Half Moon Bay Marina - Croton on Hudson, NY - 6/4/12

This morning the six of us rented a van and took off at 8:30 for a day of touring.  We drove several miles to Highland Falls, NY where West Point is located.  We were a little early for the 10:30 tour so we stopped for a quick breakfast at Dunkin Donuts.

We got to the academy at 10 a.m. so we walked around the visitor center where the following pictures were taken

Our tour guide was a retired officer who had graduated from the academy in 1972 and retired in 2000.  There are approx 4,400 cadets attending the academy and has a graduation rate of around 90%.

Football Stadium

Inside Chapel

Pipe Organ Console

The Chapel

The Chapel

 The chapel can hold 1,500 cadets. Our guide told us that there are over 30,000 pipes for the organ and has seen over 1,000 weddings.

Eisenhower 

Statues of many successful  graduates are around the grounds.

Cannons captured in wars

Cannon fired twice a day - flag raising & lowering

View over the Hudson River

 During the British invasion, a large chain was placed across the river under water to deter passage.

One wing of Mess Hall

 All 4,400 cadets eat at the same time.

Links of the Chain across the River

Don't know about this

FDR & Eleanor

After leaving the academy we drove to Hyde Park to see the Roosevelt Mansion & Library.  Unfortunately the library was undergoing  the first renovation since opening in the early 1940's and we elected not to pay the admission to just see photos so we just walked around the estate instead.

Grave Site in the Rose Garden

Carriage House

We had a reservation for a 4 p.m. tour at the Culinary Institute of America which is next door to the FDR Library.  

Lunch

Smoked Trout

Mac & Cheese

Apple Pie

Kayla - our Guide

This was the highlight of our day and a most interesting place.  No photos are allowed inside since we could actually look through large windows throughout the place and see the students in action.  This place was originally a Jesuit Seminary and has been transformed into the college.  Two different career paths are available, either culinary or pastries and the tuition is between $34,000 and $36,000 per year for the 3 1/2 year degree.

We returned to the boats at 7:30 and Ricki & Barb went to a laundromat while we captains settled our dock bill and did engine checks.  Carried Away & Quest will be leaving tomorrow morning for Kingston while Moor $tuff is staying another day to go back into NYC.

Half Moon Bay Marina - Croton on Hudson,NY - 6/3/12

We used Sunday as a day to recharge our batteries and slept in late.  Touring the city yesterday and then a late night as well took its toll on us older folks.  I watched the NASCAR Dover race and looked at destination locations for the next few weeks while Ricki worked on computer projects.

Mid afternoon a pretty strong storm front moved in and extra lines were put on the boat. 

Since we had a lot of Huen's Crab Soup left over, we shared it with our friends on Carried Away and Moor $tuff for dinner on Quest. 

During dinner another light storm worked its way through while we eating and provided a nice rainbow.

Tomorrow the six of us plan to rent a vehicle and tour West Point, Hyde Park, the Roosevelt Library and perhaps the Vanderbilt Estate. 

Half Moon Bay Marina - Croton on Hudson - 6/2/12

At 8:45 we left the marina for the train station to catch the commuter train into the city. We had passes that Joyce had printed off the computer for a 2 p.m. tour of Ground Zero plus we wanted to try to see a play..  Our marina manager made 2 trips to get all six of us to the station. We can see the station just behind the marina and if there had not been a fence there we could have walked the 1,000 yards to it but it would have been at least a 20 minute walk to go around the fence.

Bill, Skip, Tom & Carl

 While we were waiting on our train another looper couple on Radiance came in as well on their way to the city to meet their niece. We have seen them a few times before the first being in Delaware City.

Ricki, Barb, Tom's wife and Joyce

Commuter Train Station

Grand Central Terminal

 The commuter stopped at Grand Central Terminal then we had to catch a subway shuttle downtown to the Trade Center area.

Ticket Line

We had heard from another looper (Rickshaw) that discounted show tickets could be purchased in the Seaport area on Fulton Street for 50% off.  When we got there the line was about a block long but it only took 45 minutes for us to get to the window and make our purchases.  All 6 of us decided on the same show.

The Coram Family

While in the line we met Sam Coram who has relatives in Pleasants County that we know and has visited there many times. He lives on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan and invited us to contact him when we travel through that area.

Intra structure problem

 Walking back to Ground Zero we passed this hole in a intersection that makes our problems at home seem insignificant. Most of these pipes look totally shot.

Lunch

 We have seen these hamburger joints many times during our travels but this was the first time we have stopped.  Fantastic !!!

New WTC buildings

Memorial Pools

Surviving Tree

Surviving Tree

Our understanding is that this tree was found in the wreckage and has been  relocated in the memorial area.

Times Square

 After our tour we took the subway again back to the Times Square area and spent the rest of the afternoon exploring which included stops at Bubba Gumps for refreshments, the Disney Store along with several other stops before Ricki & I went to the Marriott across the street from the theater for a light snack before the show.

We met the others at the theater at 7:30 for the show which by the way was terrific. It had several stars in it including Eric McCormack (Will & Grace), James Earl Jones, Angela Lansbury, John Larroquette (Night Court) and Candace Bergman.  The show was over at 10:40 p.m. and we had to fight the Times Square night time crowd for 4 blocks (all the shows are ending at this time) to catch a subway to Grand Central Terminal for the next to last train at 11:15 back to Croton.  The subway was actually closing the doors when we got there and the next one wasn't due for another 5 minutes. We got to the train station at 11:05 and I am sure you can get the visual of 6 old people hauling butt through the station looking for track 35.  We barely made it!!!  We arranged a couple cabs to meet us at the station at midnight for the $8 ride back to the marina.

Sunday will definitely be a day of rest for us.

Half Moon Bay Marina- Croton on Hudson, NY - 6/1/12

At 6:03 a.m. this morning we started rocking and rolling in our slip from the wind as well as waves from all the ferries in the river.  We were in a slip next to Rickshaw and Carried Away was next to us in a slip with a sail boat so we both had a scary time leaving.  Moor $tuff had a slip next to an empty spot so we decided they would leave last.  At 7:00 we left the marina in order to get the tidal push up the river.

NY Ferry

 This was a busy time for ferries taking folks across the river and they really fly.

Empire State Building

Palisades

 We had a nice easy ride after we got out of the harbor for the next 34 miles to Half Moon Bay.

Sing Sing

 A couple miles before making our turn into the bay we passed the prison.  Just thinking of all the history this place has seen gives us goose bumps.

Half Moon Bay Marina

As we made our approach to the marina with Moor $tuff going in first, Skip lost all steering.  Turns out he was just out of hydraulic oil which I had on board.

Moor Stuff

Our assigned spot was right in front of Moor $tuff.  Carried Away parked just on the other side of Moor $tuff and had to show off by backing into his spot.  The boat beside us is another looper, Gold Leaf , who we met later in the evening.  There are at least 6 looper boats here tonight.

Tomorrow we plan to take the commuter train into NYC and visit Ground Zero. You have to make reservations for this tour and we have a 2 p.m. time.  We also want to get tickets to a Broadway show if possible.

N 41  11.793   W 073  53.395

Newport Yacht Club- Jersey City, NJ - 5/31/12

According to our tide chart on the GPS, if we left the marina after 10 a.m. we should ride the tide through NYC.  We actually left at 10:30 and began the 24 mile run to Newport Yacht Club. Something was wrong because we faced the current all the way.

The Yacht Next Door

Eye Candy

I've got to keep the camera away from Ricki!

Leaving Atlantic Highlands Marina

 We left our slip and worked our way through the mooring ball field.

Some of the homes around the marina were in the hills.

Pilot Boat

As we left Sandy Hook Harbor we were passed by this pilot boat on its way out to bring in a freighter.  They actually replace the captain of the ship with a harbor pilot who brings the boat to its destination.

NY Harbor Light

Homeland Security

 We were following Moor $tuff when they got pulled over.  They stopped each of us and only wanted to know how many people were on board and where we were going.  Then they instructed us to pass slowly between several other harbor police boats with flashing blue lights then resume our trip.  Our guess is that they either took pictures of us or recorded our boat names.

Moor Stuff Completes the Great Loop

 After 5 years and over 17,000 miles they finally crossed their wake.

NYC

 The tall building is the replacement being built for the World Trade Center.

Tall Ship

Staten Island Ferry

Ellis Island

Coming into Newport Yacht Club

 After working our way through the harbor we arrived at 2 p.m.

Celebration

Dinner on Quest with Skip & Barb (Moor $tuff), Bill & Joyce (Carried Away) and Jim & Belinda (Rickshaw) who we had not seen since last year at York River Yacht Haven.  They had left just before we went to YRYH to put our boat back into the water.  We enjoyed Huen's Crab Soup recipe and celebrated with Skip & Barb.

Tomorrow we will be moving on to Half Moon Bay Marina for a few days in order to explore NYC.

Tonight we are at: N 40  43.539   W 074  01.870