Small Craft 24 b

The winter fishing boats are gone, likely fishing elsewhere and

replaced by these minimalist

machines.  There must be good fish to be had by the Staten Island side of the VZ Bridge.  They’re around in fall also.

Otherwise, like leaves on the trees and warm temperatures, they emerge.

 

And finally, in spite of all the other covid-19 changes,

snow birds are arriving.

This is a fishing machine,

but this larger boat, Poco Loco, came in the other day, with two days and four hours from Virginia Beach.  Anyone know who the manufacturer is?

Ditto this sportfish, it arrived at the Narrows from Cape May in four hours!

I believe I’m seeing fewer recreational boats like this and they’re arriving later than usual, and if they plan to get to the Great Lakes via the Erie Canal, that won’t be open for a while yet, as winter maintenance has mostly been stopped since mid-March.

Meanwhile, going in the other direction, you might recall seeing this boat on this blog before here . .  scroll.  Lil Diamond III, previously based along the NYS Thruway and doing tours for Erie Canal Cruises out of Herkimer NY, she’s been sold out of the Canal and is heading to a new life with Poseidon Ferry in Miami.  Here Kevin Oldenburg caught her headed south in front of Poughkeepsie being overtaken by a menacing cloud, and

here I caught her yesterday about to leave the sixth boro for a place fluidly connected.

Bon voyage, Lil Diamond III. previously big sister of Lil Diamond II,  as you buck the trend, heading south as a sunbird and meeting all the northbound snowbirds.  More photos from and of Lil Diamond III coming soon, I hope.

All photos, except Kevin’s, by WVD.

 

 

CB3

Let’s make this Fonda–current location of Urger— to Marcy, beginning of one of the highest sections of the Canal.

Approaching E-13 westbound, there’s a row of yellow painted bollards . . . starting from lower left here.

Each of those yellow bollards is on a sunken concrete barge. More sunken concrete barges can be seen at E-09.

We encountered lots of traffic . . .

including Dolphin, a

Canadian beaut.

Other traffic included Lil Diamond III and

Roman Holiday. 

At Marcy, Governor Roosevelt and

Erie were in the water, as were two buoy boats not shown.

x

 

 

Canal Corp Derricks

DB here expands to “derrick boat, not a term that had been in my vocabulary before this season.  Why DB #4 has been dubbed “the chief” I don’t know.

The next two photos show DB #4 eastbound near Schenectady a few days ago, pushed by Grand Erie and

boom resting on a scow.

Here’s the same derrick boat working on reinforcing a canal wall east of Herkimer back in August.  The white tour vessel is Lil Diamond III operated by Erie Canal Cruises Herkimer.

In late September, here was DB 2A working near Newark.  Note the elbow boom.   Tug Syracuse is standing by with the scows.

Here’s another shot of those units.  I’m not sure how the nomenclature makes this DB 2A.

Here’s DB 13 at the Genesee Crossing, i. e., the point where the Erie Canal and the Genesee make an X.  Standing by here is Tender #9.   I’m planning an encyclopedia of canal tenders soon.

I don’t know how many other functioning derrick boats work the Canal.  One non-functioning one is here in Oswego.

Here’s what the sign out front says.  I’m wondering if the other derrick boats above date from the same era.

Two shore mounted derricks are this one in Fonda and

this one at the junction lock in New London NY . .  between Rome and Syracuse.

All photos by Will Van Dorp.