After a trip down over Memorial Day weekend to prepare the boat, we arrived late on Sunday night and got unloaded and unpacked. Monday morning we were up early and off to the grocery store to stock up for the next several days. Erik stayed at the boat and did some last minute boat tasks while Renee returned the rental car. Threw off the lines and motored over to fuel up about 1:00pm then headed out for our first day on the water 💦. A short 32 mile cruise had us at Half Moon Bay Marina about 4:00pm. We were challenged for our first docking of the year to back into a VERY tight slip with a VERY narrow fairway to maneuver the boat around in. A couple of local, drunk, slip holders and a dock hand were there to assist though making it manageable.
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| Scenes from the Hudson River Beautiful hills and clouds Westpoint Naval Academy Our route for the day on Nebo |
After settling in and taking Riva for a short walk we joined a small group of about 8 other Loopers down on the end of the dock where they had gathered for ‘dock tails’. It’s always fun to share stories of adventures with others. 4 or 5 were Canadian, one couple was from Michigan, and another couple from North Carolina (Little River area Mark and Pam!). The highlight of Riva’s day came in meeting Finigan, the North Carolina couples Samoyed!
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| Say hello to my little frend |
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| Half Moon Bay Croton NY A quiet little place |
Exhausted from only getting about 3-4 hours sleep the night before after arriving after 11pm and prepping the boat at Whites we headed back to the boat for a quick light dinner and an early bedtime. As Renee was getting into bed she heard water dripping/running below….ugh. A quick stripping of the bed and move of the mattress to get into the rear bilge area uncovered the culprit, a cracked sea cock valve for the water intake of the rear toilet. Fortunately the crack in the valve was north of the ball valve so the temporary fix was to simply shut that valve. It’ll be roughing it, but pretty sure we can survive with just the front heads dry flush toilet ;-)
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| Anyone want to bring us one of these? |
We awoke early on Tuesday 6/3 and after our morning routine departed Croton for Liberty Landing at around 8am. The landscape of hills, trees, and rural communities soon gave way to a more urban, flat environment as we drew nearer to NYC. We passed multiple Looper boats (once again all going the wrong way 😂) and started seeing more and more commercial vessels. About 15 miles out the first glimpse of the giant city skyline started to come into view; faint and small at first but quickly growing as we drew nearer.
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| Entering the Big Apple! |
Soft rolling waves began several miles from the city but soon turned into a much rougher mess of ferry boat wakes churning up the river. A constant flow of ferries zig zag across the Hudson River/mouth of Hudson Bay scurrying people around to the different boroughs and attractions. Awareness of surroundings and continual maneuvering was the only thing keeping us from getting run over as they are bullies that don’t have much regard for pleasure craft. Arriving at our destination, Liberty Landing Marina, at around 10:30 am which is located in New Jersey (directly across the river from lower Manhattan) we got safely secured in our slip. The marina was huge and busy. A walk with Riva quickly revealed that the marina was hosting a large international sailing race (Sail Grand Prix) this coming weekend and all of the boats and teams were there preparing and practicing.
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| It was impressive to see the sailboats craned into the water |
We left Riva aboard to hold down the fort and we boarded a ferry to bring us to Ellis and then Liberty Islands. It is both amazing and interesting to see and hear the wide variety of languages and cultures of the many people. Ellis Island museum was quite interesting to tour and feel the nostalgia of our countries immigrant roots. Seeing the Statue of Liberty up close was also a treat. They had a very nice museum there where we learned a lot about its planning, construction, and subsequent refurbishing.
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| Renee near the ferry terminal And Inside Ellis Islands main building |
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| Lady Liberty! Renee holding her chocolate waffle cone torch 😋 |
We had planned to go back to the boat to get Riva after Ellis and Liberty, but, it turned out that taking the ferry from Liberty Island over to Manhattan was going to make a lot more sense. So, we boarded and rode over to Manhattan where we then walked to the 911 Memorial site to witness the somber but beautiful pools. It really drove home the depth of the losses in looking at all of the names of those whose lives were taken on the stone walls of the pools.
Quiet reflection
With all of the travels and activity of the day by the time we were done there at the 9/11 site we were both losing steam fast. A short ferry ride back across the Hudson brought us back to Liberty Landing and Happy Destiny where we enjoyed a quick dinner aboard of brats before getting cleaned up.
We rounded out the day with a nice nighttime walk with Riva out to the tip of the peninsula where the train station is and there was a fabulous nighttime view of the Manhattan skyline.
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| Marina view Happy Destiny is just above and to the right of Renee’s head |
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| Shimmering lights at night Lower left is our view from the marina |
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| Liberty Landing NJ had their own nice memorial to 9/11 Two Long shiny walls wit all the lost souls names Aimed across the bay to Manhattan exactly where the towers once stood |
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| Steele beams from the towers in front of the memorial walls |
Wednesday June 4th Erik awoke at his usual dark thirty. We had decided an early departure would be in order because we figured that not nearly as many ferries would be running around kicking up the water. As well, Renee had purchased tickets for a Broadway show matinee at 2pm which meant we needed to cruise 18 miles to our nest destination (Great Kills Yacht Club) on Staten Island, get settled in, and then pretty quickly hop a bus and subway back in to Manhattan. The early departure paid off with MUCH smoother waters and has we cruised out into the bay we took a few minutes to drop ‘Trudge’ (our dinghy) and Erik motored out a ways from the boat while Renee stayed at the helm in order to get a few nice pictures of Happy Destiny in font of Lady Liberty. There was one large ferry wake that came upon us just as Erik was hooking the dinghy back up to the davits on the stearin of the boat cause it the swim platform to smack the large wake and drench him in the dinghy. Oh well….nothing better than a nice saltwater bath in the morning.
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| Money shots! |
The cruise down to Staten Island was uneventful and the water was smooth. We pulled in to Great Kills Yacht club just before 9am and were greeted by a couple of members as well as a fellow Looper couple. We didn’t waste much time though and brought Riva for a walk before getting changed and walking up the road about 1/4 miles to catch the express bus into the city. It was a 1 hour bus ride followed by a 15 minute subway jaunt back up to Broadway where we arrived a couple of hours before showtime. It was a bit interesting navigating the MTA system; for some reason it would not let us both use the same credit card for fares at either the bus stop or the subway station. So, we ended up having to purchase an MTA card which also proved to have its challenges. From the recommendation of a local we had met at the bus stop we went for a nice lunch at a staple diner, Juniors Restaurant and Bakery where we enjoyed a brisket sandwich and fries and an Asian Chicken salad. To walk off the large lunch we took a stroll up Broadway to Central Park and walked around the southern tip of the park people watching for a bit before heading over for the show.
Our seats for ‘Wicked’ were front row left side. We weren’t sure how we would like them but as it turned out they were very nice. It was neat to be that close to the performers and have it appear as though they were looking and singing directly to us. It was a packed house and the performance was great, as expected. We wish we had the time, and money, to see an additional show or two….maybe next time!
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| Wicked |
We got back to the marina at about 6:30pm and fixed up a quick chicken salad that we ate on crackers with cheese for light, late dinner. Multiple yacht club members and Loopers came around that we had some short conversations with. The magic 10pm bedtime hour rolled around quickly and we were both more than grateful to have a comfortable bed to sleep in with a nice bay breeze blowing in the windows!
The first 3 days of the trip have been wonderful and an experience that we had anticipated for a long time; it lived up to our expectation and beyond! We will be spending Thursday 6/5 here at Great Kills Yacht club for a second night tomorrow and plan to slow down and relax a bit….maybe hit the beach and an Italian restaurant; just without a bottle of red or white!
Hello Friends I love reading about your adventures. Stay safe and Enjoy the Journey. Pack in the fun. Love
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