June 8th. Schenectady,NY to Sylvan Beach, Oneida Lake, NY

June 8^th. Schenectady, NY to Sylvan Beach, NY.

At 6:45 we left Shenectady, NY and continued heading west on the Erie Canal.

www.nysparks.state.ny.us

The locks open at 7:00 so we were right on time. They close at 22:00 (the schedule changes according to the season www.canals.state.ny.us).

At 7:30 we went through lock # 8 in the Schenectady, NY on a 14 feet lift and 15 minutes later we were out of it.

Locks #9 thru #16 looked very much like #8.

At 13:48 we went by the City of the Little Falls and Lock #17 with the higher lift of the locks we went through. A 40.5’ lift.

We passed through #18, #19.

Lock #20 in Utica, NY had a cute park around, a great spot for people to watch the boats go through the lock. A little girl chased us until we disappeared in the horizon.

Then Lock #21 in Rome, NY and at 19:21 we where out of Lock#22 in Sylvan Beach, NY; the last one of the day…We went down this time 25.3’ … We smelled rain!

Today we were raised 220 feet and lowered 25.3, so we got lifted a total of 194.7 feet. We went through 15 locks today.

We had to come to a “No Wake” speed when passing docks or other vessels in the Canal. On dug sections of the canal (no buoys), speed must never exceed 10 MPH. On river sections of the canal, speed must never exceed 45 MPH. That is why it took us 12 and a half hours to go through these 15 locks even though is only 131 miles.

At 20:05 we were “safely” docked at Sylvan Beach. Sylvan Beach, NY is home of the only amusement park adjacent to the Erie Canal. This resort community comes alive during the summer. The pier is an excellent place to tie up for the night and walk to the local restaurants and shops. No power or water but is free…we didn’t have to pay for dockage…we couldn’t bit that.

After a long and dirty day working the locks a cold front went thru and tornado sirens went off in the city. The wind was blowing Sayonara II six to eight feet off the wall. We had to start engines, take the heavy weather gear out to double up all the lines in order to spend a safe night… It was a severe thunderstorm warning…