Hudson River Maritime Museum, Kingston, NY

On her 35^th birthday, Last Dance was on display at the Hudson River Maritime Museum.  It was her first time in the Hudson River, but that is now history . . . and, she is a bit old.  If she were an automobile, the State of Florida would issue antique license plates.

At the display dock behind the museum, Last Dance shared a birth with Half Moon, Henry Hudson’s boat.  It was appropriate that the first boat to explore the Hudson River in 1609 was sharing the dock with a more recent boat to explore the river.  Well, Half Moon is a replica, a copy of Captain Hudson’s boat.  Last Dance is actually the older boat.

Also on display next to the dock was a hundred-year-old steel tugboat.  The main walkway along the Rondout Creek, built as a park-like attraction for tourists and a place to be outside on the water for locals, runs between the two old boats on the dock and the big tug.  Many people walked past the boats on display admiring the history and beauty. 

The Hudson River Museum was small in comparison to the Chesapeake museums, but was filled with history.  The experience was well worth a stop at Kingston.

There was other history in Kingston in addition to the museum.  A number of tugboats which had been restored or converted to cruising boats were tied along Rondout Creek.  However, the most impressive boat (other than Last Dance, of course) tied up along the creek was PT 728.

Seems there is a guy in town who collects PT boats.  He has acquired an old, 4-story, brick building that once housed a steamship company to provide space for restoration of the boats.  Three PT boats sit next to the huge shop under cover.  The one below may have been built in Jacksonville, FL, by Huckins Boats.  It is built of plywood while the other boats were carvel planked.  Huckins used plywood to speed the building process.

Kingston does have some different collectors.  Across the street from the PT boats is a field of streetcars.  A local man has collected a variety of streetcars and is putting together a streetcar museum.  On weekends, he runs one of the streetcars along tracks out to the lighthouse marking the entrance to Kingston, where steamboats docked and passengers were transported to town by streetcars.  Individuals preserving history.

New York City

Themes chosen for this blog have included architecture, art, water, boats, nature, flora and fauna, history, memorials, oddities, and a bit of romance.  All of those topics are on display in New York City.  The photos can speak for themselves.

New Jersey

There is an Intracoastal waterway through most of New Jersey.  It is a state-maintained waterway, which according to a New York friend, means “unmaintained” waterway.  The depths are unreliability shallow, putting many boats aground who unwisely attempt to take the sheltered waterway rather than chance a possible angry Atlantic Ocean.

So, the best way to travel New Jersey by cruising boat is to run offshore – go around the state traveling in the Atlantic.   Such a travel itinerary means that you do not visit many places in the state, have to wait in a protected harbor for favorable weather, but it is the consensus of most cruisers that “going around” might be the best way to experience this state.  A fast boat can make the run around New Jersey in one day; trawler-speed vessels tend to take two or three days for the journey.

 The Chesapeake and Delaware Canal connects the Chesapeake Bay to the Delaware Bay.  Unlike the Chesapeake, Delaware Bay is open to the Atlantic, subject to rough seas, and has no places to hide along the coasts if weather turns difficult.  Accurate weather reports are important to judge when the Delaware Bay should be attempted.

Chesapeake City, located on the C & D Canal, is a quaint little town and a good place to stop awaiting favorable weather.  It is a welcoming town, with a free dock that will fit 3 boats, and a small harbor for anchoring. 

Traveling at 7 knots, it is a full day from Chesapeake City to the mouth of Delaware Bay and Cape May, NJ, at the southern tip of the state.  Cape May has a large basin that was excavated during WWII to provide a safe harbor for shipping vessels which were threatened by Nazi submarines.  A canal was dug to the Delaware Bay side of the peninsula to allow boats to enter the harbor from the bay side or from the Atlantic.   Today, there are marinas along the harbor and a major Coast Guard Training Station.  An area for anchoring is next to the Coast Guard.

The city of Cape May is a tourist town.  It has a big walking street with tacky gift shops, similar to St. George St. in St. Augustine, only larger.  There is a large collection of Victorian homes, most overly redone to the point that they have become Disneyesk or cartoonish.  There are some great restaurants – one near the marinas and a small Greek restaurant downtown were positive experiences – and a theater with a great reputation, so there are some redeeming qualities for the town.

After a wait of two days for the winds to subside, which had made the Atlantic angry and rough, a trip up to Atlantic City was made on a day with rougher waters than desired, but conditions that were manageable.  As Atlantic City became near, a large wall began to protrude above the fog.  Closer views revealed that it was a new hotel, the design resembling a wall. 

The casinos and fast life are not appealing to this crew, so the anchorage across the inlet at Brigantine was chosen.  This location provided a view of Atlantic City with the Harrah’s Hotel directly across the inlet.  At night, the hotel turns into a lighted billboard. 

A New Jersey State channel marker identifying the route into Brigantine.  It is a stick with a small triangle attached, that looks like one of those emergency reflectors that people carry in their cars.

Fortunately, a calm day with smooth seas followed the night in Brigantine and a long, long day moved Last Dance all the way around the state to Staten Island, NY and Great Kills Harbor.  One piece of history learned in New York was that the Dutchman, Henry Hudson, named many of the areas along the Hudson River and “kills” is Dutch for “creek.”  Thus, Great Kills is a very large creek.

One state with just two stops.

Sunrise Over the Atlantic Ocean