Sun Cat/ Trader Update 6/17/07 on the Erie Canal

Hi All,The last week and a half have just flown! We are presently in Sylvan Beach, NY which is on the eastern shore of Lake Onieda, north and a bit east of Syracuse. This is mile 128 of the Erie canal.We left Kingston after my lat update and spent a night in New Baltimore. We stayed there primarily to see the "historic district" which sounded good in the guides but turned out to be 5 houses! From there, we passed through our first large lock at Troy and went to Waterford where we spent 3 pleasant days.

Waterford Visitors Center -the start of the Erie Canal

 There is a lot to see and do there and it was a good place to reprovision. The highlight of our stay there was a visit with Greg and Bill Gardiner and Bill's wife Kathy. Greg and Bill lived across the street from us when we lived in Gloversville, Ny in the mid 1950's and we had not seen each other in 40 years. Last Sunday, Bill and Kathy and their daughter Bailey traveled with us up the Waterford locks ( all 5 of them) which raised us about 170 feet above the Hudson River. Bailey is now a qualified power boat driver.

The Falls of the Mohawk in Waterford

We stayed Sunday night at lock 8 and then proceeded on to Canajaharie where we spent 2 nights. Lock 8 is largely out in the country with some train and road noise but a nice stop. At Canajaharie we hiked almost 2 miles up to Canajaharie Gorge which was very pretty and would be spectacular with more water running. I remember visiting there as a kid. I couldn't help but think how much my brother, the train enthusiast, would like it there as a train ran on the opposite side of the canal every 15 to 20 minutes.

The dock at Canajaharie

The next night we stayed at lock 16 which was another pretty stop along the canal. We rode our bikes along the canal bike path back to St Johnsville where we toured the local museum which is in the library and bought some local bread and cheese at the store. After that we went to Herkimer which was another free dock but much too close to the NY Thuway to be called pleasant.

Our guide explains food prep and storage at Herkimer home

The next stop was Ilion which is a pretty village with a nice municipal marina. There we toured the Remington Arms factory and were joined by son Stepehn who also was able to tour the factory. That afternoon, we took Steve's car back to Little Falls where we toured the home of General Nicholas Herkimer. It was a very informative tour of how the most prosperous colonists lived in Revolutionary times and the house was wonderful to see. General Herkimer is famous for commanding the colonial troops at the battle of Oriskinay which stopped the British advance down the Mohawk in much the same manner as the victory at Saratoga stopped the British advance down the Hudson which would have divided New England from the rest of the colonies.

Our limo ride

The next day we took Steve's car to Sylvan Beach topre-position it for us to drop him off here today. Where it was Jean's Birthday (a special landmark) we took a limosine back to Ilion for the fun of it. It was kind of cool to have the limo pull up in both marinas and Jean and Steve got a kick out of it as did some looper friends of ours. Last night we spent at lock 21. Skipper Bob's cruising guide describes it as very quiet and it lived up to that and then some. The grounds were beautiful and there was no highway or train noise. This morning we traveled the remaining 6 miles to Sylvan beach and said good by to Steve.The last few weeks the scenery has been outstanding - a reminder of how beautiful and varied upstate New York is.


We hope everyone's summer is going well. We're having a wonderful time here in New York State.

More pictures from the Erie:

Junction of canals in Waterford

Approaching Lock 3

A flood control gate

Typical lock and dam

Sun Cat above Lock 11 for evening

Jean and Steve at Herkimer Memorial

Scene on the Mohawk

SUn Cat/Trader Update 6/5/07 - New Jersey and the Hudson

Hello to all,

Time slips by here between updates faster than I can keep up with it. We had two very nice days running up the Jersey shore. It was easy navigation- New Jersey to port- and fairly calm seas. we anchored for a night in the basin to starboard just after entering the river at Atlantic City and then proceeded up the coast to Sandy Hook the next day, anchoring in Horseshoe Cove.

Last Dance anchored at Atlantic Highlands

Going into the basin at Atlantic City was interesting to say the least. It was a warm sunny memorial day and we had to pass through an unmarked channel less than a boat length from dozens of boats beached out to our starboard. We never saw less than 10 ft of water however.

After Horseshoe Cove we traveled a whole 2 miles to Atlantic Highlands where we anchored behind the breakwater, went ashore and toured the town. Its a good stop with most of the stores a cruiser needs handy to the waterfront. We enjoyed a nice evening with fellow loopers George and Beth on "Last Dance".

The harbor at Atlantic Highlands

The next day we left the boat anchored at Atlantic Highlands and took the "Seastreak" ferry to Manhatten where we got on another ferry to the Statute of Liberty and Ellis Island. Ellis island was great. My grandfather passed through there in 1893 and we were able to look up his ship's manifest and obtain a picture of the ship he was on. The Museum and movie were very interesting as well. Jean and I marveled at our timing as well as we were the last people on the ferry at Atlantic Highlands, among the last 10 to go to Liberty Island, walked around there, immediately got back on the Ferry and got to Ellis island and then only waited about 4-5 minutes to go back to Manhatten where we did a bit of shopping.

Ellis Island

Inside Ellis Island

The Werra - my Grandfather came over on this

The next day (Friday) we went to Tarrytown where we had dinner with our friends from Maine, Claire an Dennis Collins and on Saturday were joined by our Niece, Heather Purdy. We played tourist that day, visiting Kykuit, the Rockefeller family estate. It was another very worthwhile tour.

The Mansion

Some of the gardens

After a stop at Marlboro, we've spent the last two days here at Kingston, playing tourist and shopping. We're on the city docks (its interesting putting a 41 foot boat into a 20 foot slip). The Hudson river museum and a Trolley museum are nearby and the city bus will take one all over town. We had a nice visit last night with Ron and Jean on Dubhe III, and Doug and Kathie on Winnie W. Both of these boats are also doing the loop. Tonight we had dinner with two more loopers, Larry and Lola on Lola Marie and David and Marla on Adesso.


The Hudson is absolutely gorgeous once one gets above the George Washington Bridge. The Palisades are followed by the mountains which reminded me of Somes Sound on Mt Desert Island (Maine). We passed Bear Mountain and Storm King mountain as well as the military acadamy at West Point. If one is a train buff, the railroads run on both sides-passengers on the east bank and frieght on the west bank- and the trains run frequently.Tomorrow we continue our journey upriver to a yet to be chosen destination.

In my last update I mistakenly announced our new blog as suncattrader@blogspot.com. That isn't quite right. The blog can be accessed at suncattrader.blogspot.com and I want to thank Ed and Tina for strightening me out on this.
Continuing to have a great time!

Steve and Jean
Aboard Symbol 41 Trawler Sun Cat
Pictures from the Hudson:

Empire state building and Chelsea Piers

Passing under the George Washington Bridge

The Palisades

On the Hudson

West Point

City Docks in Kingston

Entrance to Kingston