Champlain Canal and Waterford, NY

Champlain Canal: We made our way down the Champlain Canal today.  We left the dock in Whitehall at 8:15 with the intent of trying to get all the way through the locks and stay the night in Waterford.  Other than the fact that I am rather tired of dealing with yet another lock, the trip was rather uneventful until we got to Lock 4 (remember we were counting down starting at Lock 12).  At Lock 4 all went well until we were exiting the lock. 

Just as we were almost out I heard some yelling and some scraping and looked up to see that the antenna on our boat was being dragged across a fixed bridge which was lower than expected.    We had a boat exiting close behind us which limited our options and before the captain could take any mitigating action to protect the radar tower, that too hit the bridge.  I didn’t realize there was any damage and in fact I thought that we had escaped unscathed; however, when I heard the lock attendant ask us, “do you fit?” and I heard the captain say in response, “by definition!”  I knew we had hit.  I took a closer look and saw our anchor light flopped over and hanging sideways. 

The captain lowered the radar tower which he would have done to begin with if he knew the bridge would be as low as it was – a little like closing the barn door after the horse has escaped – and we continued on our way to just below the lock.   Today we were traveling with our new friends on Dunwurkin and they have 2 dogs which needed to find a potty, so we pulled up to the wall after exiting the lock.  The dogs got a walk, and we got to assess the damage.   I was holding the boat to the wall so I was “held prisoner” in position, so I shouted up to the captain, “How’s it look?” and he responded, “It’s fixed!” 

As it turned out the anchor light is mounted on starboard (a plastic wood like substance used on boat instead of wooden lumber), and when force was applied to the anchor light, the mounting screws were pulled out of the “wood”.  The captain screwed them back in and said it was good enough for now and a permanent fix is no more than remounting with longer screws.  We were exceedingly lucky on that one!

The lock attendant at Lock 4  told us that the trestle bridge coming up was even lower.  As we approached the bridge it didn’t look like we would fit at all.  I mentioned to the captain that if we couldn’t go under, it was a long trip back home referring to reversing our route to get to this point which has taken over 3 weeks to accomplish.   We had the antenna down and the radar tower folded.  The next item that can be folded is the Bimini top. 

If the trestle bridge was truly 17 feet, we had no need to drop the Bimini top; otherwise, we were in trouble again.  I could have sworn there was no way we were going under that bridge, and at the last minute the captain stood up on the bench seat on the fly bridge to get the bird’s-eye view and announced, “No problem!”  Since I was driving the boat at this point, I couldn’t exactly close my eyes, so I just held my breath instead as we went under the bridge with mere inches to spare.   As soon as I realized we were in no danger of ripping off our Bimini top, I laughed like a little kid as we went under the bridge – clearly happy that we were able to squeeze under.

When he purchased the lock pass for our vessel, the captain asked the lock attendant how long it took to get through the canal.  The answer provided was 6 ½ hours.  Hah!  We started at the first lock at 8:20 or so.  Six and one-half hours later we were no where near Lock 1.  At 5:20, 9 hours later, we were finally approaching Lock 1.  The dog walk / anchor light stop took all of 10 minutes – maybe 15 if I stretch my imagination.  With the speed limit of 10 mph strictly enforced on the canal, there is no way on earth that anyone can get through there in 6 ½ hours.    The only reason it only took 9 1/2 hours was that at each lock, the lockmaster called ahead to the next lock to let them know we were coming so the lock was ready for us; otherwise, the trip could have been much longer.  Believe me – 9 1/2  hours in one day on a canal is more than enough!

Speaking of canals and hours, here are some stats that we were given by our Dunwurkin friends.  We have completed thus far 100 locks.  After tomorrow we will have completed exactly 101 as we still have one more to go through – the Troy Federal Lock.  From Waterford - the start of the Erie Canal, traveling the triangle cruise through Canada, and returning via Lake Champlain / Champlain Canal back to Waterford, we have traveled 718 nautical miles.  Add to that the trip from the NJ up the Hudson River to the Erie Canal and back again and we will have traveled well over 1000 nautical miles in this one vacation trip.

Tonight we walked into Waterford and ate dinner at a very nice restaurant called McGreivey’s.  Afterwards we walked to the Troy Price Chopper to pick up a few supplies.  While there we walked around back to check out their floating dock for boating customers visiting the supermarket.  I’m sure there must be others but this is the only supermarket I am aware of with a floating dock.  Instead of walking over tonight we could have stopped on the water and picked up our supplies in the morning.  At this point, however, the captain and I are both anxious to get ourselves back to NJ and want an early start in the morning.

When we got back to our boat after being out to dinner, we found the boat covered in swarms of some unidentifiable winged bugs, and I mean masses of them.  The captain went up to put the canvas covers on the top of the boat and was unable to avoid stepping on them due to the volume of bugs.  We’re hoping they will disappear in daylight, but when I look at them, they look like they are dead as there is no movement whatsoever.  We’re hoping that means they are sleeping and that they will leave on their own accord.  Anyway, I’m not going outside of the boat again tonight – it’s too gross to think about, and I don’t want them inviting themselves into the boat when I open the door.

We’re not sure of our next destination.   We expect to be somewhere on the Hudson River as far south as we can make it considering tides, currents, and weather.