The Salt Shaker is still afloat.

Besides being way behind in our posts, we are now in Canada where it is very expensive to upload big files like photos.  So we are forced to put this off until we return to the USA.

Right now we are in a pleasant little marina in the pleasant little town of Lakefield on the Trent-Severn.  We elected to stay a second day.

Ice cream seems to the the passion in Canada.  It IS very good.

Yesterday we went thru the Peterborough "lift lock."  You motor into a pan of water that weighs about 300 tons when lifted out of the water.  Once you are in and tied off and the upper pan of water is secure, the lower pan, with us inside goes up and the upper pan with whatever boats are going the opposite direction comes down.  When you have traveled the 65 feet up, matched by the other pan of water going 65 feet down, they open the exit end and you motor off and keep going on your way.  It is quite an experience.  This is the biggest lock of its type in the world.  They have a reception center at the lock where you can learn the history and the technical facts.

Tony n Pat

Day 78 to day 80 Greenport to Clinton CT to Haverstraw marina on the Hudson

This is the face dock at the Cedar Island Marina at Clinton, CT.  We are slowly headed for the far end where we will spend the night after being able to visit with our friends, John and Mert,  who winter in our FL neighborhood.  You get to the marina via a narrow but well marked channel and then up a small river.  The channel in the river is also well marked.  These waterways are well marked because you can not deviate out of them as you would be sure to run aground.

John, Mert and Pat in front of Lenny and Joe's Fish Tale Restaurant.  A very good place for seafood and a cold brew.  After touring their local area, they took us to their home where we enjoyed the sea shore looking across the sound and later went to the "Dock and Dine," an upscale eatery for dinner.  We had an excellent dinner and a wonderful time there.

This was a home owned by Katherine Hepburn in her later years.

The "castle like" structure was one of the early houses in John and Mert's neighborhood.  It has an interesting history.  It was a resturant at some point in its history but it is now once again, a residence.

Pat at the helm as we go zipping down the LI Sound back toward the East River.  Our intention was to take the East River down to the Harlem River and cut across the Harlem River over to the Hudson on the north side of Manhattan Island and save a lot of time and miles.  Could not do.  There was some construction just after the first bridge we encountered and could not pass.  Soooo we reversed course and headed back to the East River to go around the south end.

Another shot for papa Joe.  We think this is the office where his pension checks are created.

One of the air processors for the Holland Tunnel.  There is one of these on each side of the river.

A FDNY fireboat we passed in the Hudson.

The aircraft carrier "Intrepid."  She is on museum status on the Hudson River.

The Tappan Zee bridge just south of Tarrytown, NY.  New Jersey is the shore on the left.

The Pallisades.  These are part of the New Jersey shore and they go on for miles.  Ice and running water and time can do lots of stuff.

Pat's solution to keeping the cabin door open when it is raining.

We got to Haverstraw Marina in Haverstraw NY.  This is a really big marina.  They have in excess of 1000 slips.  Our first stop was to the gas dock.  There they gave us a map of the marina and drew routes and circled key points so we could find our assigned slip.  Kind of like they sometimes do in a big motel where the clerk gives you a map of the grounds and draws the route to your room.

My flash did not go off.  It was not until the next day that I found the switch that controls that feature.

Mark, Sylvia, our across the street neighbors in Florida cruising the loop aboard the Heavenly Ours and Rosie and Don, our newest friends on the loop cruising aboard their boat "Just Rosie."  They both anchored in a local cove and dingied over to the Haverstraw Marina where we had a very fun dinner at the Hudson River Club.

You might guess that the name of their dingy is "Heavenly Minutes."

Day 70 - Day 77 Liberty Landing to Greenport, LI on the north fork

For the golfers amongst us.  This is the party barge owned by the Bayonne Golf Club at the Liberty Landing fuel dock as we were departing.

Notice the "Colgate Clock" at the entrance to the canal that took us to the Liberty Landing Marina.  This is the landmark that is used on all radio calls to guide unfamiliar boats to the canal entrance.

Replica Square riggers along the south shore of Manhattan.  There were several such vessels, at various places.  Our route took us from Liberty Landing on the Jersey side of the Hudson, south and around the lower end of Manhattan and then north on the East River.  The East River meanders back and forth and leads into the Long Island Sound that took us up to the North Fork at the eastern end of Long Island.

The Manhattan Bridge with the Brooklyn Bridge in the background.  This is looking south on the East River.

View of the "Midtown Manhattan" skyline with a view of the Empire State building.  It was started just as the great depression started.  The jobs that were available to build this were prized as you can imagine.  It was built under budget and ahead of schedule and was completed just as the depression was at its worst.  For a number of years it was referred to as the "Empty State Building" due to a lack of tenants.  It took years for the building to reach anything near full occupancy.

There was one building I was sure we had a picture of and of course we did not.  This was the United Nations Building.  It was notable because it is in an extreme state of disrepair.  On one of the lower buildings in the complex, a window is skewed at a 45 degree angle because it had slipped out of its frame.  This building had all the trappings of an abandoned skyscraper in a third world county.  The building has been cited for code violations and out of service and leaking mechanicals, but to see it from the outside was a shock.

This is for Grandpa Joe.  We think this is the Astoria power plant where he spent almost his entire working life.  He is getting pension checks processed by people who I am sure were not yet born when Grandpa Joe retired.

This is how LaGuardia Airport looks from the East River.  There is a sign along the way warning ships of a certain height and above to get clearance from Air Traffic Control before passing.  I think that height was about 100 feet.  Not too many ships need to get cleared by Air Traffic Control.

A light house we passed as we went up the Long Island Sound.  The sound was very pleasant to cruise this day.  The waves were only at the level of a small chop.  Smooth sailing although it was a bit hazy.

This is the Orient Point Lighthouse that is at the tip of the North Fork of Long

Island.  It comes into view as you round the end of the fork and pass between it and Plum Island thru Plum Cut.  This cut can be very rough when the tidal current and wind are strong and opposing.  Today it was quiet.  The lighthouse can be seen from the front deck of Jay's (Pat's brother) and Joanie's beach house on Peconic Bay that separates the north fork from the south fork.

Jay and Joanie's beach house that they recently renovated after years of use in it's original makeup.  I believe that is Pat's niece, Kathy, taking a picture of us taking a picture of them.  We were hoping to get in close enough to anchor but the water shallowed up way out so we took the easy way and motored up to Greenport where we had a nice 8 day stay at Mitchell's Park Marina.

We took the 8 day opportunity to use 3 of them to fly back to Orlando/Palmetto to see Rachel, Jeff and the newest, Lia, and then to go see Grandpa Joe for Father's Day.  It was at Islip airport security that Pat discovered her driver's license had expired.  They did not have to, as it turns out, but they let her on the plane.  Getting it renewed once we were back in Florida was a barrel of fun because our passports were on the boat in New York and with an expired license, you must start the paperwork process as if they did not know you.  Ask Pat.  This was real fun.

On return to Long Island, Pat's daughter Amanda and all the New York area nieces and families were on hand for a Father's day celebration for Pat's brother, Jay.

Just at the outside of Mitchel's Park Marina, was the Indiscretion, a boat that had passed us weeks earlier in one of the Florida or Georgia intracoastal waterways.  Here they seemed to be working out a bit of engine difficulty.  They were in no trouble but they were having a mechanical problem of some sort.  It is gold in color and is a real macho looking boat.

4 were on hand to help us dock.  Were they telling us something?  Was the dockmaster calling for additional help?

We found this short sale while riding around Greenport.  $279,000.00 takes it.

Jay and Joanie at the marina to have dinner with us on the boat.

Ellie, Pat, Ethan and Amanda aboard the Salt Shaker.

Pat and me.

I failed to get any pictures of the "big stick" sail boats in the marina.  There were 7 of them who were staging at Mitchell's Park Marina for the Bermuda Cruisers Rally that began from Greenport on Sunday the 20th.  Details can be found on http://www.iboattrack.com/.  One of them the "Avocation" was captained by Tania Aebi, who is one of small number of ladies who have  circumnavigated the world solo.  She did this a couple of years back.

I got up at 6 to watch these boats leave for their trek to Bermuda.  All crews were very "matter of fact" and had a group "good luck high five" just prior to cast off.

On the front deck of the "beach house."  Part of the family, Sal and Cathy C.

The enclosed carousel at Mitchells Park Marina.  As the name might suggest, the facility besides being a first class marina, is also a public park.

One last view of the Orient Point Lighthouse as we departed for Clinton, CT to visit our friends John and Mert.