Days Events:

Wx - forecast 75/88 but with a heat advisory. Partial sun. Humid!

Travel - we left Liberty Landing at 10:30, hazy, and hot already. The Hudson River was quiet! Very little boat traffic - we were waked only once, by a 100ft cruiser; saw '0' commercial traffic except for a few ferry boats. We cruised at 7-8mph through NYC, then increased to 10-11 mph the remaining 20 miles. We had been expecting loads of boats - bit anti-climactic, but we are not complaining!!

Many photos all along the river, though the haze from the humidity makes them less than ideal [good excuse for us]. Overall, it was a nice assortment of contrasts, from high rise and congestion, to more treed residential apartments, to smaller cities on the East bank and mostly hills and trees on the West.

Marina - We arrived at 14:30/2:30pm, after 4 hrs and 36 miles. Half Moon Bay Marina [HMBM] is tucked behind a long peninsula and protected from the River's lengthy fetch - but only somewhat. The bay is big so they have a seawall to protect their 173 slips, which are mostly floating, though aging somewhat. Steve, the dockmaster, is very helpful and chatty. A nice setting.

Photos - Marg took some of NYC last night and I captured a couple of the sunrise - they are at the end of the 'Raritan Bay/NYC' folder; as are the series shot within NYC proper.

The photos mark our progress upriver. The first few capture the skyline of Manhattan and of Jersey City as we are leaving. Then, there are several of Manhattan - the weird angular buildings clustered together; the Lincoln Tunnel Ventilator and huge 'I Want To Thank You' sign behind it, and the 'crossed' construction cranes in the background; the Intrepid [air craft carrier] Sea, Air and Space Museum - the AC Carrier has a huge canvas building on its deck (the space shuttle museum), and there's an aircraft tail to the left; it is next to the Pier 88 & 90 shot with the weird triangular building [which appears to have multiple balconies within it]; another shot of the ferry terminal next to the Lincoln Tunnel Ventilator; one of the sudden change in architecture/style of buildings - looking down a street and everything on the right appears to be more 'modern' or recently built, and everything on the left seems 'older' or more residential? [someone who knows NYC might be able to explain it better]; one of the Sailors & Soldiers Monument [columned 'Greek' style "gazebo"] nestled in the trees; a 'distant' shot of two tows with barges that are anchored in the middle of the river and at first they reminded me of large farm tractors pulling equipment on a field; then, we came closer and the next shot shows the detail of the tow and barge; then, finally in NYC, the western half of the George Washington Bridge, for I-95, which is a double-decker [cars on lower, trucks on upper], built in 1931.

Further up the Hudson we have the shiny double suspension Governor Cuomo Bridge, which replaced the old Tappen Zee one in 2017; then Sing Sing State prison [first built in 1828; Edison introduced the electric chair there in 1898; holds 1700 prisoners, max.security; the town of Ossining was originally called 'Sing Sing' (Indian phrase) and they changed their name in 1901 so people wouldn't confuse it with the prison!], just before we arrived at Croton-on-the-Hudson, where Half Moon Bay Marina is located.

Admirals Desk:

What an amazing day!

We started out expecting traffic and were ready to be waked. We saw 3 ferries, 2 tows at anchor, and one 100' private vessel that waked us. After that we had the river to ourselves. Wind and waves on our stern. Autopilot all day. Time for lots of gawking and photos. Unfortunately, as Rob mentioned, the haze made clear photos impossible - our view was slightly clearer. The NJ side is much clearer. What an incredible way to see NYC!

After struggling to order food delivered with UberEats/GrubHub I threw in the towel and made us a salad. We were looking forward to Greek, and I'll hopefully have better luck tomorrow.

Photos: The potato chips bags😄 I bought these on my last grocery outing, not paying attention to the brand. Kettle cooked with sea salt was all I was looking for. Ended up with "Uglies" Apparently I saved a potato! 😂😂. Good chips, though.

I may have to start reporting the heat index again. It was very hot and humid today. By the time we get docked, lines tied, power cable out and connected, water connected, lines retied (all captains have to re-adjust the lines themselves at least twice), shut down the flybridge, get the window covers put on to block the sun, and shut the doors so the a/c can try to catch up, we are dripping in sweat and pooped. Even though Rob does 90% of the work I am equally sweaty and pooped. I'm a pro at sweaty and pooped. On my 3rd dry shirt today.😅

Until tomorrow.

Maintenance:

A/C strainer - It looked worse than actually turned out to be; minimal debris, a few seaweed blades mostly; didn't have to prime the pump.

Boat wash - needed a bath, so did a quickie on the forward third and the stern/swim platform; used Instant Hull Cleaner to take off the brown staining on the swim platform - it is 'instant'. Unfortunately, any effort triggers a major sweat attack! Even at 07:00. Broke my Walmart long handled brush - it falls into "the cost of doing business". Went to the LLM store and bought a new telescoping handle and brush - feels much better already [maybe because I bought a local craft pale ale beer there also?].

Battery Charger - noticed the voltage on the House batteries down to 11.6v! Went below and rebooted the charger and it immediately switched to 'bulk' charge and fixed the problem - for now. Will likely have to replace it this year.

Filled the aft water tank [100g].

Covid - Steve and everyone I've seen at HMBM and at LLM are wearing masks when in close proximity to others [except for a few 'outlier' clusters!]

That's all for today.

Tomorrow - will replace another GFCI, and redo the aft head GFCI wiring. Will do more planning for our Erie Canal leg which will begin Aug. 21.

As usual, Stay safe.