Erie Flight of Five

Erie Flight of Five:  Started the day by filling up with diesel fuel at Albany Yacht Club where we spent last night.  The sight of the final price on the pump is not for the weak of heart!  Given that the boat holds 300 gallons of fuel and the price of diesel is just over $4 / gallon, it cost just over $800 to bring both tanks up to the full mark!  The fuel is definitely the most expensive portion of the trip with marina fees being the next heavy hitter as they charge by the foot and our vessel is documented at 37 feet.  For the Lincoln Harbor Yacht Club they charged us $6 / foot for the luxury of staying there although my husband swears they contracted for $5.50 / foot.  Anyway, we’re hoping to find places along the Erie that are either free or minimal charge circa $1 / ft to help balance out the cost.

Immediately upon leaving the Albany Yacht Club where we bought our Erie Canal 2-day passes, we came to Troy, NY and the federal lock - Lock 1 of the Erie Canal.  Unfortunately, we had a very long wait while the lock was busy locking through opposing traffic.  Finally we got the green light (literally) and made our way into the lock.  In this case the “elevator” was ‘goinng up’, so we were at the bottom of the lock looking up.  The Federal Lock in Troy does not provide any hanging lines to grab as do the locks on the Erie Canal run by NY state, so we wrapped our lines around a couple of pipes running up the side of the lock wall in preparation of working our way up to the top.   The whole process is interesting when it is not 92 degrees out with a blistering sun.  When it is that hot, like today, you simply stand in place to fend the boat from the wall and melt.

After leaving the Troy Lock, we made the left at the Erie Canal – Champlain Canal sign and immediately came to the “flight of five” – a series of 5 locks that are one after the other with barely any distance between them.  After 5 in a row, which takes about 2 hours to get through all told, the process is fairly well figured out, and if you didn’t have a process before you entered the first lock, you will definitely have one by the time you exit the 5^th.  The next lock after the flight of five is 65 minutes away, and then the next another 65 minutes after that.  Numerous ‘no wake’ zones pop up along the way so that it definitely takes quite a while to traverse the Erie Canal.  

While we were being ‘locked through’ Lock 5, we heard the lock master of lock 6 call the lock master of lock 5 to tell him he had a “couple of hot rods heading east” and they needed to be slowed down.   Normally once a vessel enters the first of the ‘fliight of five’, the progression is rapid from one to the next as the lock masters are ready for you and have the doors open and waiting.  I have a feeling the ‘hot rods’ were going to have quite a wait for the first door to open.

As I’m typing this we are working our way along the Erie.  Buying fuel and getting lock passes and all the other morning activities took more time than we wanted, so once again we are trying to make up lost time as we motor along the canal.  We are still wondering where we will spend the night as neither of us knows exactly what time they stop locking boats through, so we don’t know if we can reach our 1^st choice next stop  or not for tonight.  Ah well, the captain heard the lock master say that the locks are operating from 10:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., so we are now at a marina just past lock 8.  In speaking with the owner of the marina where we are now tied up, she says that the hours are 7:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m..  So basically the captain misheard / misunderstood and we could have made it to lock 11 as we had wanted to.

I can’t complain though because I am just plain tired and 2 more hours of locking through just doesn’t sound like fun.  We are at a marina / RV park called Arrowhead and the owners are extremely nice.  When we asked about buying ice, they insisted on driving us to the local mini mart so we could buy some since their machine is broken.   The distance is one that we would normally see as an easy walk to get there – no more than a mile, but the joke was that by the time we got there and back with the ice, it would be melted and we’d have to go again which could result in an infinite loop, so finally the captain gave in and agreed to accept the ride to the store.  I think it took all of 5 minutes including the time to buy the ice, but it is just so nice that folks offer to help you out like that.  When the owner found out that we had wanted to get as far as lock 11, she said that if we wanted we could leave with no problem on her part.  We are staying cause I'm not going!

Instead I asked for and was given the phone number of a local pizza / sub shop that delivers and we're having COLD subs delivered to the boat for supper.  Just the thought of trying to cook something after melting all day is beyond me.  I hope this heat breaks soon.  Today I had sunscreen on top of sunscreen and I still burned.   The captain didn’t bother with sunscreen yesterday (I insisted today), and due to the round shape of his sunglasses, he looks like either a raccoon or an owl, I can’t quite decide which with big white eyes and a bright red face.

I’m going to try my luck at pictures again after I have had food so I don’t throw my laptop in the Erie Canal in frustration.  I’m interested to see what pictures the captain took today while I was down below waiting for the next lock to appear on the horizon.  On that note the delivery person has managed to find our boat and dinner has arrived.  We'll see what the picture situation is after I am 'fortified' with nourishment!