Triangle Loop – Week 21 (Done With Locks! & A Castle!)

Sep 14th to Sep 20th, 2025

Day 140 – Sunday, September 14th, 2025 – To: Schuylerville, NY
Schuyler Yacht Basin

When we left you last week on Saturday, we had an issue with Lock 9 on the Champlain Canal, where we had to stay overnight at the lock. Well, the next morning we were supposed to go through the lock at 10:00 am. The northbound sailboat that stayed with us overnight left at about 7:00. We had messaged our friends on The Perch about the single lock through, and they arrived at 9:30 to go through with us. At 10:00, we called the lock. “We’re waiting for a sailboat,” he said. Okay. We chatted for a while, and at 10:30, no sailboat was visible, so we checked with him again to see when it was coming. We were pretty pissed that today we had to wait, but yesterday they didn’t wait for us.

At 10:45, I got out my drone and flew it a mile back toward Lock 11 to see if I could see the sailboat. I could see all the way to the other lock, and there was nothing! Michael on The Perch called Lock 11 to see if he could get any information. They told him that the sailboat was NORTHBOUND, not southbound. It was our friend from last night! Michael asked him to call Lock 9, where we were waiting, and let them know. Five minutes later, the lock doors started to open. I don’t know who runs the Champlain Canal, but they really need to have a talk with their lock staff and improve communication. By 11:15, we were through.

We talked about going all the way to the end of the canal, but it would have gotten us in quite late, so we stuck with our plan to go to Schuylerville, right after Lock 5. The Perch planned to go two more locks to Mechanicville, where they had some friends. The next set of locks went just fine. They were open and ready when we arrived, and we made good time. At 2:15, we exited Lock 5, wished The Perch safe travels, and were tied up at The Schuyler Yacht Basin by 2:30.

Schuyler was a great stop at a little marina, r/v park, and cabins (which are actually converted shipping containers) on the Hudson River. There was a Bar & Grill on site that was very good, and the staff at both the marina and restaurant were great! They also had live music, a single musician who sang and played his guitar. I have to compliment him. The music was loud enough to hear, but not so loud that you couldn’t carry on a conversation. It’s one of my pet peeves at restaurants with music.

We received a message from our friends on The Perch, who reached Lock 4 and were informed that they only lock boats at 8, 10, 12, and 2. The lock was 15 miles away, so they didn’t want to come back to the marina. It was their turn to spend a night on a lock wall.

We set our alarms for 5:30 am so that we could head out by 6:30 to make the 8:00 locking.

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Day 141 – Monday, September 15th, 2025 – To: Waterford, NY
Waterford Harbor Visitor Center

We got up early and were on the water by 6:30 am to make the 8:00 locking at Lock 4. We kept a steady 10 mph speed cruising through the morning mist and got there at 7:45, just in time for the lock through. Our friends on The Perch were waiting for us. They have a cockatoo named Margo on board, thus the name and the bird on the back, oh, and Whistle, their dog.

The locking restrictions we had at Lock 9, were due to low water. The Locking restrictions at Locks 4 through 1 are due to an invasive species of fish called the Round Goby. They are trying to keep it from spreading up into Lake Champlain. Each time they put a group of boats through, they have to flush the lock to get rid of the fish and keep them from making their way up. This means after boats exit, they close the doors, refill the lock, then drain it, then refill it for the next group of downbound boats. Each drain/fill cycle takes about 45 minutes; thus, there are limitations on locking.

Right at 8:00, the lock keeper showed up, and the gates swung open. Michael had spoken with him last evening, and he said that as long as we got started, we’d get all the way through to Lock 1. Everything went as planned for Lock 4. We went back onto the Hudson River and headed toward the railroad bridge. This bridge is listed at 21 feet, but is actually only 17 feet. On our last Loop trip, a boat in front of us had to turn around and remove its radar unit to fit under.

The Perch is taller than we are. We watched as he inched up to the bridge. Kim stuck her head out over the top and watched. They cleared by inches! Done! Lock 3 was open and waiting for us. Down, and on to Lock 2.

At Lock 2, a small C-Dory boat called C-Otter was waiting to lock through. We only had to wait for a few minutes before the lock doors opened and the three of us went in. We had a pretty quick ride down 18.5 feet and on to Lock 1, our last lock on the Champlain Canal, just four miles away.

At Lock 1, we had to wait a few minutes while they finished flushing the lock, then it opened, and we went in for our last ride down 14.3 feet. Phew! We were done! Don’t get us wrong, we find locks fascinating, and we enjoy doing them! Champlain Lock 1 was the 104th lock of our trip, and our 366th since we started boating, so we’re pretty locked out for now. There are two more locks before we get back to Palm Coast, one just down the river in Troy, which is a Federal Lock, and is usually pretty easy, and another, the Great Bridge Lock, just south of Norfolk, which is only a 4-foot.

The Perch took off like, well, a big Cockatoo! They were heading to Kingston, 70 miles downriver. We were going to Waterford, just 3 miles away, where we started the Erie Canal on July 14th, closing the Triangle of our “Triangle Loop”. The Triangle took 64 days, involving seven different canals (Erie, Oswego, Rideau, South Shore, Saint-Ours, Chambly, and Champlain), covered 1,070 miles, with 27 lift bridges, and 102 locks! Quite the ride! Now all we need to do is go the 1,500 miles back to Palm Coast!

We pulled into Waterford at 10:40 am and celebrated! Waterford is the start of the Erie Canal. We didn’t stop in Waterford when we started, so we wanted to visit on our return. We checked in at the visitor center and bought ourselves some Waterford t-shirts to remember the day. We then walked into town, just a couple of blocks away, for some brunch (we skipped breakfast due to our early start).

On our way back to the boat, we went to Lock 2, the first lock on the Erie Canal. The Erie Canal locks 2-4, called the Waterford Flight, were closed for repairs on Monday and Tuesday. On two of the locks, only one of the double lock doors would open. Wide boats, like catamarans, haven’t been able to fit through for several days, and there was at least one stuck at the top of the flight. We walked down the old original lock flight. Most people assume that the old locks in Waterford are for the Erie Canal. Actually, it was the original entrance to the Champlain Canal. The original Erie Canal started in Albany, with the Champlain Canal starting in Waterford. When the canals were upgraded in 1905, they reengineered the locks and routes to what they are today.

I spent the afternoon “deCanaling” the boat, raising the mast and antennas, and putting away the extra fenders and lines. For dinner, we walked back into town to McGreivey’s Pub.

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Day 142 – Tuesday, September 17th, 2025 – To: Kingston, NY
Hudson River Maritime Museum

From here back to Palm Coast, we are basically backtracking our route up. We plan to try to stop at some new places on our way back south, or visit favorite stops that we skipped on our way north. Kingston, NY, is one of our favorite stops. There are several museums, and it’s a cute little river town. We stopped here on both of our Loop trips. Waterford to Kingston is 65 miles, and one lock.

We left Waterford at 9:00 and went to the Troy Federal Lock on the Hudson River just 3 miles downstream. We called the Troy Lock, and they opened right up for us. It was a smooth drop that brought us to the tidal portion of the Hudson River. The Hudson is tidal from Troy, NY, 180 miles to New York City, where it meets the Atlantic Ocean.

We went under the “Transformer Bridge in Troy, NY, and past the Captain JP tour boat. Then it was on to Albany, where, since July, they have started a project to replace the old Livingston Avenue railway swing bridge. As we got to the harbor area in Albany, we saw a large bulk carrier being escorted by three tug boats heading toward us. We called them and they advised that they were docking on the Albany side of the river, so we crossed and snuck past on the Rensellaer side.

We cruised along at 10 knots for a while past the many marinas just south of Albany, then bumped the engines up to 2900 RPM and ran at 25 mph for about 45 minutes to blow out the carbon in the engines and make Michael, our mechanic, happy.

When we reached Hudson on Hudson, we saw that they were making good progress on the refurbishment of the lighthouse there. A short time later, we caught up with a tug pushing an empty fuel barge. The river here was pretty wide, so we were able to pass easily.

Next up was the Saugerties Lighthouse. We had seen a Coast Guard boat, The Wire, hovering around in the channel, and wondered if they were going to stop us. We had heard that the Coast Guard was randomly stopping and inspecting boats up near Waterford, but as we approached, they pulled into the Saugerties River and up to their dock.

As we approached the Rondout Creek lighthouse, our turn up to Kingston, NY, we saw the Rip Van Winkle Tour Boat coming out of the creek heading south on one of its tours. We slowed down to let it get clear of the creek entrance before we looped around the lighthouse and down the creek to the Hudson River Maritime Museum, where we will dock for the next two nights. Beyond the museum on the creek, there is a large boat yard where they build and repair large cargo barges. There is also a yard where they repair tug boats and scrap old boats and ships. The entrance to the creek is lined with old barges and boats waiting to be fixed or scrapped, including a few that have sunk while waiting.

We tied up at the Maritime Museum and chatted with the staff before settling in. For dinner, we planned to go to a restaurant we liked in town, the Ole Savannah Southern Table. We heard from the museum staff that they had completely renovated and were now called The Cornell. The Cornell company operated steamships and tow boats on the Hudson River from around 1840 to 1964. The building was the main office and workshop. They have decorated the front with the distinctive Black & Yellow smoke stack used on their vessels. The interior is also decorated to have the feel of the riverboat age on the Hudson. Dinner was very good, and we had a great chat with the bartenders.

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Day 143 – Wednesday, September 17th, 2025 – In: Kingston, NY

On Wednesday, we spent the morning doing some route planning and working on the blogs. In the afternoon, we took a walk around town. There is a suspension bridge that has been under renovation both times we’ve been here, which is finally open. The Wurts Street Bridge was started in 1916, but construction stopped during World War 1 due to material shortages. It was eventually finished in 1921 and replaced a chain ferry that took vehicles and people across Rondout Creek. We walked partway across to take in the view.

We had seen some brightly colored bugs on the boat, and the bridge was covered with them.. They are Spotted Lanternflies, an invasive species. You are encouraged to squash as many as you can!

There is also a fairly famous railroad trestle just up the creek from the bridge, and as we were walking back across the bridge, we heard a train horn in the distance, and I was able to get a video for our friend Captain Chris of the train crossing.

We stopped for an afternoon snack, then went back to the boat. I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning off spider poop and rinsing off as much of the lock slime and mud as I could without a full washdown, then filled our freshwater tank. I would have washed the boat down more, but the water pressure was very low.

For dinner, we went back to The Cornell as we had had such a good meal there last night. Tonight I had the Porcini Mushroom Ravioli, and Brenda had the Rock Shrimp Stir-Fry. After dinner, I walked up to the end of the dock to get some photos of the color-changing lights on the Wurts Street Bridge. As I got back to the boat, the local fire department pulled up just across the creek from the boat. They set up their ladder truck and started spraying water out into the creek. We think they were either testing or practicing, but from our angle, it looked like they were trying to spray the small sailboats returning from an evening of sailing on the Hudson River.

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Day 144 – Thursday, September 18th, 2025 – To: Poughkeepsie, NY
Shadows Marina

On our second Loop trip, we traveled down the Tennessee River with a boat called Dos Gatos Locos (Two Crazy Cats) and became friends with Jodi and Karen. Their boat was heavily damaged in Panama City, Florida, when a Tornado plowed through a marina. We saw them just after it happened, and they were devastated. This summer, they were finally able to move their boat from Panama City to Stuart, FL, where they sold it. They live in Hyde Park, NY, near Poughkeepsie. We reached out when we came through on our way north, but they weren’t home. Brenda has been keeping in touch with them, and we are stopping in Poughkeepsie again to have dinner with them this evening.

Poughkeepsie is only a 17-mile cruise from Kingston. We slept in a bit, then walked into town and had breakfast at a local coffee shop. When we got back, we took our time getting the boat ready. Just as we were unhooking our power cord, we heard the three horn blasts from the Rip Van Winkle Tour Boat signaling they were heading out. We waited a few minutes until they passed, then followed them down Rondout Creek to the Hudson River.

At the Lighthouse, we both turned South, so we altered course to go around them, and they pulled a U-turn. There were no passengers aboard, so we assume they were on a test or training run. A short time later, we passed the Esopus Meadows Lighthouse, and we saw lots of sticks, logs, and weeds in the water. We were just at the tide change and had reached the flotsam that the tide carries back and forth on the river.

Since we got on the Hudson River, we have been seeing what looks like yellow pollen in the water. When we docked in Kingston, we were warned not to enter or touch the water and to rinse down any lines and fenders that came in contact with it. A yellow scum on the water is typically due to harmless duckweed. The current bloom, however, is primarily a potentially toxic cyanobacteria, often called blue-green algae. The most common symptoms that may occur from exposure include skin rashes or stomach upset, and higher concentrations can damage the liver or neurological system. As we cruised along, the river was covered with it! The reports said that wildlife, livestock, and pets that have been drinking or swimming in the water have died. Municipalities that use the Hudson River for their drinking water supply have implemented additional treatment and testing. Bottled Water Please!

We went past now familiar landmarks. The Biltmore Mansion, the Culinary Institute of America, and the many stately homes along the high bluffs until we saw the Walkway Over The Hudson and the Musical Bridge in the distance. Shadows Marina is just under the Musical Bridge. We radioed Keith, the dockmaster, and he had us securely tied up in just a few minutes. An easy day!

For the rest of the afternoon, I did a few boat projects and we relaxed until 5:30 when The Crazy Cats picked us up for dinner.

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Day 145 – Friday, September 19th, 2025 – In: Poughkeepsie, NY

Our next major leg is from New York City to Cape May, New Jersey. This is the 135-mile leg outside in the Atlantic Ocean. We are watching the weather and especially the tropical situation. Right now, it looks like we won’t have a weather window until next Friday or Saturday, so we are taking our time on the rest of the Hudson River to Sandy Hook, New Jersey, where we will start our trip to Cape May. On our last three trips up the Hudson, we stayed at Half Moon Bay Marina. This time we are going to make a few different stops on the trip down, one in Newburgh, to visit Bannerman Castle, and one in Ossissing, NY, near Sing Sing Prison, before moving to the Sandy Hook, New Jersey area to wait for our weather window.

We spent most of the day just chilling on the boat. I worked on the blog and some Clever Boater stuff, and we did some trip planning. We watched the large ships cruise past and held on as their wake rocked the boat.

At 5:00, we walked up to the Shadows restaurant for dinner. We always have a great meal here, and this evening was no exception. Brenda had the Seared Salmon with Roasted Zucchini and Squash Risotto, Confit Tomato, in a Herb Cream Sauce. I had the Prosciutto-Stuffed Chicken with Warm Potato Salad, Green Beans, Mozzarella, Grilled Scallion, with Mustard Cream.

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Day 146 – Saturday, September 20th, 2025 – To: Newburgh, NY
Riverfront Marina

We had another short run to Riverfront Marina in Newburgh, NY, just 14 miles. We could almost see the marina from Poughkeepsie! This marina is on the West bank of the river, and just a couple of hundred feet from the freight railroad tracks. Fortunately, the freight line through Newburg is raised, with no gated crossings, so the trains don’t blow their horns all through the night. Unfortunately, there is no breakwall around the marina, so as the large ships pass (and the idiot boaters who don’t know that marinas are NO WAKE zones), we get a pretty good shaking from the waves.

On our three trips up the Hudson River, we’ve passed Bannerman Castle, a ruin on an island, just north of the West Point Military Academy. Bannerman Castle is located on Pollepel Island in the Hudson River, New York. It was built in the early 1900s by a colorful Scottish arms dealer named Francis Bannerman VI, who wanted to create a unique castle to store his surplus military equipment. The castle’s striking appearance, with its distinctive turrets and walls, made it a local landmark.

Unfortunately, the castle faced some tough times. In 1920, a tragic explosion damaged part of the structure, and later, after its abandonment, a fire severely damaged the structure. Over the years, the ruins remained a mysterious and intriguing sight, with nature gradually reclaiming them.

Despite these setbacks, there have been many efforts to restore and preserve Bannerman Castle. Some groups and organizations have worked to stabilize the ruins and keep its history alive, though it remains a partially ruined and iconic landmark. Today, visitors can explore the fascinating remains and enjoy the stunning views, all while imagining the castle’s lively past and the adventures that once took place there.

One of our must-dos on this trip was to take a tour of the castle. The closest marina is across the river in Newburgh. We did a short cruise from Poughkeepsie to Newburgh, and then took an Uber across the bridge to Beacon, a vibrant town on the east bank of the Hudson. There is a large train station in Beacon, and as a result, Urban sprawl from New York City has caused a revitalization of the downtown, which contains the 1.25-mile-long Main Street, lined with shops, cafes, breweries, bars, and galleries.

We got dropped off in Beacon just after noon. Our tour wasn’t scheduled to start until 3:30, so we walked the length of Main Street, checking out the shops and galleries along the way. We stopped at the far end for a snack, then walked back down the other side. At 2:30, we walked down the hill to the train station and waterfront docks where our tour boat would meet us.

There were 42 people on our tour, more than we expected! The boat trip to the island took about 20 minutes. Once on the island, a tour guide walked us around the 6-acre site, telling us the history of the island, the Bannerman Castle, which was actually a series of three military surplus warehouses, and the home on the island where the Bannermans lived. It was quite an interesting tour, and the story was fascinating. One of the more interesting tidbits was that Bannerman, being an arms dealer, had a cannon on the front porch of his house, which looked down the river toward the West Point Military Academy. Occasionally, he and West Point would exchange cannon fire salutes (no cannon balls). Behind the house, there is a stage where they stage plays during the summer. While we were there, they were rehearsing for an upcoming performance of Dracula.

The tour on the island lasted 90 minutes, then we had another 30-minute boat ride back to Beacon. After docking, we took an Uber back across the river to the marina, then went to Billy Joe’s Ribworks, a BBQ joint right at the end of our dock, for dinner. I ordered a 1/2 rack of ribs, and it looked like they brought out half a pig! It was huge!

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Recap of the week

We traveled 143 miles this week, bringing our total to 2,623 miles so far. We completed the Champlain Canal, and aside from one small lock near Norfolk, Virginia, we are done with locks for this trip! Woo Hoo! We have started down the Hudson River, stopping to visit with old friends and visiting a blown-up castle along the way!

Next week, we continue down the Hudson, watching for a weather window to make the jump in the ocean from New York City to Cape May, NJ.