New inverter batteries are supposed to be installed next Thursday so we are laying low here in New Baltimore NY for the Memorial Day weekend. Great weather and relaxing... doing little projects on "the Bles-sing!" and watching the boats go by.
Went for a walk up the hill this morning to take a picture of the marina and "the Bles-sing!"
Yes! We made it to New Baltimore on Monday May 23 after cruising about 40 miles up from Kingston. Shady Harbor is a nice marina and has some repair services that we are using to change out our inverter batteries, conduct preventative maintenance on the generator and service our anchor windless. All important items to take care of in preparation for cruising through Canadian waters.
Lighthouses look different here. They actually look like houses and usually mark dangerous shoals.
Kingston City was once the capital of New York and made a nice one night stop over. It allowed Tom and Region to hop off and get a rental car and drive home. We had a terrific time together and look forward to having them back on board down the road!
The trip from Croton On Hudson to Kingston was pretty long going upstream for 56 miles. It took about 7 hours so we were going slow but the fuel burn is better at lower speed (an important consideration these days). The scenery continued to be very pretty along the way and the river is very deep. We did have to watch out for floating debris but were able to dodge the big stuff with no problems.
United States Military Academy at West Point
One of the more impressive sights on the Hudson.
"the Bles-sing!" Leaving Kingston
We didn't know about the Croton dam when we pulled into Half Moon Bay. Everyone at the marina said not to miss it so we took a taxi and found this spectacular structure.
This the largest structure of hand-hewn stones in the world outside of Giza Egypt.
Enjoyed lots of pretty sights going from New York City to Half Moon Bay at Croton On Hudson.
We stayed two nights at Liberty Landing and left on Friday May 20 bound up stream on the Hudson River to our next stop in the city of Croton On Hudson. Strange name. What's next? Cadiz On Cumberland? Mt Vernon On Ohio? Anyway... the 33 miles up stream took us into new and different scenery. The Manhattan skyline gradually gave way to a beautiful and deep river meandering through dramatic hills on both sides. We enjoyed the short 4 hour cruise and landed at Half Moon Bay Marina afternoon. We stayed two nights at this picturesque marina.
Half Moon Bay Marina
And we did. Just like real New Yorkers. Either we were really hungry or it was that good! Probably both. Best ever.
Times Square
Thursday May 19 - The crew was up and ready to go into the city early to see the sights! We took the ferry over from Liberty Landing and caught a Top View bus tour. While we would have liked to spend more time and walk around, we were able to see so much in the limited time we had on the hop on, hop off bus. Off course traffic was jam packed but we were able to see a lot of the town in one day.
We thought we were good to go for the day with these great seats. The crew was not aware that we "hopped on" 1 stop from the end. We were happily sitting in our seats listening to the prerecorded music on free headphones provided when we got on the bus. Yep, happy as clams. Excited to see real life big city stuff. Didn't even notice that we were the only ones on the parked bus until a nice young man rescued the four of us dipsticks from the mid-west. "Ah... excuse me ... last stop." After taking our ear buds out, "What? We have to get off?! We just got on! Where will we go!" As he saw the panic in our eyes he kindly pointed to the next bus and calmly said, "Get on that bus over there and the tour will continue in a few minutes." Whew. More pics to follow.
Wednesday May 18 - The crew took the ferry across to Manhattan from our slip at Liberty Landing Marina in Jersey City, NJ shortly after getting the boat tied off. We hit the southern end of the island and saw a few sights in the afternoon.
The crew at the 911 memorial.
One World Trade Center
Made the 44 miles from Hoffman's Marina to New York in great shape. The crew was excited to enter the New York harbor under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. Great sightseeing on the way to our slip at Liberty Landing Marina.
Wednesday 5/18 - Another day in the North Atlantic, this time without fog. The waves were a bit bigger but we had a good cruise to the Manasquan inlet into our marina, Hoffman's Marina. This river/inlet is infamous for swift tidal currents. We arrived while the tide was rushing out to sea and wind blowing 15 mph with gusts to 20 mph. We had a challenging landing but good teamwork from the crew and an expert dockhand resulted in a safe dockage. (wouldn't want to do it again). Tomorrow - NEW YORK CITY!
Spent two days in Atlantic City (one too many). The boardwalk and the Golden Nugget are about the only attractions. Honestly we can't recommend either one but we had a good time as usual.
Our first cruise north was about 44 miles into the Absecon Inlet to AC. We used all kinds of weather apps and tools including a forecast from Chris Parker (expert marine weather dude) to pick a decent day. Lots of fog setting out and it was rough going out the Cape May canal but all in all the trip was very good!
Sunday May 15 - The winds and seas finally settled enough for us to bid a fond farewell to Cape May and set out into the North Atlantic Ocean! The next leg on our trip calls for a three day hop up the coast to New York City. Big debate between fellow travelers on the best path to take to New York - stay inside on the protected but shallow waters of the intracoastal or venture outside into the deep but scary ocean. Locals and most mariners recommend against the intracoastal route - "don't even think about it". The vast majority of our trip has been in intracoastal waterways and some very big bodies of waters like the Chesapeake and Delaware bays but the ocean is next level so we are excited to see how "the Bles-sing!" handles 4 foot waves! (Spoiler alert - no problem)
First stop - Atlantic City!
A low pressure system has taken up residence just off the coast here in Cape May. We have had strong winds, 20 to 30 mph with gusts between 40 and 50 for the last week, keeping us securely in our little slip. Seas out in the Atlantic have been around 10 feet. So... glad to wait it out and enjoy the Cape.
Cape May Lighthouse
Americans have been coming to Cape May to unwind and enjoy the coastal setting since the early 1800s. It offers vacationers shopping, fine dinning, beach activity and the chance to relax by the sea... as Tom and Regina are doing here in front of the Famous Congress Hall resort.
We had a great time in Baltimore and are happy to be on our way to more exciting ports of call like Cape May, New York city, the Hudson River, Erie Canal, Canada... and beyond!
Here we go again! After a nine month break from cruising the crew of "the Bles-sing!" is back on board and moving up the east coast. We have completed about 75% of our journey and look forward to going about 1,500 miles where we will cross our wake in Lake Michigan before travelling another 600 miles to our ole Kentucky home at Lake Barkley around September 1st. There are multiple routes as options from this point. You can see our path below outlined by the blue arrows.
