TI: Scotia to Waterford NY

Sunday 8/5/2018
Depart: Scotia Town Dock 9:45
Arrive: Waterford Free Dock 2:15
Distance: 18 nm
Locks: 6 (E-7, E-6, E-5, E-4, E-3, E-2, E-1)

Unlike prior days with a threat of rain, today offered a hot and sunny day for our travels. Locks when the air temperature is over 90 degrees are not much fun. Relief came in the locks as we dropped down and the shaded, damp, and cool walls of the lock protected us from the intense heat. Over the course of the day, we transited six locks and dropped almost 200' in total - like taking an elevator down 20 floors.

Clark had some miscellaneous tasks to to before we left, so we were late leaving Scotia this morning. As I prepared to depart, I noticed that the driver of the "US Water Ski Team Show" boat came out to take his boat out for a spin. I thought we might get to see some practice runs, and a short while later, the skiers showed up to join him. We did not stick around to see any stunts. We only got to see one skier warming up.

"U.S. Water Ski Team Show" boat warming up

Now with skier attached to tow line 

Looking back at the Scotia Town Docks

Although we traveled this part of the Erie Canal only a couple of weeks ago, Clark took a number of pictures along the way.

Scenes along the Erie ...

Aqueduct on the Canal

Waterfall on side of canal

Another waterfall on side of canal

The heavy and repeated rains have caused lots of debris to clutter the waterway and get trapped in the locks. As Clark navigated the canal waters, he said, "It's like a mine field out here!" We saw everything from greenery to branches to tree trunks floating on the water.

Birds found a floating log to sit upon.
They did not appreciate our wake which knocked them off.

Floating plant-life on the canal

Debris trapped on a green buoy

Debris trapped on another green buoy

Tree washed up on shore.
How are the property owners supposed to deal with that?!

Other scenes on the canal today ...

"Warning Dam" sign

Erie Canal Work Boat
- NY Canal colors are gold and blue

Guard Gate on the Canal

We traveled an hour to arrive at lock E-7 then another hour to get to E-6. Upon reaching E-6, we had arrived at the "Flight of Five" whereupon the locks came one after the other with hardly a break in between. On average, it takes 1.5 hours to complete the five locks. We had a brief delay / break at lock E-4 as we had to wait for boats locking up to exit before we could proceed.

Lock 6 - waiting to enter; water high

Lock 6 - exiting; water 33' lower

Exiting Lock 5 after 34' drop

When we docked at Waterford, we were met by a couple from Montreal who grabbed our lines and helped us tie up the boat. They are traveling on a sailboat to the Bahamas via the U.S. east coast. Since we are familiar with both the Bahamas and the east coast of the U.S., we chatted with them about their travel plans.

By the time we had completed all the locks of the "Flight of Five" in extreme heat with little to no break between locks, I was ready to melt. Clark continued to chat with the folks from Montreal, but as soon as I could after tying up at the Waterford dock, I headed for the showers to try to cool down and feel better.

We turned on the air conditioning and hid from the heat in the boat for the rest of the night. For a short while, we had a power outage and had no air conditioning. Clark said that even with the A/C off, it was still better in the closed-up boat than outside. Even with the heat, he did get out and about and took tonight's sunset picture.