STATEN ISLAND TO HUDSON RIVER

June 10- We left Great Kills Marina at 9:30 am and have a forty mile run up the Hudson River. We had to pass the Statue of Liberty to enter the river so Evelyn took a picture of us as we were passing her and Bobbi go a picture of us passing the Freedom Tower. As soon as wer have better wi fi I will post those pictures. While traveling up the river we had to stay out of the way of ferrys, tows and other boaters. We finally got past the ``crazy`` and could relax and enjoy the trip up the Hudson. We arrived at Half Moon Bay Marina (at Croton on the Hudson) at 3 pm with the wind howling again. There is a break wall of sorts so we are rocking a lot. We went to dinner and by the time we got back the wind had stopped and there is just a slight rocking.

Heading towards the Hudson River

Lots of traffic out here

A shot of Ellis Island 

Empire State Building stands out

Heading up the Hudson River

Some unique looking buildings along the shore

Central Park runs along the shoreline

A very old plant along the Hudson

The shoreline is going up

STATEN ISLAND

June 9- We are here until Friday as the winds are really brutal today. Syd decided to go back into Manhattan for the day, but we are all just staying put. Dave's allergies are acting up and his back is giving him a little problem today so he is just relaxing. I have been doing laundry and some badly needed cleaning on the interior of the boat. Evelyn has gone to get her hair done and Bill and Bobbi are vegging today. I took Koby to shore and you need something to weigh you down so you don't blow away in this wind. We were talking with John (the owner) and he was telling us that this marina was badly damaged in hurricane "Sandy" in 2011. There is still a sailboat at the shore which has been there since that hurricane.

Great Kills Marina in Staten Island

Syd and Bill are on the dock to the left

The Great Kills Yacht Club building

This is the sailboat left after hurricane "Sandy"

NEW YORK

June 8- We are heading into New York City this morning at 9:00 am. John a part owner of this marina has offered to drive us over to catch the train and that will take us to the ferry that will take us over to the mainland. It was a quick ride on the train to the ferry and while crossing over we finally saw the Statue of Liberty. We had planned to go over to the statue today but unfortunately it is so booked for tours that we could not go up the statue so we decided to not go. The other thing we wanted to visit was Ground Zero and as we got there the rain started and the wind began to really blow. We also wanted to go to the museum for Ground Zero but it had line ups down the street, so that didn't happen. We had to get in out of the rain so we found a mall and went and had lunch hoping the rain would subside while we were in there. It didn't so we hopped the subway and went to Rockefeller Centre for awhile. We were all tired from walking so we headed back to the subway, back to the ferry and back to the boat. Maybe we will have better luck tomorrow!

Crossing on the ferry we finally see her

Heading into Manhattan

So much to see

Heading towards Wall Street area

The new Freedom Tower

Memorial at Ground Zero

A lot of these guys walking around

Another shopping area being built

MANASQUAN TO NEW YORK

June 7- We left Manasquan at 8:30 am and headed out the inlet into the Atlantic again for the last leg to New York.  It was a little rolling and we had a following sea all the way up so we were glad it was a fairly short run today. It was great to see the New York skyline coming into view and the busy harbour. We headed away from that into a long bay at Sandy Hook to our marina called Great Kills marina on Staten Island. This marina is owned and run by an Italian family who can not do enough for us. We met a fellow looper who has just finished the loop with his family (2 girls and 1 boy ). We actually passed him up in Georgia and we both stayed at the Isle of Hope together. He helped us into the dock and then proceeded to offer us his car at any time if we needed anything. We are planning to stay here for a couple of days to see some of New York.

Heading out the Manasquan Inlet into the Atlantic

A small fishing village to our right on the way out

The shoreline rising as we get closer to New York

The New York skyline as we approach

Heading to Great Kills Marina at Staten Island

ATLANTIC CITY TO MANASQUAN

June 6- We left Atlantic City at 7:00 am heading on the inside up the ICW. The other two loopers had planned on leaving that morning on the outside and the one boat called "Near Miss" had already left but quickly came right back to the marina saying it was really rough out there. We led the procession as Dave had the I-Pad app showing the shoals and possible problem areas. We only hit one spot where we stirred up some mud for a little bit but our trip was basically uneventful. We had to leave the ICW and travel through a narrow channel to get to the marina we had booked. When we called the marina they told us that they were located between two bridges (one a road bridge the other was a railway bridge) and because of the current we needed to go through both, turn and come back up stream to be able to dock on their T-dock. We were the first to the dock, tied up quickly and had to wrestle the dingy up beside our boat to make room for Something Special to come in behind us. We quickly tied him up and they made room on another T-dock for Mist. Once everything was secure and we had walked the dogs we decided to go for a swim at the pool. We had dinner and crashed for the evening.

Leaving Atlantic City up the ICW

Sometimes the ICW took us fairly close to shore

Coming into Manasquan 

This was the railway bridge right behind us

Boats waiting for the railway bridge to re-open

90 percent of the boats were Sports Fishing boats here

ATLANTIC CITY

June 5- We are staying today as the forecast is for strong wind and possible thunder storms later today. We have decided to take our bikes and ride down to the boardwalk that Atlantic City is known for. We were not allowed to ride on the boardwalk so we locked the bikes up and walked. The day started out sunny but by mid afternoon the skies were getting pretty dark and threatening so we headed back. I had booked an appointment at the spa in the casino to have my hair colored and trimmed, so while I was at that Dave put away our bikes and then cleaned the bottom of our dingy the best he could. I got back from the hair appointment and everyone was on our boat discussing our departure in the morning. We all decided that the winds were too high on the Atlantic for us to go outside so we decided that for this next leg to Manasquan we would travel up the ICW. We were a little nervous because no one knew what kind of shape it was in as far as shoaling, but when we spoke of it with Sonata they said they always went that way with no problem as long as you travel it on "high tide".

Syd and Dave in front of one of the many casinos

View of the amusement park from the land side

The boardwalk goes on for miles

This is one of the larger casinos along the boardwalk

Myself and Evelyn heading back to the bikes

CAPE MAY TO ATLANTIC CITY

June 4- We left Cape May at 8:00 am heading for Atlantic City. This is the first leg of our travels up the east coast outside in the Atlantic. It was a sleepless night for me last night knowing we are heading out into the Atlantic again as our last experience was not a good one. It luckily turned out to be a good day to travel as we had a gentle roll, little wind and a sunny day. The entrance into Atlantic City was quite bumpy but once we turned into the channel leading to the marina it calmed down. We all needed pump outs because Canyon Club's was broken. The Atlantic City marina was fairly large with a lot of large boats and was right in front of a casino. They had a live band playing daily from noon until 11:00 pm which got to be annoying after awhile. There wasn't any great areas for dogs but we found a boulevard we used. There were 2 other loopers on the dock with us, one we had met on the Dismal Swamp.

Heading out into the Atlantic Ocean

Comforting was the shoreline was close 

An amusement park as we got closer to Atlantic City

The inlet to Atlantic City was quite choppy

Atlantic City Marina in front of casino

A few larger boats on the next dock