Schenectady to Canajoharie, NY

Tuesday - June 12, 2018      Schenectady to Canajoharie, NY

Another bright blue sky in the morning as we pulled away from the dock a bit after 8:00 am. Must say the Erie Canal system is very well marked and very easy to navigate. Lou Ann keeps the chart book on her lap and as we pass a maker she makes note and I check the chart plotter. On just a few occasions we have found makers a bit out of place but not by much and a few times we have found extra markers that do not appear on the charts.

Today we will pass through 6 locks each rising us up 20-30 feet at a time. Our second day of locking and we are working like a fine oiled machine. Then as we were exiting the 3rd lock of the day, the lock attendant tells us that at the next lock only one of the 25-foot doors was going to open due to some malfunction. So, for the next 4 or so miles we wondered how we would get our 15 foot wide boat through a 25 foot opening, keep in mind these are big thick steel doors that could do a lot of damage to the side of a fiberglass boat should the two meet. As we approached the one door challenge I knew once I was committed there was no turning back. From 200 feet away that 25 foot opening looks real small, so I say lets go for it, we made it through with no incident. The yacht behind us who was even wider also made it.

This yacht has been following us since the first lock of the day. The captain stands out on the bow with a wireless control and can steer and move the yacht any way he needs to with just the slightest touch of a control stick. Soon you will just be able to send the boats by itself. Our destination is Canajoharie, NY for the night and the FREE Town Park Dock including free power, WOW!

As we make our way with about 40 nm (nautical miles) we have to travel a slower speed so we maintain 8.30 knots or about 9 mph. It’s said that the lock master will time your departure from one lock to the next and if you speed the he will make you wait before he locks you through. As we near

Zoey's Adventure on the dock 

the town dock in Canajoharie, we see two other boats already tied up. This is the dock that the dock master in Schenectady said no one ever uses. Hahaha. There are two options to dock here; one on the floating dock with power and the other on the concrete pier with no power. With a closer look I see a spot on the floater just big enough to fit Zoey’s Adventure. As luck would have it there was another looper on the dock to take our dock

Once we are settled in with lines adjusted, fenders in place and the power cord plugged in
I notice another boat making his approach to the concrete dock, so I head over to take his line. This crew turns out to be experienced and

Motor Yacht Aurora

did a fine job of docking, I did nothing but watch. Once they are settled I realize this is not a Looper boat but one we passed on our way up the Hudson River a few days earlier. The boats name, Aurora. This couple live on their boat full time.  They have no, what we call, dirt home. They have cruised over 75,000 miles. They are now on their way to do a part of the Great Loop, Trent Severn Canal, Georgian Bay and North Channel. When they finish their plans are to leave their boat up north and return to Florida and rent a home until next summer when they return to the boat and seek another adventure. As I am returning to Zoey’s Adventure, both Diane and Steve ask about docktails under the pavilion at 5:30. We extend the notice to the other 2 boats on the dock and have a grand time meeting new people. One couple from California have left their boat on the Erie Canal for 4 or 5 years and each summer travel from their home in San Juan Capistrano to their boat and cruise to different areas of the Great Lakes, St Lawrence Seaway and Lake Champlain. I put a bug in his ear about cruising the New England area at some point.

Docktails at the Park Pavilion