Triangle Loop – Week 10 (Atlantic Ocean & Hudson River)

June 29th to July 5th, 2025

Day 63 – Sunday, June 29th, 2025 – To: Atlantic City, NJ
Kammerman’s Marina

It’s been a while since we’ve run outside in the ocean. Neither our friends on Breakaway or Peregrine had ever run outside in the ocean, so we were giving them advice and our experience from our two trips from Cape May to New York City. When traveling in the ocean, you are dealing with swells and waves. The ocean swells and the rise and fall you see at the beach are the major factors to deal with. If the swells are more than about 4 feet, in our size boats, it can get uncomfortable pretty quickly. The other factor with swells is called the period, which is how far it is between waves. If the period is long (6-8 seconds), then it’s just a gentle rise up one side of the wave, and an easy coast down the back before going back up again. If the period is short (3-4 seconds), then it’s a bouncy ride. If it’s windy, then surface waves can form, just like in any lake or river, which can add to the fun.

We use several weather services to try to determine how the ocean will be. All of our resources said that Sunday and Monday were going to be very good days. Swells 2-3 feet at 6-8 seconds, winds under 12 mph, and no rain. You don’t get much better conditions than that!

We break up the trip to New York Harbor into two hops. First, from Cape May to Atlantic City, about 40 miles, then Atlantic City to either Sandy Hook, NJ, or New York Harbor, about 85-90 miles.

We left at 8:00 and headed out of Cape May. On our way out, we had to wait for a Coast Guard Cutter that was heading out from the Coast Guard base in Cape May. When we got through the breakwater, we encountered pretty much what was forecast, 3-4 foot swells, at a gentle 6-8 seconds. Perfect!

On our prior trips, we found that the deeper the water, the smaller the swells, so we headed out about 3-4 miles to get into about 40-50 feet of water. Similar to the beach, as the waves enter shallower water, they build up, become closer together, and can break into curls.

We had a fabulous run-up to Atlantic City. Peregrine followed us, running around 20 mph. We were getting a good push from the current and wind at our backs. Our friends on Breakaway have a slower boat, and cruised at around 10 mph. If conditions had been rougher, we would have had to slow down to 10 mph ourselves, which is why we left early, just in case we had to slow down.

Aside from some haze along the shore, we’re not sure if it was fog or haze from the Canadian forest fires; it was partly cloudy and clear. At 10:00, the towering casinos of Atlantic City came into view, and by 11:00, we were tied up at Kammerman’s marina. Usually, we stay at the large State Marina in front of the Golden Nugget casino. The marina is okay, but it’s a long walk to shore and bathrooms, and the Golden Nugget is the only close source of restaurants. We dislike Casinos. First, most of them stink of cigarette smoke. Second, it’s depressing to see people sitting at slot machines, spending money that it’s obvious they should be used for something else, punching buttons, and waiting to die. So sad!

One of our goals for this trip is to stay at different marinas than we have in the past, unless it’s one of our favorites. This time we stayed at Kammerman’s Marina, which is just across the channel from the State Marina. Kammerman’s is a small marina with a private Bar & Grill restaurant. It’s a family-run business, with three generations working the docks and restaurants. When we docked, the owner, Chris Kammerman, came over to the boat and introduced himself, asking if there was anything we needed. We were able to fuel up right in our slip. Very convenient! After settling in, we went up to the Bar & Grill for a docking beer and a snack. They were very busy, but both the service and food were excellent. Again, Chris was moving back and forth between the docks and the restaurant to ensure everything was running smoothly. You can tell the difference between corporate-owned and family-run businesses.

After our snack, we decided to visit the famous Atlantic City Boardwalk. The boardwalk is just over a mile away, but with temps in the 90s and rain in the forecast, we decided to Uber instead of walking. We started at the Hard Rock Cafe. When I was frequently traveling, I liked to visit Hard Rock and collect pins from each one. We’ve never been to the Atlantic City Hard Rock, so we started there. We walked around, and I got my pin. The Hard Rock is also right in front of the Atlantic City Steel Pier, which stretches out from the shore about a 1/4 mile. It’s basically a big carnival with rides, games of “skill” ha!, a roller coaster, a Ferris wheel, and at the end a bar and helicopter rides. We walked to the end and back, then turned north and walked up the boardwalk.

When we arrived at the Showboat Casino, the next casino down the boardwalk, we stopped in to cool down. The Showboat is unusual, as all the gaming tables and slot machines have been replaced with children’s games, a go-kart track, bumper cars, and other attractions appealing to kids. They have also built a large water park adjacent to the hotel. It seems that they are targeting families with young kids.

After Showboat, we continued north past the Ocean casino and to the north end of the boardwalk before returning to the Ocean. We went in and stopped at one of the restaurants for a cool drink. We had had enough of “Atlantic City” and called for an Uber to go back to the marina. Just as we walked out the door to the car, it started raining, and by the time we got back to the marina, there was a downpour. We ran to the boat and had to dry off.

At 5:30, there was a pause in the rain, so we walked back up the dock to the Bar & Grill for dinner. Shortly after we got there, it started raining again, and there were rumbles of thunder in the distance. The restaurant is outside, but is covered, and while it rained pretty hard, there wasn’t much wind, so no one got wet. Except for the dock hands, who were running to fuel up boats, sliding down the dock ramp like it was a ski slope!

When we finished dinner, we took advantage of a break in the rain and ran back to the boat. We had on-and-off rain and a few rumbles of thunder for the rest of the evening, but they were pretty much over by 10:00, and we got a good night’s sleep for our planned 7:00 am departure.

_{(Click gallery images to enlarge. Touch/Mouse over for captions.)}

Day 64 – Monday, June 30th, 2025 – To: Atlantic Highlands, NY
Atlantic Highlands Municipal Harbor

When I woke up at my normal 5:00 AM on Monday and got up to make my coffee, I thought that a security light outside of the boat was broken, because I kept seeing bright flashes of light. After getting my coffee started, I opened the back curtains and saw that it wasn’t a security light, but a thunderstorm in the distance! I checked the weather and saw that it was heading toward us, arriving at about 6:30. I went out on the back deck and was able to catch a lightning bolt behind the MGM Casino. The sky in the west was very dark from the storm, but in the east it was fairly clear, and as the sun started to rise, the orange glow lit up the MGM Casino building. It was spectacular! Also, the sun was a big orange ball in the east.

As predicted, the storm came over us at 6:30, and by 7:00, our planned departure time, it was just offshore. We chatted with Peregrine and decided to give the storm another 30 minutes to move farther off the coast before we took off.

By the time we left at 7:30, the sky was already clearing, and it was just partly cloudy. We dropped lines and headed back out into the Atlantic. As with yesterday, we decided to run about 3-4 miles offshore in deeper water.

We were making good time, running at about 18 mph. There was haze near the shore, so the coast was just visible. We were seeing haze ahead, and with just a minute, we went from good visibility to hardly being able to see the front of the boat! We never even saw the fog bank coming. I turned on the radar, and with the radar, AIS, and following our chart, we were able to continue on our course. I occasionally turn my radar on during good visibility so that I can learn what things in front of me look like on the radar for just such events. We saw a couple of smaller fishing boats pop up and changed course to avoid them. The only surprises were the occasional crab pot markers. The fog lasted about 90 minutes, and as we emerged, we saw a Coast Guard helicopter hovering over a boat just ahead of us. It looked like a rescue in progress until we got a bit closer and saw that the boat was a Coast Guard vessel. As we went by, it looked like they were practicing.

As we neared Sandy Hook, New Jersey, we moved closer to shore and had a good view of the sandbars and the Highlands. We looped around the hook and into Lower Bay, then headed toward Atlantic Highlands, New Jersey, our harbor for the night, making sure not to stray into the restricted area around the Navy Pier that sticks out into the bay. By 12:30, we were safely docked. Peregrine was going to the New York side of Lower Bay, so we wished them safe travels.

The Atlantic Highlands Harbor is quite large, with 480 slips, and is one of the stops for the Seastreak Ferry that runs between New Jersey and New York. The Seastreak is a fast catamaran-style ferry. When they passed us coming into Atlantic Highlands, they were doing around 35 mph!

We settled in and then walked to the “Control Tower,” which is the harbor office. They have quite the view! We checked in, then walked to the far end of the harbor to a restaurant called On The Deck for lunch. We had skipped breakfast and decided to have our dinner early and have a snack in the evening.

Just after 5:00, our friends on Breakaway pulled into Atlantic Highlands Harbor. They had left Atlantic City just behind us and had taken a route a bit closer to shore. We were glad to see they made it safely!

At 6:00 p.m., a band of thunderstorms passed through, bringing heavy rain. The rain lasted through most of the night.

_{(Click gallery images to enlarge. Touch/Mouse over for captions.)}

Day 65 – Tuesday, July 1st, 2025 – To: Croton-on-Hudson, NY
Half Moon Bay

Tuesday morning, the rain finally came to a stop. We had arranged to cruise from Atlantic Highlands to the Statue of Liberty with Breakaway so that we could take their picture in front of the statue, it’s a Looper tradition. They needed to get fuel, and the fuel dock opened at 7:00 am. We got ready and waited in our slip until they were finished. While we were getting dressed, we noticed a wet spot on the bed. Our skylight hatch in the bedroom was leaking, another thing to add to the to-do list! At 7:45, Breakaway had finished fueling and we both set off toward Manhattan.

In Lower Bay, there were a number of small boats using long poles with rake baskets on the ends called Oyster Tongs, and the people who fish with them are called “Oyster Tongers”. It looks like a hard way to make a living!

We passed the Roamer Shoal lighthouse, then the West Bank Lighthouse, before passing Coney Island and the Coney Island Lighthouse. Next, we passed under the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, the gateway to New York Harbor. Just inside the harbor was the Robbins Reef lighthouse. We were busy playing dodgem with the New York Ferries, tug boats, and Staten Island ferries while positioning ourselves to get a good picture of Breakaway in front of the Statue of Liberty, so we didn’t get many pictures.

When we got close to the statue, we cut across the main channel and let Breakaway move between us and the statue for their Looper picture. Brenda snapped a bunch of photos while Deb and Gregg ran down from their helm to stand by the rail. I concentrated on avoiding the tour boats and ferries.

Breakaway was spending the night at Liberty Landing Marina, right next to the statue, so that they could do some sightseeing. We’ve been there twice before, so we decided to skip it this time. Liberty Landing is one of the most expensive marinas, located directly across from Manhattan and adjacent to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. For the Fourth of July, they were quoting $12 per foot, plus electricity and a minimum of three nights. For us, that would have been around $1,800! No thanks!

Once we were done taking pictures of Breakaway, we said our goodbyes by radio, and we high-tailed it up the Hudson to get away from the washing machine waves that all of the ferries, sightseeing boats, barges, and other traffic make.

The Hudson River is one of our favorite parts of the loop. As long as you stay on the boat and don’t look too closely, Manhattan is beautiful, with lots of unique architecture and concrete canyons where you can look down the Avenues from one side of Manhattan to the other.

On the New Jersey side, the land rises quickly, and most of the Jersey side is tall cliffs that border the river. It’s beautiful. The main cliffs are called the Palisades. Anyone who has driven around New Jersey near Manhattan may recognize the Palisades Parkway that runs along the top of the cliffs.

We went under the George Washington Bridge, watching all the northbound traffic come to a standstill on the bridge as they tried to get an early start for the Fourth of July weekend (and failed).

We cruised past Yonkers, watching the commuter trains that run along the bank on the New York side and admiring the cliffs rising on the New Jersey side. We passed under the Mario Cuomo Bridge, formerly known as the Tappan Zee Bridge, and the Sleepy Hollow Lighthouse. Just on the other side of the point from Half Moon Bay is the infamous Sing Sing Prison. It’s where the term “Going Up The River” originated, as prisoners were once transported by boat from New York City up the Hudson River to Sing Sing.

We rounded the point and headed into our slip at Half Moon Bay Marina. This is our third stay here, and we love it. Steve, the marina manager, is great, and we always enjoy our stay here. It can be a little rocky, but the large breakwater helps dampen the waves, especially from the large tankers, barges, and ferries that go past frequently.

Once we were settled in, I took the bike into town to pick up a few supplies. At 5:00, we took an Uber to The Tavern for dinner. The Tavern is just over a mile away, and we would normally have taken the bikes, but it was in the 90s, and the forecast was for rain and thunderstorms. We had a nice dinner, then went back to the boat, getting there just as the first raindrops started to fall.

We had some rolls of thunder and about an inch of rain in an hour. The rain continued for most of the night.

_{(Click gallery images to enlarge. Touch/Mouse over for captions.)}

Day 66 – Wednesday, July 2nd, 2025 – In: Croton-on-Hudson, NY

We plan to stay in Half Moon Bay through the holiday weekend, leaving on Monday, the 7th. This is a very popular boating area, and we don’t want to deal with all of the weekend warrior boaters celebrating the holiday on the water. When we woke up this morning and opened the shade on our skylight hatch in the bedroom, water poured out onto the bed again. We remembered that we had replaced that hatch over the July 4th weekend when we were here at Half Moon during our first loop trip in 2019! I spent an hour removing the hatch, which required removing 10 screws, and then using a putty knife to break the seal from the caulking. The seal was still relatively intact in the front, but in the back, where the hinges were, the silicone sealant had degraded, and I could see where water was getting in.

Once I had the hatch out and the old caulking cleaned up, I had an idea what I needed for supplies, so I took an Uber to the next town over (the closest hardware store), to get some caulking, screws, and cleaner. When I got back, it took me another two hours to remount the hatch and clean everything up.

We spent the rest of the afternoon keeping cool, and watching a momma duck teaching her ducking how to swim. In the evening, we rode the bikes up the road to a Greek restaurant for dinner. We haven’t had Greek food since we were in Tarpon Springs, FL, in 2024, when we were on our second Loop.

It was delicious, and the portions were huge! When we were done, we packed up our leftovers and rode back to the boat for the night.

_{(Click gallery images to enlarge. Touch/Mouse over for captions.)}

Day 67 – Thursday, July 3rd, 2025 – In: Croton-on-Hudson, NY

Today was another boat project day. The macerator pump for our guest head has been acting up, and every now and then, it just stops working. I ordered a replacement on Amazon, and it arrived at the marina last night. Before I took my morning shower, I thought I’d tackle installing it. The pump is located in a small cubby behind the bathroom cabinet. You have to pull out the cabinet to gain access. I’m fairly skilled at getting it in and out, as there are several maintenance items located behind it, and I visit it often enough that I’ve installed a light.

As boat projects go, it went pretty well! The part fit, and the part worked. I replaced the hoses when I re-plumbed all of the black water pipes two years ago, so they came off fairly easily. The old pump was original to the boat, so it was 20 years old. When I pulled on it to take it out, it broke in two! I guess it was ready for a replacement.

The entire project took just over an hour, I only sustained one minor wound, and I didn’t cover myself in poo water! Woo hoo!

Once I was done, I took a shower to clean up and then spent the rest of the morning doing some accounting and dealing (fighting) with banks. In the early afternoon, I rode the bike up to the local bank to stock up on cash. From here on, our route becomes increasingly rural, and then we cross into Canada, so this was one of my last chances to stock up. More and more marinas charge extra for credit cards (or offer a discount for cash). When spending $800 to $1,000 to fill up, the extra fees add up.

The summer cycle of pop-up late afternoon thunderstorms continued today, and at 5:00, we began hearing rumbles of thunder and a light sprinkling of rain. At 5:30, we heard from our friends on Breakaway, who were on a mooring ball about 20 miles north of us, that a storm came through and damaged the marina, tearing off part of a dock.

Thirty minutes later, it reached us. We recorded wind speeds over 50 mph, and it kicked up 3-4 foot waves on the Hudson River. Fortunately, the break wall took the edge off the waves, but we still had three-footers rolling through the marina. It was a rough ride! Brenda and I scrambled to get a few extra lines on the boat and roll up our sunscreen. All of the boats in the marina were really rocking and rolling. The boat was rocking at angles of up to 20°. The storm lasted about 30 minutes, and the wind and waves calmed down. We didn’t get much rain, only about 1/4 inch; it was mostly wind.

When the storm passed, and the wind calmed down, we went out on the dock to check for damage and see how the other boaters fared. It appears that everyone came out pretty well. A few docks had minor damage, and there were a few snapped lines, but all in all, it was not bad, given the intensity. Our only damage was that one piece of our rubber deck padding came unstuck and lifted up; it will be an easy fix.

_{(Click gallery images to enlarge. Touch/Mouse over for captions.)}

Day 68 – Friday, July 4th, 2025 – In: Croton-on-Hudson, NY

After the storm of last evening, we had a good night’s sleep with just the normal gentle rocking. After breakfast, we took a Lyft to the local Walmart. As I’ve mentioned I usually check the pricing and availaility of both Uber and Lyft. This morning, Lyft was about $10 cheaper for the ride! If the prices are similar, I’ll usually take Uber as I find the drivers and vehicles are usually a bit better. Our first Lyft driver was new, and had only been driving for three days. (You can see the driver’s experience by clicking on their name on both Uber and Lyft). He missed his exit coming to pick us up, so the pickup took an extra 5 minutes. Then, while we were riding, I noticed that he was watching videos on his phone while driving! OMG! We made it safely to Walmart, but I reported him to Lyft.

The Walmart was odd; it was small and only had a tiny grocery section. No refrigerated or frozen items, no meats, no eggs, no produce. Just dry goods. When we finished at Walmart, we took an Uber back to the marina. We do need eggs and some produce, but there is a health food market located up the street from the marina that offers produce and refrigerated goods. We will either go there or ride our bikes to the Shop-Rite in town.

After we put the groceries away, we hung around the boat for the afternoon. I fixed the rubber decking that had come up during yesterday’s storm, and we relaxed the lines that we had tightened down so that we ride a little better in the water.

While we were on the back of the boat, three gaggles of geese came swimming past. I grabbed a bit of bread and tossed it out to the last group. They must have telepathy, because the other two groups turned around and swam back looking for a handout! We’re not feeding 30 geese! They hung around the back of the boat for about 10 minutes before giving up and moving on.

When we visited Georgetown, SC, a friend of ours, Michael (of A&M Marine Fame), gave us two 45-day dry-aged steaks and some maple-honey bacon. He obtains super high-quality meat, then dry-ages and cures it himself. We’ve been saving the steaks for a special occasion, and July 4th was just that occasion! We did a fresh salad, a Caprese Salad, and some grilled baby bok choy. The steak was amazing! We just did a simple prime rib rub with rosemary, and that was all it needed. Talk about flavorful and tender, beautifully marbled. Melt in your mouth. A Fabulous Feast on the Fourth! Thank you so much, Michael! Michael is THE best diesel engine mechanic we’ve met bar none, but I think he’s missed his calling and should open a high-end butcher shop instead! Maybe when he retires. 🤣🤣🤣

After dinner, we went out on the bow to watch the sunset. Better than fireworks!

_{(Click gallery images to enlarge. Touch/Mouse over for captions.)}

Day 69 – Saturday, July 5th, 2025 – In: Croton-on-Hudson, NY

Saturday was another relaxing day on the boat. As we predicted, all of the yahoos were out on their boats, so it was rocky in the marina all day long. Around noon, we’d had enough and jumped on the bikes and rode into town to the Shop-Rite Grocery store. Aside from eggs, we really didn’t need anything, but we just wanted to get off the boat for a bit. We picked up a few things (eggs, milk, cheese, some veggies) and a roasted chicken for dinner. We then rode up the street to Susan’s Bakery. We visited there on our last visit, and they had some excellent baked goods. We picked up breakfast for the next two days and then rode back to the boat.

I did some accounting and blog writing for the rest of the day, and Brenda wrote postcards, watched cow videos (she’s addicted), and napped.

We had planned to have the roasted chicken we bought for dinner, but we have been hearing about an Italian Restaurant in town called Capriccio that everyone was raving about. Tomorrow we have to pack up the bikes and get ready to move on Monday morning, so we decided to save the chicken and go to Capriccio while we still had the bikes out.

We rode into town to the restaurant at 5:00. The recommendations were correct. They were very busy; inside, on their patio, pickup orders and a constant stream of delivery drivers. The food was excellent. Brenda had the Fettuccine with Prosciutto, and I had the Mushroom Tagliatelle. Both were excellent, and the portions were generous, we took half of them home! They are also known for their garlic knots, which is pizza dough with garlic oil made into buns. We picked up a six-pack to have with our leftovers.

We got back to the boat around 6:30, and settled in for the night.

---

Recap of the week

June 29th to July 5th, 2025. From Cape May, NJ, to Croton-on-Hudson, NY. We traveled 172 miles this week and 1,180 miles total. We survived our Ocean Voyage and our first real storm of the trip.

Next week, we continue up the Hudson River with stops at Poughkeepsie to visit the CIA (you all wondered what I’ve been doing since retiring), New Baltimore (where Stress Blows), and Troy (for the biggest Farmers Market on the Loop), New York.