Woke up to another beautiful morning. But, I think everyone was just a little nervous about the trip to the New York Harbor. We all had heard horror stories! Again, we had great seas with hardly any wind. We had to make it by several fishing boats, large and small that seem to want to anchor in the channel. There must be good fishing there because they were there when we came in last night and then again this morning.
The first bridge we came to was the Verrazano Narrows Bridge that links Staten Island to Brooklyn. It also serves as the dividing line between Upper Bay and Lower Bay.
As we passed by Staten Island the whole panorama of New York City just spread out in front of us. And there among all the tour boats and ferries in all her glory was the Statue of Liberty! Standing 300 feet tall – serene and lovely. I still can't believe that we actually were able to boat up to her. Well, we did have to stay at least 150 yards away, but who cares! I never could have dreamed this. What a Kodak moment! We took pictures of the other boats and they took pictures of ours with her in the background. There we were – in the New York Harbor seeing all the things that we had heard about. Now, I'm starting to sound like a small town girl from the Midwest - wait a minute – I am!
There is the area called the Battery which got its name from a battery of 92 guns placed there by the British in 1693 to ward off attacks by the French. We saw the 1884 Fireboat Station that displays a clock built by Seth Thomas. It strikes the time with ships bells. We could see Ellis Island, the Empire State Building, Pier 57 and several other landmarks. We passed this huge sailboat that is over 200 feet long! It was sailing under British flags. I learned later that you could lease it out for a week for only $364,000! Anyone up for that?
We really didn't have any trouble in the Harbor except for the ferries. They are very large and go very fast and do not get out of your way. You get out of theirs!! There are so many of them crossing back and forth all over the Harbor. We probably spent about an hour there in the Harbor just taking pictures and soaking it all in.
We crossed under the George Washington Bridge which has two decks of traffic. What was so nice though that once we got beyond the GW Bridge, the metropolis pretty much started to dissipate. Then we saw the Palisades. The cliffs were striking! It was hard to believe that we had just gone through all the hub bub of the Harbor only minutes before.
As we ventured on we went through Yonkers – you could see the trains running back and forth to the City. Then we spied the town of Ossining. This is where Sing Sing is! The maximum security prison. The one where the Rosenbergs were held and executed! We better not pick up any hitchhikers, huh!
Finally we decided that we would anchor our near Haverstraw Bay just around Croton Point near the Half Moon Marina. It was about 3:30 and we had had a big day! Mike took the dinghy in to run to the store. He found out that at the park just over by the marina, they were having a "music revival" this weekend. It is a fundraiser for "Save the Bay". Trying to clean up the Hudson River. They told him that it was a lot cleaner than it had been in the past and that they swam in it now. From the looks of it – I can tell you I'm NOT swimming in it! The revival is put together by Pete Segar. I imagine there will be some pretty good bands there, but we just couldn't justify staying through the weekend. They had brought over a barge for this 100' sailboat that they bring over to party on. The event used to be held just on the sailboat, but its outgrown it.
During the night and into the morning there was a light rain. It was cool and I doubt if anyone had a hard time sleeping. When we got up, it was pouring! We had planned to head out around 8:00 but we waited until about 9:30 for the rain to stop. We headed out just as the sun came out! What luck!
We weren't on the river long before we came up on West Point. It was really a cool sight from the river. You used to be able to dock there, but no longer because of 911. As we went on up the river we were shocked to see just how pretty the scenery had become. Not the water! The scenery! There was a lot of debris in the water. We passed Foundry Cove where they used to make cannons during the Civil War. We then came up on this island (Pollepel Island). It had an old run down castle on it! It was called Bannerman's Castle. He had built it back in the early 1900's for a summer resort. But I guess he didn't keep it up. Hmmm. The state took over in the 1960s and now if you want to see it – you have to take a tour boat.
We could see that there was some rain headed our way. Even though Mike kept saying that it was going south of us. We found another cheap marina at Norris State Park. – Norrie Point Marina. Only a dollar a foot. Now you don't get much for a dollar a foot, but we did get to tie up safely and have electric and water. However, before we could get there, the storm hit! When we did get there, we had to wait out in the river for about an hour for it to subside. Rain! Lightening! Wind! - Strong! That was a little unnerving! We could see the marina. We were only about 100 yards from it. But they didn't want to get out it in to help up tie up. I didn't blame them, I didn't want to get out and deal with the lines either! So once it had subsided, we made our way in. We're here for the night. We plan to head on up the river in the morning. The whole Hudson River is about 155 miles long. We've made it about 70 miles so far. So, I think we have a couple more days of traveling before we make it to troy NY which is the end of the Hudson. There we pick up the Erie Canal!
Till next time!
Admiral "C"
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