Albany Prep for Erie Canal (#13)

Originally, we were planning to leave Shady Harbor and go straight to Waterford as an overnight stay before entering the Erie Canal. We didn't feel ready, so we made an interim stop in Albany, New York at the Albany Yacht club. We took a very quick trip, less than 2 hours, up the Hudson on a Friday, the same day the Yacht club has a catered dinner you can purchase. We joined the Yacht Club for dinner and made new friends as we learned more about the area.

The Albany Yacht Club removes their floating docks every winter. In the Spring, they open it up for fisherman. The funds they get from the fisherman help to offset their fees for the marina. The Club members start putting their boats in the water in May, and often have a large number of logs in their docks that come down from the Erie Canal in May and June. The Hudson has a strong current which makes docking sometimes very difficult.

On our travel day, we arrived early in the morning to avert the early morning showers.

After we docked we expected that it would rain a little bit.

And then it rained.

and rained.

After it cleared it up we felt we were ready for a walk across the bridge to Albany.

This is a picture of passing Looper, but in the far right you can see the Dunn Memorial bridge over the Hudson we crossed both ways.

We were unsure about our walking path along this bridng and found this change in route. Off this overpass to a walking bridge, the completely removed the walking bridge. This overpass is probably 40ft high. The pedestrians were re-routed across the bridge with concrete barriers for walking.

After crossing another bridge, we saw some sights in historic Albany.

We got our tour by these historical markers throughout the town.

And then we headed back to the marina. The clouds look a little ominous. But about 15 minutes later, as we are crossing the Dunn Memorial bridge, the skies opened up with rain and pea-sized hail. We got cover under an overpass and eventually returned to our boat-home drenched

Then we dried off and spent another couple of days getting to know other Loopers and planning our next stop.

Reviews:

Albany Yacht Club

Pros: Helpful staff, Clean bathrooms, Good Laundry, Stable docks, Great Views

Cons: Limited food options, Limited nice areas to walk around

Rating: 4 Stars