June 24, Saturday, Day 75, Croton-on-Hudson to Hyde Park

We started early again to catch the rising tide up the Hudson River – there was still fog on the river when we left. I think Ruth was a bit in shock at the early hour but was still smiling.

It was beautiful traveling up river with river traffic large and small, trains running on both sides of the river quite frequently, and interesting homes on the hillsides of the river.

West Point was a surprise – massive looking and castle like, complete with castle walls, from the river view. There were a few interesting lighthouses mid-river as we traveled and soaked in all in.

The Hyde Park Marina had room for one trawler on their deepest t-dock, and we were lucky enough to be able to take advantage of it since it was only a few hours until high tide and the entrance was now deep enough for us. (The next morning we realized that we needed to wait for the tide to rise before we could leave.)

It was a good location for visiting FDR’s estate, and the Culinary Institute if we had planned ahead (reservations we already filled). We ordered a cab (no Uber in upstate NY at this time!) and enjoyed an afternoon touring the FDR home site and presidential library. The man was a dynamo – amazing what he accomplished. The visit was engaging and inspiring!  Their home was surprisingly modest for such a famous family. In their home I loved the parlor/music room. I bought Arden a book at the visitors center, and here I am reading it to FDR.

We walked from the estate to a nearby restaurant and then took a cab back to the marina. We were pretty tired from a very full and warm day, but just as we thought the days was done we were treated to a fabulous fireworks show! It turns out that it was a celebration at the Culinary Institute and it must have lasted a 20-30 minutes. So we didn’t get to eat there (I tried to make reservations) but we saw their fireworks as close as can be!

June 24, Saturday, NYC to Croton-on-Hudson

The trip up the Hudson River from NYC was an amazing sight from the water. We started at sunrise and traveled slowly up the Hudson.

The New Jersey side gets ignored, but is quite impressive across from lower Manhattan and continues to be interesting as we head north.

Then goodbye NYC and hello bridges, the George Washington Bridge and the Tappan Zee Bridge with a new span under construction. The Palisades (cliffs) were amazing to me as I’d never seen them before.

Dirk had gotten us started by 6am so we could take advantage of tides pushing us up the Hudson River. The goal was to get to our marina early since we had friends from Acton Mass visiting us for the weekend and we needed to set up their cabin.  It worked – we made it to the marina by noon and were the first of many Great Loopers to dock at the Half Moon Bay marina that night.  We did laundry in town and made beds and generally cleaned up while doing some socializing with a few people we had met in New Jersey.

Then the magic hour of 5:30 came and we enjoyed our first “docktails”. Bring something from your boat to drink and food to share if you have it, and meet, greet and catch up with other cruisers, many that were also doing the loop and some that had already done it.  We both enjoyed ourselves. It was great to see a few folks we had met elsewhere too. Terry is to my left and we met he and his wife in Brick New Jersey!

Just as docktails were winding down, Ruth and Geoff arrived, and after hellos and hugs we had  a light dinner on the sundeck as we caught up with all the news. The plan for tomorrow is to start early (again due to tides) to get the Hyde Park marina in time to visit the FDR home.

June 22, Thursday, Day 63, From Brick New Jersey to NYC

At the recommendation of our experienced looper neighbors in the marina, we left early (7am) so we could catch the slack tide as we entered the ocean, eliminating currents pushing us off course on the way out of the Manesquan River Inlet.  But first we needed to cross from Barnegat Bay to the river via the Point Pleasant Canal. Most canals are pleasant – not this one – it’s choppy. Waters from two different sources (Chesapeake and Delaware) were fighting for superiority the entire way and it was hard to keep our heading. We heard it’s a nightmare on weekends with all manner of boat wakes added to it.

We neared the ocean, seeing additional marinas and boatyards, and then we were watching the Jersey coast go by including Sandy Hook.

As you can see, the ocean was not rough – maybe 2′ swells, but there was some uncomfortable back and forth rocking. Since I had taken Bonine I let myself drift off to dreamland and avoid the discomfort. Dirk was fine. As we approached the city the view was different than expected, with Coney Island facing us and Manhattan behind that. Getting closer we could see the city as Coney Island faded to the right.

Amidst a large number of barges and boat in NYC harbor traffic we headed for Lady Liberty and finally arrived.

The park was very busy as you may be able to see with lines of visitors around the edges. We cruised entirely around the Lady and then headed for an anchorage and a rest.

Later we moved to an anchorage along Liberty Park rather than staying in the bay behind the Statue of Liberty where we first anchored. There was just too much rocking and rolling from all the boats in the NYC harbor. We could still see our lady, and the water was finally calm.

June 21, Wednesday, Brick, NJ, Day 62?

We left our wonderful hosts, Pat and George Hospodar, this morning and headed for the marine repair facility to install our refurnished, shiny, props. Docking next to their house has been such a blessing for us and we so appreciate all the rides, advice, stories of their experiences (and use of the laundry).  Photos of their neighborhood…

We all  (George joined us fortunately) headed up Barnegat Bay to David Beaton and Sons Marina, the boat repair facility. After hauling us out, two additional issues were found requiring a trip to West Marine. George’s neighbor Ernie drove us all to the local West Marine to pick up zincs and a new transom light. I didn’t know we even had transom lights, but the covering of  one of the two in the back had corroded and may have been causing water to get into our bilge.  It’s the size of a jelly jar top. Cost- $130 -yikes!

We were there until mid afternoon and then headed to the marina up the way where we could spend the night prior to venturing on our way to the ocean. Very nice town dock in a cove with tie ups, electricity and water for $25 a night! They only have room for about 6 boats, and a few others came in later. One was also a looper – with a gold flag! That means they’ve already completed the loop. The boat is Adagio and Jan and Ron shared their plans for the ocean trip tomorrow – very helpful.  Big day tomorrow – heading for the big NYC.

 

 

June 19, Monday, Day 69; Brick, NJ

We will be staying here likely until Thursday, for both propeller repairs and a good weather window for heading north to NYC via the Atlantic Ocean. George and Pat continue to help us out – Pat drove me to a walk-in clinic today since I haven’t been able to get rid of a nasty cough. Now I’m on antibiotics and using an inhaler to help clean up the mess inside my lungs! Hopefully I will start feeling normal again tomorrow. (I blame the  bronchitis on my Cape May harbor swim. ) Later George and Dirk took a ride to drop off the bent propellers – we have to replace one again.

Currently there is thunder and lightening going on around us. Not too dramatic because the predicted high winds never came.  So a quiet evening here on the boat in Brick NJ.

June 17, Saturday, Day 68

We traveled with a Pilot today – George Hospodar. He and his wife Pat are Harbor Hosts for New Jersey ICW north, authors of two Great Loop books (on board our boat) and also editors of the one of the Waterway Guides. We called for advise after our first few days of drama, and they gave us some good suggestions including the marina in Atlantic City. They called in the morning to say they were willing to drive down to Atlantic City so George could help us pilot up to the next major stop, which is close to the end of the NJICW.   Of course we gratefully accepted, knowing that we’d learn a lot and have a safer trip as well.

They arrived around 11 and we left at 11:30 ish… for a long day with a number of challenging, narrow channels. In spite of George’s efforts we managed to get blown off course and go aground once, but at least we got off the shoal without the tow boat. But we did bend the newly replaced port prop again! Do you believe it? The rest of the day went fine,  including getting through many narrow areas and then relaxing a bit on the deeper Barnegat Bay. George really knows this area  – he and Pat live here and have traveled it many, many times.

George directed us right into his neighborhood in Brick, NJ, right off  Barnegat Bay, where we were able to tie up to his neighbor’s dock and be connected to the 30amp electric our boats require. Very nice.

But there’s more… Two other looper couples are in the area, also waiting the weather window for the ocean voyage to Sandy Hook and NYC. Pat and George invited us all to share a wonderful evening with them with all the New Jersey Italian cuisine fixin’s. Their boats are the HMS Happy Happy (Terry and Pat Moy) and Corsica Lady (John and Sarah Hedegaard). It was  a great evening sharing interesting and funny stories about our experiences.

Much Thanks to George and Pat (on either ends of the table)!

June 16, Friday, Day 67

We left Sea Isle City  3 hours before high tide, which was 11am.  A late start, but we needed to wait for higher water to have a chance of getting to Atlantic City without incident. Until we started into Atlantic City I only took one photo the entire way, since my eyes were constantly on the ipad, Garmin chartplotter (Garmin Bluechart) and the boat’s Garmin that shows the depth in hopes of avoiding the shoals.

Much of the travel was either like the picture, looking from one channel marker to the other on big rivers or bays. We also passed through many busy summer towns like we’ve already seen, but as we go north they extended farther in both directions.

Entering the Atlantic City area we had to wait for a bridge to open in an area the looks nothing like the  Atlantic City we had imagined – very normal looking – and  kayaks passed us while we waited for the bridge opening.

There were a  few wind turbines, more river and then we saw some of the gambling resorts. The newer, large buildings as seen from the river looked like they were planned to reflect off each other.

We finally came into the creek with the Historic Gardner Marina and Aquarium, our destination. We made it- not one grounding! We celebrating with a nice dinner at a popular water view restaurant  very close to the marina and got a good rest.

 

June 15, Thursday, Day 66 , Sea Isle City NJ

Funny about the New Jersey ICW… We met two couples at our marina in Cape May who are headed to Canada, and one couple had recently completed the Great Loop. They are still in Cape May, waiting for the Atlantic Ocean to calm down, and emailed us wondering if they should try the New Jersey Intracostal (NJICW) instead.  Here’s the answer we sent them…

“How timely. Dirk is glad to advise that the the NJICW is the work of the devil. Seriously, in spite of taking care to follow “rising tide” and “go slowly” recommendations, we’ve gone aground twice and bent one of our props. They were replaced with our spares today – ouch – $900! Of course, you have much more experience than we do, and some others get though it, so it may be our inexperience. Today we started north after the props were replaced and not 15 minutes away, going north, saw a place where the channel literally disappears based MLW (Mean Low Water Depth)! So we turned around and are anchored out.” They waited and went the ocean route!

I left out the part of once again having to call Boat US to get us out of a tricky spot  when when just couldn’t find the deep area between the markers. The Boat US captain said he comes there often and once again led us out of the tricky area.

On the other hand, we ended up visiting two little resort towns. The Stone Harbor Yacht Club at their expensive but nice marina last night and today we walked around Sea Isle City today while the props were replaced. Dirk is holding his nose since he doesn’t love fish!

We called an expert on the New Jersey ICW and he advised us to start out mid tide or above tomorrow, so crossing our fingers that is the plan.

For the anchorage, we first thought we’d tie up to an anchored barge after the workers left. Turns out it wasn’t a popular idea with the owner, who was nice enough about it as he chased us off, so we are just anchored near it and crossing our fingers that the anchor holds.

 

 

 

 

June 14, Wednesday, Day 65

Despite many warnings from various cruisers of the NJICW combined with positive “its not that bad if you go slow on a rising tide” suggestions, we started north from Cape May expecting to be careful to avoid running aground. What we didn’t understand was that if it was windy on the ocean it is also very windy in the waterway. Instead of protected channels there are large bays or rivers with narrow channels carved in them. The wind made it difficult to keep the boat on course and after about an hour we started calling marinas to find a place to hole up until the wind is lighter. On our way to a marina we happened to hit an unmarked shoal and one of our props became stuck. We dropped anchor to see if the rising tide would release us, but after a while we hadn’t moved, so Boat US towing service to the rescue! We were pulled out and the captain also led us the 1/2 mile or so beyond the tricky area toward the marina.

We are all set for now but have to find a marina that will help us during their busy season. The two closest turned us down so far but we’ll make calls tomorrow and figure it out.

We are at the Stone Harbor Yacht Club, a very nice, small marina that is more of a restaurant than marina but were very accommodating. It was a short walk to town full of VERY EXPENSIVE, large and quaint summer homes and cute shop and restaurants. We also walked along the well-known 5 mile beach, a draw for summer visitors.

 

June 13, 2017, Tuesday, Day 64

We got up with enthusiasm to go check out ocean waves and see if it was calm enough for us to go north outside of the NJICW (New Jersey Intracostal Waterway). Dirk was checking oil and fluids when a loud 100 decibel high pitched squeal began. It was painful and constant. We looked around and saw it was coming from the bilge high water sensor, so Dirk checked and the boat wasn’t flooding. For no reason, it was screaming at us and Dirk couldn’t figure out how to make it stop even though he spent a long time searching under the floor. However he was able to dull the sound a little by putting Duct Tape over the little speakers – love that stuff.

After he’d done what he could we started calling marinas and ended up at Canyon Club Marina, which was recommended by other marinas as the one in the area that would be able to help us.  They are very busy but found time to get the alarm stopped, and later to reinstall the sensor. We would prefer to replace the sensor since this isn’t this first time this has happened, but at least Dirk knows how to stop it if we get another false alarm.

All this investigation and fixing took until about 2pm, so we left the boat and went off to Cape May again since it was too late to start out boating. It was nice to see more of the town.   We are back at the boat, still in the marina, and plan to start traveling up the New Jersey ICW tomorrow.