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