Sept 30/14
We've been at 79th St Boat Basin in NYC for a few days and it's still unbelievable that we are finally here! And what an entrance when we 'flew' into New York Harbour at 9.5 nm with the ebbing tide just as the sun was beginning to set Sat evening. Not surprisingly, there were no yellow transient mooring balls available at 79th on this beautiful summery weekend. So we went past it, then had to limp back at 2.4 nm against the current while trying to avoid the large ships heading out for sunset cruises. We ended up grabbing one of the white balls designated for seasonal mooring as there didn't appear to be any better options. It was getting darker and we weren't going to pay $3.50 or even $7.25/ft elsewhere (vs the $30.00 mooring fee here).

Mooring our boat at this marina as been a dream since our first trip here when we were boat searching a few years ago. It is the first significant step for the adventure dream we are just beginning! Along the way, New York has also been the destination in my 'One step at a time' motto as I can't really believe that we are actually embarking on a life of traveling on our sailboat. 'Where you goin' ?' was an often heard question along our trip so far and I'd usually reply ' Well, I say New York, he says Bahamas'. A common response is a chuckle and 'New York?! Why do you wanna go there??' I guess I'm going to have to change my line now that we've actually made it here...Annapolis.

Although we had hoped to begin our journey around Sept 1st, it wasn't until Sunday Sept 14th that we finally were able to be on our way. There was a lot to do to make sure that the boat, house and other details (eg pension paperwork, health insurance) were ready for us to be away - and we needed the right weather to cross Lake Ontario. Neither of us wanted to leave before it felt right...and then it did!

When we reached Oswego, NY a couple of stops later, our mast was taken down to be carried horizontally on the boat while we traveled through the NY canal systems. It was a little disconcerting at first to have a 52 foot 'pole' held up by wooden supports (built with the help of our friends Bill and Tom at LSYC) on the deck. But it didn't even budge an inch through the locks, rivers and waves ahead.

This was my first time going through locks and there were 30 that we needed to go through in the Oswego and Erie Canals. Each lock was a unique experience depending upon weather, height of lock, lockmaster personality and whether it ascended or descended. What they all had in common were slimy, muddy lines to hold on to (thankfully we have heavy gloves just for this)! There were often several miles between each lock - some were a breeze, almost relaxing; others we needed to hang on to with all of our strength!

Finally we finished the canals and headed down the Hudson River for a three day trip to New York City. Our mast was put back up and even though the channels are too narrow to sail, it was much better to have the mast secure and where it belongs!

The weather has been unexpectedly good for late September with several summery days ... although one night there was a heavy frost and we needed winter coats, mitts and heavy sweaters for the next couple of days. Thankfully the only rain has been through a couple of nights. The scenery through the canal systems and the Hudson River has been spectacular with the leaves on the mountains beginning to change and cottages or mansions alongside.

We haven't seen very much other boat traffic - the odd freighter these days and mainly weekend boaters otherwise (although the other day we were passed by several groups of cigarette boats on a high speed poker run). We're traveling with another boat Lequesteau that we met at the beginning of our trip and have enjoyed sharing stories at the end of the day as well as meeting folks in the small towns along the way.

Tomorrow we continue on our journey. The next big step for us will be doing a 14 hour trip along the coast on our way to Atlantic City and Cape May. We're thankful that the folks on the other boat we're traveling with are from Halifax and have sailed many times in the Atlantic. We'll just follow their lead!