Here We Go Loop De Loop

We finally started our Loop. Yay!!! After spending four nights at Great Kills Yacht Club with water pump issues and never really getting them completely fixed we decided we were good enough to head out. So at 9:18a.m. on Wednesday 6/29/16 we were on our way. We passed some of the most amazing scenery from the boat that you can imagine. First we passed the Statue of Liberty and then all of Manhattan on one side and New Jersey on the other. Check it out.

After Manhattan we slowly meandered up the Hudson at 1400 rpms or 8.5 miles per hour. We passed: Harlem, Yonkers and went under the George Washington and Tappan Zee bridges finally making our way to Croton-On-Hudson, Ny where we stayed at Half Moon Bay Marina. Steve the dock master was very hospitable and welcoming as we arrived. He helped us tie off the boat and handed me hand drawn maps of the little town and another page with restaurant listings and phone numbers of his favorite places. After cooling down in the a.c. on the boat for about an hour we took a little stroll into town. Despite it's lush vibrant green trees and scenic views of the Hudson there wasn't a whole lot to the "town" if you can call it that. We walked to the local market called Grain and Greens in search of Yerba Mates for me. No luck. I think this might be a problem locating them on the Loop. Either way we enjoyed our stroll and being able to stretch our legs. We came back and had some wine and sat up top and enjoyed the sunset and prepared for our morning departure. 

 

 6:00 a.m. came up very quickly this morning (6/30/16). We of course snoozed a few times before peeling ourselves out of bed. I have been sleeping great and having really bizarre dreams. Jeff sleeps about the same as he did at home (lousy) and is having the same weird dreams. After breakfast and engine checks we were off. Today's destination - Kingston, NY. After leaving the dock we were very proud of ourselves for our good docking and departing and how well we worked together. We have these headsets that we wear for both arrivals and departures since we can't see each other a lot of the time it helps us communicate and get things done. People on the loop call them "marriage savers." I totally understand why. Today's trawl took us past West Point military academy, FDR's mansion and towns of Poughkeepsie (I leaned how to spell that today:), Hyde Park and Peekskill (like where the Facts of Life t.v. show was supposed to be from. I loved that show!). It is so amazing to me that we get to sit back on our boat having it on auto pilot and just take in all of this amazing scenery. We have been following the trains as well , both the amtrack and some working trains. This is been fun for me. Anyone who knows me knows I'm crazy about trains. So finally around 4:40p.m. we made a left and headed down Rondout Creek and made our way to Kingston and the Kingston City dock. We are right in downtown Kingston and after asking Siri I leaned is a town of 23,000 people. We are right below a bridge and from what I can see both on land and water it appears to be charming. We both took showers as soon as we arrived and are about to venture out to see the town. Fortunately we are staying here for two nights so we don't need to be in a rush and can explore and get things done around the boat like cleaning, launching the dingy, measuring boat height and other random misc things. Shew. Happy to be here, tied up and staying for a couple of days. 

West Point Military Academy

Pretty bridges in Poughkeepsie

Tiding of Joy at Kingston City Dock

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After two days of being at the Great Kills Yacht Club in Staten Island, NY we finally have Internet service. Hi everybody:) Our last two days have been action packed. We started out by waking up at Laura's house at 3:30a.m. on Friday 6/25/16 to get our Uber to the airport. Our flights were uneventful but long. Right before we got to the boat Jeff decided to find somewhere to eat for dinner. We stumbled upon this cute place called Cole's Dockside. It was charming, cottagey full of what appeared to be locals - mostly older people, a little worn and very casual. We loved the place. We got a bottle of campaign to celebrate our arrival to the loop and the beginning of our adventures. Jeff had shrimp Parmesan for dinner and I had a light veggie pasta. All of a sudden we were relaxed and excited about our upcoming life and crazy adventure. From Coles we drove down the street to Great Kills Yacht Club and found our Tidings of Joy waiting for us. We hauled our 5 bags, 2 carryons and my guitar down to the Tidings. We were greeted by boat neighbors who are situated directly behind us. Phil and Pam were very welcoming and asked us a lot of questions about what we were doing and where we were from. After finally getting everything on board we decided to blow off unpacking for the night and really enjoy and take in our very first night of being on our boat on the loop. We of course cracked another bottle of wine and headed up top (see picture below). We were so happy and in disbelief that this is really happening. We were very tired so as it got dark and the wine ran out we headed to bed.

Sunday 6/26/16- Woke up and went out for a good New York bagel. We found a place called Hot Bagels and More. Jeff had the traditional bagel and lox and I had just a bagel and schmeer. It was goooooooooood. After bagels we came back to the boat to make a plan and figure out our day. We unpacked and got somewhat situated. From there we drove to a bike shop on Staten Island. Jeff didn't like the selection there so we went to a second bike shop in New Jersey. Fortunately we were both able to find bikes we liked and got them immediately. Unfortunately our s.u.v. wasn't be enough to hold both bikes so after shoving my bike in Jeff had to leave his behind. From the bike shop we went to Office Depot to get a printer and form there we went to Whole Foods. Now normally I would be elated to be at my precious Whole Foods but this one was different. It was kinda ghetto. In addition it didn't have a lot of the products I love and was looking forward to getting on this coast for the boat. They don't sell beer either. New Jersey law. Thanks Chris Christie. When checking out the cashier never acknowledged me or said one word. She was so slow ringing everything up I thought Jeff was going to blow a gasket. So over an hour and 400 dollars later we finally were walking to the parking lot to head back to the boat. As Jeff was opening the trunk he noticed a huge gash in the panelling. Holy Shit!!! Someone hit and ran our car. This was defiantly not the Whole Foods experience I was accustomed to. We drove back across the bride in lots of traffic and feeling very spent. After unloading the car, opening wine and ordering NY pizza we felt a little better.  Have I mentioned our fresh water pump isn't working and pours water out of the pipes when it is on?

Monday 6/27/16 - Woke up early in order to get ready and have breakfast before the boat mechanic arrived at 9. After looking at the fresh water pump he determined that it's bad and we need a new one. He called the local marine exchange down the street which isn't opened on Mondays. Jeff called West Marine in Jersey who didn't carry the pump. Finally after calling a third place he found the pump and ordered it to be picked up tomorrow. So that means we will not be leaving tomorrow as planned. See why we can't determine hard and fast dates to meet people? So our rental car needs to be returned today after we go back to Jersey to get Jeff's bike. We have another smaller one rented for tomorrow to get the pump from Jersey. In the mean time we haven't showered or been able to brush our teeth since arriving. When we want to flush the toilet one of us has to stand by the breaker panel, turn on the fresh water pump while the other person flushes the toilet. We have a white round bowl situated beneath the pump pipe that is catching the excess run off water. Apparently we can use the yacht club facilities and we both plan on taking a shower today. Highlight of my day!!