Ed. Note: With the NY Canals closing for the season today – and the worries that, due to funding constraints and mounting operating losses, one of these years they might not open at all – Captain Bull Dog shares one of his favorite pleasure boating trips he and his wife has taken over the years.

We heard of the “Great Loop” cruising route and of a vast waterway steeped in European charm and majestic views in upstate New York, and this was going to be our year to cruise it. As a veteran delivery captain and 100-Ton Merchant Marine Master, I have had the pleasure of traveling the eastern seaboard from Florida to New Hampshire and much of the Intracoastal Waterway. My wife of 33 years and I were curious about what we had heard from Midlakes Navigation, a specialty charter fleet (visit midlakesnavigation.com) about the exploring the history along what is now the 3rd Erie Canal, this one being built primarily for recreational boaters. While conceived as Governor Dewitt Clinton’s "Folly" back in the early 1800s, and recently greatly improved by former Governor of New York, George Pataki, the Erie Canal offers a cross between Disneyworld and Williamsburg seen from the vantage point however of your own cockpit.

The canal has a minimum vertical clearance throughout its length of approximately 21 feet and a minimum depth of 12 feet from Troy NY through the Oswego Canal leading into Lake Ontario by the Thousand Islands.  The canal winds through rolling farmlands, majestic mansions, old mill towns, vineyards peaked with Revolutionary War History, the battles for women’s suffrage and even baseball’s Hall of Fame. Along with incredible vistas, we found wonderfully helpful lock tenders and townspeople who assisted us with courtesies we have found missing in other areas. And the restaurants.... While being avid boaters we have succumbed to the temptations of fine dining and regrettably know most of the ports in the Northeast better from the standpoint of their eateries then their maritime history. Name the port, and my wife and I can tell you who has the best sushi or pasta. We had heard that upstate New York was no Nantucket, and that it was economically depressed. “Don’t expect to find anything special in upstate New York,” they'd say. Unfortunately, some of this is true – but some not so true.

We departed our homeport of the Mianus River Boat and Yacht Club along the banks of the Cos Cob Harbor in Greenwich upon our 40-foot Hatteras Motor Yacht. The crew consisted of me – a Coast Guard-licensed 100-Ton Master Captain – along with Gunny and Nicky, my two Schipperkes (Belgium Barge Dogs – and ideal boating companions), and my wife, Dorothy – the cook and shopper. My wife earns frequent-shopper miles credit for each nautical mile traveled on our trips, and from what I had heard of the shopping, my pocketbook would be well protected on this route...not exactly so. We had decided to delay our usual trip to Essex, Sag Harbor, Block Island, Newport and the Cape and Islands for a little bit of history touring up north.

On our first day, we headed through Hell Gate and up the Harlem Branch to the Hudson River and made Haverstraw.  Dan, the very capable manager of Haverstraw Marina informed us that his facility was the largest on the East Coast with around 1,000 slips. We waited out a front to pass and headed up to Catskill NY and then on to Troy. We passed West Point commercial traffic and the port of Albany. The views of the hills on either side of the river were breathtaking.  We learned that what makes the Hudson tidal, one of the largest tidal rivers in the US, is the fact that the elevation from Manhattan to Troy is essentially zero, enabling water to slosh back in forth with the lunar tides. So far we covered over 150 nautical miles with ease. At Troy, we stayed at the Troy Downtown Marina and found one of the two most outstanding restaurants of our trip – the River Street Café of Troy, a scant 1,000 feet from the docks. The chef entertained us with a cold pesto pasta salad coupled with freshly baked bread, the house Caesar salad and a wonderful gourmet assortment of fresh fish and beef dishes with exotic Thai sauces, capped off with a fine wine selection and creative delectable deserts – all of which would rival the best that New York City had to offer at one-third the price. This is a must stop before entering the canal system.

The next day we entered the first lock known as Troy Federal Lock Number One. Unlike the others staffed by the New York Canal System, this lock is operated by the US Army Corps of Engineers. Passing through the lock we came to the crossroads of the New York State Canal system as evidenced by a big billboard. To port was Buffalo and to starboard was Lake Champlain. Because of height restrictions (our Hatteras required 19.5 feet) we could not do the Lake Champlain route (15.5 feet vertical limitation). We turned to port and stopped at Waterford Harbor Docks and Welcome Center for the night – free dockage, and a good place to get provisioned up. It was oppressively hot and humid and the market was a few blocks away. We asked a local resident how far the market was and he insisted on driving us and waiting outside before returning us to our boat.

I mentioned free dockage. Free is a word canal-goers are very familiar with, and may like to keep a secret. Can you tell me another place well-maintained and safe with water and electric that today is free? On the Erie, there are more docks than not that are free.

We visited with the volunteers that staffed the Waterford Center and picked up information and guidebooks sold there.  Essential is the Chartkit for the New York Waterways and Skipper Bob’s Cruising the New York Canal System guidebook. While many intrepid sailors don’t leave home with out their electronic charts, neither Maptech nor Nobeltec have DVD’s or CD’s for the canal. Only Northstar compatible chips were available for my Northstar 952 Chart Plotter (now replaced with a smarter Simrad), my laptop Admiral Version 7.0 stood as back-up with roads and street maps only. My handheld Garmin with US Roads and Points of Interest did however show me the shopping and food facilities at each stopping off point during the entire route and was a must-have.

Leaving Waterford, we negotiated the infamous Waterford Flight, a series of 5 locks that raise you up the highest amount in the shortest distance of anywhere in the world. Each lock is about 33 feet of lift or drop depending upon your direction. We appreciated having brought our custom fender boards as we clumsily bounced off the first couple of lock walls. We got better as time went on, nonetheless we were grateful for the fender boards. A word of caution here; guide books advise you not to cleat off and we saw why. A fifty plus footer motor yacht had cleated off and apparently forgot one line. Before the lock tender could respond he pulled away from the lock wall, his boat veering suddenly and then with a loud report we saw the line part and the fenders flying. Aside from the obvious damage caused by 20,000 pounds of tensile strength being applied to the cleats and the loss of control of his boat, the possible risk of injury resulting from the recoil of nylon 3-ply being stretched, parting, and hitting someone’s eye would be horrible. 

We learned that the 50 or so locks along the New York State Waterway System compete each year for the best kept most attractive facilities, and we found fresh planting, beautiful flowers and a lot of fresh paint at each lock location. The lock tenders often supply their own funds for plantings and equipment. Furthermore, the amount of maintenance equipment manned by the Canal System would make any stretch of the Intracoastal Waterway green with envy. There was constant dredging and pruning as noted by the brightly painted blue and yellow (New York State colors) equipment we passed continuously.

What were strange was the lack of traffic – and particularly the lack of boaters from the Northeast. It seemed the word had gotten out about this wonderful passageway to boaters from Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, Maryland and Canada – but to very few boaters from New England – and for that matter, New York. Did they forget this treasure was here? I hope this article might change this oversight.

From Waterford we went to Scotia NY where we found Scotia Landing – another free town dock – and went over to a gourmet dinner at the Glen Sanders Mansion. When we returned to our boat, we were entertained to the patriotic sounds of an Air Force Reserve Band at the park gazebo adjacent to the town dock. From there, we departed the next day to Amsterdam. Home to Kirk Douglas, it was rumored that for his 70th birthday Mr. Douglas donated his part of the funds necessary for the wonderful canalside park.

We had been gone a week so far and had to leave the boat to tend to some personal business back home.  We offered the park attendant $10 to keep an eye on the boat – which he promptly refused – and called up Enterprise Rent-a-Car to come pick us up at the marina. The nice thing for boaters about Enterprise is that it seems no matter what marina we stay at there is always one nearby that can pick you up and drop you off at your boat. For that reason I got my Boat Club to get a corporate account and it has worked out very well. We had been traveling a week on the canal at 9 knots and for a week of boating burned less then 50 gallons of fuel, one of the nice thing about traveling at hull speed.

Next was Canajoharie, home of Beech-Nut gum, where we met the unofficial mayor of the waterways who runs a meat market and holds seminars for the townspeople on how to greet boaters. Imagine that. The town is also known for its art collection of original Winslow Homer paintings at the town library, free to visitors, of course. The townspeople could not have been nicer.

It was so strange as we ventured west to be looking down from the bridge on my boat into to farm valleys and towns with waterfalls. The pictures do not do justice to this anomaly. Then we came to the Canal Harbor and Rotary Park in Little Falls, with the infamous Lock 17 and the memorable Canal Side Inn. If you need a reason to travel 200 or so miles by boat here it is – The Canal Side Inn. Flip Wilson, the late comedian, used to joke that that when Christopher Columbus was asked why he traveled to America he replied, “To discover Ray Charles.” You could almost say that we traveled the Erie Canal to discover the River Street Café in Troy and the Canal Side Inn in Little Falls. For a $4 glass of great wine and a $17 entrée, with sushi no less, and an extraordinary array of fish and meat and sauces and deserts, we had one of our best meals ever. And an added feature – the restaurant picks you up at the dock and drops you off….but I digress. If the River Street Café in Troy didn’t tickle your fancy, the Canal Side Inn certainly will. Of course you first have to be lifted up over 40 feet by Lock 17 – one of the highest lock lifts in the world. One more thing – while in Little Falls we went to the town liquor store to restock. When the store owner heard us discussing our portage of the wine back to the boat, she quickly hung a sign out the front of the liquor store saying “Back in 5 Minutes” and insisted on driving us back to the boat. Try that in South Hampton sometime. 

We arrived at Utica in a downpour. When we saw the storm clouds and heard the terrible weather reports of flooding coming of the WX radio, we instinctively began looking for a safe port – until we reminded ourselves we were in a freaking canal, not the infamous Block Island Sound – and we comfortably coasted in to the Utica free town dock. Kitty's on the Canal restaurant turned out to be closed to the public because of a private banquet – but the restaurant manager, seeing our long faces, told us to sit down on the patio overlooking the canal and served us up the same banquet given to the celebrants upstairs – on the house!

I wanted to make it past Lake Oneida into the Oswego Canal System and on to the Thousand Islands and Toronto, but we ran out of time. A later trip perhaps. Besides for us, four weeks on a boat was enough. We went as far as the shores of Lake Oneida to the town of Sylvan Beach – with the only canal side amusement park – where after another night with free dockside tie up, we turned around and headed back.

The return trip afforded us the same still waters and beautiful views, but we got restless and took on 11 locks in one day. That was a lot of work. In some parts of the canal the water was so still you could not tell where the seam was between horizon and water – the reflection so perfect. We made one rescue assist of a stranded runabout and made the run from Troy to Catskill to home in two days.

The only bad thing was that we found after a very long leg, the swing bridge at Spuyten Duyvil was unable to open for two weeks and was closed to marine traffic. We joked that I guess the Circle Line was more Line then Circle. While heading down the Manhattan's West Side we were rewarded to a treat. Besides being a licensed captain, I have had the privilege of serving as a volunteer firefighter and rescue tech in Old Greenwich CT for over 28 years. We had been called up on 9/11 and I had read about the decommissioned 1929 New York City Fire Boat that was pressed into action that dreadful day by its retired but ever loyal and faithful crew. It pumped 18,000 gallons per minute of water, enough to supply 34 fire engines of New York ’s Bravest for 36 straight hours until water to the hydrants could be re-established. What a great New York story. That day the boat was out doing drills alongside the location of the former World Trade Center pumping its 18,000 gpm walls of water perhaps as a dress rehearsal to the upcoming Republican Convention that New York City was hosting. I took it as my own special one-fireman-to-another 21-gun salute.  I alerted Marine 2 on channel 13 that this old veteran workhorse firefighter from Connecticut really appreciated the salute given to me as I passed. As if to return the favor, they kept pumping until I passed and relayed their “welcome back from a crew of Old Retired Firefighters.” Man, it was something special to see. The gesture could not have been more appreciated. Thanks Brothers! 

Normally when we take our Hatteras on an extended trip we allow for $400 per day in routine expenses: $100 for dockage, $100 for meals and the rest for fuel.  Because of the free dockage, inexpensive meals and very low fuel consumption, we were hard pressed to spend $100 per day – something to keep in mind when you plan your next boating vacation. And while we were disturbed that the Erie Canal – with its rich history, majestic views and wonderful people – was so under utilized, we felt fortunate to have had this trip under our belts as a wonderful boating experience.

Captain BullDog Thal,
Professional Master Captain
US M-M, Vessel Delivery Service
Sail & Power Entire Eastern Seaboard from Florida to Maine, Canadian Maritimes, NY Canals and Great Lakes
email:s.thal@snet.net
cell phone & text: 203 550 1067