TI: Duck Cove Anchorage to Waterford Dock

Thursday 7/19/2018

Depart: Silver Point - Duck Cove Anchorage 8:50

Arrive: Waterford Free Dock 3:05

Distance: 41 nm

Locks: 1

When we woke this morning, the air temperature was downright chilly! I decided I better enjoy it while it lasts as we are expected to return to hot and humid by the weekend.

It took several minutes to raise the anchor this morning as Clark found the chain coated in thick mud that needed to be rinsed off before we could stow it in the anchor locker. As he finished putting away the anchor washdown tools, I piloted the boat out of the anchorage. Although we are traveling north, we had to go south to reenter the channel as a narrow 2-foot section blocked direct access.

Continuing our journey northward, we approached the Catskills and the Rip Van Winkle Bridge located there

Rip Van Winkle Bridge
Catskills, NY

Passing under Rip Van Winkle Bridge

The Hudson River contains an interesting mix of bucolic and industrial scenery.  We see nothing but trees and rockface for miles and then voila civilization leaves its footprint.

Power Lines Crossing the Hudson River

Barge Traffic on the Hudson River

Close up of tug with barge

After the Catskills came Hudson and Athens and the lighthouse located there. Also known as the "Hudson City Light", this lighthouse was built in 1874 to mark a sandy ridge at Middle Ground Flats. Per Wikipedia, the building was designed to protect it against ice flows on the river.

Hudson City Light

Many bridges cross the river. Fortunately, they are all sufficiently tall leading up to the Troy Lock that none need to be opened for our height vessel.

Castleton-on-Hudson Bridge with
Conrail Bridge in Foreground

Castleton-on-Hudson Bridge with
Conrail Bridge in Foreground

Approaching Albany, we found very diverse scenery.

As we got closer to Albany, I asked Clark to get a picture of the U-Haul building with the truck on the roof. I did not expect to see a mural as well.

U-Haul Building with Truck on Top

Giant Mural of Woman

There's the truck!

Pictures of Albany itself ...

Leaving Albany and before Troy, we saw some interesting boats ...

House on Barge

Floating Bar -
"Rusty Anchor Bar and Grill"
Dock and Drink?

Our younger son and his wife attended Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, so this area holds a special place in our hearts. We have a lot of fond memories of hanging out at our son's frat! Since the university does not sit beside the river, only bits and pieces can be seen from the water, and it is nearly impossible to get good pictures from a boat.

Pictures of Troy ...

Lift Bridge

After Troy, we came to the Federal "Troy" lock.

Troy Lock

Troy Dam

Troy Lock and Dam
on the Hudson River

A bridge just after the lock gave a vertical clearance of 20' on the chart data. We need 22' of clearance with our mast up. Clark had rigged a pulley system for lowering the mast. Today we had our first chance to put it into real use. We drifted in front of the bridge while we lowered antennas and the mast. All told with multiple antennas and the one mast, it took just over 5 minutes to get ready for the bridge.

Everything went smoothly and we were prepared to congratulate ourselves on being able to make it under the bridge. Only thing ... today the bridge meter stick showed it had a vertical clearance of at least 25 feet! We did not have to lower the mast here after all! Oh well, it makes good practice and gives us stats for the next bridge we come to!

After the Troy Lock, boaters get to choose their route - north to Lake Champlain or West on the Erie Canal.

"Road sign" on the River
Erie or Champlain Canal?

We chose the Erie for our trip to the Thousand Islands
Sign says "Welcome to the Erie Canal"

Waterford offers a free dock with restrooms and showers. Who can pass up such a deal?!

Waterford Dock

Painted Mule / Horse at Waterford

Waterford Facility

We had checked the Waterford web cams to see how it looked as far as boats docked there before we arrived. I only remembered after seeing many boats there, instead of the zero appearing on the web cam, that the docks are not captured for the web cams. We wondered if we would find a spot! We wanted WiFi for the blog, so we crept up to the front of the line and found a spot.

Docked facing Lock 2 of the Erie Canal
(there is no Lock 1)

Looking down the Waterford dock from beside our boat

Bread and fresh fruits and vegetables get consumed quickly on our boat. We decided to pull out the bikes and ride over the bridge to a nearby grocery store. Although it is only a short distance from the dock, it took what felt like forever to get there because Clark stopped every few feet to take pictures.

Waterford

Waterford

We came back to the boat well-supplied. I asked Clark to cook on the grill tonight to keep the heat out of the boat. We had steak with fresh vegetables!

Clark captured some great reflections at sunset tonight.