One more day to the Repair Depot

An early rise, resulted in an early departure, from the Amsterdam lock where we were docked on the concrete wall for the night. Left over Calzone and Pizza are now in the refrigerator and they will provide more provisions for the balance of the trip, besides one day old Pizza always tastes good.

Our route today will be in familiar territory as we travelled this route about two weeks ago but this time backwards. We start out from Amsterdam this morning, and ended up in Rome this afternoon. Pretty funny that we are taking a European River Cruise but in the USA. Many things are familiar to both cruises including the following:

1. Both are on Rivers

2. Both have height restrictions for boats

3. Both will delay or re-route passengers if there are problems like low water or drained canals

4. Both include Meals and Alcoholic Drinks in the fee

5. Both need Passports to enter their countries

The Erie Canal runs parallel to the New York Thruway and they intersect many times. While on the Canal today I was not sure whether I should turn Right and head down the Thruway or stay on the water and be a safe boater. We stayed on the water.

There have been some different things on the canal system but this diving board took the cake. It appears that someone tried to come up with a unique design to have a Springboard so they could dive into the canal. Why they would want to do that is beyond me, as the water is mucky and not very inviting. However, the guy that designed it, needs to go into the archives as one of the best Springboard Designers Ever. It must have worked because it looks old and well used. Just where would they get a spring that big and strong?

There were many times along the canal that we "Chased" one or two Blue Herons for up to 10 minutes. They kept flying in front of the boat and then landed at the shoreline. When we got close to that spot, they would fly and do the same thing........... land at the shoreline and wait till we arrive, and then fly again. Silly birds. I finally snapped a photo of one after he landed. I have added a couple other bird photos. We saw an Owl, and Eagle, a Kingfisher and of course a few Canada Geese.

Over the last month the canal has been faced with several storms and it is evident that the canal itself, needs updating and cleanup. There are lots of logs, trees and other floating debris in the canal and it needs to be removed. Apparently, now that it is under Federal control, they may send in the "troops' to figure it out. They are on the canal system with machinery, but there is still a lot of floating debris.

I have always been a fan of both Marlow Yachts and Fleming Yachts, but seldom do I see them both in Northern US or in Canada. This week I saw more of my favorite boats. The Marlow today called Celebration Day, was an 80 foot from Florida. Here are a few pictures of the 2005 Marlow. I also added a photo of a Selene as well.

If you recall on our way through the Erie Canal two weeks ago, when we were at Lock 19 in Frankfort, I had to climb on top of our boat and remove some high instruments because the railway bridge was too low or in other words the water level was too high. We passed under the same railway bridge today and I was a bit worried but the water level is now 2 feet 6 inches lower than when we went through this lock previously.

We made it to Rome by 7 pm just in time for a nice photo up the canal.

Tomorrow morning we will set off from the dock at 7 am as we want to get to the first lock by 8 am, when it opens. If we can make that lock by 8 am, we will have a good chance to get through one other lock and then across Lake Oneida before they work on the boat and repair the water pump. The big guillotine type locks in the photo above, are used to dam the canal during emergencies or in the fall shutdown.

On Friday Ess-Kay Marina is going to replace the Water sprocket / pump and we will be more mobile. we hope to have two engines. Given that this all gets completed on Friday, we plan to boat to Oswego sometime Saturday and looking to cross Lake Ontario and get to Trenton early Sunday morning. Cross your fingers, that the weather window is good.

Here is our Nebo Log for today. We travelled 119.4 km in 10.49 hours with an average speed of 13.8 km