2010 JULY 4-5

We are 2 weeks behind posting. Today is the 18th and this posting is of July 4-5. In our previous post we had just arrived in Manhattan and stayed three nights here at Lincoln Harbor Yacht Club which is directly across the Hudson from the Empire State Building. This was the best location to view the Macy's fireworks. To get a slip here, we had to stay a minimum of three nights. We arrived Saturday and left Tuesday morning. My son, Jason, flew in, and Deb's daughter, Michelle, and her 2 boys, Zach and Justin, drove in for the fireworks. Michelle and the boys stayed with us for a couple of days. I have no still pictures of the fireworks but at the bottom of this post, there is a short video. This is my first attempt to attach video to the blog; hope it works well.



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The fireworks were on Sunday, the 4th and around 6:30-7:00, we started to see activity on the water - Coast Guard and police blocking off the Hudson. The fireworks are shot off from pairs of barges each with their own tug; there were six tugs for a total of 12 barges. In this picture below, these fighters flew down over the Hudson.




One of the tugs and its two barges was directly in front of the marina. Two of these were to the right, one centered on us, and three to the left as we faced the river, spaced about an 8th of a mile apart. They were not anchored. Each set of barges had the same fireworks shells and were shot off by computer control for a simultaneous display.

The fireboats practiced.

Our boat was located in the center of the marina, so to get a better view, most people watched from the 20' wide walkway on the pier that separates the Hudson from the marina.

All the barges were lit up with the Macy's sign.

Good looking couple just before the fireworks.

The entrance into the marina. You can see the pier from which we viewed the fireworks.

Again, a view of the marina looking toward the Hudson and Manhattan in the background.

Did some sightseeing in Manhattan. Here is Times Square. We were able to catch the bus right out front of the marina. There were no other stops between the marina and downtown Manhattan. Once we were on the bus, it only took 10-15 minutes traveling either direction through the Lincoln Tunnel.

Ground Zero sight is very impressive with many tourists. The buildings are just starting to be erected.

Jason was our guide the day before Michelle and the boys showed up.

Just a picture of one of the many buildings.

We didn't do much in Manhattan but walk around and look at all the buildings. It was sooo hot - 100 to 103 degrees - the three days we were there.

Deb, Michelle and the boys went to the top of the Empire State Building. Deb took this pictures.

The view up the side of a building.

We wanted to go to a New York Yankees, but they wanted over $200 for a ticket, so we went to a Mets game. They happened to have fireworks that night.

Michelle, the boys and the two of us left Lincoln Harbor on Tuesday morning, Michelle leaving her vehicle at the marina. Just two miles south of the marina is Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. We didn't visit these; it was so hot, I wanted to move on and find a marina with a pool.

We missed many attractions while at New York City, but Deb and I will be returning through here at some point and we will have an opportunity to see the things we missed.

There are many security zones here on the East Coast. We have to be careful not to get too close to some of these sights.

In this picture below, the Statue of Liberty is just to the left. We are headed to the East River to the right of Manhattan.

Entering the East River at lower Manhattan.

I believe this is the Brooklyn Bridge.

We headed up the East River so that we could travel Long Island Sound instead of heading out into the open waters of the Atlantic. All of our paper charts and Cruising Guides covering our travels ran out at the end of the Hudson. Our stay in New York City was during the holiday weekend and we were unable to purchase more charts. I have all the electronic charts and knew I could get to our next stop. I had researched on the internet for a marina with a pool and a retail outlet where I could purchase paper charts. We were heading for New Rochelle, NY where Post Marine Supply is located. It's a large marine supply retailer. New Rochelle was about 40 miles from Lincoln Harbor marina.

Above we are approaching United Nations Building.

On the north end of Manhattan, toward the end of the East River, we were overtaken by this yacht, Blue Guitar. Michelle researched on her Droid phone and it turns out that it is Eric Clapton's yacht. Apparently, he has a home on Long Island.

Here we are leaving the East River and to our right is the control tower of LaGuardia Airport.

Below is my first attempt at posting a video. It is of the Macy's fireworks - give it a try.

2010 WEEK TWO 6-27 THRU 7-2

At the end of our last post Mike and Marge were leaving us to return home to Michigan. They took a cab to the Amtrak station which was about 5 blocks from the marina. Deb and I rode our bikes there to see them off. They rode the train back to Ticonderoga, NY on Lake Champlain to pick up their car. It all went like clockwork.
This is Albany Yacht Club where we stayed.

The next 5 pictures are of Albany as we headed south. Albany is about 145 miles north of New York City and still that far north is used as an industrial seaport. The river is about 1/2 mile wide here.

The Hudson-Athens Lighthouse we encountered on the Hudson.

The next 4 pictures are of our approach to Kingston which was New York State's first capital. The British burned it to the ground in the Revolutionary War so it was moved to Albany. This is the Kingston Lighthouse.

If you look close, it looks like rock, but in fact, it is the channel seawalls just above the water at high tide. When we keft Kingston, the tide was much lower and I could see that it was a seawall.

We arrived Kingston on June 27 and stayed here at the Kingston City Dock for 3 days. It just happened that Kingston was having their 4th of July celebration that day. There were a number of bands that played. The music was great and an evening of fireworks shot off from this bridge.

Below the city marina office.

The Kingston waterfront used to be called the Village of Rondout. In 1828, the Delaware-Hudson Canal was built to haul coal 108 miles from the mountains of Pennsylvania to Rondout for reshipment to cities along the eastern seaboard. Right in front of our boat here in Kingston is a long island that splits Rondout Creek. This island is where they used to store the coal and at its peak in 1870, they shipped 3 million tons of coal. The Village of Rondout was becoming more prosperous than Kingston, so Kingston convinced Rondout to be annexed. We saw old pictures with nothing but piles of coal, but now its totally overgrown with trees.

The next three pictures are looking down our dock at Kingston towards the festival site. I tried to capture how the crowds were growing.

They had a Maritime Museum that we visited. They had 2 or 3 PT boats there that they were going to restore.

We rented a car while at Kingston and visited the Frederick Vanderbilt mansion on the Hudson River. We also visited the Franklin Roosevelt home which was his parents' farm. His parents were well-to-do farmers and I believe that it was 1,000-1,500 acres with servants. He was an only child and always called the farm at Hyde Park, NY home. He married his fifth cousin at the age of about 23 and they lived in his boyhood farmhouse with his mother. A great place to visit but I forgot the camera so I have no pictures. We also visited the FDR Presidential Library located here.

A nice pleasure boat that pulled into the docks while we were there.

Everywhere we go we see rowboats here in the east.

We left Kingston and headed to Newburgh. The next 8 pictures are of our travels between these ports.

This is the Vanderbilt Mansion pretty much hidden by the trees. It is owned by the National Parks Service.

Where we stayed at Newburgh.

The next 6 pictures are of Newburgh. Newburgh was once a vibrant marine center building wooden ships and barges, then on to steam vessels. The town is full of old ornate homes, but unfortunately it has seen its better days. It's overrun with minorities that are just letting it turn into ruin.

George Washington used this home during the Revolutionary War.

Leaving Newburgh, we headed to West Haverstraw, NY. This stretch is particularly pretty and we passed West Point Military Academy.

Approaching West Point heading south on the Hudson.

On the roof of West Point Fieldhouse says "Beat Air Force."

West Point.

The next three pictures are of Haverstraw Marina. As luck would have it, they were having their fireworks while we were there. We spent 2 days here. We tried to stay at Stony Point Bay Marina 1/4 mile upstream from here and had a little trouble getting into their marina. This entire area is shallow and we are now dealing with tidal waters that Deb and I are not used to. Their buoy system was a little confusing, but as we approached we saw a 38-39 foot boat coming out of the marina heading for open waters on the Hudson so we took his exact path. He left a trail of silt but as we tried, we touched ground, got nervous and turned around. We decided to spend $1/foot more for deep water. We paid $3/foot.

Leaving Haverstraw; next stop Manhattan.

Our first view of New York City.

Approaching George Washington Bridge. This is the bridge that the pilot had to clear when he ditched the airliner in the Hudson recently. He was heading in this direction.

The next 4 pictures we are getting closer and closer to downtown Manhattan.

We've arrived in NEW YORK CITY! This is a picture taken from Lincoln Harbor Marina & Yacht Club where we stayed for 3 days. It's directly across the Hudson from the Empire State Building in Weehawken, New Jersey. We arrived July 3rd.