A birds nest in a cozy spot. This is the top of the cable we wrap a line around to hold us when the lock lifts or drops.

The Erie Canal System will take us four days this season. The locks are open from 7am to 5 pm. That cuts down on travel time. It's running smoothly even though the new system is driving the lock tenders crazy. They need to write down the permit number of the boats using the system and enter it into a computer system. They also have to mow the lawn and maintain the locks. One lock tender wanted to know when they would have time to do the lock maintenance with the extra paper work. Yesterday at lock 19 the lock tender was mowing the lawn and didn't see or hear us on the hand held so we had to wait to lock through. We lost a lot of time because of that. The picture on the top left is a section of the old canal system next to lock 2 in Waterford NY. Tonight we are in Baldwinsville NY at Lock 24. One more lock to go and that puts us into Cayuga Lake tomorrow. We should be home by evening.

The dam next to lock 7 on the Mohawk River

The Erie Canal System

Today we locked through the Federal Lock in Troy NY. We thought this lock would be open before
May 1 st but were mistaken. The Erie Canal system opens for the season on May 1st. So we hurried up to wait 2 days for the lock to open. We found a nice anchorage 24 miles south of the lock and spent 2 nights there. It was nice to relax for awhile. We've made record time getting home this year. We left Florida a week later then past seasons and were 3 days further south in Florida. Our 400 miles in 3 days pushed us ahead. We also only had 2 days where the weather held us up.
Tonight we are in Waterford NY. Lock 2. These next 5 locks are called the "Flight of Five" because from lock 2 to lock 6 is only a mile and a half and takes 2 hours to get through. This is the gateway to the canal system. We actually made it here in time for the ceremonies opening the canal. There really wasn't much fan fare and we thought they would have cake to share but there wasn't.

The photo shows us just below lock 2 on the town dock. We'll be ready tomorrow at 7 am to continue on.

A Glorious Passage

After a glorious passage of 400 miles in three days we reached NYC. We left Deep Creek in the Dismal Swamp in VA on the 25th of April. Stopped in Norfolk for fuel and then went off shore into the Atlantic Ocean. On the 26th of April we stopped in at Cape May NJ for fuel, water and fresh fish from the Lobster House. These were three days of perfect sea conditions. The winds and the swells were from the south east and we rarely saw more then 15 knots and most of the time they were ten or less. Not good for sailing but I am a fair weather sailor and would rather motor then be nervous about winds that are too strong. We did have both head sail and main sail up for some time. This made up for the four miles of gale force winds in the Albemarle Sound that we had to deal with.
When going under the George Washington Bridge on the right is a little red lighthouse. It's the Jeffery's Hook Lighthouse in Washington Park . I've seen it a few times and thought it was so cute. I've since learned the story behind the lighthouse. There is a children's book where the lighthouse is encouraged by the bridge to continue to provide a beacon to the river, but in real life the bridge makes the lighthouse obsolete. In 1947 the lighthouse was deactivated but the children spoke up and kept it from being demolished. The book is written by Hildegard H Swift.

Our First Squall!!!

Believe it or not Bruce and I experienced our first squall. I would rate it second to the tornado we had experienced last season. Yesterday(4-21-09) we did 90 miles (the current was nice to us) so we would be in a good position to cross the Albermarle Sound in NC. This Sound can get very nasty if the winds are from the west. Of course we checked our weather for this morning and figured if we left at the crack of dawn, as usual, we would be able to get across the twelve miles of the sound before the wind picked up. The winds have been very calm in the morning and the forecast for the afternoon is when they were suppose to pick up. This was not to be!! About four miles into the trip Bruce said, "we are going to get hit with a storm", so we got the head sail down just in time. The winds picked up and the rain came down. We saw gusts to 42 miles an hour. I don't think we have ever seen that in our five years of traveling. Bruce wasn't sure he should tell me how high the winds had gotten, but I was glad to hear they were only 42 miles because I was thinking they were about a bazillion miles an hour. My kayak flipped over but is tied to the boat, but my paddle and a spare bumper that were in the kayak went overboard. The cover on the dinghy was blown partially off and the straps holding the dinghy secure, let lose and we lost one of those. We heard the coast guard annouce severe weather moving through with gusts to 30. Yeah right!! I wanted to call and inform him they were more like 40.
Our speed was only between one and two miles an hour and we had the Sound and twenty more miles to go to get to Elizabeth City NC. We decided to turn around and go into a marina where we had just fueled. There was a Canadian boat we had talked to and his wife was glad we came back. Sitting here secured at the dock we can hear the wind howling away and several other boats have come in. I think we made the right decision. Besides we have free WiFi and real showers. Sorry no pictures but I was too busy holding on to get the camera. Besides, how do you get a picture of gale force winds.

Forced March home!!!

Arcadia is moving north as fast as she can!!! We've been doing around 70 miles a day. Unfortunatly, the weather gets colder the more north we go. There were a couple of chilly mornings when I didn't want to get out of my cozy bed. If I wait for my morning hot flash, which are getting few and far between (so I can't depend on them) I can jump out of bed, get dressed and by the time I cool down my morning routine is done and I am ready for the day. Bruce would be up at 5 am. Anywhere from 5:30 to 7:30 I would hear the motor start and the chain from the anchor hitting against the boat. I felt a little guilty not helping, but then again, I always cook the dinner.

Today we went past Camp LeJeune in NC. The Firing Range can be closed for an hour if they are firing across the ICW. A military vessel would block the ICW. Today was the first time in the six years we've gone past, that we saw anything going on. There were three armored personnel carriers that were going across the ICW. I thought they were going to prevent us from going north but they just waved at us and waited for us to pass.

Today the weather was nasty so we only went 40 miles. During my turn at the helm the rain and winds arrived. Yuck!!! At least it wasn't cold and I had my foul weather gear on and only my feet got wet. We decided to go to a marina because the weather is suppose to bad tonight. More rain, wind and possibly hail. Things are pretty uneventful at this point in our trip, and hopefully it stays that way.

America's Great Loop

It's official!! We have crossed our wake on March 23, 2009 at 1:30 in the morning completing the loop we started on July 19th 2008.

Our friend Fred, in Ithaca ,thinks we should call it complete when we get there, since we started there the summer 2008. However, people take years to complete the loop. Since we've been this far up the west coast of Florida previous years, I'm going with that. We can also celebrate with Fred when we get home.

Montserrat Volcano

Ok... This is the final posting of our five week cruise in the Caribbean with our friends then on to our current travels.

On Feb. 16, my birthday we headed south from St.Kitts past Montserrat. It was an awesome way to spend a birthday. Sailing past the volcano and seeing first hand the devastation caused by the eruption over ten years ago, was quite the sight. There is a two mile safety zone that we needed to obey and trust me we obeyed it. The cruising guides suggest sailing down the east side so that smoke and ash don't land on you, but since the volcano wasn't spewing, we got adventurous and sailed down the west side. We listened to Chris Parker, the weather guy and he didn't mention any volcanic activity. The picture shows the ash covered houses.

We stopped in Guadeloupe WI for one night. Took a walk in town next morning for fruit and veggies. We tried to check into customs but no one was around, so we gave up. We left here at 10 am and headed for Les Saintes and spent about ten days here. These French Islands are like living in a fairy tale. The only way we could get EUROs was to buy a loaf of French bread using a twenty dollar bill. The banks were closed because of the French Islands strike going on at the time. Otherwise we were happy here hiking and touring the island.

Next and final stop was St. Lucia. This island is know for it's Pitons and beer named after the pitons. Here we visited a collapsed volcano which was amazing. The steam comes spewing out of the street gutters a block away and the sulfur smell was worse then a rotten egg.

The day(Mar. 9th)before Bruce and I left to come home we decided we might want to try zip lining. If you know me at all, you know I do not like heights. I've been on a few roofs reshingling and it is not fun. We had rented a car for touring this island, so the four of us drove to the Rain Forest Sky Rides place. The guy said no zip line today because there weren't enough people. Oh well, I was actually dissappointed. Instead we took a walking tour through the Rain Forest which was nice but all the trees sounded the same. I was impressed with the incense tree that makes the incense for churches and a pretty red and black seed they call donkey eyes. Anyway, after that hike we got a free rum punch. It sure came in handy!!! Bruce saw that a bunch of people came in for zip lining and he asked if they had room. Before I knew it I was put in my zip gear and on a tranopy up through the rain forest. It was beautiful. These guys kept us moving from one tree to the next and after the second zip I stopped shaking and actually enjoyed the scenery below. The worst was standing on the platforms around the trees 150 ft above the forest. Even worse was having to step up on the edge and get fastened to the zip line for the next zip along. We went from 1500 ft to 1300 ft in ten zip lines. After our ten zip lines we hikes back up and took the Tranopy back down. That's when Bruce gave away my second coupon for another free rum punch. Bummer!! Zip lining was the highlight of our trip not to mention the volcanos.