In Amsterdam you will find the islands on the southern side of the river for the slightly over 4 miles to Lock 10 on the south side at Cransville with a drop of 15, preceded by R200 on your port side shore.

Below Lock 10 approximately 2 miles there is a unnamed island to the north at R188A. Between W183 AND W179 there is a spoil area along the starboard shore, or what is now SW to avoid.

Lock 9 Rotterdam Junction with a drop of 15' is just under 6 miles below Lock 10 on the NE shore preceded by R160. Lock 8 Schenectady with a drop of 14' is located on the SW shore. There is no question that you are now begins to leave the upstate countryside now as one exits Lock 8 leaving Daley Island and Scotia to the north.

Leaving Ulrich and Hog Islands to the north we enter Schenectady proper where urban evidence surrounds you. On this particular day a band of youths were attempting to urinate of passing boats from the railroad bridge below Hog Island. Schenectady is A General Electric city and evidence of their presence is everywhere. Approaching W81 is an entrance to the Schenectady water control plant and the channel runs to the north shore and rail yards below the Schenectady airport.

Between R72 and R70 on the north shore is the Mohawk Park Marina and Wells Sea Plane Base which offers facilities and fuel.

Another mile downstream in Rexford you will find the Schenectady Yacht Club on the north shore between R62 and R60 markers. From here the river turns sharply southward rounding a the formidable General Electric Research and Development plant with restricted landing privileges. A little under 4 miles south along this reach preceded by a midstream marker R52 is a large spoil area that you should avoid. the channel lies on the now SSW shore and is well marked although often busy.

It is now 19:00 hours and the sun sun is getting low however the less than pleasant experience of passing through Schenectady and a discussion with the lock keeper convinces us to continue south. It is getting dark now and there are a lot of careless operated pleasure craft out as we pick our way between the local's. Extreme caution is required as there seemed to be little of no wake control and a heavily laden cruising vessel is out of place.

By the time we crossed under the Northway (Interstate 87) at Spoore's Harbour it was pitch black and many small boats showed no running lights at all. Picking our way carefully along with the well lit aids we pushed onward. Past Halfmoon Beach to port and around the point where the Hwy 9 bridge crosses the canal. Although there are several marinas here as Stanfords just past W13 and Albany Marine Service sharply around the point under the bridge we kept on.

The channel runs to the east side here and there is a large campground on the north shore just after the guard gates. we declined to stop as there was a large biker party in progress on the shore.

Shortly after passing R8 you will see signs for the final set of locks. Approaching the lock as it opened we got out final thrill of the day as a small boat without running lights burst forth from the lock as soon as the gates opened and missed us by inches.

Here Locks 6 through 2 are all within sight of each other with drops of Lock 6 drop of 33', Lock 5 a drop of 33.3', Lock 4 a drop of 34.6', Lock 3 a drop of 34.6', Lock 2 a drop of 33.6' leaving one just 14' above the height of the Hudson River at Troy.

There is a large basin below lock 2 where you can anchor off or tie up to the northern wall along a residential area.

It was 20:45 when we shut off the engine and securing was a welcome relief after that past several hours. This is an totally unprotected mooring so I looped a line through a broken piece of wall just above the waterline as a precaution and hit the berth.

I awoke next morning early with a strange feeling only to be even more disoriented seeing the boats who were moored on either end of us floating well away from the sea-wall drifting towards the spillway. A quick check of our lines showed only the one line which was a after thought was keeping us secured to the wall all the rest had been untied in the night. Several blasts on the air-horn roused their crews who returned to shore and we all had a few choice words to say regarding the local hospitality here.

Has it changed today, I have no idea but I warn anyone making this passage to use caution in mooring for the night and transiting the canal from Schenectady to Troy.