New York City

Al and I remember years ago talking about how fabulous it might be sailing into NY City someday. So today feels very surreal as the Manhattan skyline becomes clearer and clearer.


    

Our first glimpse of Lady Liberty

tallest building is on the site of the twin towers

"Haven" tucked in to the left (with the bit of orange on the back)

We also are on high alert as we progress down through heavier and heavier traffic. The NY Waterway Ferries are very intimidating, as they move very fast and look like thy are coming right at you only to blow by and leave you to deal with their thundering wake.  We made a decision earlier to pay the extra money and head to a marina for our stay in NYC.  We chose Liberty Landing Marina for many reasons but ultimately we were looking  that spectacular Manhattan view which is exactly what we got, amazing!

New building at the site of the Twin Towers

water taxi from Jersey City to World Trade Center

We pulled in early and spent the day doing laundry and odd jobs Al wanted to do on the boat. The one disappointment with our choice was their pathetic internet service. You would think for the money they charged they would have had the best of the best service but instead we had to wait 15 minutes for one photo to download and continually get kicked off.  When we question them about it all they said was that they are “currently working on upgrades”.  Besides that the facility was lovely, very safe and secure,  with great staff and very accessible to get into the city. Both ferry and train options at our finger tips. Oh and the view, what a view!!!

Manhattan skyline from the bow of "Haven"

We spent the next week exploring both NYC and some areas in New Jersey like Jersey City and Hoboken. Statue of Liberty was a short walk away from the boat, along Liberty State Park pathways.  It didn’t take too long to figure out the transit systems but we still don’t think we could have done it without the assistance of so many wonderful people.  No matter where we were-street, subway etc.- all kinds of people would just offer their help if we looked dazed and confused.   We were both surprised and thrilled with how very friendly  New Yorkers are.

Julie and Al, couldn't have made it to Manhattan without them, Thanks!

Between eating our way through every Pizza joint in the City (the best being in Jersey City) we managed to see lots and put on a ton of millage on our shoes!!  As I have been to NYC before we were able to get to a few places I hadn’t been before like China Town and Little Italy, Biking through Central Park and Hells Kitchen.   We decided to do the Hop-on-off bus tour which was a mistake in hind sight or maybe it was just a bad experience with the tour group we used. It was not easy to get on and off with timings and locations etc. Nothing really flowed and we actually spent more time waiting for a bus then on one, except the loop that we ended up doing 3 times!!  Anyway I will stop complaining because we did manage to catch the night tour that wasn’t a hop-on-off (but included in our bus tickets) and it was fabulous. Had lots of fun with the guide and saw the city from a very cool perspective.  Amazing architecture, live music and cool beers were also enjoyed by all.  Thursday we spent the day doing laundry and I did a huge clean inside the boat while Al worked on the outside.  Late  showers then wine on the bow of “Haven” to watch the city skyline as the sun went down, spectacular.

Times Square

Sub Way

Italian Festival

biking in Central Park

911 Memorial in Jersey State Park

Al on top of Empire State Building

Well, New York City was great more than we could have hoped for but now we must put Lady Liberty behind us as we move on making our way south…

September 12, 2013

We headed out down the Hudson hoping to make it straight into NY city and get tied up for the night at Liberty Landing Marina.  The remainder of the Hudson continued to be stunning even as we slowly got into more populated places.  Passing by famous West Point, which I had no idea was even in that neck of the woods.

West Point Academy 

 As we were passing Yonkers we  ended up hitting some bad weather, another thunder/lightening storm,  plus  we started to loose speed with a turning tide. We decided to pull over just shy of our destination north of George Washington Bridge and dropped the anchor for the night (on the Jersey side).  We really wanted to come into NY City with good visibility.
Just as we were in the middle of setting the anchor a pan pan came over the radio that there was a person in the water  in the vicinity of GW Bridge. The tug beside us heading north did a 180 back to the area and within 2 minutes the 1st police boat showed up followed closely by 2 more.  Amazing to see everyone respond so quickly. Fire and or emergency vehicles pulled up on a roadway beside the bridge as well you could see them on top of the bridge.  We never heard what had happened or if they found the person. I would have to say we look at debris in the water with a little more scrutiny from then on!

Jumper??

Skipper needed a break after all that excitement 

The weather broke so headed to shore and went for an amazing 2 hour walk all along the shore of the Hudson as well as up the Jersey Embankment.  The trails are well cared for and well used by the locals. Our night on the hook was fabulous. There was the most spectacular Thunder and lightening storm yet. We were able to sit in the cock pit for a long time before the rain hit and hit hard!! With the current holding us in a different direction then the wind we ended up with rain coming through the cock pit window so I was getting rained on while cooking dinner.  We haven’t had to close those windows in a very  long time.

 Looking forward to tomorrow, New York City baby…

September 11, 2013

 Early mornings on the Hudson

Our first stop after Catskill was Marlboro Yacht club where we grabbed a mooring ball for the night. Time on the water was about 6 hours, again with an early morning to catch a ride down with the current.     I think we finally hit the hottest day of the entire summer here!  Almost unbearable yet Al and I decided to walk into town in the afternoon sun, I’m not sure what we were thinking. I guess we just  hate to stop by a place and not check out the area. The yacht club was the nicest club to date with amazing internet connections.  A thunder and  lightening  storm passed over us in the evening but we seemed to avoid the rain.  The River was fairly easy to navigate down and strangely always enough room for everyone, even when you didn’t think you could squeeze by, miraculously there was  actual room to spare.

On the mooring ball

awesome canyon walk

Marlboro Yacht Club patio

Raising the Mast

Heading south now down the Hudson, one more lock to go through. Lock 1 is a federal lock unlike the  others, Erie Canal, being state run locks.  Turned out to be the easiest lock and it actually only had one pipe that we could connect to. We weren't sure what was going to happen but all was very smooth.

leaving the federal lock

Back in tidal waters now. Our timing was great and we were able to ride the tide at about 8 knots down the river to Albany Yacht Club where we stopped for the night. Rough landing for me with wind and current but no damage done. Not a great stop. Washroom/showers were terrible and not much to walk to- a bit of a rough area.

Albany

Early morning departure to travel with the tides. It was so cold out again, we dawned our foul weather gear. Fog was a bit of a worry for us as it came and went for the first hour of our trip.
Heading to Hop-On-Nose, Catskill Creek to have our mast put up!

Hudson River 1st light in Albany

yes, those are touques!

sharing the road

Beautiful little river running up to the marina. We fueled up then headed in. Sean (owner) and his crew of 2 took the mast off the boat and placed it dock side.  Al was able to rig and place antennas etc. having everything ready for first thing in the morning. Once Al finished we walked to the west side of the town of Catskill then back to the boat for dinner and and early night.

coming in to Catskill Creek

8 am mast was put into place and secured by 8:30. It's always such an uneasy feeling seeing your mast swinging in the breeze like that but we felt good about the whole process. Watching the guys do their thing you could really tell they had done this a thousand times before. Even as the thunder and lightening started they were still all business and smiles!

glad I could help out!

Al changed the oil and filters while we waited for the storm to pass, which it did within the hour. Sails were up, and boat cleaned by 3pm giving us time to walk the east side of town.  Another awesome little town with amazing architecture and super nice folks. The rest of the day was extremely hot and humid, hard for the body to get use to all the temperature variation!

I borrowed Sean's car for a beer run and to pick up groceries, Thanks Sean. We had a celebration dinner at the restaurant on site, absolutely delicious! Then another early night as we would be leaving early in the morning again.

Another big hurtle behind us.
Haven returns to her natural state...

I'm about week behind, sorry! This internet thing isn't as accessible as one would think.  More to come soon...