Arctic Songbird Adventures

After a late night visiting I still managed to get everyone moving by 8am. Allison and I took the dogs for their morning walk and admired the sights once more. We departed at 9:20a and took a side trip back to the Statue of Liberty so Allison could get some pictures. We finally got moving in the right direction at 10:00a and about the time we got to the north end of Manhattan, the Coast Guard stopped us, boarded the boat, and gave us a surprise inspection, which we passed. Then it was seven hard hours at 28 knots dodging thousands of sticks and logs northbound up the Hudson.  We pushed the time limit and had 7 minutes until the last lock closed prior to Mechanicville. Whew....that was a close one. I was afraid as we pulled into the city dock wall we would find it packed full of boats at 5:00p on a hot Saturday afternoon. I was totally surprised to find it empty! We had the entire place to ourselves with free electricity! We walked a couple miles into town for cold drinks and pizza....

I could not enter a blog yesterday due to no cell service on the boat. Some days it works, some days it doesn't! We rode the ferry one more time to Manhattan on Thursday and visited the Freedom tower observation floor on level 102. They said it was 1250 feet above the ground and some planes were flying lower than us. The view was amazing and we could see tens of thousands of buildings for miles in all directions. The ride up and down is between 1200-1500 feet per minute, I estimated, so it did a number on our ears. We also visited the WTC Memorial again. The sunset was spectacular and we got some great pictures. Our boat neighbors Eric and Robin get the credit for taking a great picture of our boat. Today we worked on getting the boat ready for the next leg. We went shopping and literally brought back 120 pounds of food in the doggy trailer. After unpacking, we took the dogs back to Jersey City (we needed some sweets), and then to Liberty Park. We ended up riding about 14 miles to...

Our French neighbors Ed and Sabine left the marina early this morning to try and beat the ebb tide plus Hudson current. I managed to get their attention and wave goodbye in the dark and then it was back to bed for a bit longer. I promised the family I would sleep in today and they were hoping for 8am. Nope....couldnt do it and I was at the marina shower by 7:30a. After we were up and full of breakfast, back on the ferry and over to Manhattan we went....this time armed with bicycles! It wasn't bad going north on 8th Ave in the bike lane, except for the millions of people trying to run over us. We made it to Central Park and went around the entire perimeter loop, stopping for pictures and to let the dogs run and play. When it was time to go south toward the marina, there were no bike lanes. The local police did not even know of any. So.....we peddled like crazy people from Alaska down the middle of 7th Ave (another one way), dodging people, taxis, and buses, and made it back. The si...

Another cold, rainy, yucky weather day with temperatures only in the 50's. We took the short ferry ride to downtown Manhattan and got our five miles of walking in. We walked over the Brooklyn Bridge (built in 1875), went by the New York Stock Exchange on Wall St., and visited the WTC Memorial, which was spectacular, as well as extremely emotional! The designers, architects, engineers, planners, and all the people that constructed this memorial did a wonderful job, that the world should see! The new Freedom Tower is amazing too, but the observation deck 1,250 feet up was in the clouds so we did not go up for the view. There is a lot of money in NYC and some hard working people that keep it alive 24/7. It is definitely alive! After we got back to the boat we were kind of lazy and just hung out. Frazier slaughtered us at Skip-Bo.....again! I received the fuel fitting from Hewescraft and repaired the boat. I will know if my repair was successful after I top...

After a dreadful night trying to sleep with gas fumes seeping into the cabin, the day was actually quite pleasant. I went to the marina laundry and got everything washed and dried just before the crowds showed up. I had to wait for the west coast to wake up and eventually spoke with Hewescraft and just like every other time, Carie Ann came through and had replacement parts on their way here! After getting that necessity completed, we went for a bike ride, circumnavigating Liberty State Park. The dogs had plenty of attention riding in their trailer.  We gave them a couple breaks, letting them run and play in the miles of grass.  After a nice lunch, I decided we needed more fuel out of the tank prior to me installing the new parts, that hopefully will arrive tomorrow. The only way to do that was to run the engines. We departed the marina and made our second circumnavigation of the day.....all the way up the East River and around Manhattan Island. The back view is totally differe...

The day started out great with sunshine and was getting quite warm. We found the New Bethel Baptist Church on our map and walked over for the 10am worship service. We were welcomed with warm greetings and hugs. The service was fantastic and we enjoyed everything from the singing, preaching, communion, and prayers for our safe journey. A great day to worship with fellow brothers and sisters. Later on we biked over to Jersey City for some groceries. Wow was it crazy busy but we got our shopping done and biked home in the light rain. Now the bad: I recognized some gas fumes in the boat and quickly found the problem. The vent fitting in the fuel tank was seeping gas which was not good. The tanks was too full to work on it as gas had already ran out when I loosened the hose. So, we ran up and down the Hudson until dark attempting to burn of some fuel so I could get the fitting out and reseal it. Getting back, I started the process again. The fittings had galled threads so when I fina...

Today was a photographer's paradise! We cruised the final southbound leg of our journey and took hundreds of pictures of this stunning background of human ingenuity and achievement! There were thousands of people attending a polo event with outdoor concert right in Liberty park. We met some very nice local folks and Gracie made many new friends with her kisses for every person that wanted to pet her. The weather was near 80F with a light breeze so another perfect day for ice cream. New York and it's many suburbs was a sight to behold! We also got to cruise right up to the security zone around the Statue of Liberty. A true gift from France that every American should see. She stands guard and just as importantly, welcomes those arriving to the greatest country on earth. There is a lot to do and with only one week, we will have to prioritize what to do each day.