Waterford NY to Atlantic City NJ

Let’s get up to date on our travel, friends.

Katherine at a lock

This is a peek over the side at
the dam next to the lock

When last I wrote, we were in Schenectady on the Erie Canal waiting out Hurricane Juaquin watching the Buckeyes beat Indiana on October 3. The weather was cold and kind of ugly. We checked the weather constantly so we figured out on that cold Saturday that the storm was blowing out to sea. Relief might be in sight! So on Sunday October 4 we decided to head for Waterford and poke our noses in the Hudson River.

Sunset at Schenectady NY Yacht Club

I almost felt like sticking my finger in the dyke!

We left early in the morning, still gray and cold. We passed through Locks 7 and 6 then the flight of locks right in a row: 5, 4, 3, and finally 2. All these locks are about 30 foot drops in the space of about 55 nautical miles. At Lock 6 near the start of our day we had an adventure!! Not the good kind but the kind that Marissa Burik dreads so much.

The bitter end of that lock line
after Kermit cut it!

I was manning the back station and Tony was on the bow. He grabbed one of the lines hooked to the top concrete lock wall and hung on. I grabbed one of the lines close to the back. As I had been doing, I hooked the dirty grimy line around one of the cleats just to get leverage. I didn’t secure it. I know better than that. But I used the cleat to keep us close. Everything was just fine until we neared the bottom. The line was much shorter than the water. As quick as a bunny the bottom of the line encased on a metal sleeve got stuck in the cleat! OH NO!! This is very bad. The water was still going down but now the boat was not. I yelled for Kermit. He leaped into action, pulled his Leatherman out and with three thrusts he cut the line that was attached to the wall, the boat settled back into position and we were saved!! There are so many ways this was a very bad thing for me to do and a very good fast reaction from Kermit to get me out of this mess.

The remainder of the locks went smoothly albeit a bit gingerly. Whew, that was close! We only have a picture of the bottom of the rope. No pics of Kermit in action. No time for that!

The further we progressed towards Waterford the warmer and sunnier it got. Finally released from Lock 2 we entered a new world of sun and warmth. The moss started to recede from the shady side of the boat.

We tied up around noon, just as the Sunday Farmers Market along the wall was finishing up. We bought some buns, peppers and best of all some really delicious fresh sweet corn. We should have bought two dozen but we only got 6 ears.

Tony taking in the fog as we left Waterford on the Hudson

We had a huge lunch at McGreevy’s, a Waterford institution with a farm to table mentality. Oh, so good. I had a great open faced sandwich with ham, sliced apples and Vermont cheddar cheese on raisin toast. Yum. Unfortunately my judgement was still impaired because I dropped the doggy bag into the canal while climbing into the boat. Too bad. It would have made a great omelet. 

Cool bridge in Albany

Monday morning with good weather reports all around we left Waterford for parts south. We were delayed a bit by fog on the Hudson River but we still got to the Federal Lock in Troy NY, just a few miles down the river, by 7:30am. We thought we were so clever but several other boats that did not leave so promptly called the lockmaster saying they were close and would he wait. He believed them so he waited for four more boats that were way far behind. By 8:30am we were through this last lock and on our way.

We are well behind schedule right now (never travel with a schedule – it only makes you crazy) so we traveled most of the day to Kingston NY. We never stopped here the last time. Along the way we pointed to plenty of sites along the way.

Shirley caught us a new fender!!

Cool house along the Hudson

There is a lawn to mow

Kingston is a very old town with a bit of life still in it. We saw a wooden boat shop attached to the Maritime Museum where they are using traditional techniques to restore an old boat – large slabs of lumber with the bark still on it and big old chain lifts to haul the lumber in place. Lots of old tools applied lovingly to the wood.

The light was amazing

The river front at Kingston

A quick walk along the river front brought us to Old Savannah, a southern style smoked meat restaurant that just opened in May. Wow, what an experience. Tony and Shirley don’t get BBQ in New Zealand so they opt for BBQ (and pizza) whenever they can get it. Kermit had the fried chicken and ribs combo. I had pulled pork with mac and cheese. OMG, to die for. We also ordered pulled pork egg rolls, a wonderful concoction that uses pulled pork, coleslaw and a little cheese to tie it together. As you can imagine we took home lots of doggie bags and have been eating smoked meat for days since. All of those leftovers made it safely to the boats. No butter fingers that day. 

Shirley capturing the bridge by Hyde Park NY

Tuesday 10/6 was another beautiful day. Aside from the crap in the water, you would never know there had been storms. By mid-day we all put on shorts and t-shirts and sunned on the front sunpads while watching the scenery go by. 

Bannerman's Castle

West Point

Ramparts at Bannerman's Castle

Hyde Park, West Point, the Vanderbilt Mansion, Bannerman’s Castle, Newburgh, Tarrytown. Finally the Tappen Zee Bridge and we are in New York. We watched the city get busier and the ferry’s start to appear. Traffic was not bad at all even though we were passing NYC during rush hour.

The Tappen Zee Bridge

The George Washington Bridge

Tony and Shirley enjoy the sunshine as we approach NYC

72nd street yacht basin

Jack is one happy cat

Signaling the entrance to Liberty Landing

Liberty Landing was full so Shirley found us space in the marina across the way, Liberty Harbor. This marina is tucked behind some apartment buildings and is home to the only RV park within miles of NYC / Jersey City. Isn’t that cool? Now you RV folks know that there is a nice RV park right by a ferry to NYC.

Leaving Liberty Landing early in the morning

Tony and the luggage

Finishing chores before heaving off

It was fun!

On their last night with us, Shirley made pad thai and we had a big party!! It was almost as good as Maeo Bate’s pad thai. Nothing is that good.

Shirley, Tony, Bill, Eve and Katherine saying goodbye

Tony and Shirley had to leave us in NYC. They pulled their luggage out of our boat and the suitcases and golf clubs out of Just BilEve. On Wednesday morning 10/7 we left them standing on the dock. We will miss them.

From NYC we went out into the big Atlantic Ocean!! Swells were gentle, about 3 feet which left a queasy stomach if you did much reading. A few hours into the day, after turning the corner past Sandy Hook, the captains decided to pick up the pace so we burned some gas at about 18 mph to get to Atlantic City. Traveling like this there is not much to talk about. We just hung on and looked at water. Fortunately the sun came out after lunch.

We couldn’t find dockage anywhere in Atlantic City so we grasped opportunity by the horns and chose a spot to anchor out. We were well ahead of Just BilEve so we negotiated the entrance to a waterway across the river from the casino state park. It was 6 foot in the low spots and 12 to 15 feet in the anchorage area. There was only one sailboat there when we arrived. Originally we intended to raft with Just BilEve but the anchorage was muddy and Kermit felt that we didn’t catch well enough to hold two boats so Just BilEve anchored a short way away. By nightfall the anchorage was full with about 10 boats on the hook. It was so much better than being in that marina. I hope we anchor out a lot more.

Just BilEve anchored out in Atlantic City

Atlantic City from the water

Dinner was smoked meat and salads on Just BilEve because it was easier for us to take our dinghy out than it was for them. Kermit discovered a new technique for dropping the dinghy. We don’t need no stinking crane. All we need to do is just kick the dinghy out of its cradle and SPLASH it is in the water! We set a world speed record for putting the dinghy back in place. It took 10 minutes to get it back in the cradle and another 10 minutes of farting around with the cover. But the orange fender balls are now tucked into the dinghy and the bike covers are now on the back deck waiting till we can wash the boat and the bikes to get the salt off and secure the bikes in waterproof bags.

By the way, we are now in salt water. Everything on the outside of the boat is crusted with a thin layer of salt. Very salty salt!

The last phase of travel for a while takes place today 10/8 and Friday 10/9. We plan to skip the Chesapeake for now. We can visit in the coming weeks but for now we just need to get to Virginia Beach. Our target today is to travel on the outside in the ocean from Atlantic City about 80 miles south to Ocean City MD. So far the water is perfect, flat with tiny rollers of 1 foot or less, sun sparkling off the little waves. We are traveling slowly at about 10mph because why not. Tomorrow we plan a long day from Ocean City to VA Beach, about 95 miles. Later tomorrow we see thunderstorm threats so we plan to run on plane at about 18mph. It should take us about 5 or 6 hours to get there at that pace. If we leave at 6:30am or 7am around sunrise we should be in VA Beach by mid-afternoon or so. More about that later.