In case anyone missed the Notice to Mariners, the entire New York Canal System is now open, as of yesterday. There is still a lot of debris in the water, so one must watch for it. In some locations, lock chambers have debris in them, caution. Canal Corp has boats out there full time, clearing the debris. The herring run has begun in the Mohawk River / Erie Canal, so a few of the locks reek of dead fish, most notably on the Waterford Flight. The lock operators pull large buckets of dead fish from the machinery pits daily but new ones keep swimming in. There's no way to keep up with the millions of herring on their way to spawn. They die after spawning. I assure you the lock operators do bathe regularly, it's not them, it's the dead fish. This is all part of nature, and will be gone in a few more days. There are still currents in some places, but it is greatly reduced now. One should always be cautious approaching and exiting locks as many have a dam alongside which will sometimes cause cross currents. After last month's monsoon rains, I'd say the Canal Corp has done a very fine job handling the flooding, etc. The amount of rain was just as bad as it was back in 2006, but this time there was no serious damage to the canals and lock, probably due to carefull and correct planning by the new management of the Canal System. The new guys are old canal hands from way back. Life on the canal is now pretty much back to normal. Fred Tug 44