passed West Point yesterday.  Massive fort from river.  Great location for defense.  The wind was might brisky yesterday 25 to 35 knots.  Speeds up due to narrow openings in the river gorge.   A warship passing was at a clear disadvantage. View from River is quite different from Google maps. We mostly see trees, hills and mountains.  Wonderful river.

Sitting in the cockpit with the stern facing aft.  In another world.  Once past the G. Washington Bridge, the Hudson is flanked by palizades. The cliffs turn into hills, then rolling lush green mountains. Found a quiet cove off the side.  Adjacent to Stony Point State Park, where Continental forces defeated the British to reclaim control of the River in 1778.  Birds chirping.  Brian had fun today swinging from the halyard, donning his wetsuit to try out his inflatable paddle board, then zipping around the dingy.  Fun day for a boy.  Glad we dropped anchor early. 

 The Big Apple part 2 Well that was an interesting night! New York lives up to its reputation as the city that never sleeps. I concluded we weren't going to either.   The only anchorage in New York Harbor is next to Ellis Island. Between the ferries,  ships, barges, tour boats, packs of jet skiers, and a party barge boat anchor nearby, we shook our heads and laughed.  But the view...well that's was something.  Ellis Island right next to us. And the fantastic cityscape arrayed before us.       We relocated just around the corner t he next day to a very pricey marina but it was worth it--tranquil waters. It was adjacent to the ferries to Ellis Island the Statue of Liberty.       The SOT up close is powerful.  Such extraordinary talent to convey strength and freedom in a sculpture.   Found my family surname, Sibold, in some hardcopy display records at Ellis, but need more time to really ...

We made it! 8 days of sailing and motoring.  Anchored behind Sandy Point at mouth of New York Harbor.

This trip is like a move, you gotta find your new norm, new patterns, new diversions.  Turns out there's a lot of sitting, a lot of staring at the views, a lot of picture taking, a lot of cat napping, and for me a lot of attending to creature comforts for John and Brian. We've had a couple of chances to get off the boat...dinner in Annapolis with friends on day 2, a jaunt around Chesapeake City, MD on day 6 (which by the way is a very cute little spot for a weekend away!), and a marina overnight to fill up on water and fuel, get a shower and do laundry.  Mostly it's just us on the boat.