Celebrating a return

I am sitting on the upper deck of the M/V Grande Mariner in the Oswego Harbor looking out at Lake Ontario.  My perch is one of two spaces that jut out slightly behind the pilothouse on either side of the ship.  This morning I have chosen the port side (think left; both words having four letter is how I came to remember it) since the lighthouse, a small double structure of dwelling and light, both white and roofed in red, is on this side.  It sits on a long breakwater which curves into the mouth of the Oswego River from the west.  Its right side will be illuminated soon as dawn gives way to daylight and the sun rises.  It is 5:30; we are departing at 6:00.  Our destination today is Rochester.

Since we left home last Sunday, I have been keeping the journal as usual and camera use has been high.  No surprise there.  Computer time has been another thing all together.  The choice made itself.  The rivers we have sailed – the East, the Hudson, the Mohawk and the Oswego—and the canals we have navigated – the Erie and the Oswego – have claimed my near complete attention.  The weather over these days has been variable: wet to dry, cold to hot, overcast to sunny.  With foul weather gear I have been able to be out in most of it, drinking in the landscape along the rivers and marveling at the rise and fall of the ship in the locks.  There simply hasn't been time for computers.

In both sets of locks we have been something of a spectacle, being the first cruise ship to use the New York State Canal System this season.  At almost every lock there were a few locals ready to watch us lock through.  But, no place along the system could top the greeting our ship received in Waterford where the Mohawk joins the Hudson. 

We were escorted from the Federal Lock just north of Troy to Waterford, the canal's official beginning, by a large tug boat where a cluster of state and local dignitaries, the president of Blount Small Ship Adventures, a knot of television crews and reporters and onlookers of all ages awaited us.  Waterford’s fire truck pumped a long arc of water into our path.  The return of the Grande Mariner to the canal system was an event of special note.

Last year this time Tal and I were on her first Warren RI to Chicago IL run of the season.  Because of heavy springtime flooding in the northeast the Erie Canal opened late.  We entered it on its opening day.  But the water on the Oswego Canal was still too high for the ship to use and our itinerary was adjusted rather severely.  (A tour of historic waterways by bus was an interesting turn of events.  More about that in Meanderings from 17 May to  2 June.) 

Then, on Blount’s last runs of the 2011 season two of their three ships encountered Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee while in the canal system.  The passengers required rescue, the ships ended up trapped for 70 days and the state of New York spent millions repairing the locks and canal enough to free them.  Hence, the celebratory flay waving at the advent of the 2012 cruise season.

After all that a celebration and some handshaking was in order.  I decided it was a good sign; Tal and I should sail all the way to Chicago on this try.  It was our celebration, too.

Waterford Flight

I write this in our little cabin aboard the Grande Mariner.  We are moored for the night just west of Lock 11 at Amsterdam NY.  Except for frequent, long* trains which pass by within 150 feet, all is quiet.  What a day we have had.  I am too overwhelmed and thrilled by our journey to chronicle all of it.  So, a few words and several photographs before I turn out my little reading light.

We reached the Mohawk River today, travelling on the actual Hudson River less than two miles before turning left at Waterford and entering the Erie Canal.  The canal system is treated much like a highway.  The signs at major intersections look much like the road signs we're all used to seeing and, mostly, obeying.

We passed through the five locks of the Waterford Flight over the course of the morning.  In only 1.5 miles the series of locks manages a lift of 170 feet -- the largest lift in the shortest distance of any system in the world -- and gets the traveller to the level of, and around, Cohoes Falls.  Our historian tells us the falls are strikingly beautiful from the downstream side, the Mohawk's Niagara, but are pretty boring from above -- unless, of course, you are adrift and heading toward them with no good way to propel your craft upstream to safety.  Then, the view -- and everything else -- is pretty exciting!

* The first train we saw as we exited the lock had eleven engines.

Here's a look at our day.

Remember the song about the Erie Canal?  "Low bridge, ev'rybody down!  Low bridge, for we're comin' to a town."  Having left the Hudson River, our ship faced its first tight underpass, the bridge to Peebles Island, in the boat harbor at Waterford.  The doors to Lock E2 are visible on the left side of the photograph.  Though the Federal Lock is not part of the Erie Canal and is not officially Lock #1, it is counted as such and the numbering on the canal begins with 2.)

The view back from inside Lock E3.  The ship below is the Day Peckinpaugh.  Built in 1921 it was the first motor ship expressly designed to navigate both the open water of the Great Lakes and the NY State Barge Canal.  It is now a feature of the Waterford Maritime Historical Society.

At each lock a member of the crew has to ascend to the top of the lock and tie off the Grand Mariner.  Once the lift is complete and the ship has cleared the lock the crew member leaps back aboard on the after deck.  Being fit seems to be part of the deal.

A view of Lock E4 from the top of Lock E5.  It is evident from the hills in the distance that we are gaining some altitude.

The second of two guard gates at the top of the flight of locks, which protect the Waterford Flight and the town of Waterford. 

Twin Bridges, aka Thaddeus Kosciusko Bridge, carries traffic on I-87 from Colonie NY to Halfmoon NY.  While on the East and the Hudson Rivers, I photographed every bridge we passed under, but gave up that practice after leaving the Hudson.  These two spans were too graceful not to document.




Detail at Lock E7
The colors used on the
Erie Canal -- buildings,
locks, boats -- are blue
and yellow.



Lock E7 marks the last of the permanent dams along the Erie Canal.



And, at Lock E8 we encountered the first of the removable dams.  Large steel plates which fit between uprights slide up and down to regulate the flow of water.  When the navigation season ends, the steel plates are lifted and the uprights swing up clear of the water.



Some of the gears which operate the gates at Lock E11



The Grande Mariner moored above Lock E11 for the night.  It was here in Amsterdam that the reporters caught up with the captain.  This is the first cruise ship through the canal this season and is, thereby, newsworthy -- especially after the spring this part of the world has endured. 

We were treated to some evening entertainment: Skip Parsons' Jazz Trio.  The passing trains only competed a little bit, not stopping us from tapping our toes even once.