The Beautiful Hudson River Valley

George Washington Bridge

Departing New York City we cruised beneath the George Washington Bridge and past the Palisades heading north on a beautiful, sunny day.  We were happy to once again be traveling the “blue highway”.  As we cruised beneath theTappan Zee Bridge, the longest bridge crossing the Hudson, the sky seemed bluer and the trees seemed greener after all of the rain of the previous days.

Tappan Zee Bridge

Many boats were on the water enjoying the lovely weather.  Our destination for the day was Bear Mountain State Park, a very scenic area and the start of the Hudson Highlands.  Bear Mountain Bridge crosses the Hudson at this location, the world’s longest when it was constructed in 1924 and the first vehicular bridge to cross the Hudson.  It carries the Georgia to Maine Appalachian Trail.  A family of Mute Swans swam over to welcome us when we arrived.  

Bear Mountain Bridge

Our Very Scenic Anchorage

Notice the Third Baby on Mom's Back

 Passenger trains run close to the shore on the eastern side of the Hudson River while freight trains run along the western shore.  Our anchorage was fairly close to the western shore, we watched as trains passed our location, the freight trains sounding their horns at frequent intervals as they passed.  Fortunately, there were few trains during the night.  Our good weather was not to hold, we awoke to cloudy skies. 

Highland Falls

The United States Military Academy

Continuing up river, we passed Highland Falls and West Point, fortified in 1779 it is the oldest continuously occupied military post in the United States and home of the United States Military Academy (the nation’s oldest service academy).  It is here in an area called “World’s End” that the river reaches its greatest depth of 216 feet.  It is also here that a chain was stretched across the river in an attempt to keep the British from traveling further up river during the Revolutionary War.  The attempt failed. 

Bannerman's Island

We passed Bannerman’s Island with the ruins of a Scottish castle and munitions arsenal built by Francis Bannerman still standing prominently on the island. Just after we passed the village of Newburgh the rains returned making visibility difficult.  

View Through the Windshield

We tied up at Norrie Point State Park near Staasburg, NY, a beautiful setting with new floating docks. 

View From the Marina, St. Alfonsus Seminary

In the morning when the rain stopped, we rented a car from Enterprise and, yes, they drove from Poughkeepsie to pick us up. The old Poughkeepsie-Highland Railroad Bridge built in 1889 has been turned into a pedestrian walkway.  The longest cantilevered and truss span bridge in the world was reborn in 2009 as ‘Walkway Over the Hudson State Historic Park” and is now the longest elevated pedestrian bridge in the world. We took the opportunity to walk across and see this beautiful area from a different vantage point. 

View to the North

 

Looking Back 

View to the South

We made reservations at the Culinary Institute of America and enjoyed dinner in their lovely Northern Italian restaurant, Catarina de' Medici.  It was a memorable evening.   
There are four true light houses along the Hudson, built for a lighthouse keeper and his family, they were occupied until the lights were automated beginning in the 1950s. 

Esopus Meadows Light

Kingston Light

Saugerties Light

Hudson Athens Light

Stopping in Catskill Creek we encountered a village that time has truly forgotten.  They have not yet recovered from Irene nearly two years ago and the recent heavy rains have not helped their situation.

Catskill Creek

Departing early in the morning from Catskill we were attempting to get to Albany to wait out yet another storm.  We called ahead to confirm our reservations and found that Albany Yacht Club was full because boats could not leave. The Erie Canal was closed due to high water.  We are currently docked at the Castleton Boat Club, just south of Albany, waiting for repairs to be made to the locks on the Erie Canal which resulted from the high water and excessive rainfall they have experienced recently.  We will continue our journey when the locks reopen for navigation.

After the Storm at Castleton-on-Hudson

The Big Apple

On Wednesday, June 5^th we were ready to depart Tuckerton, NJ.  It was a beautiful morning; we knew that we had a short weather window in which to move on to our next destination, Staten Island, New York.  We departed early with the high tide in order to have the most water underneath us.  Our route was planned using the track from our chart plotter, like using virtual breadcrumbs when we came into the marina.  This was a good plan; however, the chart plotter only used waypoints and erased our original track.  So…..  with Leslie using her binoculars to pick up the buoys and Harry using the chart plotter and depth gauge we were able to carefully pick our way back out the way we had come through Little Egg Inlet and into the Atlantic Ocean.

Light Station at Little Egg Inlet

Once out of the inlet, we headed north.  Happy to be once again on our way we enjoyed the ride.  As we rounded Sandy Hook, New Jersey and headed into Great Kills Harbor we could see the Freedom Tower in the distance.  Having traveled 97 miles we were ready for a quiet evening.  As we entered Great Kills, we were stunned by the level of devastation still evident from Super Storm Sandy.  Most of the mooring balls were empty in this harbor which would normally be full this time of year.  It is one thing to see the devastation on the news, seeing it firsthand nearly eight months later is something else entirely.

Mooring Field in Great Kills Harbor

In the morning we dropped the mooring and headed up the Hudson River traveling under the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, reported to be the world’s longest suspension bridge with a center span of 4,260 feet.
 

West Bank Light

Verrazano Narrows Bridge

We then passed the Statue of Liberty which welcomed us into the harbor, the island of Manhattan glistening in the sunshine ahead.  

Lady Liberty

We continued up the Hudson to Lincoln Harbor where we had reservations.  Our friends, Bob and Martine Fee soon arrived and took us to their lovely apartment which overlooks Midtown Manhattan. We had a delightful lunch then headed into the city to tour the 9/11 Memorial.  It was a beautiful and poignant reminder of the horror of that day.  We felt fortunate to be able to visit this site to see it for ourselves.  We found the “survivor tree”, with its amazing story of struggle and perseverance.

Freedom Tower

Memorial Pool

 

Survivor Tree

  












The next two days were very busy.  Harry had another project on the boat; they say that cruising is “maintenance in exotic places”, we have found this to be true.  The project required a couple of runs to the hardware store and Bob graciously provided transportation.  Martine took Leslie and Hali to “Woofie Pet” where Hali had an appointment with the groomer.

Exhausted After Her "Day of Beauty"

In the evening Bob and Martine picked us up for dinner at Fontana di Trevi in Leonia, a fabulous Italian restaurant, their original location in Manhattan is said to have inspired Billy Joel to write “a bottle of red, a bottle of white”.  During dinner we noticed police and fire activity on the street outside.  One fireman walked through the restaurant while we were finishing our meals.  We were curious as to what was going on.  It turned out there was a gas leak at the building on the corner, the streets were closed for a block in all directions and we were in the center of this closure! We enjoyed tiramisu and cappuccino at Bob and Martine’s after dinner.  The idea was to enjoy their stunning view of the city by night but it was raining so hard that we couldn’t see across the river.  Tropical Storm Andrea had arrived.  It poured all night!

View From our Boat During a Brief Break in the Storm

We are very grateful to Bob and Martine for their help and for the wonderful time we had with them while we were there.

After the Storm

We enjoyed one last evening together before we headed on up the river on a bright and beautiful day, waving as we passed their apartment. 

Their Apartment (on the left) As Seen From the Hudson

A Short Delay

Our engines are strong but lately we have had an engine alarm sound on occasion.  While in Cape May we wanted to have this checked out but because it would be warranty work we found no one to take on the job.  We found there was a Regal dealer along the way and put this information aside in case it was needed.  Departing Cape May on a gorgeous morning and heading north along the coast, sure enough, we experienced an “engine pull back,” the exact problem the aforementioned alarm was warning about.

A Beautiful Day on the Atlantic Ocean

 We headed into Little Egg Inlet, NJ to the Regal dealer who we knew could diagnose and solve this problem.  From previous experience we knew this wasn’t serious but because we will be in some remote areas on this trip we felt it was prudent to check it out.  Our tide tables told us we were entering Little Egg Inlet at ½ tide, it turned out we were closer to low tide and the channel into Sheltered Cove Marina in Tuckerton, NJ was VERY shallow.  We proceeded along our planned course and there were buoys leading in all directions.  We stopped to ascertain which buoys were applicable to our destination, it was quite confusing.  The direction we thought we should go was obscured by a very visible sand bar!  A passing fisherman observed our dilemma and kindly led us through the winding channel toward the marina. “Local Knowledge” is imperative in some of these instances.  Once close, he went on his way and we continued on into the marina.  The area was very flat and we realized immediately it had been severely impacted by Superstorm Sandy.  Houses were in every state of disrepair and the marina was in a state of reconstruction.

Sheltered Cove Marina

The technician, Vinny, met us at the boat and diagnosed the problem as a bad throttle sensor.  We knew we had a short weather window, if the problem couldn’t be fixed that day we would be there for several more.  The required part was not in stock, it would have to be ordered and since it was Friday, it would be Tuesday before it arrived.  Not what we wanted to hear!  There wasn’t a blade of grass for several blocks for Hali and the prospect of spending several days was unappealing; we were here so we would make the best of it.  Saturday morning we rented a car which gave us many more options.  We did some shopping, found a Costco, a Starbucks and a nice park for Hali among other things.  We checked out the area and drove out to Long Beach Island on a rainy Sunday.  On Monday we attempted to fill up our gas tanks, this would seem a simple task but it took three trips to the fuel dock to accomplish! We finally completed this on Tuesday morning. 

At the Fuel Dock

That same morning we were advised that the part was on back order!  Vinny was as surprised as we were and as upset; he set about to find a solution.  He found a part not too far away and with instructions in hand we set off to retrieve the part.  Two hours later we returned and Vinny completed the job in short order. 

Ready to Go Once Again

Our weather window has again opened up and we are ready to proceed, we hope to reach Staten Island tomorrow. We owe a big thank you to Joey Cannon and Vincent Yeo from Sheltered Cove Marina for working so diligently to get us on our way again so quickly.