June 6-7 - Days 11-12
Kingston NY - Donavan's Shady Harbor, New Baltimore NY

• Start 8:01 AM
• End 12:40 AM
• Underway 4:40
• Distance 36 Miles
• Total Miles on Trip 367
• Avg Speed 7.8 Knots
• Weather - Smoggy, 55 Degrees, 2KN NNW

At promptly 6:45am, Matt & I launched the dinghy and headed down the creek to go back into town for some of the best and freshest doughnuts ever made. Half Moon Rondout Café & Doughnuts is an absolute must stop! You order your doughnuts, the write your order on a paper bag, and hand it to the cook, to make them fresh as you wait. Depending on how many people are in line, it can be a slow process but it is worth it. We arrived when they opened at 7am, and there were already a couple of people in front of us. When we left there were several people in line including a couple of loopers. It was challenging not to eat the doughnuts on the return dinghy ride. But they were still warm and delicious when we got back to our boats.

The trip from Kingston to New Baltimore was uneventful. We are still dealing with the smoke from the forest fires in Canada, but it is not as bad as yesterday. We truly appreciate everyone that has reached out and asked how we are doing with the smoke. From all the news reports and photos we are seeing it is actually worse at home then it is here. The biggest inconvenience is the ride is not as pretty as it could and should be. But it is all part of the experience and challenge. The other effect from the smoke is it is keeping the temperature down. Normally in June it is in the mid 70's during the day, and now it is in the mid 50's.

Donavan's Shady Harbor Marina, is a very popular stop for Loopers. Every year the host a pig roast around the second weekend of June. This year it will be on June 11th, and loopers are already arriving and waiting. We are not going to stay for the Pig Roast. It is supposed to be a great event with over 30 looper boats attending; when everyone leaves it will make getting dock space difficult for a while.

While talking to Runaway (Chris & Donna) Chris told us, they could not use the water on their boat. The water heater was leaking so bad, that they had to keep the water pump shut off. They had a new water heater, but there were a couple of screws in the back of it, that were next to impossible to get our bodies in far enough reach. Several of us tried, but could not reach the screws. Chris ended up asking one of the young (and very skinny) dockhands to do it. He got the screws out in about two minutes.

After working on Runaway, we headed to docktails. Over all it was a very mellow stop. Last time we were here, it was much livelier with everyone hanging out in the pool. This time it was way to cold for that.

Our next stop Albany is just a short hop away. We are going to Albany where we are picking up a rental car. We are taking a quick trip back to New Jersey so I can move Sea Fox back to its slip for the summer.