New York State of Mind

Rainy Day/Dream Away

Day 14-Tuesday, May 10th, 2016

Casting the lines off at Rock Hall a little before 6:00 a.m., we traveled up the last part of the Chesepeake  into the C & D Canal.  The skies were overcast and there was a light rain washing the salt off Blue Moon.  Delaware Bay is without charm to say the least.  There are no waterfront homes and the shores are void of humanity.  Strictly a shipping waterway.  I was pleased that it was only a light chop as anything with the word "Bay" in it seems to be my nemesis lately.

After six hours on the bay we arrived at Utsch's Marina in Cape May.  A no frills but very friendly marina.  They gave us a welcome gift bag.  Always a nice touch.  We found the Lobster House and overindulged again.


A Hard Day's Night

Day 15 - Wednesday, May 11, 2016

The day of my dreaded ocean run up to NYC.  With our track record of late I was sure it was going to be a bad trip.  Nope!  The weather and wave gods were smiling down on us.  There was virtually no wind and the ocean was flat as a pancake!  There was a slight, very slight swell but that was fine.  We traveled 113 miles (that is a lot in one day for us) up to NYC. 

We passed this girl along the way.

 

Call me a dork ,but I get a lump in my throat every time I see the Statue of Liberty.

 

We planned on anchoring behind Ellis Island for the night but when we went there we realized the wake from the many ferry boats passing nearby would make it very uncomfortable.  So we went right around the corner to Liberty Landing Marina on the Jersey side.  Glad we did.  This is the view from our slip.

It is spectacular at night.

 



 

 

We settled in for the evening as it was a very long day--12 hours or so of boating.  A real Hard Day's Night.

 

 

Day 16, Thursday, May 12th, 2016

 

With some time to kill before we meet our friends Ray and Lisa Tangent on the Hudson River (they are going up the Hudson and part of the Erie Canal with us), we decided to take a ferry over to Ellis Island.  I have always wanted to go there and just absorb the place and try and think of what my ancestors on my Dad's side felt when the came through there on their way from Sicily and Spain.  My Mom's side came much earlier--before Ellis Island. 

 

 

What a special place.  It feels almost haunted.  The National Park Service has done a wonderful job restoring the main building that had fallen into shameful disrepair years ago.  I was glad to see bus loads of middle schoolers there on a field trip and hope that a little of the magnitude of the history of this place sunk into their little brains.   I must say, almost each one of them was holding an iPhone and most were dressed like little slobs.  That is the new normal I guess. 

 

We then took the ferry over to Manhattan and disembarked at Battery Park.  From there we walked the short walk to the new Freedom Tower and the 9/11 Memorial.

 

 

 

Each person who died that day has their name engraved in bronze around the memorial.  There are two; one for each tower.  It was as striking as the Vietnam Wall Memorial in DC.  Kinda' sneaks up on you when you start reading the names.  Words can't even express....

 

Dave wanted to go to either China Town or Little Italy for lunch.  We were going to walk but decided it was too far since neither of us had really brought concrete hiking shoes--just our boat shoes.  Chinese food won and it was great.  On the streets, hawkers kept trying to sell me a new purse or a massage or anything you can think of.  Love the brazen salesmen!  Didn't buy anything though.

 

Since it was still early and a gorgeous 70 degree and sunny day, we took a taxi up to Central Park South and then a carriage ride around the stunning green space.  Wow.  Just Wow!!  That someone had the foresight so many years ago to do this for the people of New York is amazing.  Our driver pointed out the usual places of interest including Strawberry Fields which is across from the apartment building (the Dakota) where John Lennon was shot, where Woody Allen (one of my favs) lives and also we passed by an apartment in the Plaza where there were about 100 people out on the sidewalk looking up.  Seems Lady Gaga lives there and she was home today.  They were trying to get a glimpse of her.  She rents the apartment for a mere $22,000 a month.  We saw the building where Ghostbusters was shot and the penthouse apartment where Michael Douglas lives among other celebrity nonsense. 

 

We walked along the riverside to catch a water taxi back across to our boat on Liberty Island.  So many people ferry across and back to NY from Jersey every day to commute to work.  Nuts.

 

I enjoyed our unexpected trip today but every time I visit NYC I am always reaffirmed in my feeling that no fricking way could I handle that confusion all the time.  Now that I'm old I like calm, organized order!  Borrrring.

 

We had a wonderful meal at a restaurant at the marina.  We really must get back to eating meals on the boat though.  It's just so hard to pass up all these great fooderies.

 

Tomorrow we are leaving New York City and heading 30 miles up the Hudson to a place called Half Moon Bay Marina at Croton-on the Hudson.  Looks like a easy trip and the BIG water is behind us now--at least until we get to Lake Ontario next week. 

 

On Sunday, Ray and Lisa are taking a train there to jump aboard the Blue Moon.  We are so glad they are coming!  Then they are getting off in Brewerton and John is joining us for the final leg of this mission to get Blue Moon back to Pt. Breeze.  We left July 18th, 2013.  How the time has flown since that day that we pulled out of our dock with Jim and Lin Krause heading for the Trent-Severn and on up into Georgian Bay!  Time to think of a new adventure!