Sailing South aboard Lucy III: 2020-2021 (Day 6)

 Catskill Marina,Catskill, NY:  September 9, 2020

A Waterford house seen on the way to the diner.

Marc-  We departed Waterford at 09:10 after having an excellent breakfast at Don & Paul's Diner.  A local boater aboard a Mainship 43 trawler assisted us with area marina information and dropping our lines from the dock.  20 minutes later we arrived at the Army Corps of Engineers Lock at Troy and entered after a brief delay to fill the lock.  This is the largest lock on our journey to date.  The Lockmaster stopped by to discuss our travels as we descended 16 feet. He visits other locks and canals on vacation and mentioned his favorite was The Rideau Canal in Ottawa Canada. It's our favorite as well.

Once below the Troy Lock we were in the tidal Hudson and proceeded Southbound with the current enjoyed with a falling tide (1-2 knots).  The first landmarks were in Albany including the State Capital buildings and the Train Station.  We got a kick out of the UHaul building with the truck on the roof. Much of the Port of Albany has an industrial look about it yet we saw

only one ship and several barges.  We decided to stop at Shady Harbor Marina for fuel, parts for the VHF antenna and a pump out,  Shady Harbor is a class act with excellent facilities and took care of all of our needs.  It took another 2 1/2 hours to reach Catskill.  I called to reserve a slip and arrange for the mast stepping x2. He assigned us a slip and told us the masts would be done tomorrow.  Our new neighboring boaters helped us dock twice insisting that we needed to back in to complete the process.  The boating community is great.

Sue and I went ashore in search of an Ice Cream Parlor and we found one on the first street corner---I like this town.  We later walked around town and enjoyed an excellent dinner at a neat Mexican Restaurant. We were also looking for the decorative cats but did not find the several on Main Street. The photos are from a previous visit.  Perhaps Covid 19 has interfered with the Cat Competition.