Day 377 – 379

Wednesday, 09/22/21, the weather wasn’t stellar, so it was a lazy day for us and we spent most of it aboard Legacy or walking around the South Jersey Marina. On Wednesday late afternoon, we finally emerged and walked across the street to Tony’s Pizzeria for dinner. The place was just as deserted this time as it had been the first time we’d eaten there with the Sharps, earlier in the summer. We kind of wonder how they stay in business…(?)

We just thought the weather was undesirable on Wednesday, until the following day, when the skies dumped buckets of rain onto Cape May! We were total hermits on this day, not even leaving the boat for dinner – instead we stayed onboard, streaming Netflix and eating leftover pizza from the night before.

On Friday morning, 09/24/21, we awoke to spectacular weather, with temps in the mid-70s, ultra-sunny skies and low humidity. We caught the marina’s shuttle into downtown Cape May to the post office (so I could mail off yet another box of crocheted sections to Warm Up America!), and then walked over to Washington Street Mall, where we encountered a very large funeral procession for a local, longtime firefighter. We of course stopped and stood with the crowd, showing our respect for the deceased and his family, while enduring loud, repetitive strains of poorly-played bagpipe music. I wanted so badly to get some pictures of this colorful and highly-attended event, but decided that might be construed by others as disrespectful behavior, even though Steve and I had no clue who that funeral was for…

We again walked the now familiar streets of Cape May, with me actually putting the camera away in my purse, since I’d already loaded this blog with pics of the area. It felt strange not stopping to take a picture every three or four steps, and Steve found it refreshing to get a break from constantly stopping and waiting for me to catch up with him. Later that afternoon, we stopped at Fins Restaurant for a late lunch, dining outside and people-watching. We noticed the crowds had thinned from our last visit there in June, but the area was still quite busy. I decided that the fabulous late-September weather was most likely the draw.

Position: N 38° 56.942, W 74° 54.501

Total marina nights: 355

Total nights at anchor: 23

Locks today: 0

Locks Total:  28

Day 376

Legacy and crew left their slip at the Golden Nugget Marina in Atlantic City, NJ, with ease at 8:00 am on Tuesday morning, 09/21/21. The waters inside the marina were fairly calm, but that was NOT the case once we traveled into Atlantic City Inlet on our way out to the Atlantic Ocean! 😐 Strong southerly winds were blowing perpendicular to the narrow, west to eastward-running inlet, stirring up huge swells of 5-6 feet in height, which tossed our poor boat all over the place like a toy boat in a giant bath-tub. Steve and I held on for dear life up in the flybridge, while multiple, once stationery items went flying through the air, and my recently-filled Yeti cup slid off the table right down into my lap, drenching me with cold ice water. Clenching our teeth and white-knuckled, we endured that torture for almost 15 more minutes before finally exiting the mouth of the inlet and entering into much calmer seas, on out into the ocean.

Fortunately, conditions were much calmer as we cruised outside in the ocean, several miles east of the New Jersey coastline. Waves were only 1-foot or less, and swells were only 3-4 feet, and hit us at much longer intervals than when we were in the inlet, where they seemed to hit us non-stop! We passed multiple familiar New Jersey beach towns as we headed southward toward today’s destination of South Jersey Marina, in Cape May, NJ. This would be our second stay with them, and we were looking forward to it.

Refreshingly – after yesterday’s LONG travel day – our trip today took only 5 hours, total. After passing through Cape May Harbor, we cruised back through the now familiar Schellenger Creek to South Jersey marina, arriving at 12:30 pm. LOVE travel days like these!

Later that afternoon, we returned to Lobster House (one of our favorites) for cocktails, oysters for Steve, and another delicious dinner. Our wait was again pretty long – at an hour and a half – even though it was only 4:45 pm on a Tuesday evening. VERY popular restaurant!

Position: N 38° 56.942, W 74° 54.501

Distance traveled:  44 SM

Total distance traveled: 4698 SM

Total marina nights: 352

Total nights at anchor: 23

Locks today: 0

Locks Total:  28

Day 375

Bright and early on Monday morning, 09/20/21, we threw off Legacy’s lines and left our slip at Sandy Hook Bay Marina in Sandy Hook, NJ, at 6:40 am, and just as the sun was coming up. Today’s trek would take us outside in the Atlantic Ocean back down to the Golden Nugget Marina in Atlantic City, where we’d stayed on our way up earlier this summer. We’d planned ahead for today’s run to be a long one, as we were taking full advantage of this pleasant weather window.

As we left Sandy Hook Bay, we immediately entered back into the Lower Bay of New York Harbor. This early in the day, our waters were fairly calm and we could see the magnificent skyline of New York City behind us, to our north, gleaming brightly in the morning sunshine. Some of the buildings caught the light just right and literally beamed out across the harbor. A truly beautiful sight! It made me sad to think this could be the last time we got to view Manhattan from the water this way.

As the sun rose in the sky, we said goodbye to the iconic Verrazano Narrows Bridge to our stern, as the massive Atlantic Ocean stretched endlessly in front of us.

We passed Long Branch Beach and then North Beach, NJ. The further we cruised from the shore, out into the ocean, the choppier the waters became, and our wave heights increased to 1-2 feet. Worse than the waves were the 3-5 foot swells Legacy was surfing, now that we were well out into the Atlantic. Even though our cruising weather couldn’t have been much better, hours of rolling swells almost always means seasickness for me, which is why I was dreading today’s long run outside. I had already downed my Dramamine tablet that morning, but three cheers for the ginger beer, (which isn’t really beer, and isn’t alcoholic, not sure why they call it beer), and saltine crackers I partook of throughout the day as we bounced along up in the flybridge!

As is quite often the case, as the day progressed, so did the winds and the size of the waves and swells. By just after noon, the waves had increased to 3-4 feet and the swells to 7-8 feet. I was more than ready to reach our destination for the day! 😐

After what seemed like hours, (actually, it was hours…), we finally reached the Golden Nugget Marina in Atlantic City around 3:30 pm. Hallelujah! It was good to see the Atlantic City skyline again – this time to our starboard – and it was refreshing to be guided and assisted into that night’s slip without incident.

Position: N 39° 22.691, W 74° 25.631

Distance traveled:  94 SM

Total distance traveled: 4653 SM

Total marina nights: 351

Total nights at anchor: 23

Locks today: 0

Locks Total:  28

Day 371 – 374

We spent four days in port at Sandy Hook Bay Marina from Thursday, 09/16/21, through Sunday, 09/19/21, waiting for weather conditions to calm down out in the Atlantic Ocean. Winds and waves were way too high for safely cruising “outside”, so we stayed put. During that time, we relaxed on the boat (well, I SAY relaxed, even though that’s not the easiest thing to do when your boat is rocking in its slip 24/7…)

Like so many of the marinas we’d encountered in the northeast US, Sandy Hook Bay Marina does not offer a courtesy car to its guests, so we had to Uber everywhere we went outside of walking distance. One afternoon, we Ubered to a highly-touted restaurant on the waterfront called Proving Ground for our early dinner, where we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Another day, we Ubered over to nearby Middletown, NJ, to a Sports Clips so Steve could get a much-needed haircut. While he was in the barber’s chair, I scurried across the strip mall parking lot, where I’d spied a storefront with a sign that read J&M Italian Bakery. 🙂 Needless to say, I couldn’t pass that up, so I purchased two pieces of – wouldn’t you know it, at an Italian bakery – German chocolate cake that looked Heavenly. After Steve’s haircut, we had to Uber to the grocery store over in Atlantic Heights, NJ, so I carried that box of cake like it was precious jewelry all through the store as we shopped. That’s one thing about Ubering multiple places, there’s no leaving found items out in the car while you run from one place to another… it must all stay on your person, wherever you go. Fortunately, my efforts weren’t for naught, as that cake wound up tasting just as good as it looked, if not more so!

We soon noticed an inordinate number of rather loud, northeastern-accented, cigar-smoking fishermen at this marina. On Saturday night, the 18th, the sport-fishing boat slipped right beside us was filled to the brim with these raucous men. We were grateful they weren’t blasting music out at top volume, but that boat was party-central until at least 2:00 am on Sunday morning, with everyone aboard drinking, laughing, and talking over one another. In most marinas, boats are squeezed into narrow slips that are sandwiched one on top of the next, so there was literally only about 6-feet of separation between Legacy’s aft-berth and that sport-fishing boat’s cockpit. Throughout this adventure, we’ve discovered just how obtuse and/or inconsiderate people can be toward others… 🙁 These men were there to PARTY on their boat, and they didn’t care one bit that they were surrounded by boats with people aboard them trying to sleep and live a halfway normal life. After all, it WAS Saturday night. Who sleeps on a Saturday night?? Most fortunately for me, the ear-plugs I wear to sleep at night kept me buffered from all the noise, but Steve said he got to endure it until the wee hours of the morning. FUN…

On Sunday, the 19th, we walked back up to One Willow to enjoy a nice, leisurely brunch. The weather was lovely, but very breezy, so even though we’d wanted to eat al fresco, we changed our minds at the last minute and asked the hostess to re-seat us inside, instead. We felt like two old curmudgeons after that. Good grief, how embarrassing…

Position: N 40° 24.665, W 74° 00.002

Total marina nights: 350

Total nights at anchor: 23

Locks today: 0

Locks Total:  28

Day 370

We left Half Moon Bay Marina on Wednesday morning, 09/15/21, in calm but hazy/foggy conditions. Well of course those were our conditions, since this was the day we’d scheduled to cruise back through New York Harbor! 🙁 I decided it was pretty clear the Universe had no intention of allowing us to clearly view the Manhattan skyline from our own boat, since we were plagued with haze on both passes through the area…

Cruising southward on the Hudson River, we once again passed Ossining, Archville, Sleepy Hollow, and Tarrytown, NY, only this time from the opposite direction. Soon we crossed back underneath the Tappan Zee Bridge, everything around us shrouded in fog. Not a decent picture to be taken…

We passed Dobbs Ferry, Hastings On Hudson, and Yonkers, NY, before passing back underneath the George Washington Bridge. The sun worked hard to appear, but could not win-out against those low, pesky clouds. As we neared New York Harbor, the Hudson River widened and the waves increased to just under one-foot in height, making our cruising waters choppy, but not uncomfortable.

We passed Washington Heights, Upper Manhattan, Harlem, and the Upper West Side of Manhattan, me almost in tears because – once again – my picture-taking conditions were so severely hampered. Steve decided that – given the weather forecast – today’s haze must be AGAIN caused by residual western forest fire smoke that had drifted eastward. I thought to myself, “REALLY, Universe?”

Around noon, the fogginess subsided, but the air remained hazy, and – just like last time – we could only make out silhouettes of the skyline. As we neared the expansive mouth of the Hudson River, where it enters the Upper Bay of New York Harbor, the waves increased to between 1-2 feet, now accompanied by intermittent swells, since we were so near the Atlantic Ocean. I ran down below and swallowed a Dramamine tablet, as my stomach and ocean swells do not play well together.

As we passed Manhattan, the haze lifted enough for me to get a few sharper pictures of the NYC/Jersey City skylines. Since we again were traveling without any Looper buddy boats, we had no one to take a picture of Legacy passing back by Lady Liberty, so Steve found a live EarthCam online, from which we got a long-distance pass-by picture. Better than nothing!

The Harbor was busier today than the last time we passed through, with freighters, ferries, container ships, and a few pleasure boaters cruising all around us. As usual, Captain Steve expertly maneuvered us through all the activity without a single hitch. 🙂 It was surreal to think that we were actually floating out in the center of New York Harbor like we belonged there or something! 🙂

This time the striking Verrazano Narrows Bridge was more visible to us, as we crossed underneath it from the Upper Bay into the Lower Bay. By this time, the waves had increased enough that we were once again riding that “low-energy bucking bronco.”

We were casually bobbing along in the Harbor when, all of a sudden, we saw something large and dark-colored rise up out of the water less than 100 yards in front of our boat. Steve got a better look at it, as I heard him say, “…is that a dolphin? What IS that…? OH, it’s a WHALE!!” What???? I glanced up long enough to see this really large black hump descend back into the water right in front of us. That’s right, folks – a real, live whale had surfaced right in front of our boat right there in New York Harbor, in less than 25-feet of water depth! For most of the morning, we’d been noticing huge, swirls of schooling fish swimming all around our boat, right at the surface of the water, and had decided they must be attracted to some sort of insect that was hatching and falling back into the water, upon which those fish could dine. In a very “circle of life” type moment, as the massive schools of fish were partaking of their meal, a giant whale rose to the surface, opened its great mouth and scooped up a few hundred of those fish for its own meal! So incredible to witness! We were both in a state of simultaneous shock and awe, as it began to sink-in just how close that monstrous mammal had surfaced beside our boat… 😐 A few yards north, and it would’ve surfaced right underneath Legacy’s keel! We both shuddered to think exactly what would’ve occurred, had that been the actual case. Yes, Legacy is a fairly sizeable vessel, but we knew she would’ve been no match for that whale. We could’ve easily capsized right there in NYC Harbor! 😐 THANK GOODNESS that didn’t happen! HOLY CRAP. I spent the next thirty minutes scouring the waters all around us in hopes of seeing that whale surface again, so I could get a picture this time, but it was not to be. Still – what an incredible experience that had been! I decided that missing out on perfect picture conditions of the skyline might have been worth it, for the chance to actually SEE a whale, in person, and in the wild! Thank you, Universe! 🙂

Our adrenaline levels finally waning, we eventually reached Sandy Hook Bay Marina at 1:15 pm that afternoon. A nice little marina and easy to get into, it was surrounded by upscale, three-story condominiums. Once tied-up, plugged-in, and showered, we walked up to the marina’s one restaurant, which is called One Willow. The atmosphere, service, and fare were all top-notch, and when we received our bill, it was obvious One Willow restaurant is quite proud of itself! 😐

After dinner, back aboard the boat, we realized that – while Sandy Hook Harbor Marina is picturesque and convenient, it is not at all protected, so we ‘lived on a roller-coaster’ for pretty much our entire stay there. 🙁 YEEHAW…

Position: N 40° 24.665, W 74° 00.002

Distance traveled:  58 SM

Total distance traveled: 4559 SM

Total marina nights: 346

Total nights at anchor: 23

Locks today: 0

Locks Total:  28

Day 369

Tuesday morning, 09/14/21, dawned mild and sunny. The crew of Legacy took a lazy day break and stayed in our slip at Half Moon Bay for the day. I had some prescription refills waiting for me at the CVS in nearby Ossining, NY, so I called for a taxi to pick me up at the marina and drive me to the CVS. My cab driver was personable and talkative, and even offered to wait for me outside the CVS, but I had some shopping to do and didn’t want to feel rushed to finish, so I let him go. He was so nice, though, that he left me his cell number and told me to call him when I was ready for my ride back, although it took him a long time to come pick me up, as I stood outside CVS with my shopping bags dangling from my arms, like a dweeb. And, yet again, I was reminded how very much I missed having my own vehicle… 😐

Once returned from CVS, I walked around the marina noting the changes that had taken place since our last visit to that lovely area. I think I might could live in Croton-On-Hudson, if it weren’t for the winter months I’d have to endure. Steve stayed onboard Legacy, planning our upcoming travel routes.

The last time we were at Half Moon Bay, we’d rented a vehicle, so had easy access to the area’s many restaurants, but without our own vehicle, we were relegated to eat dinner on the boat, instead of going out.

Position: N 41° 11.882, W 73° 53.326

Total marina nights: 345

Total nights at anchor: 23

Locks today: 0

Locks Total:  28

Day 368

On Monday morning, 09/13/21, we left Kingston City Marina on mirror-smooth waters and made our way back out of Rondout Creek and into the Hudson River. Our weather on this day was just as fabulous as that from the day before, so cruising conditions could not have been topped. 🙂 Again, the air was very clear and humidity-free, making the Hudson River Valley scenery absolutely pop.

This time from the opposite direction, we cruised past Port Ewen and Straatsburg, NY, then the familiar Esopus Meadows Lighthouse. We passed the Vanderbilt Estate again, only this time it was on our port side. Before long, we passed our old haunt, the Culinary Institute of America, and many more amazing waterfront homes that were much prettier today than on the day we came north up the Hudson.

We cruised back under the Mid Hudson Bridge (aka NY HWY 9) at Poughkeepsie, NY, crossed under the I-84 bridge at Newburgh, NY, then past New Windsor and Highland Hills State Park, as we entered the Schunnemunk Mountain range. We got a better view of Bannerman Castle on this day, where the Hudson River narrows considerably coming through the mountains.

West Point and Highland Falls looked like completely different places, this time, in today’s crisp, clear air. And when we once again reached my beloved Bear Mountain Bridge and Bear Mountain State Park, I was thrilled with how much better today’s pictures looked of these areas, compared to those taken on our earlier, northward journey.

We rounded the corner where the towns Jones Point and Peekskill, NY, sit right across the river from each other, and shortly afterward saw Croton-On-Hudson and Half Moon Bay Marina up ahead. Just as I’d suspected, when we’d had the less than perfect weather last time we were here, this lovely area was beautiful in the clear air and bright sunshine! 🙂 I felt vindicated.

Steve, the talkative harbor master at Half Moon Bay, recognized us when we arrived, and helped us to our t-dock farther inside the marina, which was more protected than where he’d slipped us on our earlier stop, so we didn’t roll as much. Much to my delight, he told us all the pooping Canadian geese had all left and flown south for the winter just the week prior. HOORAY! No more dodging landmines as we walked the docks!

Position: N 41° 11.882, W 73° 53.326

Distance traveled:  56 SM

Total distance traveled: 4501 SM

Total marina nights: 344

Total nights at anchor: 23

Locks today: 0

Locks Total:  28

Day 367

We spent a day on the wall at Kingston City Marina in Kingston, NY, on Sunday, 09/12/21, walking up to Mariner’s Harbor for a light lunch. We sat outside on the patio and enjoyed the incredibly wonderful weather. Bright, blue skies with brilliant sunshine, a light breeze and temps in the upper 70s. Perfection! We walked around town after lunch, Steve waiting outside for me while I visited several shops. While I love shopping, it’s rather frustrating now that we live on a boat, as I can’t buy any found treasures, due to lack of storage space. 🙁

Later that evening, we walked to Ship to Shore for another outside meal in the glorious weather. MUCH more pleasant than our earlier visit to Kingston, back in July. We enjoyed cocktails, a personable waiter, and delicious entrees, all al fresco.

Position: N 41° 55.70, W 73° 58.950

Total marina nights: 343

Total nights at anchor: 23

Locks today: 0

Locks Total:  28

Day 366

Having completely changed course, we began our journey back southward on the Hudson River from Shady Harbor to Kingston, NY, on Saturday morning, 09/11/21. It felt a bit odd abandoning what felt like our new ‘home marina’ after such a lengthy stay there. The river waters were mildly choppy in the moderate winds that greeted us that morning, and that wind was chilly. Steve mentioned he’d seen online that the night before’s low was only 49 degrees. 😐 Passing the Shady Harbor Marina office, we noticed the big maple tree in front was turning orange. Fall had definitely arrived in the northeast! As we watched the marina growing smaller and smaller in Legacy’s wake, we realized we’d just spent 7 FULL WEEKS in this one place. What the ?? 😐

Our cruising air that morning was clear and crisp, and the trees along the Hudson River banks were just beginning to change color. The forests were still mainly green, but now had small pops of yellow and orange scattered within them. In fact, the weather was so much clearer this day, we felt like we were traveling new territory, as the scenery was so much more vivid this time.

As we passed back through the majestic Catskill Mountains, I marveled again how I’d never realized the mountains in New York were so large. Once again, but from the other direction, we cruised past Stuyvesant, Coxsackie, Athens, Hudson, and Catskill, NY, all of which had been our land-based stomping grounds over the past seven weeks during our stay at Shady Harbor.

As the morning progressed, the winds intensified to the point that we were cruising through white-caps on the Hudson River, as we passed West Camp, Malden, and Saugerties, then Glasco, Barrytown, and Annandale On Hudson, NY. Next came the Saugerties Lighthouse and the NY Highway 199 bridge.

As we passed the town of Kingston, the Kingston Lighthouse was to our starboard as we turned west into the mouth of Rondout Creek, where Kingston City Marina is located, just a few hundred feet west of the Hudson River Maritime Museum Marina, where we’d stayed several months back, on our trip northward.

We arrived at Kingston City Marina around 1:45 pm and were instructed to tie-up to their transient wall on our starboard side. The facilities at this marina are not as nice as some, but we were right there in town, just steps away from shops, bars, and restaurants.

Once secured, settled, and showered, we walked down to Ole Savannah restaurant for dinner and noticed Kingston is much busier on a Saturday night, than it was during the week back in July. 🙂

Position: N 41° 55.70, W 73° 58.950

Distance traveled:  41 SM

Total distance traveled: 4445 SM

Total marina nights: 342

Total nights at anchor: 23

Locks today: 0

Locks Total:  28

Day 316 – 365

The next month and three-quarters we spent in some sort of bizarre time warp period, that can only be compared to the movie, Ground Hog Day. We had seriously only planned to stay at Shady Harbor for a week or less, but our plans obviously changed.

During our first weekend at Shady Harbor Marina, we were entertained by the 12th Annual Jamaican Chicken Jerk-off – a popular barbecue contest and eating event, with music, games and raffle drawings, benefiting the American Cancer Society. Everything took place right up on the grounds of Shady Harbor, literally steps away from Legacy’s tie-up, so we enjoyed front-row seats all weekend. Multiple boats full of people arrived at the marina to spend that weekend and enjoy the festivities, as well as locals who drove to the event in cars. There is a tiny, but very clean and nice swimming pool at Shady Harbor Marina. Since this was the hottest part of summer, that pool stayed busy all throughout our visit, and was especially jam-packed this weekend. Guests of every age enjoyed the food, frolic, and refreshingly good music being performed by the hired Reggae band. Steve and I bought tickets so we could enjoy the food and contribute to a worthy charity at the same time.

Luckily for us, Shady Harbor provides not one, but TWO, courtesy vehicles for the use of their marina guests. There is a sign-up sheet inside the office to make advance reservations for the cars. Early in our first week, we drove the marina’s tiny, box-shaped Pontiac, which had no working a/c, low tires, and crank-down windows. As basic as basic gets. (But once again: Beggars cannot be choosers!) Since New Baltimore is a very small town, out in the middle of nowhere, we had to cover some miles to reach any kind of civilization where we might find our needed supplies. We wound up driving 14 miles, one-way, to Catskill, NY, where we found a Home Depot, a Walmart, and a Lowe’s. The courtesy vehicles carried two-hour use limitations each time they were taken out, so we had to make quick work of those long runs. As always, I failed to carry along any reusable grocery bags with me, so when it came time to checkout at Walmart, there were NO shopping bags of any kind for me to use (UGH), forcing me to place my twenty-something-odd items individually into my shopping cart, wheel it out to our car, then unload each and every item into the car, from which they had to be individually unloaded into a marina dock-cart, wheeled out to the boat, and then individually loaded from the dock into the boat. GOOD GRIEF! As I’ve mentioned before, I consider myself as environmentally-conscious as the next person, but HOLY CRAP, my forgetfulness was a real pain while we were in the northeastern U.S.! Miraculously, we made it back within our two-hour courtesy car rental period, but just barely. We also vowed to always reserve the courtesy VAN in the future, as it has a working air-conditioner.

Another day, we scored the courtesy van for a more luxurious ride into the tiny town of Coeymans, NY, to obtain more provisions. This time from CVS and the grocery store. We even had time to stop for some lunch at the Silver Spoon Cafe, for a small-town-New-York lunch, which turned out to be delightfully tasty.

We’d been watching our friends, Brandee and TJ Sharp, aboard Bella Vita, on Nebo and knew they would arrive Shady Harbor shortly. Brandee and I also texted back and forth. Sure enough, Bella Vita and crew arrived at Shady Harbor on 07/28/21, at 2:00 pm. Steve and I caught their lines and helped them to their wall tie-up, where they would be for the next several days. We all met that evening up at the Boathouse Grille for drinks and dinner outside on the deck. It was a fun night of laughter combined with a really funny waitress that made for a memorable evening. The next day we awoke to cooler temperatures (welcomed) and extremely foggy conditions. It was a good thing we hadn’t been planning to leave that day, as we were truly socked-in.

After several gray and rainy days of staying mainly on the boat and doing boat chores, we welcomed the sun one morning, when I joined Brandee in the marina’s courtesy van for a trip to the nearby Shop-N-Save. Shady Harbor has a really long and steep driveway from the road down to the water, which I tried to walk at least once per day, for some semblance of exercise. Brandee drove the van up to the top of the hill, picked me up, and we were off. Sure enough – Brandee and I again encountered the no shopping bags dilemma, but at least Shop-N-Save had paper sacks they would sell us for a nickel each. The Sharps were having work done on Bella Vita during their stay, and the repairmen were late leaving their boat that day, so Steve and I ventured up to the Boathouse Grille alone, so he could take advantage of Prime Rib Friday.

The next day, all four of us took the minivan up to the Silver Spoon Cafe (since Steve and I were old hats at that place), where we enjoyed a gigantic, small-town-diner breakfast, complete with all the fixin’s and plenty of grease. 🙂 Since I always want to take full advantage of any friends when they are nearby, I insisted that we all return to the Boathouse Grille that evening for a light dinner (we were all still full from our giant lunch) and cocktails. We had another really fun night together and it was our last night with them, as Bella Vita was heading northward the following morning, 08/01/21. Sad for us, but glad for them. There is a low bridge on the Hudson River, just before Albany, the Sharps were a bit concerned about making it underneath, as the river’s water levels were higher than usual. We all kept our fingers crossed, which must’ve worked, because we were advised that Bella cruised right under that bridge without a hitch.

Once our friends were gone, we spent multiple days on our own, but did not progress any farther up the Loop. Canada’s border closures due to COVID restrictions were still in full force, with little hope of opening anytime soon. In fact, it had become a joke with Loopers, as Canada kept “promising” to finally open up on the 21st of each month, but then would simply extend the closure for yet another month, with the following 21st as a target date. Brandee and TJ had decided to just go for it and deal with things as they found them, but the crew of Legacy began doing some serious soul-searching about continuing onward. Rumors were strong that the borders would – in fact – actually open on 08/09/21, but we knew that waiting that long to enter Canada would seriously reduce the amount of time we would have to spend there, and the upper Canadian portion of the loop is supposed to be the best part! The rule is to be OFF of the Great Lakes by the middle of September, to avoid extremely dangerous weather conditions.

Since we had decided not to progress any farther up the Loop (this year, anyway), we were in a quandary regarding the next step. We’d already made plans and scheduled multiple annual physical checkups with our doctors in Nashville, and planned to leave the boat and drive a rental car southward for those. Originally, we’d thought we would leave the boat farther on up the loop for these appointments, but now that our plans had changed, we decided to leave her right there at Shady Harbor Marina, in New Baltimore, NY, and rent a car out of nearby Hudson, NY. Our trip to Nashville wasn’t until the week of 08/16/21, so we just stayed put there at Shady Harbor until then.

One day, I went rogue and drove the courtesy van all the way to Hudson, NY, for a TJ MAXX fix. It took so long to get there and back, I exceeded the two-hour limit, but called Shady Harbor to get permission before I did so. I found a night-shirt and a small planter I couldn’t live without.

Another day, we both took the courtesy van into town for groceries and then to a popular restaurant (their parking lot was always packed) called Red’s Seafood, located in nearby Coxsackie, NY. They had really good food, so we understood the crowded parking lot!

On, Thursday, 08/12/21, a large and bizarre-looking electrical storm blew up right over us shortly after we’d returned to the boat. The clouds were ominous and intense lightning flashed everywhere. We felt glad we were no longer aboard a sailboat, with a 60-foot mast sticking straight up in the air as a wannabe lightning rod… The next day we took the courtesy van into Hudson, NY, to pick-up our rental car we’d rented for our drive to Nashville, and right when we returned to the marina, another electrical storm hit us that was identical to the day’s before! What the ?

On Saturday morning, 08/14/21, we made sure Legacy was well-secured to the dock, locked her up tightly, and set out in our rental car – heading westward. Since our plans had changed, we would no longer be boating past Niagara Falls (another of my many bucket list stops), so Steve planned our route so we could go there by car. As we drove, we continued to be amazed by the beauty of New York State. Lush, green, rolling hills and farms spread out in every direction, with rivers and creeks abounding. Many of the rivers ran through expansive river valleys. Obviously these rivers have been running here for centuries!

As we traveled, we realized the state of New York has unique “service areas” built along their interstate highways. These island-like areas are a combination of rest stop, fast-food restaurant, gas station, and mini-information center, all rolled into one. They seem to be spaced out about every 25 miles or so. They’re completely different from the multiple interstate exits populated with separate gas stations, shops, and eateries found in other parts of the country – especially in southern states. We stopped at a couple of them, and it was like entering some sort of roadside, rest area “mall” of sorts. Unusual to us, but still filled the bill!

We traveled all that day right along side the Mohawk River, which we would’ve cruised up, if we’d continued with our Loop. The Mohawk is fairly narrow in places, and I could tell it would’ve been a unique experience to cruise it. Oh, well… maybe someday. The further west we got, the more trees we noticed that were just starting to turn color for the fall, which told us that fall really is triggered by the angle of the sun, rather than cooling temperatures, since it was still plenty hot in New York during August.

Later that day, we reached the famous Niagara Falls, NY, and our arrival seemed monumental to me. However, too late, we realized we shouldn’t have visited this area on a SATURDAY, of all days, as it was absolutely packed with tourists. It took us almost an hour to find a parking space, and once we left our car, we realized the lines for every exhibit or venue were all exceedingly LONG and would require us to spend hours just standing in line. I had wanted to ride the Maid of the Mist, which is a tour boat that takes its passengers to the very base of the falls, where the tremendous mist that arises when the falls meet the river below is all-engulfing. But we nixed that idea when we saw the wait we’d have. We were able to walk out to the overlook and see the falls, which are truly magnificent (and LOUD), and take some pictures, but that was about the extent of our visit. We vowed to return there someday, NOT on a weekend, so we could enjoy everything the falls have to offer. The thing that intrigued me the most about Niagara Falls is their location. All these years, I’d envisioned them being located out – away from civilization – in a remote, national park type setting. Instead, they are right smack-dab in the middle of a city, with high-rise buildings looming all around their perimeter. I’d had that completely wrong!

We spent a road-travel night at a Holiday Inn Express in Hamburg, NY, and ate dinner at the Waterstone Grill, next door, which turned out to be really crowded, along with every other place in the area, because Billy Joel was playing in concert in nearby Buffalo, NY, that night. Evidently Billy is quite popular in this area, because the whole town was aflutter. I kind of wished we’d known we were going to be there in conjunction with Billy, as I wouldn’t have minded seeing him in concert one more time, but, oh well…

The following day, we traveled just parallel to Lake Erie on the New York State Thruway (aka I-90), as we entered into Seneca Native American Territory, as multiple signs informed us. The drive along side Erie was scenic, as we occasionally caught glimpses of the expansive body of water through the shrubs and trees lining the northern edge of I-90. Lake Erie is immense and a dark, dark blue color.

We crossed from New York into Pennsylvania, then into Ohio. I marveled at how much more ground we could cover in a much shorter period of time, when riding along at 70+ miles per hour, rather than the turtle-slow 10 miles per hour we average aboard Legacy. The terrain in the central part of Ohio is long, gradually rolling hills dotted with forests of hardwoods. We spent that night in a hotel in Cincinnati, that appeared to be in a questionable part of the city, so we didn’t venture out.

We arrived in Franklin, TN, on Monday early afternoon, 08/16/21, and the first thing I wanted to do was eat at Chuy’s, since it had been more than a year since we last had. We were sorely disappointed in our meals, however, as it is obvious COVID has permanently changed the menu and recipes at Chuy’s. 🙁 My beloved corn chips are no longer as light and tasty, and many of Chuy’s former menu items had been deleted. I almost cried over that… We stayed in the new Marriott Courtyard at the intersection of I-65 and McEwen for the week we were there.

The next week was a blur of multiple annual doctor appointments and tests for both of us. Steve and I alternated using the rental car to fit our different schedules. One evening, I was fortunate enough to attend a meeting of Lizz’s Ladies’ monthly girls’ dinner at the Bonefish in Franklin (my old stomping grounds). It was heart-warming to see and hug so many of my old Franklin buddies that I’d missed seeing for more than a year! Another day I met my dear friend, Judy Snow, for lunch at Granite City, and we spent several hours talking each others’ ears off. That same night, Steve and I met the Wehrles for an ‘old-time’s-sake’ dinner and drinks at Stony River, where we laughed, reminisced, and had a wonderful time. 🙂

All of our medical appointments went well, and we both received good news following each test. I was even told I no longer need to have anymore breast MRIs performed (FINE WITH ME!), as my results showed everything is okay in that area. Excellent news! We made more appointments for the following August of 2022, since we might as well keep our doctors there at Vanderbilt in Nashville, as long as we are living the vagabond lifestyle, and have no home-base.

We left Franklin at the crack of dawn on Saturday, 08/21/21, and drove east this time, on our way back up to Legacy, where we’d left her on the Hudson River in New York. We were almost paralleling Hurricane Henri, which was unfortunately churning out in the Atlantic and had our boat in its cross-hairs! After spending a night in Staunton, VA, we continued our race with the weather to beat Henri back to our boat. Virginia is a breathtakingly beautiful state. We drove through some of the Appalachian Mountains during this trip, and hope to come back to Virginia in an RV to explore it more fully. No sooner had we crossed the state line between Virginia and West Virginia, we crossed into Maryland, and then into Pennsylvania! On Sunday morning, 08/22/21, we caught up with Henri and drove the rest of the way back to New Baltimore, dodging the storm’s raucous outer bands.

When we finally arrived back at Shady Harbor Marina, there was Legacy, still safe and sound where we’d left her, and the weather was anything but hurricane-like. It was cloudy and damp, with a soft, steady rain falling, and only a very slight breeze. We had to unload the car and board the boat in the rain, but it could’ve been far worse. As what was left of Hurricane Henri passed over us, we kept expecting high winds and rough waters, but never got them, though Monday, 08/23/21, was a total washout. We took the marina’s courtesy van back to Hudson, NY, to return our rental car and got soaked in the process, but both survived, and Steve fixed us a big pot of chili onboard for dinner.

Post Henri, the weather cleared and turned hot. We continued our stay at Shady Harbor because now our starboard generator wouldn’t start, so we had to get it repaired. When the technician was finally able to check the generator, he found that its exhaust manifold had a hole in it and would need to be replaced, which meant we’d stay at Shady Harbor for at least another week, waiting for that part to arrive. UGH!

On Monday, 08/29/21, we watched on The Weather Channel as Hurricane Ida hit New Orleans and surrounding areas, and felt glad we were all the way up in New York, rather than down on the gulf coast. Ironically, we DID get hit by the remnants of Hurricane Ida on Thursday, 09/01/21, once it moved across and up the east coast, and it rained on us for that entire day. We got no bad storms or wind, but learned the following day that Ida had wreaked havoc south of us in New York City and in Pennsylvania. We received several inquiries from family and friends in other parts of the country, as the flooding and tornadoes that Ida brought not too far from us were all over the national news.

As the technician was installing our new starboard generator’s exhaust manifold, he found that generator also had a broken water pump, and so had to order yet another part. This 22-year-old boat is really showing her age! Trying to lift our spirits we joined Jay and Ellen Anderson, aboard 9-1/2, for dinner and drinks at Boathouse Grille, which was a fun evening. A bright spot in this long and bizarre stay in New Baltimore, NY. We’d recognized the Andersons by their perpetually-barking dog, Holly, who we remembered seeing on the bow of their boat down in Beaufort, SC, earlier this year! 🙂

All crucial repairs aboard Legacy were finally completed by Friday, 09/10/21, and I told Steve we needed to hurry up and leave before Shady Harbor’s mechanic found something else that needed replacing! 😐

Position: N 42° 27.078, W 73° 47.206

Total marina nights: 341

Total nights at anchor: 23

Locks today: 0

Locks Total:  28