The Hudson River

You'll look up and down streets. Look 'em over with care.

About some you will say, "I don't choose to go there."

Dr Seuss – “Oh, the Places You Will Go”

T

here are so many options to choose from on The Great Loop. While there is a overall route, it is the decisions you make on where to stop and what to see that makes The Great Loop uniquely your own.

One of the reasons Kathy was so excited about the Great Loop was her growing up on her dad’s boat on the Hudson River. For that reason we decided to stop at Cornetta’s in Piermont, NY. Kathy’s dad had her boat there

Cornetta's Piermont, NY

for years before retiring to North Carolina. Piermont is not usually a stop on the loop because you need to have a small draft and need to go in mid tide or higher. That is a shame because Piermont is a wonderful small town filled with shops and history.

Dave, the dock master, met us in his powered rowboat and led us to our slip. He was an older gentleman so I asked him how long he had been at Cornetta’s. He had been there for years so I asked him if he knew my dad. Wow. Not only did he remember him, the owner remembered him and they shared fond memories of my dad with me. This was a memorable stop.

Since we were at Piermont that meant we were close to where I grew up. I wanted to show Mike what a wonderful place I grew up in so off we went on our bicycles on a ten-mile trip to Westwood, NJ. We saw where I went to school, where I lived and the downtown area. We had “lunch” at Conrads- a lunch of ice cream. Mike wanted something for the bike so we went to the bike shop still owned by the Albert’s. Mark remembered me from our years at school. We had attended elementary through high school together. What fun memories.

After Piermont we were off to Bear Mountain. We anchored out, took the

Bear Mountain

dinghy to shore and hiked up to the top. It is hard to believe that it had been almost 50 years since I had last been there.

Continuing up the Hudson, we passed West Point and other beautiful places. We stopped at Hyde Park Marina near Poughkeepsie. It was just a waypoint stop over to do laundry and some shopping before heading to Mills Norrie StatePark.

Mills Norrie State Park is beautiful. We thoroughly enjoyed the quiet setting of a state park while still being near the action. Again this is another spot loopers often skip as they stick to the main stops.

We toured the grounds of the Vanderbilt mansion and rode our bikes past the Roosevelt library. Our friends George and Nancy met us the second day. We took them for a boat ride to Kingston, NY and back to the state park. We drove to the Culinary Institute and had a wonderful gourmet lunch. We crossed the Walkway over the Hudson. Then, Mike gave us a tour of where he worked and lived in Poughkeepsie.

The Hudson River is famous for all the different light houses along the way. Each one is different. Here is a photo of one of them.

Our generator wasn’t working. It had been smoking when we tried to run it. On one of our Hudson River stops we picked up a local boating magazine and saw that there was a genset expert in Albany. So before going on to the locks we stopped to get the generator looked at. Things were looking bleak. It seemed at first we might need to get the back end rebuilt. As Mike was trying to remove that we realized it was too much for us to handle. However, Mike did send a picture of the wiring in the back end to our electrician who immediately noticed the wiring was wrong. The genset expert came back and rewired the generator correctly and miraculously it worked. It should have been shorted out from previous attempts to start but God was with us. Now we will be able to anchor out or tie up at a free dock that doesn’t have electricity.

We still had daylight so we decided to try our hand at the Troy Federal Lock and make it to Waterford NY for the free town dock. We desperately wanted to get out of the wakes of the Hudson and have quiet waters. We pulled in at 7 pm and there was still a spot for us on the free wall.

Next up – Locking through the Champlain Canal

Maryland to New York Harbor

“Oh the places you'll go! There is fun to be done! There are points to be scored. There are games to be won.

― Dr. Seuss, Oh, The Places You'll Go!

We spent a week at Kent Island to get our electrical panel updated. One of the highlights of the trip has been seeing friends and meeting new people. At Kent Island we were thrilled to get together with Stu and Nancy Tripler who are originally from my hometown of Harveys Lake. Stu is the new Camp Director of Camp Wright on Kent Island.

From Kent Island we headed up to the Bohemia River. The weather was calling for thunderstorms in the afternoon. We calculated the time of the storm’s arrival with our estimated time of arrival at the marina and we felt we could make it. Little did we know how close we would call that!

Filling up with diesel for this trip was proving to be difficult. The marina at Kent Island had a broken pump, as did another marina along the way. We found diesel at a marina in Great Oak Landing. By the time we arrived there the wind was picking up pretty strongly. We had a lot of trouble getting into the fuel dock. But we learn fast and what we learned there will come in handy when we arrive in Bohemia.  The dockhand checked the weather for us and the storm was now coming later, good news. We should definitely make our stop in time.

Traveling up the Chesapeake was going well. A look behind us and we could see the storms were probably in Baltimore. I was a little worried that they might catch us but we were traveling into blue skies. Just before the entrance to the Bohemia River the Coast Guard sent an alert to take shelter quickly because the storm was moving quickly. I could only hope that the warning was given early enough to allow time to get to that shelter. The wind was picking up even more and we were worried about being able to dock the boat.

Arriving at the marina just before the storm, four dockhands met us to get our lines. They knew it would be difficult. But, as I said we are quick learners. Because of our experience with wind at the fuel dock I was ready! I tossed the bowline to the first dockhand, quickly moved to the spring line and tossed that, finally to the stern and barely got that line to the dockhand. But, they now had us. We could tie up and set our lines for the storm on its way. This was a big storm. Many at the marina were out with camera’s taking photos of the approaching storm. We were just glad we were in on time. Point scored!

The storm was just the beginning of a pattern of unsettled weather that kept us at Bohemia for several days. We spent our first anniversary there. I was able to ride the bike into Chesapeake city and explore. We contacted Foster and Susan fellow loopers whom we met last summer and gave us invaluable advice before we bought our boat. They were able to meet us and we had a lovely dinner at Schaefer’s Canal House.

Finally a favorable weather window arrived and we were off to Delaware City.

Delaware City Dock is an interesting place. They have a long line of docks along the river and many transient boaters make this their stop before heading down the Delaware to Cape May, NJ. They have docking down to a science.  They are able to turn your boat around on the dock so you are facing in the right direction for leaving the next day. Each evening they give a weather report on the suitability to travel down the Delaware.

On their recommendation to leave at 9 am we took off.  The recommendation was perfect. We picked up a favorable tide into Cape May and had great seas.

At Cape May we stayed at Utsch’s Marina. We got our bikes out and explored Cape May’s beaches. Cape May also has a nice downtown area that is closed off to traffic. We stumbled on to their sidewalk sale day.

With trepidation we left Cape May to make our first Ocean hop. Seas were 2 feet with 8 sec period.  For those who don’t know that means the seas were relatively calm and we had a really nice time travelling to Atlantic City. It was fascinating to see the shore from the ocean.  We were blessed to see a whale and 2 groups of 3 dolphins jumping in the water. It was such a highlight to see that.

The next thing that worried us was getting into the inlet but that too turned out to be no problem.

Atlantic City was a familiar place and it was good to go someplace I knew. We enjoyed riding our bikes on the boardwalk. We had to leave our boat there for 2 days while we went back to Pennsylvania for my son’s graduation and my daughter’s bridal shower. It was so good to see family!

Weather strikes again and it doesn’t look like the Ocean is a safe way to travel to Manasquan. We decide to take the Intracoastal Waterway up. It is a chilly day and the Intracoastal is very calm. We take the advice to leave Atlantic City 2 hours after low tide so we travel on the rising tide and have no problems with water depth.

Thump! What was that? Thump again! We don’t know what that sound meant, but the boat is going ok- until it doesn’t. Suddenly the boat seems to be hesitating. We aren’t sure what is going on and check the charts to see where we might be able to stop and get it looked at. Fortunately, after taking a sharp turn the boat seems to be working again. We figure something must have been stuck between the propellers and the rudders. Being ignorant we continue on to Barnegat Light House NJ.

After doing research, we found out if a fishing line got wrapped around the prop bad things could happen. We found a balloon with string wrapped on the swim platform support and that worried us about what else might be under the boat. We called a diver to come out and check the boat out.   Good news! Yes we hit a piece of wood. There is a small scratch but there is no damage and everything looks great under the boat. Point scored!

Never having been to Barnegat Lighthouse before we took the opportunity to tour it. We witnessed a

couple get engaged at the top of the lighthouse! We rode our bikes to the beach and lounged there for a bit. It was still not my beach day because it was cold and the water even colder.

All the material we read warned about going through the Barnegat Inlet. We watched many boats going in and out of it while we visited the lighthouse. We struck up a conversation with a boater at the dock about the inlet. He said it was no problem, just follow the buoys and go with the tide. So we did.  It was easy.

Seas out in the ocean were a bit bigger than our first hop. It was a bit rough until we got away from the shoreline.  The seas also got smoother as we got closer to Manasquan.

At Manasquan we stayed at Clarks Landing Marina right near the center of town and near the beaches. The weather had decidedly become very summerlike. It was predicted to be in the 80’s the next day.  That means – Beach Day! It was a wonderful day at the beach. Relaxing. Sit was sunny and not too crowded. Perfect!

Off we go to NY Harbor. What an exciting day to be traveling up the ocean to the harbor. We were like little kids as we saw the NYC skyline in front of us. Ships all around. In front of us was the Statue of Liberty and after that Ellis Island. The new World Trade Center towered above the city. Liberty Landing Marina was right in the center of it all. From our dock we could see the back of the Statue of Liberty. The World Trade Center was just across the river from us. The NY skyline lit up at night was a sight to behold.

My friends Dan and Linda, from high school, are back in the states from their missionary work in Japan and it was a pleasure to have them visit us at the marina. It was great to catch up and hear about their work and plans.

We have just completed what we consider a tough section of the loop. We did it well. We successfully watched the weather and made wise decisions. Took the advice of those who had gone before us and as a result had a mostly uneventful safe travel. Point Scored!

Next up - The Hudson River