CODA New York 2025 (27).

CODA : Will arrives to do the Champlain Canal.

24 May 2025 

Waterford Visitors Center free docks, Waterford, Erie Canal, New York  

Nice hat eh!

Marc-  The canal waiting saga continues.  Will arrived at 15:00 today and moved right aboard before the next in what seems a never ending series of rain showers.  We heard from friends that had left earlier that 9 boats were locked through this morning, then 2 barges, then 9 more boats.  Now they are all rafted up at lock 4.  A very slow moving day for them.  We will leave tomorrow morning early to wait in line at Lock 1 for the 08:00 opening.  

Will and I celebrated his arrival by going to a great little Mexican restaurant in Town named Rosas.  Will says that it was authentic Mexican.  It was delicious Supreme Chicken Tacos and Supreme Pork Tacos.  We then went for a three miles hike in the nearby Peebles Island State Park.  It's about twice the size of Burton Island with nice trails.

Newly arrived boat that does tours at Fort Ticonderoga.

Will arrives by Ethan Allen Express (Amtrak).

Mural at Rosa's Restaurant.

Into the forest trails at Peebles Island. 

Harmony Mills in Cohoes.

One hungry blue heron looking for his next meal.  

CODA New York 2025 (26).

 CODA : Opening announcement for partial Champlain Canal.

23 May 2025 

Waterford Visitors Center free docks, Waterford, Erie Canal, New York 

An overview.

Marc-  It rained again most of the day.  Coda has been in Waterford for over a week awaiting the opening of the Champlain Canal.  Today at 14:01 the New York Canal Authority issued a statement that the canal would be partially open tomorrow morning at 08:00.  Boaters scrambled.  Boats started to leave the Waterford docks with actually no place to go.  They somehow wanted to be sure that they would be first in line in the morning.  It will be mayhem at lock C-1 in the morning.  All that these boats can do is anchor in the narrow Hudson River below the lock.  There is no place to tie up to an available wall.  According to the announcement locks C-1 through C-6 will be opening.  No passage further on is allowed until further notice.  In a footnote mention is made that the canal from dock C-7 through C-9 may open on Sunday for shallow vessels only.

My new crew, Will Patten, is coming tomorrow afternoon.  There will not be any time to head upstream.  We will leave early Sunday morning for Lock C-1.  I moved over to a new space on the wall until our departure.  This will allow our Canadian buddy boat to depart tomorrow.  

The main event of the day was a visit of very good friends Janet and her dog George.  They felt their friend Marc need a list and they were absolutely correct.  The reunion was fun even on a grey and wet day.  We toured a local State Park (Peebles Island) and then we had a fantastic lunch at McGrivey's Restaurant (a very dog friendly place).  It was a very happy time.  Thank you so much Janet and George.

Welcome George and Janet.

Now we just need to get our guests aboard.  Coda is rafted up to another sailboat that is tied to the mooring wall.  Luckily Janet brought a set of expandable stairs.

Demonstration of the stairs.

These same stairs allowed George and Janet to easily board Coda.

Sailor George reporting for duty.

What do I do Captain Marc.

Time for you to take the helm George.

A hawk watched us on a hiking trail today.

 

CODA New York 2025 (25).

 CODA : More boat chores / maintenance.

22 May 2025 

Waterford Visitors Center free docks, Waterford, Erie Canal, New York 

This little bird (maybe an oriole?) came to visit me in the morning and stayed around Coda all day even when I was cleaning and refinishing some teak trim.

Marc- Not much new to report.  The navigation buoys have been replaced in the Hudson River as far as Lock 5.  That leaves about 6 more locks to go since there is no lock #10.  There is still no definite start date.  Maybe Monday both Erie (partially) and Champlain will open.  

The morning warmed up enough to work outdoors even though it was overcast.  I was able to clean the teak trim and then I had time to get 2 coats of polyurethane on before it rained.  Luckily I used super  fast drying polyurethane.  

I need a few supplies at the hardware store.  It's 2 miles away down the old Champlain Canal trail.  Very  nice walk with lots of birds singing a flowers along the canal.  The only hard part was walking across the busy State highway.  The road is only 2 lanes, and there is a crosswalk, but the drivers don't stop even when you are in the crosswalk and there is plenty of traffic. Eventually a light turn red up the street creating a gap to cross.

Flowers all along the old Champlain Canal.

Od Champlain Canal locks.

Really nice smelling wildflowers.

CODA New York 2025 (24).

CODA : Exploring the Waterford area.

21 May 2025 

Waterford Visitors Center free docks, Waterford, Erie Canal, New York 

Sal the mule is back from his winter hiding place. 

(The elementary school kids lobbied heavily for his return.)

Marc-  The sun peeked out early this morning to start warming things up here but it didn't last.  It was long enough for me to finish cleaning and putting one coat of polyurethane finish on my teak gunwale.

The clouds moved in but the rain held off all day.  I took out our bikes and went riding on the Empire Bike Trail that goes from Albany to Buffalo.  I so much wanted to see Niagara Falls again but that's 350 miles away.  My boat neighbor Benoit and I biked out about 10 miles to a park on the Mohawk River then returned when I received a call that we needed to move our boat for a tugboat.  A second call ten minutes later spelled relief since the tugboat operator changed his plans.  We did visit the Harmony Mills (textile factories that Armand had showed me a few days ago) and the impressive Cohoes Falls.

We returned just in time to get Vermont friends Fred and Dorothy settled in as the now empty tugboat spot on the wall.  We will get together for dinner tonight.  Our total miles was about 25.

A Mastodon was found here when building this textile mill.  The Mastadon is now at the New York State Museum in Albany.  I went to visit this museum with the Sara Lou and Stephanie when we were here about 18 years ago.

Benoit on the Empire Bike Path.

Champlain Canal buoys coming down for installation.

All of the buoys should be installed in the next three days (they work long hours).

  

CODA New York 2025 (23).

CODA : Another quiet day on the canal wall.

20 May 2025 

Waterford Visitors Center free docks, Waterford, Erie Canal, New York  

Painting of the DeWitt Clinton (the first Erie Canal boat).

Marc-  It was in the low 40's last night with a repeat due tonight.  The morning started out very nice with mostly sunny skies and temperatures that hit the mid 60's.  Very nice day to do more teak refinishing.  I completed another 8 feet of port gunwale.

  

Coda and her Canadian dock mate.

Back view of dual dockage.

Cousin Armand picked me u for a wonderful dinner with the extended Langevin Family

CODA New York 2025 (22).

CODA : Quiet day on the canal wall.

19 May 2025 

Waterford Visitors Center free docks, Waterford, Erie Canal, New York 

I started the day with a thermos full of free coffee from the Visitors Center.

The flooding from Hurricane Irene is forever marked on the wall.  The Visitors Center recovers from Springtime floods every year (albeit not as severe).  I did hear from the staff that I could use the tugboat power post (it is 4 feet tall and set back from the docking wall) if we wanted electricity.

Marc-  The sun came out this morning and I went right to work cleaning up more teak gunwale and finishing it with polyurethane.  The process is a labor of love and requires about 10 coats of finish. 

I changed the sheets in the forward cabin bunk for the new crew and cleaned the boat up a bit.  For lunch I invited my neighbor Benoit over for a Cabot cheddar cheeseburger.  We needed an hour long afternoon walk covering 5 miles to work it off.  The temperature has plummeted from 64 degrees this morning to 47 degrees this evening and I expect to turn on the diesel furnace shortly.

Teak gunwale work.

Now this was a surprise.  Herman Melville, the great seafaring author, actually wrote his first two books 160 miles inland from the sea in Troy, New York.  His house is nothing to write home about.

The Canal Authority gave everyone here waiting to pass through the canal a burgee.  Nice touch.

CODA New York 2025 (21).

 CODA : The 200th anniversary party of the Erie Canal ended this afternoon.

18 May 2025 

Waterford Visitors Center free docks, Waterford, Erie Canal, New York 

It was fun while it lasted.  The party certainly kept things lively.

Marc-  It was a rather cool and rainy day. We made the most of it with going up to St. Mary's Church and walking around the exhibits and some of the neighborhoods.  Armand came over to pick us up to go to the train station for Adam's trip to Vermont.  He made an excellent crew.  He even did some of the cooking.  I stayed with Armand the rest of the day while he showed me more sights in the area and then I joined him for dinner at a new Panera restaurant in town. 

Beautiful flowers on the way to St. Mary's.

Unfortunately the Mass I picked to attend was cancelled today.

Nice homes in town.

I am impressed by the curved glass windows on the second floor.

Vendor blowing big bubbles.

Nice boat with a pilot house.

Same boat with an inquisitive dog poking out of the pilot house.

Coda at the docks viewed from the Peebles Island Bridge.

Armand and his dog Lizzie.

We may go to Saratoga to see the horse track this week while we wait for the canal to open. The Belmont Stakes Festival will be held June 4th to June 8th at Saratoga.  The regular Saratoga scheduled races run July 10th to Labor Day.