Cruising Naked

Erie Canal
43 02.97 N 077 07.11 W

Yeah, I know.  When the search engine spiders discover the title of this post, the hits on this page will soar.  It's not what you think though.  You'll see no naked pictures of Libby or I here.  Too bad.

Instead, I want to call attention to the fact that for the first time ever we are cruising unknown waters with no paper charts and no electronic charts.

Oh no, what will we do without charts?  Well the reason that we have no charts is that none are published for this stretch of canal, neither on paper nor electronically.   I presume that the reason none are published is that they are not needed.  Navigation?  Just head west or east and stay in the water in between the two banks.  It is almost, but not quite, to the point where steering is unnecessary --  just let go of the tiller and let the boat bounce from side to side.  That's how they used to do it on the canals in England.   What about the red and green buoys to warn us about shallows?  None.  So, it feels very odd indeed to have no charts, but we'll do OK.

In the past two days we stopped at Lyons for lunch at at Newark for a 36 hour stay.   We've heard that towns in the western half of the Erie are outgoing in their hospitality and free services for boaters. Newark set a new high standard.  Top quality free docks, water, power, very nice showers, a free laundry, and the strongest WiFi signal my computer every saw.   Wow.   The majority of paid marinas have a hard time matching those amenities.  It bodes well for the next few weeks.

We were delighted to find that Newark has a Wegmans grocery story.  The  Wegmans chain is legendary for being one of the best grocery chains anywhere.   They have wonderful stuff, a nice in-house restaurant, and great customer service.  We expected high prices in return for luxury shopping, but we were surprised to find their prices significantly lower than we're used to paying.  No wonder people love Wegmans so much.

Last night we went to a mini-golf place just 200 yards from the docks.  It was recommended by the dock master.   I bought an ice cream sandwich and Libby bought a small ice cream cone.  Both were enormous.  Libby's small cone was so big, they had to give her a side dish for the excess ice cream.   Who says that small town America is dead?  It thrives and we love it.

Today we enter a 100 mile stretch of the Erie about which Skipper Bob says: most closely resembles the original Erie Canal as a ditch dug through the landscape with a towpath on both sides.  Today, the western portion of the canal has more dockage points ... than the eastern 246 miles.  Get used to going slow, stopping often, taking in sights, and seeing joggers, walkers and bicyclers ... "  Sounds great to us.