We made it to the Hudson River. For real this time!
At exactly 9:00 AM, our planned departure time, we passed under the Number 2 Guard Gate, on our way towards Lock 6 of the Waterford Flight. I’ve mentioned the guard gates a couple of times but haven’t written about their purpose. Apparently they are to keep the water out during the winter. Interestingly there are 2 guard gates protecting this series of locks. Apparently they believe in redundancy too!
The NY State Canal Guide suggests that you allocate 2 hours to go through the five locks. With no waiting around between the locks, we made it through in exactly 1.5 hours. Now in Waterford, NY, at the Hudson River, we are just about in tidal waters. More adventure awaits!
“Repping Collins Bay Marina, yo!”
This photo was posed specially for Hub and Michelle at Collins Bay. 🙂
Ummm, I think the doors are leaking a bit!
One definitely needs to watch out for debris in the locks. Surprisingly once it gets in there it stays in there. After I successfully dodged this “tree” on the way in, it decided that it liked us so much it wanted to go under our boat and mess with our props. I had to hold on to the line that was holding our boat in position while wrestling with this #$%$ branch all the way down. Fun!
And out of Lock 2 we came. Hudson River… we’re here!
Whoops! Where are those gloves your wrote about several days ago. We saw naked hands in those photos!!!!
I was holding on to our own line, looped around one of their cables, as opposed to holding on to one of the hanging ropes. The ropes which hang in the water all day are the ones that get slimy.
That must be quite the set of locks, if what they say is true; considering the welland canal lifts 190 feet in about 0.8 mi at one point, with 144 feet of that done in about 1600 feet.
I only report what I am told. 😉
Congratulations! That is a fun series of locks. Keep your gloves on though. I once got a bacterial infection transiting those locks and spent a day in the emergency room in Waterford!
You’re going to love the Hudson. The Troy lock is pretty nice, it’s a federal lock, then it’s just tides and river bends to NYC and the ocean! There’s a nice anchorage on the back side of Middle Ground Flats near Athens and later on around the back side of Bannerman Island and even later on near Ossining. Lots of nice places to stop. Go up Roundout Creek near Kingston and you can anchor at the end, under the far bridge, or stay at the municipal marina pretty cheap. There is a little museum there and some great restaraunts.
Keep having fun!
Great info Doug. I’ll get our charts out and find those places. Thank you!
Now, I’m off to wash my hands!!!
We’re only trying to keep you well and happy cause we’re so so enjoying your great adventure!
Gracias!
Love your T-Shirt
Should be on the front “zero to cruising”
On the back….”without berth control”
LOL. Not a bad idea.
So cool seeing you leaving the locks. We’re really enjoying all the pictures. Other than New York City and Niagara Falls we’ve never been up North, nor have we been through any locks yet. We’re learning through ya’ll!
It’s been a great trip thus far.
I’m looking forward to continuing the journey with you. The photos are awesome! And how sweet of Emmet to take you around. He’s obviously not only proud of his town, he’s very knowlegable about the area. How nice.
It was great to spend the time with him. He is obviously very proud of the area.