The Hudson River

We stayed a second night at the anchorage by the Statue of Liberty across the river from Manhattan, just being lazy and enjoying the lack of pressure to keep moving. Went for a bike ride to see Liberty Landing Marina.

And unexpectedly ran into our slip mates from Utsch's Marina (Pat and Dick on "Gypsea"). They had arrived only a few hours before that after the long slog up the Jersey coast.

Off the next day, headed up the Hudson River to Croton-on-Hudson, about 35 miles north. Waited for the tide to start to turn in our favor. It wasn't at first but then eventually we were doing 10 mph instead of our usual 7.5.

We had a good view of the new tower, the New World Trade Center.

And the battleship Intrepid museum on the waterfront.

Who knows what this architect was thinking? And God only knows what it's supposed to be!

Approaching the George Washington bridge with barge traffic.

And then under the bridge.

We made good time up the river and got to the Tappan Zee after a brief rain shower.

Then only another five miles to the marina at Croton-on-Hudson.

Suz came on the train from NYC for a visit and to spend the night. Just had to take a selfie on the way to the restaurant!

Went out to dinner (long walk) and then back to the boat for more drinks! Then up early to see Suz off for the 6:20 train back to the city.

Rented a car with Kathie and Werner for some sightseeing. Beautiful day for a drive along the Hudson.

First stop, West Point Military Academy for the army. This is where they produce the future generals. Briefly toured the visitor's center and then went on a one-hour guided tour.

West Point is a huge campus, over 16,000 acres, with multiple buildings, churches, stadiums, parade grounds, etc. I can't do the entire history (and it has a lot, dates back to the Revolutionary War) but it is a most exclusive school; every year they have over 15,000 applicants for the program and yet only 1,200 are accepted. 

We went into one non-denominational chapel that had beautiful stain glass windows.

And a pipe organ with something like 22,000 pipes! Here's the keyboard.

The commanders have their own houses on the campus.

Next to the beautiful parade grounds.

And the requisite statues to the fallen soldier - this one is for the Civil War soldiers from the North and overlooks the Hudson.

We then drove north to Hyde Park to have lunch at the Culinary Institute of America which is quite well known for the chefs that train here.

We had to wait for 45 minutes to have lunch at one of their restaurants which is run entirely by the students. Very good.

The we drove a few miles north to see the FDR residence at Hyde Park but it was getting late and we had an hour and half drive back to the boat so we just took a quick look around and left. Hey, you've seen one mansion you've seen them all.  But we did manage to squeeze in a side trip to the Croton Dam. 

The dam is only about three miles from the marina and the first thing you see is the waterfall. Construction started in 1892 and it was finished in 1906. The dam is 266' wide at its base, 297' high and 2,188' long. It took 850,000 cubic yards of masonry to build it and at the time, it was the tallest dam in the world.

According to one guide, it is the third largest masonry block structure in the world, only the Great Wall of China and the Giza pyramid are larger. The masonry is amazing. And it holds 19 billion gallons of water.

And the spillway for the dam is built right into the existing rocks.

You can then drive up to the top for an impressive view of the dam.

And look how perfectly it was made. Amazing.

So other than some laundry and last minute chores that was enough fun for one day. Returned the rental car the next morning and started off up the Hudson. There are very few anchoring spots here, the water goes from 140' to 2' in an amazingly short distance so we made a reservation at a marina for the night.

There are train tracks on both sides of the river; east side if for passenger trains and has two or more tracks while the west side has only one track for commercial traffic. 

It's hard to do it justice but this train was carrying tankers and was right on the edge of the water.

Valerie counted 109 cars being towed by two engines.

Most of the homes are separated from the river by the train tracks but this small group of homes seem to be clear of the tracks 

until I saw a train zooming by in their back yards. The poor people have waterfrontage, but also have a train track in their yard, while the rich have their mansions high above on the cliffs.

I couldn't figure out what was going on here until I spotted a swimmer in the water; can't make it out in the picture but the boat and kayak were escorting him/her down the river. Headed for NYC?

Then past West Point where we were the previous day. Boats used to be able to tie up at their dock but of course 9/11 ruined that.

And then past the Civil War Memorial from a different angle.

On Pollepel Island are the remains of the Bannerman Castle. Bannerman was a military surplus magnate who had a huge warehouse of munitions and equipment in NYC and moved most of the stuff here. In 1920, 200 tons of shells and powder blew up and that was then end of that!

And then on into the West Shore Marina for one night; no anchorages in this part of the river . No pictures because you're not missing anything! But the train did go right through the marina yard!

Off the next morning for an uneventful ride up to Kingston. More neat light houses in the river, this one dates back to 1871.

We went past Hyde Park and the Culinary Institute where we had lunch earlier.

And past the Rondout Creek lighthouse

to a nice anchorage at the end of the creek

with pet Canada geese

And interesting kayakers.

Took the dinghy down the creek that evening for "docktails" with fellow cruisers at a marina.

Showers and thunderstorms that night and a breezy day up to Schodack Creek; past more lighthouses.

Nice wide creek jutting off the Hudson got settled and spent a breezy afternoon on the boat. Next day was warm and sunny and we worked on varnishing the rails. 

Shortly after noon we got dive bombed by sea plane.

He was doing practice landings, sometimes called "crash and dash".

Rain that evening and a drizzle the next day so we spent another day at anchor doing chores and reading. Off the next day past Albany, the capital of New York.

How'd they get that truck up there?

And then into the Troy Lock, #1 of the NY State Canal System.

And then the moment of truth: Which way do you want to go????

We went left for the Erie Canal and tied up at the Waterford Visitor center, just at the entrance to lock #2 and the official start of the Erie Canal.

With boats waiting to lock up the first lock.

That's the end of our Hudson cruise and will be the start of the Erie Canal. We will stay here for several days doing laundry, groceries, etc. There are many towns along the way but apparently most are very small with limited stores and services.