New York City

     When we turned into the Hudson River from the Atlantic, we could just barely see the skyline of Manhattan and it really was exciting.

     Both Art and I had been to New York before, but this was our first time seeing it from the water, or from any distance for that matter.  Usually, we find ourselves right in the middle of town looking up instead of getting the big view, as we did this time.  As we got closer, there was so much to see that I almost forgot to take pictures and many of the ones I did take were useless, so don't be too disappointed.
      Other than the skyline, our first real landmark was Coney Island, but I didn't do so well with this shot either.  It was a hazy day, but you can see the parachute drop and to the left of it, the Ferris Wheel.

Can you see Nathan's Hot Dog Stand?  Me neither.

     Our biggest anticipation was seeing the Statue of Liberty and here she is in all her glory:

     And right next to her is Ellis Island, but I couldn't get the whole place in one shot (we were too close!), so here is each half in the next two photos:

     At this point, we are right in the heart of town on the Hudson (right where Sully crash landed his plane last year) and there was so much going on, as well as so much to see.  We had been told that the ferries stopped for no man or vessel and to give them a wide berth unless we wanted to end our trip at the bottom of the river.  We gladly gave them the right of way, slowing down to let this one pass, and he roared right by.

The Staten Island Ferry

     As we got closer to the Manhattan high rise buildings, Art pointed out where the Trade Center towers once stood.  From the water, you can only see a few construction cranes working where they once stood and an obvious hole in the skyline.

The twin towers stood a little to the left of the dip in the center of the skyline.

Here's another view from a little farther away.

     As we continued up the river, we passed this cool railway station, and then came across these rather interesting tour boats:

This station started out as the Erie-Lakawanna Rail depot, but is now known as the Hoboken rail and ferry terminal, obviously on the New Jersey side of the Hudson.

Amazing what you can get a tourist to ride on.

     A little further up the river, we turned into our marina, which was on the New Jersey side because we wanted to look back at the New York skyline, and our view was toward the Empire State Building:

Can't you just picture Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan finding each other at the top?  The Chrysler Building is to the right with the pointy spire.

     Getting back to our marina, it was quite a place.  There were a lot of permanent boaters there who literally set up household on the docks.  Check out all the BBQ's, sinks and tables lining the pier:

This is a better shot of our marina with the New York skyline in the background.

     We arrived in New York on Memorial Day and that night, the Empire State Building was lit up in red, white and blue lights, a pretty neat thing to see:

     And even the next night, when they went back to the regular white lights, it still looked pretty good from the back of our boat:

     Obviously, New York is pretty impressive no matter where you look, and we were glad to have the opportunity to see the city from a new angle.  But after three days, we were ready to move on and head into the Hudson River Valley and a more rural setting.  That's next.

Atlantic City and the rest of New Jersey

         As we headed out into the Atlantic for the first time, the weather looked a little ominous and there were some swells that kept us rolling, but as the day passed, the sky cleared up and the seas settled down.

Sure looked like yucky weather to me.

     Our first stop was Atlantic City, NJ and I was looking for something like Las Vegas on the water.  Not quite.  As we approached,  it looked just like any other big city without all the glitz and glamour.

The Atlantic City skyline.

     We motored in and docked behind the aquarium and next to a few waterfront attractions. Here we are enjoying our favorite attraction in any port--the local eatery (check out Art's Bloody Mary):

     In all fairness to Atlantic City, I have to say this was just a stop over for us on our way to New York, so we really didn't get out and discover the true character of the city.  Also, neither one of us are gamblers (too cheap, I think), so there was no desire to check out the casinos.  But we could see Trump's Taj Mahal from the marina:

You have to squint to see it, but it is the tall building on the right and says Taj Mahal in red letters on the side.

     And when the sun went down, the place looked a little more like sin city, so we were not so disappointed:

That's another Trump property across the water.

     The next morning, we were out in the Atlantic again, but this time the skies and sea were perfect.  It was Memorial Day weekend, so there were a lot of boats in the water and a lot going on.  It was a fun cruise until we turned into our next stop:  Manasquan, NJ.  I think every person who had a boat in that town was out on the water and most of them were tanked--it was crazy.

This was on a small channel after turning in from the ocean.

    I thought the boat traffic was bad enough, until we got to the marina.  The docks were old and rickety, but the best/worst part was that we were right next to the railroad bridge and the trains (mostly Amtrak) passed quite frequently.

A passing train from the back of our boat.  Check out all the crap on the docks.

     We couldn't get out of there fast enough, and the next morning we left early for our journey into the Big Apple, coming next.

Cape May, N.J.

     Cape May is the summer playground for New Jersey and points north with nice beaches, an historic lighthouse and lots of cottages for rent.  It is also home to the only U.S. Coast Guard Recruit Training Center which, sadly, is no longer open to the public because of 9/11.

View of the Coast Guard base from our boat.

     At the very southern tip of New Jersey, Cape May is surrounded on three sides by water, and that about completes my list of attractions.  Unfortunately, bad weather kept us in port and with water as the main attraction there, we didn't have much to do.  We walked a lot and did enjoy some of the town's charm.

     This is the downtown shopping area with the street turned into a pedestrian walkway. 

This church marks the beginning of the downtown mall.

     They had a cute little fire department museum, but it wasn't very big and only took about 15 minutes to see everything they had in it.

     We did enjoy looking at the houses and gardens as we walked through town.  Here's a few favorites:

     These next houses are houseboats (surprising, huh?) and they were parked directly across for where we were docked:

     And the best part about our stay in Cape May was the afternoon happy hour in the marina with our fellow boaters:

     At this point in our journey, we had to leave the protected waters and head out into the Atlantic Ocean (which is why we had to stay in Cape May--the wind and waves were up and small craft advisories were issued for a few days).  Once everything settled down, we headed out on our way to Atlantic City.

Moving On

     We said a sad goodbye to Annapolis (which was probably our favorite stop so far) and headed across the Chesapeake to the Eastern shore where we docked at a small marina in the middle of nowhere (the attraction here was cheap diesel prices).  We were across the Bay from the Patapsco River, which leads directly into downtown Baltimore, and since there was nothing else near us, we sat on the deck and looked at the Baltimore skyline:

You'll have to use your imagination here, but Baltimore is on the horizon line.

     Next morning, we were up early and on the water again heading for Delaware City.  We traveled to the top of the Chesapeake, then through the Delaware Canal into the Delaware River which is is at the top of Delaware Bay.  Whew, that's a lot of Delawares, but maybe because the state is so small, they need to name everything Delaware so everyone will know they are there.  This was also a rather unremarkable stop.  The marina was on a small canal next to the "seen better days" downtown of Delaware City.

Even the posts holding up the dock weren't straight!

     It wasn't hard to move on the next morning, but it was a bit foggy and the Delaware Bay is known for heavy commercial traffic so we had to keep on our toes.  Once again, the scenery was pretty unremarkable the first half of the journey, as you can see in these photos:

 A lovely nuclear power plant on the shoreline.

One of those vessels we were supposed to watch out for.

     And then things got better when we approached this lighthouse.

     It wasn't long after this that we arrived at the small canal that leads into Cape May, N.J., our next stop.  Unfortunately, there was a lot of  boat traffic at the entrance, including these rather large ferries:

     After we got by these guys, we dodged around a few more boats and barges (white knuckle time):

     And, at last, we cruised into Cape May, the subject of my next post.

Catching Up (Starting at the Naval Academy)

     It has been more than a month since I posted anything and we are far, far away from Annapolis.  As I last wrote, I have had photo problems, but it was not because I forgot to load them, but because my computer rejected them. I am incompetent when it comes to solving computer problems and didn't know where to turn (not many computer stores on the waterways), but accidentally trying another program has seemed to solve the issue for now--hooray!  And so I will continue.
     However, since I am so far behind, I am going to just summarize our travels and activities up to the present (and I will certainly include some of those elusive photos), and then try once again to keep you up to date.  So here I go with our visit to the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis:

     This entrance to the Academy was only a block from the boat.  Surprisingly, you only had to show a drivers license and then you were free to roam the Academy grounds, known as the Yard.  Some of the buildings were off limits, but many were open to us.  We took a guided tour and learned so much.  It was "dead week" between finals and graduation so not much was going on but there were still plenty of midshipmen around, as you can see:

Here they come!

 There they go!

     

     In this photo, the midshipmen are heading into Bancroft Hall, which serves as dormitory and dining hall to the 4,000-plus cadets.  (A few factoids:  it has nearly 5 miles of corridors and about 33 acres of floor space and is the largest dormitory in the U.S.).  One of the highlights of visiting the Academy is seeing the midshipmen march to their midday meal during Noon Formation, but because it was dead week, they were not required to line up.  Our disappointment was relieved however, when this group of senior classmen, who had chosen to go into the Marines, stood for inspection:

Pretty impressive, huh?

 

     There are so many interesting things to see at the Academy, including a fabulous museum, but one of the most popular tourist sights is the chapel:

That famous chapel.

A view of the altar with us tourists on the left.

Even the stained glass windows show the naval tradition.

     Lastly, beneath the chapel is the crypt and sarcophagus of  Revolutionary War hero John Paul Jones, most famous for saying, "I have not yet begun to fight."

     I will end with my favorite picture of all--this group from the Naval Academy Choir (in their dress uniforms, no less) on their way to sing for some unknown party, but stopped by our boat on the way.  Check out that smile on my face!