Friday, June 9th The Erie Canal!

The Erie Canal!    
We left Coeyman Landing around 11:00.  
Per the internet, the Locks #8 – 20 would open at 1:00 that afternoon.  So we headed north up of the Hudson River. 
I never knew there was so much large ship-traffic on the Hudson River!



 And then we came to Albany : 



Now I really want to visit this city on land!  It really looks like a cool place!

 A little bit north of Albany is the town of Troy   >>> and  Lock #1   

A lock is a way for a boat to go up/down along a river/canal to a different elevation.  The concept is basically easy.  A boat(s) motors into a big cement & metal trough that has gates on both ends.  The far gate is closed, holding back the waters of the different elevation. The “close” gates close behind the boat(s) and water is pumped in to raise a boat(s) or pumped out to lower the boat(s) so that it/they can continue on their voyage.

Sounds simple, right?
Well, it is, but it’s also a lot of work, at least for the crew of Zingara!

 We made it through the first lock without too much trouble!    This is what we saw once we got up above the walls!
And then the fun began!  We never had any big problems, but we quickly learned that going through the locks took a lot of preparation, constant negotiation/maneuvering of the lines/boat, and gentle communication with your spouse. 
If you want to know how WE know where the lock is, well, we just look at our friendly chart-plotter! See?   
Zingara is the little red boat at the bottom of the screen.
And, of course, there are signs along the way.




  We made it through the first 6 locks that afternoon,  (Lock 1 at 2:10, and Lock 6 at 4:20) then found a quiet place outside of the City of Cohoes, NY to anchor and crash for the night.

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