We made it back to the boat parked in Newark, NY on the Erie Canal. There are a few more boat parked here now than when we left on our mini boat vacation. There are now 14 boats parked along both the south wall and the north wall of the canal. Today is day 13 of being stranded in Newark with the locks closed. We are starting hear of things opening up on the Erie Canal. They are opening the closed sections in phases, starting with the eastern most portion of the closure opening first from locks 2 – 20 and another section from 26 to 34. We are currently sitting just west of lock 28, so we could technically go a bit east however we will not get past lock 26 right now and there are no good places to stay between Newark and lock 26. So, we are all staying put until they announce that locks 25 through 21 will open. Right now the anticipated reopening is on September 3rd at 7 am. That will put us at 17 days waiting in Newark.

So, what do 14 boats stranded in Newark do? Throw a party of course! We planned a pot luck in the picnic pavilion right by our boats. It was complete with decorations, party favors, lots of great food and great company. We dubbed ourselves the “Stranded Boat Club” and everyone got to take a little life ring as a token of our time together.

We met so many great people during our time so far in Newark. John, who watched our boat for us while we were in upstate New York. We even met a couple on a sailboat who just arrived who are from Manitowoc WI! They left from the same marina we did and we hadn’t yet met each other. We had heard about each other through other friends at Manitowoc and then we meet face to face in Newark. How cool is that? We also met Ed and Evelyn aboard Jersey Grace who are from North Carolina and are heading back there with the boat. We also met another Island Packet who recently pulled up along the wall as well.

One common conversation that everyone is having….when are the locks going to open? We are anxious for any little bit of information anyone has. Our friends Dwight and Kay got stranded further east on the Erie just before lock 17 in Little Falls. They were having issues there with the water level rising 5 1/2 feet. Here in Newark the water has dropped about 3 inches.

We spent the next 3 days doing little things here and there. Washing the boat, put a couple of coat of varnish on the eye brows of the cabin top. We did some grocery shopping. Ed and Evelyn happened to have a rental car and Evelyn offered to take me to the grocery store with her. How nice!

We did some laundry and everyone, including us, have been pumping out their holding tanks and filling up water tanks in anticipation of Sept 3rd at 7 am for the proposed opening of the remaining locks on the Erie. Here’s hoping that Sept 3rd is our day.