Crescent to Riverlink

 On Saturday morning June 4 around 8:30 am we departed Crescent Boat Club for Riverlink Park on the Erie Canal near Amsterdam NY. We made the 32 mile trip in about 7 hours going through 4 locks along the way. We followed another looper on a boat named Endeavor and it was a beautiful, sunshiny day with high winds.  Parts of the trip reminded us of cruising on good ole Barkley Lake. We were happy to be greeted at our spot on the wall by at least 4 loopers who caught lines and helped secure us. We had docktails later and met the couple we had followed all day and several others. Always fun to share stories and get to know the others.

We were looking forward to plugging in but all the spots with power we taken when we arrived which gave us a good chance to try out our new inverter batteries. The inverter powered us all through the night and into the morning so everything seems to be working great! Jane even negotiated a free night's stay because we didn't have power.

Riverlink Park

Boats dock on the wall to the right.

Riverlink is in Amsterdam NY - as we are reminded by this bridge.

Cruising NY Canals

 The Erie Canal and its locks are very old, dating back to 1817 so it is amazing that the locks even work. It opens each spring in late May. It rises 483 feet through a total of 36 locks as it connects the Hudson River to Lake Erie. Like the intracostal it is not one long man-made ditch but a series of canals connecting rivers and "ponds" as they call them locally.  The locks, and getting through them, is different than we have experienced. Instead of tying off to a floating bollard, members of the crew hang on to ropes that hang from the top side of the lock. Sounds easy but winds and swirling water in the lock can make it a little more of a chore, nothing terrible. It is a dirty job too. 200 year old walls with slim and grabbing a rope that hangs in canal water is um... yucky. Most use gloves so not too bad. BTW - "the Bles-sing!" doesn't like it much either as she gets slimmed in the process.

One of many locks through the Erie Canal and Oswego Canal

Turning Point

 On Friday June 3 after an unplanned 11 day stay in New Baltimore NY we cruised through the Troy Federal Lock into the Erie Canal at Waterford NY. We made 26 miles in seven hours through locks 2 - 6 on the Erie Canal and into a quaint little marina, The Crescent Boat Club. Along the way we kept green buoy (G1) on our port side. This was the eastern most point on our journey and important turning point as we pointed "the Bles-sing!" west and exited tidal waters. Yay, fresh water, no sharks, no tides to deal with!

Had a little adventure along the way to keep things interesting. As we approached Erie lock 3 the boat just ahead of us gave us a warning that we could barely hear... something about a line. We took it to mean a line in the water at first but figured out he was saying there was an overhead line hanging down under the rickety old railroad bridge we were about to go under. Couldn't see it until the last second. Jane was able to get the boat pole and flip it up over our newly purchased Bimini only to have it snag on the radar arch. And the fight was on... "the Bles-sing's" 900 horses pulling against the cable wire from hell. Jane was holding on with all her strength to the pole which was caught up in the struggle. Just before she went Mary Poppins and elevate out of the boat, she let go and sent the pole overboard. Well, "the Bles-sing!" won and jerked about 100 feet of cable wire free from whence it came. Jane was a trooper, running all over, up and down, out on the swim platform, frantically keeping it out of our props... very scary. We spent several minutes untangling, clipping the wire free and pulling a mess of wire into our aft cockpit. A few scratches but could have been much worse. Onward! 

A view of Albany NY on the way to Crescent Boat Club on the Erie Canal

Crescent Boat Club 

Gave us a Free Pabst Blue Ribbon Upon Check In!

Hangin on the Hudson

 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!"

Another Baltimore?

 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.  

On to Kingston NY

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

Croton On Hudson Dam

 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.

Great Scenery on the Hudson

 Enjoyed lots of pretty sights going from New York City to Half Moon Bay at Croton On Hudson.

Escape From New York

 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

Got to Have a Slice!

 And we did. Just like real New Yorkers. Either we were really hungry or it was that good! Probably both. Best ever.

Country Comes to the Big City

 Times Square

Empire State Building

The Met

Apollo Theater in Harlem

The Plaza

The Big Apple at Night from Liberty Landing

Touring The Big Apple - Day 2

 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.

Touring The Big Apple - Day 1

 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            

Our Approach to New York City

Just happened to be in the financial district on one of the worst trading days in history!

"If you can make it to here... you can make it to anyyyy where... we are up to here, New York New York!"

 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. 

On to Brielle NJ

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!

On The Boardwalk... Boardwalk

 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.

Atlantic City

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!

We Gone!

 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!

Waiting on the Weather

 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

Cape Architecture

Great looking buildings here, just like you would imagine.