Waterford, NY

We had a good cruise from Cape May to Atlantic City, NJ. We secured all the cabinets and items that could fall over. We did not know how the seas would be on the Ocean since NOAA has misinformed us in the past on wave and wind information. Since wind would be out of the east, we took a route close to shore. We arrived at our anchorage early and relaxed except for the wave action of passing vessels pulling tubers or waterskiers. It was the weekend afterall.

It was on to Sandy Hook, NJ, the following day. Again we had a nice run up the coast. However, it was a long run. We had left Atlantic City very early in the morning and arrived at our anchorage in Atlantic Highlands, NJ, very late afternoon. We decided to stay a few days after having put in some long cruising days. Put down the dink and went to town for lunch and a walk around town.

The cruise through NY Harbor is impressive no matter how many times we see it. We can never resist taking pictures of the Statute of Liberty. Unfortunately, there was too much haze over the NY skyline to get good pictures.

It was then on to the Hudson River. Most of the scenery through the Hudson River Valley is awsome. This year we stopped at the Poughkeepsie Yacht Club (which is not in Poughkeepsie at all but 7 miles north) so we could visit with cousins Judi and PJ. They were great tour guides. We went to the FDR estate at Hyde Park, climbed a mountain trail to get a beautiful view of the Hudson River Valley and had some great meals out and at Judi and PJ's house.

We have already gone through one lock, the Troy Federal Lock, and are in Waterford, NY. We will be here a few days waiting for our mail to be delivered at the local post office. It is hot and we are lucky to have electricity at this dock to run the AC. The first 48 hours at this dock are free and then it is $10/day. Can't be that. Did some grocery shopping. The store is only about 1/2 mile away. They let customers who are staying at the dock take their purchases back in their grocery carts. As we were walking back to the dock pushing the cart, I wondered if we didn't look like homeless people.

Headed for the Erie Canal

We spent May, June and part of July at our home dock in Aquia Harbour. Part of the time was taken up with doctor and dentist appointment. We also participated in some our our yacht club's events. The only cruising we did was a trip to Washington, D.C. for the 4th of July. We anchored in the Potomac across from the Washington Monument. It was a great place to watch the fireworks. An anchorage area was set aside for the event. There were hundreds of boats anchored. The area still could have held more boats. One of our fellow yacht club members rafted with us for the event. Many of the boats left after the fireworks display, as did our friends. We spent the night just where we were.

All our medical needs have been taken care of for now. On July 9th, we untied our lines and headed for our trip north. It is too late to do the Loop so we will redo part of a trip we did in 07. At that time we cruised the entire Erie Canal, met up with Puffin and then did the Triangle Loop through Canada and the Champlain Canal. This time we will only do parts of the Erie Canal.

The first night we only made it from Aquia Creek a few miles down the Potomac River since we left our dock at about 6:30 pm. The next day we went on to St. Mary's City. The college hosts concerts each Friday night in June and July. We had always missed them. So our goal was to see a concert before leaving the Potomac River. We are glad we did. The concert was outstanding and the food from the vendors was surprising good. We met up with some folks we had previously met at White Stone Marina. They own a Mainship, live in FL but return to the Potomac River each summer.

From St. Mary's we headed for Solomon's Island off the Patuxent River. I have hoping to see a friend while we were there but she was busy with a family visit. It was then on to South River. We spent 2 nights with Great Harbour friends. We had originally planned to only spend one night, but they are such great folks and good friends that we stayed for a second night. We also stopped in the Baltimore area to see other Great Harbour friends.

From Baltimore it was on to Chesapeake City. We were lucky enough to tie up on the city's floating dock. The down side was that it was 91 degrees and the boat was just as hot. Today we are in an anchorage in the Cape May, NJ area. A cold front came through. The temperature now is much more pleasant, although it is cloudy and humid. We will have to check the weather before we venture out tomorrow. Our goal is to get to Atlanta City tomorrow.