New York City and Cruising Up the Hudson

Liberty Landing Marina, Jersey City, NJ 6/3/2019
Half Moon Bay Marina, Croton on Hudson, NY 6/4-5/2019
Kingston City Marina, Kingston, NY 6/6/2019
​Shady Harbor Marina, New Baltimore, NY 6/7/2019

Fire Island Light House as were leaving last Monday morning

​Liberty Landing Marina, Jersey City, NJ
​Monday, June 3, was a bittersweet morning.  It was so wonderful spending time with the boys, Weinholds, Dukes, Grahams and Wissmanns on Long Island and Fire Island, that  I didn’t want it to end.  We enjoyed our time so much.  It was a great break away from the Loop, but everyone had to leave and we had to move on so after crossing the bay and exiting the inlet we headed north to New York.  We’ve been talking about this day for the past 3 years and it was here…..we were going to cruise by the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island!!!
The ride was smooth and we didn’t experience much commercial traffic BUT we did see a whale!!!  Glenn, our new friend texted us and said the whales were on the move and to keep an eye out for them.  It was sooo cool.  I watched as one came up out of the water and breached to our port side.  I just about pee’d my pants!  Tom just smiled!  We were so lucky to have experienced this wonderful display of nature!  Loved it!
As we entered the Hudson we could see the skyline of Manhattan and of course Lady Liberty.  And the Coast Guard was in full force – boats out patrolling the area with big guns on the front.  Even though we have both been to NY and seen the Statue and Ellis Island, seeing it from the water and from your own vessel was breath taking.  We both got goose bumps and then acted like Asian tourist---our phones cameras were just snapping away! 
Because we’ve spent time in NYC before (and because we spent a week on Long Island/Fire Island), we decided to only do one night at Liberty Landing Marina.  It was a super nice marina and we did lunch out in Jersey City and NY style pizza on board Bella that night.  We headed over to the Liberty Landing State Park on Tuesday morning and walked to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty one last time before we cast our lines off.
When we got out into the Hudson harbor area, I counted twelve ferries, all going to beat hell transporting the masses.  The Hudson was a washing machine.  Even so, we gawked all the way up the river thru downtown.  Again, it was amazing and a bit surreal to be there experiencing it from the water.

Lady Liberty from Bella

Ellis Island from the water

Manhattan from Bella

Ferry at Liberty Landing Marina

Bella in Jersey City, NJ - Liberty Landing Marina

Half Moon Bay
​Croton on Hudson, NY
Croton is about 38 miles up the Hudson River and Half Moon Bay is becoming another iconic stop for Loopers.  The Dockmaster, Steve is awesome and quite the promoter.  The marina lies just off the main channel so you still get some wake and chop from the river, but Steve caters to Loopers and the town is convenient for provisioning, car rental, etc. 
We arrived Tuesday afternoon and counted atleast a dozen other Looper boats.  Most of them new to looping.  One couple was just 3 days in, but most were about a month into the exercise and has done the East coast.  It made us remember when we were just a month in and how much we had ahead of us in both fun and mileage 😉
We rented a car Wednesday and went to West Point in the morning and then the Culinary Institute in the afternoon.  It was a full day of touring.  Both places were amazing!  West Point was incredible and the Culinary Institute was delicious!  Again, it was a moment of reflection for both of us in the sense that we’ve read, heard and seen both places on TV, but seeing them in person is such a great experience. The pride you feel at West Point for the cadets is overwhelming.  The dedication to honor, duty and country that these young men and women have allows the rest of us to live in this great country with the feeling of security.  And then there was the Culinary Institute at Hyde Park, which for foodies like us, was such a treat!  Our meal  and service was amazing.  Our waiter was an interesting chap.  He was a non-traditional student with several degrees and he was adding a culinary degree to his resume so he could eventually work as a chef for the VA.  He was extremely informative and attentive.  We both giggled at the fact that we felt a bit under the microscope while eating.  If you put down your fork, at least three student waiters were there to replace it with a new one 😉   I thought maybe I’d leave some of my Jimmy’s recipes in the student…just joking.  If your ever near Hyde Park, NY definitely tour and eat at the CIA.

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West Point Museum and visitor center

West Point War Museum

Doctors bag used during the civil war....barbaric looking instruments!

Downtown area of West Point, NY

West Point from the Hudson River aboard BELLA

Culinary Institute of America - Hyde Park, New York

We had lunch at CIA at the Ristorante Caterina De Medici. The three surrounding shots are of the restaurant, decor and awards. Below: after our meal we went to "Apple Pie", another restaurant on site and got a mini apple pie - so good!

Classes and classrooms at CIA. It was amazing how many full institutional kitchens they have in the school.

Sample production schedule for classes at CIA. Right: We loved the cross walk sign ;)

Courtyard pic at CIA

Back in Croton at the Dam site. Beautiful area.

Top of Croton Dam

Darling little lighthouses dot the Hudson River at river town entrances.

​Kingston City Marina
Kingston, NY
Kingston Marina is on Tom’s top 10 list.  He loved the vibe of Kingston.  The city docks are on the Roundout Creek off the Hudson and when you enter the creek there is a darling little light house that marks the entrance.  The docks run parallel to the downtown which is a stones through away and really quaint with shops, restaurants, walking path, sailing club, rowing club, maritime museum, trolley museum.  Something for everyone, including an oyster bar and a BBQ joint….Tom was in heaven ;)
After arriving we hit did lunch, walked, washed the boat and I discovered that updating the Simrad system had to happen.  While programming the next days route, the Simrad electronics keep shutting down and restarting…..NOT GOOD.  I figured out how to connect to the wifi with the system, did the updates but didn’t have a micro SD card to put into the unit.  This all happened around 5:30pm.  I called Simrad for some direction.  They were closed, so I called Timmy D.  our resident Simrad specialist and he assured me that I wouldn’t mess up my Navionics chip if I added another card to the system.  I ubered to Target, got my new cards, added them to the second card holder, restarted and it actually worked.  Thanks Timmy D!!!
While I was doing this, Tom represented us on the dock and went to docktails.  Tough job, but somebody has to do it, right?  Again, there was a plethora of Looper boats(Lucky Me, The Answer, Avalon, Justified and Misty), most new to the loop, so cards were exchanged during libations.  One Looper actually started that day.  He said he and his wife had been dreaming about it for 30 years!  

BELLA tied up at Kingston Marina, Kingston, NY

We were within a stones throw of downtown Kingston and the shops and restaurants.

Had to take a picture of this vessel at Shady Harbor....it reminded me of my mom ❤. She loved Gimlets!

Shady Harbor Marina
We took off early Friday morning so we could spend the afternoon taking in New Baltimore and Shady Harbor Marina.  The cruise up was AMAZING!  We both never expected the Hudson to be so beautiful, but it’s extraordinary.
About 2 miles out we had visitors!  A boat full of about four officers pulled up along side of us and two boarded our vessel.  They couldn’t have been nicer!  We of course passed with flying colors because Timmy D. (Coast Guard Auxiliary) made sure we were compliant.  We chatted it up with the two officers and then then re-boarded their vessel and waved good-bye.  It was so ironic that we would finally get boarded since we had literally just been talking about it a half hour before that.
So those Simrad updates that I’d been working on the night before caused a glitch in our depth meter and I ended up spending about three hours on the phone with Simrad to correct the problem.  So much for a full day at Shady.  However, we did get a chance to walk and checked out the pool.  We also did docktails with the twenty other Looper boats in the marina.  It was fun meeting more new folks.

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Couple of officers from the Coast Guard. Super nice fellas! Really!

Relaxing at Shady Harbor as a freighter passes

A crew out on the Hudson

View of the Hudson River

More from the Erie Canal later~