Journey up the Hudson

Here are some brief comments & photos from the first few days of our trip up the Hudson River.

We left Liberty Park and headed north, with smoggy overcast skies and the current against us. The Hudson is a tidal river, in fact the farther up you go the greater the tide rises & falls. The Indians called it "the river that flows both ways" and the currents are significant.

Passing this way is an excellent way to sight-see. You don't have to worry about traffic or parking. Of course one is somewhat limited to seeing the sights which are close alongside the waterway, but that includes a lot.

We saw the sloop 'Clearwater' sailing downriver past Manhattan, obviously we got a great view of the George Washington Bridge and the famous little red lighthouse.

We stopped in Tarrytown and saw a bit of excitement. There were some kayakers out in the river just by the Tappan Zee Bridge. We slowed down for them (we don't like to leave big wakes for others to deal with) and waved. There were warning signs of thunderstorms & squalls, but the river seemed calm. Then as we were docking, the wind whipped up and began throwing the Winnie W. around. A difficult situation, but not dangerous; however we could see a mass of tumbling whitecaps out on the river. The VHF radio channel 16 was full of calls and we weren't surprised to see the police & then the rescue squad pull out of the harbor and head out at high speed. It turned out that the kayakers we'd seen had been caught in the squall and become separated from their boats; all were found & pulled in safely.

The photo shows the Winnie W docked in Tarrytown with the Tappan Zee Bridge in the background.

For us, the high point of our stop in Tarrytown was a visit with our friends Bart & Amy. We went out to an Italian restaurant far uphill, dinner was magnificent. Among other things, we discussed the squalls of the afternoon.

There was come catching up to do with chores too, all the household drudgery must go on even when afloat. By the time we had finished, most of the day was gone. There was just enough time to go little further upriver to an anchorage by Croton Point, just across from Haverstraw.

This photo shows sunset over the hills near Haverstraw. Looks almost like a Monet painting (photo by Kathie).

The next day we took advantage of a favorable current and rolled all the way upriver to Kingston. Along the way we had to get used to the sound of trains overtaking from astern, they sound like big angry ships about to run us down. The river cuts through the Hudson Highlands, with Dunderberg & Storm King & Bear Mountains; the channel is very deep here (160' +). One of the interesting sights is Pollopeli Island, which has a castle. This was built in the early 1900s by an arms dealer who apparently liked his privacy.

The last two photos show Pollopeli Island approaching from the south, just north of West Point, then another view of the castle looking back at the island from the north.

At the end of the day we were in Kingston, where we anchored in Rondout Creek. Here we replenished our food supply and spent some more time playing tourist. There is a nice maritime museum covering Hudson River history, with a special display of classic ice yachts.

That doesn't quite get us caught up, and there are lots more interesting things to see. We have a lot more photos which we will be posting soon. One benefit of this inland cruising is that we have pretty good internet connections most of the way!

Doug & Kathie