Photo Albums of 2012 Boat Trip

There are three albums below. Each album contains all of the pictures we took during the trip. They are not the specific pictures that you have seen while reading the blog:

1- 2012 Boat Trip along Erie Canal - Photos = 45

2- 2012 Boat Trip along Hudson River - Photos =109 

3 - 2012 Boat Trip to NYC -0 Photos = 112 

4 - NYC back to Tarrytown, NY via Harlem River

5- Miscellaneous and Repeat Photos - Photos = 405


The fouth album will have the photos uploaded on Monday, August 27, 2012. This is the final leg of our 2 month adventure

Final Post to this Trip

It was an uneventful 5 hour car ride back to Syracuse, picked up my Chrysler Sebring Convertible and followed Dottie to the Spaghetti Warehouse Restaurant for dinner then onward to the Enterprise Car Rental at Hancock Airport.

We arrived back in Clyde at about 9PM......however, the memories of this trip will last a lifetime!!

The End is Near...My Friends

Today  is our last day of this leg of our Loop Trip, and the end of our 2012 cruising season.
We will go from the Bronx back to Tarrytown, call Enterprise, get a car and tomorrow drive back to Clyde.

Sometime during the coming month, we will drive back down to Tarrytown and ready the boat for the winter.....It's a SAD, SAD, day for us.

Getting ready to wind down the season

We left this AM at around 9:00AM and headed across NY HArbor to the East River.....up the river and through Hells Gate (an area of about a dozen whirlpools) and on to "DaBronx". As we passed through Hells Gate, I called my old boss and he arranged for us to spend the day at the Locust Point Yacht Club.

We had arrived in the Bronx at about 11AM, but we had to wait for the tide to rise so we could enter the channel to the Yacht Club.

NYC or bust.....and we did it!!!!!!

And off to NYC we go.....we left the dock at 9:15 Am and made the 40 mile run to NY Harbor.....it really was a thrill for us.......as we saw so many of the sights that we had seen before, but have not re-visited in the past 35 years or so. We arrived at the Liberty Landing Marina at 1:00PM. I guess I am no longer use to NYC and it's prices. This was the most expensive marina to date, costing us $167.80 for one night's dockage


Tappan Zee Bridge in background



The Mercy Motherhouse

Spunten Dival Bridge, seperating the Bronx from Manhattan, and crossingthe Harlem River.

First we kissed the Tappan Zee good-bye, and through the haze and light fog the GW Bridge came into view. On the way south we went throgh Dobbs Ferry, NY and as I remeber it, The Mercy Motherhouse, where my sister Angela entered the convent was now a group of condos. 
Then came the Sputen Dival bridge, which seperates the Bronx from Manhattan.....via the Harlem River.


George Washington Bridge, the first two layered bridge in the Tri-State area.






Palisades Mountains in New Jersey

 



Carnival's Glory at the 34th St. Pier



The Space Shuttle is now a musuem in NYC at 32nd St.



Ellis Island Immigration Offices




The Statue of Liberty completely re-done with pride, by my father in law, Frank Messmer and brother in law, John Messmer and 100 other union sheet metal workers

 

Dottie on the bow as we approach the Statue of Liberty







 

And on the Seventh Day, we Rested

Sunday was a day to do nothing, however that changed because Dottie called her parents in Toms River, NJ and invited them up for a leisurely lunch. Then she also invited her brother John and his family to join us. John said that his wife Peggy and son Johnny were working, but he and their daughter Laurie would take the 1 hour car ride to meet with us and his parents.

At about 1 PM everyone arrived and we sat around and chatted for over two hous. Then it was off the Sunset Cove for cocktails and a restaurant named "Striped Bass" for dinner. Striped Bass is on the marina premises, and it too was a real nice reataurant. In this area on NY, seafood is king, and all reataurants serve huge portions of it.

I had their cold shellfish platter, which  included a whole 1.5lb lobster, 1lb of shrimp, a dozen raw clams and a 1/2 dozen raw oysters. All served "Iced Over"....mmmmmmmmmmm good.
A bit pricey ($44.00) for this dish, but an excellent choice.
Dottie, and my mother in law and father in law all had Seafood Linguine, John and Laurie had Shrimp Appetizers and Giant Diver Scallops, served with a huge salad, which they both shared.

Like Sunset Cove, which is right next door, they too have an outdoor tiki bar and cabana.

Tiki Bar with Live Entertainment

Tomorrow it will be a trip into NYC.....more to follow

Later On...the same day

Although we arrived here at 2PM, by the time we tied up, got our electricity and water hooked up and actually rested, it was 3PM.
I called my friend Jimmy Parisi and invited him and his wife Helene Zeiss Parisi to dinner. They arreived at 7:15 PM and we went to Sunset Cove for dinner....an excellent Mediterranean restaurant. Both Jim and I had their Mediterranean Bouillabaisse  and Helene had a rib-eye steak, while Dottie had an order of ahi tuna.....great NYC style food. We all had a fantastic time together!!

Outdoor Tiki Bar at Sunset Cove Restaurant in Tarrytown, NY

As we were waiting for the valet driver to return the car, I found out that this restaurant serves approx 500 dinners each Saturday and also serves avout 1000 people on Saturdays at their outdoor tiki bars......PHENOMENAL!!
I am llooking forard to the food in the city............

The Beauty and Splendor of the Hudson Valley

We left the dock at 9AM and had a beautiful, and safe trip down the Hudson. It had been almost 40 years since Dottie or myself have traved the Hudson from a boat, and we both kind of forgot how beautiful it is.

Newburgh - Beacon Bridge

We passed under the Beacon Newburgh Bridge at about 10:30AM. Quite a few people pass over this bridge annually, somewhere in the vicinity of 25 million crossings a per year.




Bear Mountain Bridge

 From the Beacon-Newburgh Bridge, we went on to the Bear Mountain Bridge. The Catskill Mountains on our port side and the Palisades Mountains on our starboard side are some of the most beautiful mountains along the eastern seaboard.



West Point from the boat

 





It is still as beautiful as always

 

After passing around West Point, about 45 minutes later, the Tappan Zee Bridge came into view. From the water, the Tappan Zee is majestic.

Tappan Zee Bridge coming into view

We knew we had "arrived" when we saw it. Tarrytown is about 30 minutes away from where this pic was taken. We hit the dock at exactly 2PM.....it was a fantastic trip, and the weather was great also. The high for the day was 75 degrees, and the humidity was low.

If you remember, the beginning of this trip we talked about how marinas are rated depending on their bathroom facilities.....the Tarrytown Marina and Boat Club, definitely is numero uno in this catagory. Both Dottie and I agreed, we had never seen bathrooms so clean, large and modern as these were.....

Another Day...Shot To....!!

Today is the day we are supposed to go from Poughkeepsie to Tarrytown, However...due to rain, we decided to stay put for another day. We were also waiting for the mail to come in and it did not arrive here till after 2PM.....It will be onward to Tarrytown tomorrow, rain or shine

Advance Arrangements

Enterprise Car Rental has always been the car rental choice of cruisers because they will "pick you up".

We rented a Dodge Avenger on Monday, and while I was at the convention, Dottie was running around doing her errands.....

After lunch, Jim Parisi, Dottie and myself headed down to the Bronx....we arrived in the Bronx about 4:30 PM after dropping off Jimmy in Yonkers to get his car, so he could dash out to LaGuardia Airport to pick up his wife who had been vacationing in South Carolina.

Dottie and I have not yet decided where to winter the boat....either in Tarrytown or on City Island in DaBronx.
Now it is a matter of finding a marina capable of hauling her and storing her all winter long.
The choice is going to be between the Tarrytown Marina and Boat Club,  Consolidated Marine and City Island Yacht Sales.

Tonight dinner was at an old time favorite, Louis Seafood on Tremont Ave. in Throggs Neck. We met my old boss Jimmy McQuade and wife Kathy and off we went to dinner.As I have said before, Louis Seafood is the choice of Throggs Neck restaurants, and has been since 1947.

Here is our future iteniary: Tomorrow we will spend the day on City Island and checking out these three marinas.

Friday we are taking the boat from Poughkeepsie to the Tarrytown Marina in Tarrytown, NY

Saturday we will moving her through NYC and arrive on City Island on Sunday.

Monday we will drive the rental car back to Clyde, NY and this will close out our 2012 cruising season.

3 Days of Classes

Today was the offical end of the 2012 NYSFDA Convention.
It finished up at 01:00 PM AFTER a two hour embalming class presented by Jack Adams, who is a licensed funeral director and representative of the Dodge Corp.
Last night was the closing banquet, a semi formal event held at the Grand View Catering facility.....and what a facility it is.

Cocktail hour went from 6PM to 7:30 PM......raw bar and all. It reminded me of a NY C style wedding.....I have never seen so much food, properly presented, and excellently prepared.

The Casket Cake

Venetian Hour

Dinner was choice of 4....and then came their Venetian hour, complete with demi-tasse, canolis, sfogliatella (my favorite pastry in the world....) and any other desert  you could ask for.

My best friend, Jim Parisi, attended the last day of the convention also. When it was done, we went back to the boat, picked up Dottie and went to lunch at Shadows Restaurant. This restaurant sits high above the marina and is an excellent choice. It is owned by the Bonura Family, who also owns the Grand Hotel, the Grand View Catering Facility, Shadows Marina 3  area country clubs and 9 other restaurants or hospitality venues in the Beacon, Newburgh, Poughkeepsie area. They know how to 'Run a hospitality" business like no other that I have seen.




View looking South into Westchester and NYC



View looking North



Lunch at Shadows

View from Shadows overlooking marina

Kingston to Poughkeepsie

Well, we did it....we made it to Poughkeepsie!!!!

We left Kingston this morning at 11AM and arrived in Poughkeepsie at 01:15PM......a bit over two hours, two huge rain storms and the wind at 25 MPH on our nose all the way, however it was a great trip.



Shadows Marina with the M/V Lucky Find III in the foreground

Shadows Marina has got to be the nicest place we have stopped so far.....all that is missing is a swimming pool. This marina has it all, a beautiful restaurant with dockside service till 2AM, indoor and outdoor dining, indoor and outdoor bars, Free WiFi, great bathhouses. When you come into the marina, you are greeted by their consirege (Captain Keith Gee and Miltie, the restaurant manager ) and two other dockhands that take your lines, and tie you up where they want you. Everything here is brand new including all docks, electrical and water service utilties. Reservations here are tough to get because they are at 100% capacity with a two year waiting period.....but I made mine back in January, and sure enough, they had me etched in.....It is definitely a world-class marina.

New docks and cleats. All cleats are on tracks that allow them to be moved to wherever you need them

Connected to Shadows Restaurantm is the Grand View Ballroom, which bills itself as "Elegant Banquets"....they do 2 weddings each weenekend day, 2 on Friday evenings, 2 Saturdays and 2 on Sundays....However, they are booked solid for the next 4 years.

Anway, dinner tonight was aboard the boat with a chicken ceasar salad and corn on the cob. Dottie also made a fresh tomato salsa and peaches ala mode was the desert of the evening.......excellent!!!

 

The NYSFDA Convention begins tomorrow.....this coming weeks blogs will be about the convention and our future plans. As of right now, we have no plan in place, however we would like to continue southward to NYC and Da Bronx. We'll let you know first.......and on here!

Coeymans to Kingston

When I woke up this morning at 4....I realizied that I never made a reservation for a marina in Kingston.

Called the Rondout Yacht Basin at 8:30AM, and they had a spot available, so we took off at 9AM.....It rained all the way to Kingston and we arrived there at 1PM. Visibility was less than 2,000 feet all day, but it still was a great ride down the Hudson.We both forgot how nice it is to see freighters, tugs, barges and tour boats on the water.
It is two dollars a foot plus 5 for electric here, however their WiFi works great, they have a nice in-ground swimming pool and the staff is very friendly.
We met 4 other "Looper" couples here and sat with them to chew the fat. Dottie grabbed a cab and went into the town to do some grocery shopping at the local Shop-Rite. If you should ever need a taxi in the Kingston area, call Dial-A-Ride Taxi  (AKA- Big John's Cab service), at 845-532-8887. The service is fantastic, and Big John is a riot and just a real nice guy.
With rain and all, it was a great day anyway.....LOL

Tomorrow is the last day of traveling (and updating this blog)  for a while. We'll go from Kingston to Poughkeepsie, check in at the NEW SHADOWS MARINA, register for convention and be in the Poughkeepsie area till Thursday, 16th of August.

The Majestic Hudson River - Waterford to Coeymans



Today was a day that I have been looking forward to for a while now. We finally entered the tidal waters of the Hudson River.

In the Hudson River, with the cities of Troy and Albany coming into view.

There was a 7 foot tide and a 8 mph current. We had been fighting the current for a while, but we finally arrived at Coeyman's Landing Marina at about 12:15 PM. Coeymans is located about 15 miles south of Albany, NY.



City of Albany, NY with the capitol buildings in foreground



Thank God they have floating docks here too....did not have to worry about the tide with those docks. By the time we finished lunch at 1:00PM, the tide was out a full 8 feet. We have not boated in tidal waters since moving to Clyde in 1981....a full 31.5 years ago!. Needless to say we were anxious, but after about 10 minutes, it wore off.







   Nice, little restaurant on the premises here called Yanni's Two....nothing spectacular, but they did have raw clams, and I need not say more!!

Tomorrow we head another 50 miles south to Kingston.




The kind of traffic we encountered on the Hudson...LOL

    


Large freighter filling up with oil



  



NYS Capital building

 





The End is Near

Today we completed the Erie Canal leg of this trip. Thank God for that, as after a week, it really gets boring. How many green trees can you look at.....constantly?

We left the Schenectady Yacht Club at 08:00AM and arrived in Waterford, NY at 11:00AM. The Flight of Locks, which are locks 6, 5,4,3,&2 went real good. We were the only boat on that portion of the canal at that time, and once begun, you cannot stop. The locks were all open and waiting for us.
It was another hot and humid day on the canal......

As we pulled out of Lock #2 in Waterford, we spotted some friends of ours just getting ready to enter Lock 2 and begin their Erie Canal leg of the Loop.


Rolfe and Harriet Wall...in front of the Waterford Visitors Center dock.


Rolfe and Harriett Wall, aboard their Endeavor Cat 44, TIME-OUT, have been on the loop now for the past year and a half.
We met them the first time at the Joe Wheeler State Park in Huntsville Alabama. They, along with us, were there attending the Fall 2010 Rendezvous of the American Great Loop Cruisers Assoc. in October 2010. We had become good e-mail friends from that day on.
They swung back into their place on the wall, and we docked directly behind them.....after tying up, we sat and chatted with them aboard our boat enjoying some Gentleman Jack on the rocks and talking of our plans and theirs.

We went to lunch at a place in Waterford called Don and Pauls....a small locally owned diner noted for their homemade deserts. I had a hot open faced turkey and a strawberry short cake....mmmm....mmmmmmmmmmmmm
After lunch, we all went back to our boats for a quick clean up and nap.

Rolfe and Harriett deceded to spend an extra night, so we readied all our bicycles and at 6:00 PM we took off for dinner at a place called McGreivey's....and what a great place it was. Excellent food, and staff!! A short peddle along Broad St and there we were.

After today, we will begin our Hudson River portion of this trip to NYC.....and will keep you informed.

Another Beauty

Today looks like another great day weather-wise.

They are calling for a high of 80 and LOW humidity.

We departed Amsterdam at 9:00AM, and arrived at the Schenectady Yacht Club atb 12:30PM.
After we tied up I headed straight for the pool. My sister Angela lives nearby and she stopped down around 2:30PM carrying a handful of goodies from her local Italian Deli, including a loaf of fresh baked Italian bread.

Damm it was good!!
She drove me to the local Target store where I picked up a much needed computer mouse and some groceries.We hit the local rush hour traffic of everyone who either works for the General Electric Corp or the Robert Lowell Nuculear Energy Plant.....let me tell you, I don't miss city living when it comes to traffic....LOL
We headed out by boat to the Lighthouse Restaurant for a delishous dinner and a few cocktails. Angela suggested this place and it was by far the best dinner we had so far on this trip.

My sister left at about 9PM and off to bed I went, exhausted, but happy that I had a good visit with her.

What A Difference a Day Makes

Well, after a day of doing nothing, high humidity and even higher temps, today is fantastic.

It rained all night last night, and apparently was a bit windy too......which took out all the humidity.
Today the high was 75, and it was really, really nice. Sunny blue skies and very comfortable.

We left St. Johnsville at 8:00AM and arrived at the Greater Amsterdam Riverlink Park at 12:15PM.....just in time to call a chinese restaurant that delivers and had some lunch.



Amsterdam's Riverlink Park




Playground at the park



There were only four locks on this leg today and all went well. A reporter from the Amsterdam Dispatch just left, she interviewed Dottie and I for an upcoming article on the Erie Canal, and it's users.

Here are some pictures I took of this, the most modern marina on the canal as far as I know.

Wedding tent which remains up all season

This is how pedestrians get into the park.....you park across the street, walk across a breezeway, and take an elevator to the park. Rumor has it, that Amsterdams park cost a mere 5 million. It was well worth it, from what we were told by residents.

We Like this Place

In fact, we like St. Johnsville so much, we decided to stay an extra day. So, today is another "do nothing" day, and thank God because they're promising thunderstorms and high wind gusts for late this afternoon and evening. However, as I write this it is sunny, warm and still...............

Just got invited to attend Bernie (the harbormaster) wife's surprise retirement party at the marina later on today......and attend we shall.

Thats it for today folks.....so far were only two days behind, but I promised Dottie we will catch up by doing one day in Schenectady and one day in Waterford instead of two in each.

It's Another Hot One!!

So....I woke up this morning at about 4AM....did my usual online stuff and wandered over to the bathrooms at Ilion Marina to take my shower. Both Dottie and I rate each marina by their bathrooms, and Ilion is an exception to the norm....always clean, cool and bright looking. We gave em a 10!.

Temps today were a high of 91 degrees, but the freaking humidity is 96%......hotter than hell.

I bicycled to the local Bank of America in Ilion, then to Dunkin Donuts for breakfast.....BOA here has Saturday hours 8:30AM to Noon. Ilion is a nice small town, not much bigger than Clyde, and the only large employer is  Remington Firearms, however there are Rite-Aid Drugs, Kinney and Walgreens...McDonalds, Burger King, Dunkin Donuts, etc......unlike Clyde which has nothing of the national chains.

We left Ilion at 10:00AM and we hit the first lock at 11:00....uneventful to say the least. Then to the second lock by 11:45AM and boom....damm wind, knocked the crap out of our dinghy, and now we are out a set of St. Croix davits, dink and motor. It slammed me into the wall hard enough to bend the stainless steel davits and crush the motor.It was the only breeze we had so far on the canal....LOL

By noon, no wind and we did the rest of the trip to St. Johnsville without much hoopla. Bernie is still dockmaster here and has been for the past 17 years.

So here is my bitch.....we bought diesel from the Oneida Indians for 3.859 per gallon and it is sold here for $3.809...5 cents a gallon less, and these people pay taxes. THE INDIANS DO NOT......Hmmmm.
In fact both gasoline and diesel were more expensive there than either at Ilion or St. Johnsville.

Dockage with the Oneidas was $1.50 per foot per night, and if you needed to use a launch ramp for your boat, the Oneida Indians will charge you 10 bucks, and Ilion and St. Johnsville charge $1.00 per foot per night and 2 bucks to use their ramps.....and hot water is included here and Ilion along with cable TV and WiFi, the Indians make you pay a quarter extra for a hot shower...cold showers are free, no cable, but they do have free WiFi, however, none of the employees knew the password.......LOL, kind of too convenient for comfort, don't you think?
Oneida Indian Cigarettes were $39.00 per carton, Seneca Indian Cigarettes were $49.00, which is what Dottie and I smoke, however we bought ours before leaving 5 minutes from home for $32.00 per carton. DAMM ONEIDA INDIANS ARE EXPENSIVE.

We ordered a large pizza for lunch, then took naps all afternoon.....too hot to do anything else.
Dottie made me some sausage which I cut up and put into my left over Greens Francesca from last night, essentially making East Utica Greens.

She had left over haddock Parmigiana.

Well, it's after 8:30PM, and I am done for today.......Bueno Sera, mi  amigos.

Now it Begins......Really, it's going to begin today!

We left Mariner's Landing Marina in Sylvan Beach at 10:30AM, after taking on 80 gallons of diesel at $3.859 per gallon.. We arrived in Ilion, NY around 4:30 PM with lock through times.
Weather was beautiful, with sunny skies and temps in the low 90's....not a cloud in the sky. Bologna and cheese sandwiches for lunch while under-way.




The Old Kitty's On The Canal in Utica, NY

 
Other than that, this leg of the trip was uneventful and straightforward. We have done this leg many times before, and all I can is that the Erie Canal has got to be thee most boring ride in the world....green trees, green buhes etc.....thats it!!

The tug Urger

 Dinner tonight was from Sorrento's in Ilion....Haddock Parm for Dottie and a Seafood FraDivalo for me. Dottie had a side of riggies with a vodka sauce and I had a side of Greens Francesca....same as Utica greens but without the sausage. Excellent food, excellent delivery time too!!. Less than 20 minutes from phone call to table.

Tomorrow's leg is from Ilion to St. Johnsville.....a distance of 20 miles and 3 locks....about a 3 hour day. I'll tell you more about it tomorrow.



Dredge Barge





The tug Governor Roosevelt



A much needed day of rest

We were scheduled to leave Sylvan Beach today and take he 4 hour ride to  Ilion, NY....however we put our departure on the back burner and will leave tomorrow....LOL

Already, one day behind.....but I really needed a day to do nothing, and that is exactly what I am doing!!

Truthfully I could not do nothing all day, I would go "Stir-crazy"....so I decided to sit at my desk in the boat, turn the a/c on high and and pay some bills.  I usually pay bills, around the 7th and 21st of each month, but I got a little jump on them today.

Tomorrow we cast off............................................................

Day Three - Another day of rest

Awoke at 3AM this morning......thinking about clothes I need for convention, and guess what?
I did not bring any and neither did Dottie. We completely forgot about "dress clothes"

Back to Clyde we go....thank God our daughter Karen lives nearby. She picked us up in Sylvan Beach, and drove us to Cicero, where I had left my car last week.
Off we go to Clyde to pick up a few suits and some dresses along with ties, shoes and cuff links. Now we are ready to begin our journey. Back to boat by 2:30PM, and after looking all around boat and other personal property, I cannot find my cellphone. It must be somewhere....but where?

At 4:30 Dottie takes her daily nap, as she has done for the past 35 years....LOL, and I remembered where I saw my cellphone last....on our kitchen table in Clyde.

Tonight is the Big Frog Country Showcase.at the Sylvan Beach Bandstand.
Neither Dottie or I are into country music, but we went down anyway. They had two bands. The Texaco Oil Country Showdown was first at 6:00PM and Big Frog 104 (A local country radio station) was the sponsor of the second band. the second band was called the Moss Back Mule Band, which is a Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson band wrapped into one. In our eyes, both sucked so, we went back to boat by 7:15 and Dottie commenced to make dinner. Some nice stip steaks, BBQ'd with fresh corn on the cob, and a tomato and cucumber summer salad., It was delishous.

At 9:00PM, I decided to drive back to Clyde and get my cell phone. I will sleep in Clyde tonight, and leave here at 6:00AM in  order to be back on the boat before she wakes up at 8:00AM.

All these days of rest are wearing me out.....LOL