Day 5 - Monday, September 30, 2013 - Forked River to Atlantic City

We left the dock at 9:00AM and arrived in AC at 12 Noon, just in time for a buffet lunch at the Golden Nugget Casino.
We are docked at the Senator James Farley Marina, which is right across the street from the Golden Nugget Hotel and Casino, which is right next door to Harrah's Casino and Hotel. Here are a few pictures from Atlantic City before lunch.

The Atlantic City In-Water Boat show was over yesterday and I figured they would have room to stay, and I was right. Out of 640 slips, only 385 are filled year-round, and the rest is for transients and boat show guests. They charge $3.00 a foot for nothing but a parking space and the closeness of Atlantic City.

 

 

 

Tomorrow, Tuesday, is Dottie's Birthday and we will go to Cape May, NJ for the day.

Day 4, Sunday September 29th, 2013 - Forked River, NJ

We spent today just doing nothing, no cruising or going anywhere. You see, if you don't know NJ at all, we are right across the bay from Tom's River......where Dottie's parents and relatives live.


Dottie's father picking us up in Forked River to go shopping.

so....my father-in-law picked us up to go food shopping and then to a discount marine store, which ws no really discount at all.

After shopping, Dottie did all the laundry and then we went to dinner at the marina's restaurant with Dottie's parents and cousins Jeff and Helene Roscoe.
Dinner was fantastic, and hopefully someday the resturants we now frequent in and around Upstae, NY will be similar.

The Tiki Hut Bar at the Marina

They have a bar down here called the Tiki Hut which also serves lunch, which that too was terrific.

Sun setting at the Captain's Inn and Marina, Forked River, NJ

Day 3 - Saturday, September 28th, 2013 - Manasquan, NJ to Forked River, NJ

We had left Manasquan at about 9:00AM and arrived in Forked River, NJ at about 3:00PM. I was chatting with a fellow boater this morning and he said that NJ should be our worst experience as far as running aground goes. Although magazines and others say it will be in the Carolinas and Georgia. It is just devastating what Super storm Sandy did, especially down here.

The trip from Manasquan to Forked River was uneventful after the first two hours, and I'll explain why. 

We ran aground in Manasquan AGAIN. Buried in the soft sands of NJ, but this time, we got buried hard in the sand. We waited for the Towboat US like about 20 minutes and by the time he got ready to tow us a bit, the tide rose enough to free us and on our way we went.
Let me tell you, the best thing I ever did was sign up for Boat's US unlimited towing package, because I got my money back yesterday and on Friday 9 fold. You see, a soft-grounding cost just a tad under $500.00 each time, Friday's bill was $467.00 and the same for Saturdays bill.......so I definitely did the right thing.

The weather today was another hit....mid 70's and low 80's with 100% sunshine. In fact, they are calling for that same type of day tomorrow, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday ( although, the temps may rise to mid 80's) Thursday and Friday.

We are docked at the Captain's Inn and Marina in Forked River, NJ. The reason we picked Forked River was so my mother in law and Father in law who live about 5 minutes away in Bayville, could have dinner with us on Sunday, along with Dottie's cousin and her hubby Jeff.

I met a guy by the name of Peter James who owns company called The Big Pond Boatworks. www.bigpondboatworks.com and he is going to single hand it to Key West aboard his 52' sailboat, Viewfinder......what nice guy he was and we are supposed to meet up again in Norfolk, VA. Every boat he builds, he builds from the hull up, and his wood craftsmanship is second to none. Simply beautiful boats, with beautiful lines.

We will leave here on Monday and if it is calm enough, we are going to take the outside passage( in the Atlantic Ocean) south to Cape May, if not, we will remain inside (ICW) to Atlantic City. Both Dottie and I are looking forward to visiting Cape May, as either of us have been there before.

MORE PICS TOMORROW

Day 2 Friday, September 27th, 2013 - NYC to Manasquan, NJ

Well, being our first day was uneventful, lets see if today is the same.
We left Liberty Landing Marina


The fuel dock at Liberty Landing Marina in NYC as we were leaving

at about 9AM and arrived in Manasquan, NJ at 4:00PM, a run of almost 60 miles, however it was not completely uneventful.
We were supposed to follow some friends, (Roger and Dorothy Hayes aboard SLOW CHURN) of ours to Manasquan, however they travel about 2 hours earlier in the AM than we do.....so, we decided to meet at Manasquan. Mistake #1......

Our welcoming committee at Hoffman's Marina.....what a beauty!

The trip through Lower NY harbor is a maze of buoys , ferries and freighter's, but after about an hour of not knowing where we were heading, and watching our charts and e-charts we figured it out. I have to say one thing for captains of ferry boats....they suck!! They try their best to come as close as possible and have their wake rock the crap out you. They are the most rude and obnoxious bunch of boat captains we had ever met.

We headed down the New Jersey Coastline finally getting a response from the Manasquan Coast Guard on the VHF radio. They gave us our position and then told me to hang a sharp left and we would see the inlet.....they never said it was the Manasquan inlet and it wasn't. I listened and they were wrong....MISTAKE #2. Never listen to anyone!!
We lazied up the Shark River through two draw bridges and a railroad bridge with no sight of Slow Churn, so I called Dorothy on the cell, and she said they had just entered Manasquan and that they had just gone through the railroad bridge.....:Where are you"? she asked. I was getting more and more pissed, because as far as I am concerned when I ask someone for help, either they give it or they don't. and I kept telling Dottie, "Wait till I get Roger" "I am going to yell and beat him to a pulp".I WAS PISSED!
We tied up at the first marina we saw and we asked someone why the Manasquan Inlet was not so busy, his response was "this is not the Manasquan Inlet, it is the Shark River Inlet, Manasquan is about 5 miles south of here."..so we had lunch, re-couped and headed back out into the ocean, turned right (starboard) and headed south.
After about an hour, Manasquan came into view.....I was boiling inside ready to attack Roger for not waiting for us earlier in the day.

(You see, Roger and Dorothy come from Toms River, NJ and live aboard full time on Slow Churn. If anyone knows NJ it is them.
We have gone out of our way numerous times to help them out, lending them our car and whatever it took to give assistance. However, they could not do the same for us, but that is a whole different story, that I will not get into here.....)



Some sport fishing machines we tied up in front of....

After heading through Manasquan inlet, Dottie points and says there is the Point Pleasant Canal, so I throw a hard left (port) to enter the canal and then... BOOM....nothing. I had run aground in the soft, white sands of NJ. The Coast Guard answered me on Channel 16, saying, "We can see you captain, but we figured you knew what you were doing"......a few hours earlier giving me instruction, although wrong, on where the Manasquan Inlet was located.
So after waiting about 30 minutes for the BOAT US Tow Boat to arrive, and free us, which I must say they were very helpful, we were on our way again.....pulling into Hoffman's East Marina at exactly 4:00 PM.

An un-eventful day ??....to say the least, eh!

Tomorrow we head to Forked River and Bayville, NJ on our own.

Day 1 Thursday, 09/26/13 - Stony Point, NY to NYC

Competing with a freighter on the Hudson River

Well, at least on the River, the Hudson River that is. We left Patsy's Bay Marina in Stony Point this afternoon at 1:45 PM (we had to wait for a tide high enough to get us out) and arrived in the Haverstraw Marina to buy some fuel at 2:00PM. Let me tell you something about a small marina, like Patsy's Bay....there is nothing like it... the owner, Mike was as hospitable as could be always asking if what we needed from them, and the manager Jim Tammen was fantastic and very helpful. Last year, after being hit by Superstorm (Hurricane Sandy), they just bounced right back, rebuilt and are on their way ONCE again. Jim wished us well, and the we hit the throttles and left.


I thought we were going to see prices in excess of $5.00 per gallon for diesel fuel, but instead the fuel was $4.40 per gallon. I took on exactly 100 gallons of diesel (as I only had about 60 gallons left from last season, and we hold about 310 gallons) and we shoved off at 2:30 PM.with 160 gallos of diesel in the tanks.

Ahhh....the Tappan Zee Bridge

The weather was beautiful, sunny and cool, the highs only in the mid-seventies. We followed the Hudson River south until we arrived at Battery Park in NYC, hung a sharp turn to starboard (right) and we tied up at the Liberty Landing Marina in Jersey City, NJ at 6:30PM.

And the workers that make bridges.....as they are building the Tappan Zee 2

Now, Liberty Landing Marina is in a class by itself.....any marina who charges a transient rate of $4.40 a foot per night is in a class by itself, but just about all of their income goes to advertising. And for some reason, most boaters heading south stay here. Maybe it's the draw of the Manhattan skyline or bathrooms that attracts all the transients. Dottie and I were both raised in NYC, and find nothing super, except for the boater's lounge and bathrooms, about this marina.

After tying up and putting things away, we enjoyed a nice quiet dinner of sausage, creamy macaroni with a garlic parmesan sauce and dessert, aboard the boat.

I was exhausted and hit the pillow by 8:00PM. Tomorrow it is onward to Manasquan, NJ and then to Forked River, NJ

Liberty Landing Marina in Jersey City charging $4.40 ($167.20 per night) per foot, and gives you nothing but beautiful views of Manhattan. RIP OFF to Say The Least.



The George Washington Bridge welcome all travelers along the Hudson River to NYC....

Finally....It has been a 3 year preperation!!

Well, here we are, September 25th, and as promised, and we are shoving off in the morning.

We made the trip to Stony Point via car. We had left Clyde at 9:20AM and arrived here at 1:15 PM. The only thing that did happen was:

 I ran out of gas in the van. Dottie and I were shooting the shit and not paying attention the fuel level, ligt or gauge. and all of a sudden, about 1 mile from our destination, the car just quit. I did a bunch of exspearlitives and then realized it was nothing major.....we we were out of gas. We sat on the side of 9W Southbound for only 10 minutes when a real nice guy asked if we were ok.....Dottie explained the situation and lo and behold he said well, I have a five gallon reserve that I keep in a portable tank in my truck......he ran to the truck, got the gas and a funnel and we were off after giving him a $20.00 dollar bill as our way of saying thanks. He took it and then we drove about a half-mile to a Gulf station, fillered her up to the tune of $73.00 bucks!and off to the marina we went. We had heroes for lunch, and then unpacked the car and put everything away in the boat.

At 6PM we went to a nice Italian restaurant called Babes.....there I had calamairi and shrimp fra diavalo and dottie had shrimp parm......both of us agreed it was a delisious meal, and well worth the few bucks we spent for it. It is bedtime soon and tomorrow AM we leave for the Florida Keys.....after filling fuel and water tanks and doing a few odd jobs on the boat.

September 25th .....we will resume this blog

We will continue our blog on September 25th when we resume our trip to the Florida Keys.

Stops will include, Leg 1- NYC, Manasquqn, NJ; Forked Rive Atlantic City, NJ; & Cape May, NJ

Leg 2 - Delaware and Maryland
Leg 3 - Virginia, Washington, DC
Leg 4 - North and South Carolina and Georgia
Leg 5 - Northern Floida to West Palm Beach
Leg 6 - West Palm, Ft. Lauderdale, Miami Beach......ananananand.......................KEY LARGO

Our final destination.

New Link on our web page

We have added a new link to our website, it is Titled......Hurricaine Sandy, The Aftermath

Check it out here: Hurricane Sandy

Updated News

OK, so I made five trips to Florida this winter season, and most will say for what.

Well, Trip One I covered here already. I went to the Ft. Lauderdale Boat Show in October and I got stuck here for an extra week thanks to Sandy closing all airports into NYC.

Trip two was in December, I flew down to secure a slip for next winter, but had no luck. The Florida Keys have way too many marinas and the choices are overwhelming. I need to get Dottie to come down with me. Actually it was a trip I could not turn down; airfare was a whopping $39.95 r/t, from Atlantic City to Fort Lauderdale.

Trip three was during the second week in January. Dottie did not want to go, but told me the type of marina we should be in.....so I followed through, and I found a nice,  family owned marina on Key Largo in Tavernier. Check it out at Blue Waters Marina

One of the marinas I did look at had a dockaminium for sale.

This place was called the Manatee Club in Key Largo. It is located at MM125.5 oceanside as you come into the Keys from the mainland. Perfect setting, in fact it was all too perfect.

Here is a link to a few pictures of the place and the slip: Manatee Bay Yacht Club Photos

Trip Four: So, Dottie and I flew back down in the third week of January only to have what follows happen......

That story, in a quick synopsis, goes like this. The person who owned the slip paid $267,500 for it back in 2006. As we all know, the real estate market fell apart in 2008, and guy bellied up owing the bank about $110,000.00. All the bank wants is to get out of the real estate business and back to banking.

Dottie and I put in an offer of $50,000., but then some Cuban gentleman put in a bid of $51,250 and he got the dock. However, prior to anyone knowing of him, or his bid, the bank calls me and tells me we got it, then within a half hour I get a call from the broker with some BS story about Senor Jamma and the bank was unware of his bid, and it is higher than ours. No chance for a second time bid.

After some quick research, I found I could have brought a discrimination suit against the bank, however, I can't blame them. See, the bank is based in Cuba, Senor Jamma lives in Cuba and the real estate broker is Cuban also. Now, if the bank was Bank of America, and the broker was an American, I would proudly own this slip.....but I dont.
Oh well, so is business, and as Dottie would say "apparently it was not meant to be....".

But it was not all wasted, we visited some boating buddies of ours, Roger and Dorothy Hayes aboard their Tug named Slow Churn. We had not seen them since July 4th of 2012.

We got everything in order with  Blue Waters Marina and flew back home on the 21st of January. Temps started dropping rapidly, and we decided on a road trip.....We can we go, where it will be warm.....FLORIDA....LOL

TRIP FIVE:

Crossing into Florida from Georgia

On January 25th we left NY to drive to the Florida Keys, so off we go for a three week excursion......and we had a blast. It took us four days to cross into Florida, and four days to drive home. We stopped to see friends and relatives all along the way. Mickey & Elaine Storto our dear friends who moved to Hilton Head last May, Dave Dozier and his wife, they own theRegatta Point Marina in Deltaville, VA and they also publish the Waterway Guide Chart Books. We met them back in 2009 at a trawler-fest on Hutchinson Island, FL., Gary & Carol Federation, (former Oak Park Boaters), Bruce & Diane Malboeuf, my cousin Rick and his wife Chris, Rolfe and Harriet Wall, cruising buddies of ours we met in Alabama two years ago and did the Erie with them this year.

On our way south we visited the towns of Annapolis, MD; Virginia Beach, VA; Deltaville, VA; Morehead City, NC; Cape Hatteras and the Outer Banks, NC; Charleston, SC; Stuart, FL, then drove across the state to N. Ft. Myers Beach, FL, then north to Bradenton, Clearwater, North Redington Beach, Tampa and on to Old Town and Suawnee, through Gainesville, St. Augustine, Charleston, NC and Hagerstown, MD and finally Clyde, NY.

As soon as I get back to my own desk, I will add some pics, etc.

Just as a reminder to all: Miami Boat Show begins later on this month.....LOL, you never know, now do you??

Florida Update

I did not realize that my last post to this blog was back in November.....How time flies when you are having a blast!!!, and we have been having a great time.

Anyway, this cold, snowy, winter season is almost over. After four air trips to the Florida Keys and one car trip I need to update everyone on what has been going on. However, for now, I will just say this.....whoever said driving to Florida is cheaper than flying, just never did the math. I will never drive to Florida again....LOL.

I expect to be back in Clyde by the 13th of February and will do a complete update no later than the 21st of February. I have to get funeral home business back on track first....then Florida business.

Also, to those who thought we were buying a dockaminium, forget about it. The deal fell apart and I lost the bid by $1,200.00, but that is another whole post.

Currently we are in Charlotte, NC, tomorrow we will be in Hagerstown, MD.

Many have tried, few have succeded!

It is the competetive nature of mankind.....we all like recognition for our outstanding efforts.

I thought maybe I set a record today.....not realizing just how far off I may have been..

Anyway, I had a cardiac catherization done earlier today, and as in the past 5 times my cardiologist, Dr. Ong said to me there is still room for another. I give him a nod, and he drops another stent in place. Now as far as stents go, I say to Dr. Ong, geez, this has to be some sought of record.....he smiles and says you are close but no cigar. Apparently having six stents does not even come close to setting a record. Not 12 nor 18 will give you the title either, however if you have a whopping 21 stens in your cardiac arteries, your just one off of the record.....you need to get twent-two of them to capture the title.
Oh well, we all try, but few succeed!!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Happy Thansgiving to all our friends that follow this blog, and don't forget what this coming Saturday is:

"SHOP SMALL" Saturday. Please forget Black Friday and support your local retailers

Hurricane Sandy's Aftermath

Well, all I can say is, check out the following web album. I have never seen a marina after being damaged by a hurricane, but because the marina we wintered at got wiped clean, I had to take some pictures......
Hurricane Sandy's Aftermath and the Lucky Find III

BTW, the Lucky Find III was one of about 67 boats at the marina that did not ever get a mark on it.....THANK GOD!!


I will have to label these pictures, so you get a full understanding

Fort Lauderdale Boat Show

Again this year I had decided to attend the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, which I think is the best boat show on the east coast. Boats that are on display range mostly from the tenders of 32 feet to the superyachts of 245 feet, and range in price from 264,000 to well over 125 million.

My old boss, Jim McQuade, who owns the Schuyler Hill Funeral Home in the Bronx decided to tag along. We had a great time. We ate like cavaones, drank like fish and partied like true "party animals"

Here are a few pictures of some of the boats I boarded: M/V Aghassi,  M/V Remember When and M/V Diamonds Are Forever.  They are all average "Joe Billionaire Boats", with a lot of granite marble and gold, and I mean real gold.

Jim and I decided to schedule out each day, meaning we would board boats between 10AM and Noon, hit the local floating barge bar at Noon and stay till the show closed at 7PM.

We did meet a bunch of guys from The Locust Point YC, where Jim is a member, and one of them went for a 57' Bertram with a price tage of 700K, of course I had to get involved, showed my broker credentials and he bought her for a mere 455K.

Then we would return to our hotel and change for dinner and partying. Jim must be getting old, because usually by midnight he was shit-faced and I'd have to drive him back to the hotel. I'd go back out and drink till 2 or 3 AM, and repeated this journey for the next four days.

Hurricaine Sandy hit Lauderdale-by-the-Sea on Friday the 26th of October, causing no muss and no fuss.
Jim and I were set to return to NY's LaGuardia Airport on Monday the 29th of October. But, due to the fact tha hurricaine Sandy was to hit the Bronx on the 4 or 5th of November, Jim caught a flight out a day ahead of schedule. He was worried about his waterfront home in Throgs Neck in the Bronx. Late Sunday night, they closed LaGuardia until Thursday the 1st of Novemeber and I did not fet a flight out till Saturady the 3rd of November. Hey, who's complaining, I got almost a full week extra to spend in sunny, warm, Lauderdale By The Sea.

I followed the Hurricaine Sandy storm on the news from Florida, and my stomach was in my mouth by Thursday the 1st of November. All we were hearing was about the devestation and and damaged it caused on the coast, especially in the tri-state area of CT, NY and NJ.
And all I can think about was the Lucky Find III in Stony Point, NY just a tad north of NYC.
Dottie, who did not come along to the show, instead diverted down to the Jersey Shore to help her parents out. She stayed at the shore from Thursday the 25th until Saturday the 3rd of Novemeber.
This storm wiped out the Jersey shore almost completely......if you were just a few blocks inland, you were OK, but anywhere within 2 bloks off the ocean.....and BANG!

More to come on the Aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.....

Night...Night, Sweet Baby

The title of the post is what we said today as we left the marina. We spent the last week aboard the Lucky Find III at the slip in Patsy's Bay, and what we learned is this....in the NYC area no one spends nights on the boat at the marina. Here is a marina with over 200 full slips and we are only ones here.
Apparently it confirmed my beliefs....
In Upstate, NY most boats stern in to their main dock, people stay on boats like it is a their cottage.
You need to remember that both Dottie and I are from down here originally, and we had never heard these.."traditions" and money
\

Most boats "bow" in in the NYC area

Uptaters almost always stern in at their slip.

Well, this is what I learned, it is true that it is two upstate traditions, backing in, then spending your weekend aboard doing nothing. In this area, you get to the marina where your boat is "bowed" in, and you take off and go....go somewhere but go, and when you return you bow in, hose her down and go to either your home or summer cottage.....but you never, but never spend your weekend at the local marina, sitting around and drinking beer.

Of course, that is the third tradition that upstate has....drinking beer.
Down here you only drink beer if.....it is so freaking hot out that it quenches your thirst and then it is only one or two nips, or your upstate family or friends show up for a day out on your boat with a cooler of beer. After 5:00PM, it is strictly vodka, scotch, whiskey or an after dinner cordial, such as Ameretto, Midori, Drambuie or a brandy. Same in restaurants, never a beer alweays a wine or cocktail.

In the past three days fall foliage season begun down here, and what a beautiul sight it is:



Here is how the Hudson Valley looked just last week




and here is how it looked on 10/11/12....what a difference a week makes!



Bear Mountain Bridge on 10/11/12

OK...so, we spent the last few days aboard the boat and got her ready for haul out which is scheduled with marina for Wednesday the 3rd. By Tuesday it's ready, and I had 3 funerals to take care of in Clyde, so they hauled it without our help, and here she sits wainting for us.

Notice the complimentary steps and step ladder

We returned to the marina on Sunday the 7th, and we took the last items off, pressure washed the bottom and hull and cam back to Clyde on Wednesday, October 10th...almost with tears in our eyes

Dottie doing the pressure washing of the bottom and hull




Today is Monday, the 15th of October and our 35th wedding anniversary....it is also the day that the 4th funeral in a row came in and as Dottie has said each October 15th since 1977, "Damm, this business, can we ever have a day to ourselves...and I respond, "Maybe next year baby....Maybe"!
Anyway. this funeral reminds me of just how lucky we are and were in the past years. It is also a time to Thank Our Lucky Stars... It is a funeral of a stillbirth female.....I hate doing baby funerals

"Night Night Little Baby" or "Night Night Sweet Baby Girl" 

It's Winding Down....and a great summer it was!!

We returned to Tarrytown on Thursday, but a day late is better than never.

A Week ago Monday we took our last cruise with the Lucky Find III for this year.
We cruised from Tarrytown to Stony Point, and although it is ony 8 miles, marina to marina, it was a sad cruise because both Dottie and I knew she would be on the hard in a couple of more days. We wondered around the Hudson River like we did not know where to go, and it was a straight run from Tarrytown to Patsy's Bay.We made it OK, dfound our slip and tied it off......now, to get back to Tarrytown and get our car.

We arrived at about 3PM and had to kill about  an hour so we could take the ferry from Haverstraw to Ossining, and then the train from Ossining to Tarrytown. Luckily I planned on the first scheduled departure of the Ferry which was at 4:30 PM. (they run every half-hour, on thehour and the half hour)I called a taxi company which was about a 3 block walk from where we were. I told them we needed a cab from Patsy's Bay Marina to Haverstraw to the ferry terminal. He said OK....we will be there in 10 mins. Well, after about an hour of waiting (it's now 5:15pm) I called a different taxi Company and they picked us up within 10 mins and we're on the way to the ferry terminal for the 5:30 departue.

Now, let me remind you....the ride from Haverstraw is a 15 min ferry ride across the Hudson, and then a 10 minute ride via the Metro North to Tarrytown...here is where we get screwed for time......the train made us wait about 45 minutes for the ride to Tarrytow, so we did not arrive in Tarrytown until 6:45PM....and I am starving, cause I usually eat at 6:00PM. Thank God, Striped Bass restaurant is about a one minute walk from the train station. By 7:00PM, the food was on our table, and I devoured a couple of dozen of raw clams, mussels, lobster and shrimp, all served over cracked ice, Ice Cold.....Delisious.

Now, let me remind you....the ride from Haverstraw is a 15 min ferry ride across the Hudson, and then a 10 minute ride via the Metro North to Tarrytown...here is where we get screwed for time......the train made us wait about 45 minutes for the ride to Tarrytow, so we did not arrive in Tarrytown until 6:45PM....and I am starving, cause I usually eat at  6:00PM. Thank God, Striped Bass restaurant is about a one minute walk from the train station. By 7:00PM, the food was on our table, and I devoured a couple of dozen of raw clams, mussels, lobster and shrimp, all served over cracked ice, Ice Cold.....Delisious.

At 8:30 PM, we left the Tarrytown maina in our car to take the 30 minute ride across the Tappan Zee to the Thruway and to Stony Point. Back to the boat by 9:00PM, and in bed by 9:30....LOL. I need my beauty sleep.

Sunset on Hudson from Tarrytown to Ossining, NY

OK.....All Decisions are Final

The decision was made last month to winter the Lucky Find III in Stony Point, NY at Patsy's Bay Marina.
Check out their website, as it is a real nice, affordable marina specializing in winter storage. I did not want to say anything earlier because the manager of the Tarrytown Marina is also a part-owner of Charles Point Marina, which is where we told them we would winter the Lucky Find III.

Our plans, and they are final, are to return to Tarrytown this Wednesday, stay aboard the Lucky Find III until the following Tuesday or Wednesday and then bring the boat over to Patsy's Bay. Our in-water storage is paid through the 15th of October at the Tarrytown Boat Club and Marina, but the manager of Patsy's Bay said we could stay there, in the water, until haul-out season begins in Mid-October at no charge. I guess boating south of Albany automatically adds a month or two to the season. Being back homne this past week, I stopped at Oak Park Resort Marina, and they are already hauling out, winterizing ands shrink-wrapping boats.

Also, we have made plans and bought tickets to attend Progressive Insurance's  Norwalk Boat Show.
The show begins on Thursday the 20th and runs through Sunday the 23rd of September. It bills itself as the "Premeir Boat Show of Northeast", and we will see just how true that is by next Saturday.

I would have liked to return a day or two earlier, but work is work, and I have funerals scheduled for this coming Monday and Tuesday.

And Back Home Again for a While

Let me sum it all up by saying that this has definitely been a summer to remember. On Monday we came back to Clyde and found everything in order. A special thanks goes out to Ms. Andrea Steele for keeping the house in order for us.

We forewent the Forrogasto Festival on Sunday. My friend Karen called and said that her sister had invited her and Gary to dinner in Rockland County.

So, we had taken a ride out to City Island instead. There was an arts and crafts festival going on with plenty of arts, crafts and my favorite......food!!

But after eating like pigs and feeling stuffed we stumbled upon a clambake. It was being held at the Leonard Hawkins American Legion Post 3253 in City Island. After a bit of persuading (Dropping a white lie or two) we were in. For $15.00 per person we ate, and drank....all we wanted. The reason it was so inexpensive was that the party was scheduled for 1-7 PM for $50.00 a ticket. But we did not get there until 4:00PM. so they discounted the entry fee. Raw clams, steamed clams, mussels cooked 4 different ways, hamburgers, hot dogs, liver w/bacon, corn on the cob and numerous salads were on the menu, and they served you as fast as you could eat it. Of course there was an OPEN bar also, but being that Dottie and I don't really drink we had homemade fresh brewed iced tea. They had a live band and they were fantastic.
Anyway, I want to thank all of their members for making us feel right at home!!

After the clambake, we continued walking down City island Ave, but it was dark by 7:30PM, so we found our car, and headed back to the marina in Tarrytown....with overly full bellies of clams and mussels.

Back to Tarrytown...AGAIN!!

The 4.5 hour ride from Clyde to Tarrytown was uneventful and easy-going. There is no such thing as traffic in upstate NY and I did not hit any real traffic the whole way down. I left Clyde at 7:30 AM and arrived back to the marina at 12 Noon. Dottie and I had a nice lunch at the El Dorado in Tarrytown, and then it hit....a storm from the south with as much rain, wind and power as we had never seen.....5 minutes later it was over and the sun was out.
Due to the storm, a scheduled "Chili Cook-Off" at the marina was cancelled, and re-scheduled for the following day.
At 5:30 PM, Karen Berlingo and her SO, Gary, showed up bearing gifts of wine and wine glasses. After a few cocktails aboard the Lucky Find III we headed out to dinner at the Red Hat Restaurant and Bistro.
Dinner was good and company we had, even better. The Red Hat Restaurant is a nice place for dinner, but truthfully, nothing spectacular. It tries it's hand at a French-Italian menu, but at a cost of about $100.00 per person ($375.27 including tax and tip), it could have been a lot nicer and the food could have been a bit more traditional for restaurants in that price range. I had the Mussells and Dottie, Karen and Gary all had Osso Buco. We had a great time, but I was really disappointed in the restaurant. Oh well, we live and learn! I'll rate the food as OK.
Karen and I had dinner about 5 or 6 years ago at a place called Harvest on the Hudson, in Hastings-on-the-Hudson, NY and Harvest ran circles around Red Hat in it's quality and service.

Later on today we are heading to Arthur Ave. in the Bronx for the Ferragosto Festival and plenty of really good and authentic Italian food. Karen and Gary will join us there.

Thursday, September 13 through Sunday September 23rd is the 11 day Italian Festival on Mulberry Street in Manhattan. It is well known as the Feast of San Gennaro.....and I plan on being there......LOL

Again, The Best Laid Plans.......

Wednesday afternoon I had to return to Clyde on business, so instead of both Dottie and I going back on Saturday, I went solo.
On the way home, an old friend of mine called to say she received my e-mail invitation to come to dinner with us while we stayed in Tarrytown. My plans now are;
to return to Tarrytown on Saturday, go to dinner Saturday night at a restaurant called Red Hat on the River in Irvington, NY (well recommended by others) with Karen Berlingo and her date, and then on Sunday go to Arthur Ave. in the Bronx for the  Ferragosto Festival   (End of the Harvest Celebration)....more to come on Sunday.