Our 40-mile trip to Shady Harbor Marina in New Buffalo was spectacular. You will see in the photos that the days of haze is finally burning off. We enjoyed the blue sky and miles of visibility.
We arrived early to Shady Harbor and were so pleased with the marina and grounds. They even had free range roosters and chickens which I enjoyed watching and even got a little homesick over it.
A lot of loopers are here and we talked with most of them. Bob and Michelle will be in a little behind us. They were still on the dock when we went through Kingston this morning. Loopers are the friendliest people. Everyone has a similar story, only a lot different. We love chatting with all loopers but this far into the journey and with so much to learn about yet, we seek out the Gold Loopers with the gold flags which indicates they have done the full loop at least once. Those are the people with knowledge of what to expect ahead.
After lunch we prepped Saunter for her Erie Canal Journey. As she stands, she is to tall for most of the bridges so we need to lower her arch which will bring her down to 18’6”. The lowest bridge is 20’ (1’6” to spare), most are 21-24’ We are 23’3” with the arch up and antennas down. Still a bit close, so we will make most of the Erie Canal with both the antennas and arch down. We also go all of our lines out and fenders prepped. Tomorrow will be our first lock.
In the evening we had a drink onboard with Bob and Michelle then went to dinner at the restaurant at the marina. It was fun to get to know them better. We enjoyed a bon-fire following dinner until the bugs started biting. It was time to say goodnight. We will part ways here tomorrow. They are going home to work and leaving their boat here to get some service work done. That is a common practice for many loopers. Although they are not loopers, their delivery is still a long trip for them.
Donavan’s Shady Harbor is a must stop for all boaters. Right on the Hudson River and a very fun environment.
Comments