We crossed our wake!!

Today, 09 June 2013 at 11:20 we arrived at the Canadian Forces Base Trenton Yacht Club, crossing our wake.

CFB Trenton Yacht Club on Bakers Island Trenton Ontario

The past year was filled was with adventure, new friends, wonderful memories, scary and sad times but most of all lots of laughter and will remain an experience we will never forget!


.

In fact, as we were crossing Lake Ontario from Oswego back to Canada, I said to Gary that I really had a good time on the Loop and that I wish we could do it again.....so after a little discussion we decided that this summer we will leave Trenton, head north again and do the western part of the Loop AGAIN!!!!!

I am also happy to say that I have had a great response to my blog (apparently YOU do read it!!) so I will continue writing and keeping you all up to date with the goings on with the Donovans aboard Time& Tide.

Just a shout out to our great lady, Time & Tide, what a wonderful boat we have...through waters that made us tremble with fear she never waivered and carried herself with grace and beauty, thank you old girl, we wouldn't trade you for the world!!

So now we are going to rest and spend time with the family and friends here at our homebase before we take off on our continued adventures..


Thanks for the champagne Bruce and Ann MV Happy Hour

and now....apparently, still to be continued.......

Erie and Oswego Canals

People spend their whole summer on these canals but we have got itchy feet to get home and see all the people we have missed so much.
So we only took a week to do the canals and would have been home by now and would have crossed our wake by now, if not for the pesky weather.

When we arrived in Waterford (lock #1 on the Erie) it was hot and muggy. The weekend there we did have some rain but on Monday when we left it started to cool down a lot.

BEST thing about boating; spending time with friends
Gary and Karl SV Ishmael

 In Waterford they have a webcam so people can watch you on your boat...

Gary says it is a prior to 1967 VW Bug ( how does he know it is prior to 1967??)

Welcome to Little Falls

A trap door lock

Going up and down between locks can be tiring but I am all smiles

 We had to cross Lake Oneida, not a big crossing but locals warned us it can be nasty in high winds, so we pick our day and had flat calm water all the way to the Oswego Canal.

Lovely day to cross Lake Oneida

We stayed in Phoenix, a little town famous for its hospitality. In the summer kids meet you at the dock, will do things like wash your boat and bring you coffee.....unfortunately all the kids are still in school so we didn't get meet them but we met many locals  who stopped by the boat to say hello.

Waterway sign

Time & Tide looking very small under the bridge in Oswego

Oswego lighthouse

Oswego NY

The morning we did the Oswego canal it rained like stink!!! We got soaked going through the locks and when we arrived in Oswego I had a nice warm shower and a nap as a reward for all my hard work.

So now we are in Oswego, waiting for the weather (again!!!) to be good enough to cross Lake Ontario. That is another body of water you cannot mess with, and the crossing is 50 miles so it is almost as long as going from Florida to The Bahamas. I have checked the weather and tomorrow looks good (Saturday)

Keep your fingers crossed, next time you hear from me will be in Canada. (hopefully, if I can get online somewhere)

Till then


still.....................to be continued

Oh, BTW , once we cross our wake, we will officially be done with our LOOP trip (+- 6000 miles/ more than 900 hours!! ) and this blog is about that, so I am thinking I am going to stop writing even though we are still going to be travelling on our boat I can't imagine that anyone would be interested to read about our boring lives, but I have been asked to continue>>>>>>>>>.. I don't even know how many of you still read this but if you want me to, I can keep writing, if you don't want me to...I shall stop....so it is up to you , what should I do???

Up the River /Hudson

Hudson River

The thing that surprised me most about the Hudson River is how BEAUTIFUL it was. From the Palisades, outside NYC, to the mountains of the Catskills and towards the Capitol of NY state, Albany. As we continued north along the Hudson we had to keep an eye open for debris. Logs and trees were floating down the river as the locks on the Erie, further up river, were opened after severe rainfalls.

George Washington Bridge or as the locals call it GWB

Hudson River

The famous prison SING SING in the town of Ossining,
 "Sing Sing," was derived from the name of a Native American Nation, "Sinck Sinck" (or "Sint Sinck"), from whom the land was purchased in 1685.
The Sing Sing prison confines about 1,700 prisoners

Many lighthouses on the banks of the Hudson

IS it a castle? I don't really know, could be a monastery...

West Point Military Acadamy

Bannerman Castle on Pollepel Island
A European style castle located on an island in the middle of the Hudson River.
The island was owned by a man named David Bannerman who used the island castle to store weapons and ammunition

to be continued.........................

New York City / I want to live here!!!!

Hello from a wet and damp New York City!!

That is right folks, we are back on the inland waters and I for one can’t be happier.

We spent a lot of time in Toms River, New Jersey because we had to wait for a reasonable weather window to do the “outside” trip from Manasquan to Sandy Hook.

We were travelling with several other trawlers and it was a lovely day to be out in the Atlantic, it also was Memorial Day and every fisherman under the sun was out there too. The guys who have those big Sport Fishing boats that make such huge wakes they cause you to violently rock from side to side.

Skyline of the Big Apple

Finally we saw the NYC skyline on the horizon and soon we were in the middle of rush hour (water style) traffic on the Hudson. Because so many people work in NY but live on the outskirts, they commute by water taxi. Those taxis are fast and you have to keep an eye open for them as you try to make your way through all the congestion.

Staten Island Ferry

We anchored behind the Statue of Liberty, an unreal sight and feeling.

Closed since Superstorm Sandy , Ellis Island will
reopen again on July 4th

What a sight

 The next day we splurged and went to a marina in NYC. Like everything else it is very expensive but it was worth it. We were 3 blocks from the subway and walking distance from Central Park and the MONH.

We LOVE New York City!

Times Square



A typical NYC scene

Wall Street Bull in the rain



One of the new World Trade Centre buildings and Ground Zero

Getting a NY Hotdog!!

I just bought my NY bagel with cream cheese and lox

Empire State

Wall Street

Cool Retro NYC cab

Even in the rain we enjoy ourselves.

Tenements on the East side

United Nations

Rockefeller centre

                                      


Museum of Natural History - where they filled
Night at the Museum

Trump Towers

The Dakota where John Lennon used to live and
Yoko Ono still does

Central Park

Strawberry fields forever.....

Central Park

Where Bono bought an apartment from Bill Gates
23 mil.
Demi Moore also lives there

A carriage ride through the park

Watching Ironman 3 in recliner chairs

We toured the city in one of those open top busses, not so much fun in the rain but the next day the weather changed and it was lovely and warm.

 I have to say it is one of my favourite places I have seen since on this trip. It is a city like no other. I LOVE ...

...................to be continued