July 6th, 2017: Troy, NY – Schenectady, NY ( 18.92 NM – 7 hours, 42 minutes )
Finally we’re off! Our first day of the Erie Canal :)… Although we only make it about 19 nautical miles today, we went through 9 locks! Some were actually kinda fun, while others were tough to keep the vessel situated in the lock correctly. The current created by a filling lock can be a powerful force and more than once we were pushed into the slimy rock wall with much more force than we would’ve liked.
All and all, it was a cool first day experience :). We ended our day tied up at the Schenectady Yacht Club.
July 7th, 2017: Schenectady, NY – Amsterdam, NY ( 17.89 NM – 4 hours, 33 minutes )
With only 3 locks to deal with, today should have been a walk in the park. Lock 13 was by far the most challenging for us on the entire canal because we nearly entered the lock sideways due to the crazy-strong current and back-eddy! After a few tense maneuvers we eased our bow to port, out of the strong back-eddy that was pulling us directly into the concrete piling that separated the lock entrance from weir overflow. Let’s just say I earned a cold brew and the end of this cruise!
When we arrived in Amsterdam, NY, we were once again held up by the closing of the canal due to high water. Luckily, we snagged a spot at the Riverlink Park Marina, along with a few of the other boats we’ve been cruising up with. M/V Nova rafted up to us because there were no spots and canal was closed ( what a way to make friends )!
July 9th, 2017: Amsterdam, NY – Little Falls, NY ( 38.44 NM – 10 hours, 19 minutes )
After a 2 day delay, we were happy to be on the way. With 9 locks in the section, is was quite the day trying to make up on some lost time, we barely made it through the last lock of the day and into Little Falls, NY before dark! We thankfully snagged the last spot at the Little Falls Marine – Rotary Park otherwise we would’ve been anchoring in some awkward location in the canal!
July 10th, 2017: Little Falls, NY – Brewerton, NY ( 62.61 NM – 14 hours, 31 minutes )
It was a long day on the canal, but we only had to deal with 5 locks today. We managed to make it in Lake Oneida and the excitement of open water made us decide to push through to the other side.
We stayed on the public wall the first night, then moved over to Ess-Kay Yards. We had been having some issues with the head, and I needed to head back to Calgary for some business so the vessel and crew stayed in Brewerton, NY for a couple of weeks.
July 22nd, 2017: Brewerton, NY – Lyons, NY ( 61.26 NM – 12 hours, 36 minutes )
It was nice to back at it, this section was a long day and had 5 locks to contend with.
July 23rd, 2017: Lyons, NY – Brockport, NY ( 50.88 NM – 10 hours, 22 minutes )
7 Locks in this section, and we’re really beginning to understand why they call it “The Ditch”. Some neat bridges, but a lot of narrow long canal.
July 24th, 2017: Brockport, NY – Buffalo, NY ( 62.27 NM – 13 hours, 16 minutes )
Our last day in the Erie Canal, happy day! Only 3 locks in the canal and 1 in Buffalo left and we can finally put up the mast and tender and get back into some open water!
M/V MIGRATOR 1 