And they've left the country

Sunset at Atlantic City anchorage

The best thing about New Jersey, was getting through it.  We left Lewes, DE and headed across the Delaware Bay taking care to avoid weekends in the NJ Intracoastal Waterway.  Even with this precaution, there were way too many sports fishermen anchored in the channel!  (One is way too many).  Happily we draw only 2'10", but to leave the NJICW is to court grounding.  Another NJ surprise was how incredibly narrow and harrowing some of the passages were.  The final one, at the poorly named Point Pleasant (not too pleasant) had to be traversed at the right tide to avoid running into the narrow bridge passage.  We made it!  And out into the Atlantic ocean for a quick 26-mile crossing into New York Harbor.

The new Freedom Tower, which replaced the World Trade Center, looms large over the south end of Manhattan

We chose Great Kills Yacht Club to take in the city that never sleeps.  It's on Staten Island and lots of other Loopers were there.  John, the American Great Loop Cruiser's Association Harbor Host greeted us.  He's this year's Harbor Host of the Year - and a grand stay it was!  The members of the Club are down-to-earth, real people who don't own dress whites or navy blazers and don't have the typical yacht club trappings.  What they do have is a great location!  

It was a five minute walk to the Express or Local bus stop.  For $6.50 the Express would take you all the way to Manhattan - anywhere in Manhattan.  For $2.75, the Local would take you to the free Staten Island Ferry that would take you past the Statue of Liberty on the way over to Manhattan and drop you near the World Trade Center Memorial. 

The Staten Island Ferry, a free 25 minute ride between Manhattan and Staten Island, NY

We went to Manhattan three days, and each day saw another amazing play (Hello Dolly with Bernadette Peters, Beautiful - the Carol King story, and The Play That Went Wrong).  We visited Times Square to get our half-priced, same day show tickets and got to skip the long line after our first day.  We simply came back with our ticket stub from the previous day's show and got to cut in front of everyone else.  

We ate amazing food, got a Metro Card and used the subway, buses, ferries and walked everywhere!  

Times Square.

Junior's.  You have to go and get the cheesecake.  Here's carrot cheesecake and strawberry cheesecake. YUM!

Eventually we got our fill of the Big Apple and headed past Lady Liberty up the Hudson River.

One of the best pictures we took of the Statue of Liberty - and trust me, we took too many!

The hustle and bustle of New York City took a while to fade, as we had a completely different view of the city from the waterway.  Here are some of the more interesting and iconic buildings we saw.

VIA 57 West

This building looked like it was built with giant Legos

The Empire State Building is on the right.

On the Hudson, we stopped at Half Moon Bay Marina and rented a car to go to West Point Army Academy and the Culinary Institute of America (CIA).  

West Point from the Hudson River.  Great tour and museum.

The chapel at West Point

From West Point and back to the Hudson.

After a dreamy cruise up the Hudson, we came to our first lock, a Federal Lock in Troy NY.  A quick turn to port (left) and we were into New York's Canal system - the Erie Canal for starters.  We locked up into mountains and stopped at small towns along the way.  Most nights we could tie up for free on a lock wall.  Some nights we chose to tie up on a municipally-run wall so we could get power.  It was super affordable and buying groceries, doing the laundry, and exploring new areas was extremely easy to do.  

Tanuki simply can't climb dams, like this one.

So they created locks.  The locks have gates that lock the higher water back, so Tanuki can cruise into the downside of the lock where the water is at the same height as the river she just came up.

In NY, mechanical gears open the forward lock gate AFTER the rear gate of the lower lock is closed and the lower chamber is filled with water that matches the height of the water above the lock.

When the lock gates are closed, you can walk to the other side of the canal on top of the gate.

On the topside of the lock, the water can be extremely still before it falls over the dam (to the right).  This is the kind of scenery we were treated to in the Erie and then the Oswego Canal systems.

When we got to Oswego, NY on the edge of Lake Ontario, my brother Doug and his wife Beth brought my niece and nephew to visit.  It was great to see them.

Jaden, Captain Jerry, me, Jamison (they're growing up beautifully!)

Before we leave NY, let me show you some of the unique and beautiful lighthouses we saw along the Hudson and on the edge of Lake Ontario.

We found the most perfect day to cross Lake Ontario straight into Kingston, ON.  The water got clearer and cooler all the way across our first Great Lake.

For the first time since we've owned her, Tanuki's getting fresh water through her systems since we got into the NY Canal system.  As Carolyn Ann, this boat completed the Great Loop three times.  We have some great tracks to follow, left by Joe and Punk, her previous owners.

A channel marker in Canada.  Here's its really important to stay in the channel, because there can be rocks just below the surface.  Crossing Lake Ontario, we saw depths of more than 550 feet.  We don't know how much more because our depth finders couldn't read any deeper!

In Kingston we enjoyed a three-hour cruise on the Island Queen (not the Minnow) to see the Thousand Islands.  We took trolley tours, walking tours, ate in great restaurants and started meeting Canadians.  What a welcoming, inclusive, well-spoken, engaging people!  Here we had real pea-meal bacon.  It's way tastier and better than the stuff labeled Canadian bacon in America.  

There's some in our freezer now, thanks to a Meat Shop in Trenton, ON

Finally, the end of the month was coming and the AGLCA briefing on the Trent Severn Waterway.  We moved to Trenton, ON and the most beautiful marina we've ever been to, Trent-Port.  Amazing facilities!  Free laundry!  Great ice cream!  A meeting space!  A town with 4 easy to walk to grocery stores!  A few good restaurants (not like Kingston).  We were here to celebrate Canada Day on July 1st, before we headed up the Trent-Severn Waterway system. 

Great fireworks enjoyed from Tanuki's fly bridge.

The Trent-Port Harbor Host took this picture of Tanuki entering the waterway and emailed it to us!  AGLCA's Harbor Hosts are amazing.  As members of the AGLCA we have access to all the Harbor Hosts along the Great Loop route and we can call on them for help and advice as needed.  It's nice to know we have friends in every port.

That was the month of June.  Happy Fourth of July to everyone in the States!

Until next month, may you have fair winds and following seas all your days!

Sam & Jerry Williams aboard Tanuki

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