Canajoharie to Illon (Locks 14-18)

We woke up to the strangest scene... clouds on the water?  ice?  It was frothy bubbles headed downstream from the dam.  They weren't there the night before, and they dissipated within an hour.  But it was a surprising way to start the morning!

Just when we were thinking that the day would be the same as yesterday, no houses to see, no interesting birds or wildlife, very few boats on the water and lots of locks...  As we finished Lock 16, the lockmaster told us a big cruise ship was coming in behind us.  He recommended we pull over along the wall on the other side of the lock and climb up to watch the cruise ship.  Besides, he said, you probably want to get behind this ship along the way.. you probably don't want to be in the locks going west with them.

So we climbed up on the lock, watched the big Blount Cruise Ship come through.  I talked to one of the crew.  There were 52 passengers and they were cruising from Rhode Island to Chicago.  Then they were doing the reverse trip with the next set of passengers.   I recalled meeting a C-Brats couple who had retired after being captains on these boats for years.  The boats were similar to the European River Cruise ships but didn't look nearly as nice.

While I was talking to the crew person, Rob followed the lock master around asking him questions.  He was great!

Built exactly to the width of the lock

After the cruise ship passed we climbed back into our little boat, and at the next lock, lock 17, we waited a long time for the cruise ship to get in and out... because this lock was HUGE and a lot of water had to fill and drain out of it.  Suddenly we were hailed; someone calling a C-Dory!  We didn't see them at first, but behind us was a Ranger Tug 29.  He, of course, knew C-Dorys.. (a predecessor to Ranger Tugs) and we chatted back and forth for the rest of the afternoon.

Lock 17 raises the water level by 40.5 ft.  It is the largest lock in the NY canal system and it is one of the largest (tallest) locks in the world.

We shared this huge lock with the Ranger Tug.. they had bow thrusters.. no fair!

The next lock was smaller but at a prettier town... "Little Falls,, NY".  The landscape had changed to become more hilly...and very rocky.  In fact there were people rock climbing in the park there.  It must have been a huge project to cut into these rocks and divert the falls to a power plant here.

Rock Climbers

At various points along the way we came upon these Guillotine Gates.  They are not part of the locks but a separate water control system between the locks.  It looks exactly like a big Guillotine and it is a bit freaky passing under them.

We said goodbye to our Ranger Tug companions and went on to the little town of Illon NY.  There is a small marina/RV park here which is really very nice....except that the water in this section of the river is full of flotsam and jetsam... just filled with pieces of floating trees, slimy water and floating junk.  Hopefully this is just a part of the river where this stuff gets "stuck" and we will move onto prettier water tomorrow.