Finally, on July 18th we said goodbye to Shady Harbor Marina in New Baltimore! Before we left, the boys lassoed yet another errant tree and towed it away so we could safely leave the dock.
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| Clearing the way |
As Sean helped with our lines and pushed us
off, his farewell greeting was “I love you guys”. I guess it was because we
never whined or complained when shit happened, and there was quite a bit of it.
We set off down the Hudson at a blistering
9 knots on the outgoing tide. There were very few boats and the ones we did see
were all going north. More than once we mused that this was an ominous sign and
that perhaps we were heading in the wrong direction (i.e. toward hurricane country).
Mind you, our neighbour at the marina was from “hurricane alley” in Louisiana
and boasted that he had lived through lots of them with nothing but a small
scratch on his boat. He remarked that we would have to be very unlucky to get a
direct hit, which didn’t really make me feel much better.
The only excitement of the day was giant barge that crept up on us very
slowly over the course of several hours. We
kept looking over our shoulders hoping we wouldn’t be in a narrow part of the
river when he was ready to pass us. When he was finally ready to overtake, I
sat on the stern step to take pictures. And then I saw his wake coming at us
like a tsunami! I jumped up and scrambled back up to the fly bridge and
stumbled into my seat just as it hit us. We were tossed around like a cork.
David was wildly steering through the whirling eddies of water that threatened
to spin us around. For a few minutes he looked like he was riding a bucking
bronco! The turbulence continued for a surprising distance after which our
heart rates returned to normal and we realized that we had survived that adventure.
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| The bow wave |
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| The stern wave |
The rest of the day was peaceful as we
passed though gorgeous countryside with the rolling foothills of the Catskills
in the distance and salmon jumping around us. The salmon were a welcome sight
as they are a symbol of environmental integrity and speak to the health of
the river. There were beautiful homes on the banks, including this one that had
its own stone boathouse with pillars! Please excuse the poor focus, but you get
the picture!
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| The mansion |
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| The mansion's stone boathouse and gazebo |
We also passed several abandoned lighthouse
buildings sitting in the middle of the river. They are so much prettier than
the new-fangled ones!
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| Hudson River lighthouse |
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| Another beauty |
After a record-breaking 74 miles we dropped
anchor at Pollopel Island (L44o 27.1’N Lo073o 59.1W).
There stands the abandoned Bannerman Castle, now being held up with guy wires
and only accessible through special tours.
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| Castle at sunset |
We were just up-river from West Point and
had seen many helicopters flying in formation during the day. As the sun was
setting we heard a roar and watched a copter “buzzing” a speedboat on the
river. We were shocked to see him diving down like a bird of prey, coming
surprisingly close to the boat. At first we thought it was a serious operation
of interception but when they each went their separate ways we concluded that
they were probably buddies from the base just horsing around. Scared us for a
moment though!
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| Copter buzz |
In the morning we were greeted by a fleet
of kayakers with several cheerful family groups floating downriver with the
tide. We wondered how they would ever get back against the 3-4 knot current!
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| Early morning kayakers |
We set out in sunny calm weather, passing
many interesting landmarks along the way, including West Point, Sing Sing and
the Indian Point Nuclear facility. Here we saw warning signs and read in our
cruising guide that we would be boarded should we dare come within 300 yards of
the plant. We scooted by trying to look as inconspicuous as possible!
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| West Point |
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| Sing Sing Prison |
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| Nuclear plant |
As we approached the city, the landscape changed, with high granite walls replacing the lush, grassy banks. Soon we rounded a bend to see the George
Washington Bridge and the New York skyline. What a thrill!
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| Rocky shores |
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| Approaching NYC |
And then, as we approached the two-level
bridge, we were into Fort Lee on the west and Manhattan on the East. We were
agog at the sights and experienced a moment of panic as we realized we had
almost overshot our destination – the famous 79th Street Boat Basin.
This facility, run by the New York Parks Department, offers docking (very
expensive) and two mooring fields (only $30 per day) - one for sailboats and
one for motorboats. We tried to make phone contact for instructions but there
was no answer so we just grabbed the first mooring ball we could find in the
area designated for motor vessels.
We were thrilled to arrive early enough on
Saturday afternoon that we would be able to pick up our new folding bikes. We
had been in touch by email with the friendly and helpful staff at Bfold Bikes in
lower Manhattan. We had selected a model designed especially for boat people –
the Dahon Mariner, which they had in stock and were holding for us. The shop
was not open on Sundays so we were very anxious to get there before closing time.
So we raced around packing our knapsacks and getting the dinghy ready and
headed for the dinghy dock to check in with the Boat Basin staff.
We were greeted by a young man and told him
that we had just tied up to a ball. He asked if we were the Canadian trawler
that had just gone by. When we responded “yes”, he looked a bit horrified and
informed us that the mooring balls for motorboats were not meant for larger
heavy boats like ours. There was a serious risk of our boat breaking loose and
becoming the ultimate bumper boat in the middle of the Hudson River! Argh.
Our hearts sank when we realized that we
couldn’t possibly pay the rate for tying up at the dock ($3.50 a foot!!).
However, he offered us an alternative. We could anchor at the far north end of
the sailboat mooring field, quite a considerable distance up river and he would
just charge us $26 a day for dinghy landing. He also warned us that we had
better have a good anchor given the tidal current so we would drag back into
the field of sailboats.
Meanwhile it was close to 3PM and we were
feeling the pressure of getting relocated and getting downtown in time to pick
up our bikes. We raced back to the dinghy, zoomed back to the boat, started the
engines and headed north past the huge sailboat field until we were safely
beyond it (L40o 47.5’N Lo 073o 58.4’).
We set the hook and immediately left in the
dinghy feeling very nervous about not hanging around to be sure she wasn’t
dragging. Normally there is a period of watchful waiting to ensure that the
anchor is well set but we were feeling the pressure of time and decided to
trust our new Rocna 20 (made in New Zealand) that had been very reliable so
far.
When we finally checked in at the marina,
they asked to see our cruising permit. Eeek! This is not something we carry in
our wallets and we have never been asked for it before. When the guy saw the
look on my face, he allowed us to sign in anyway with a promise to bring it to
him the next day. So we were off to the subway! This in itself was quite an
adventure never having been underground in New York. However, we managed to get
a bit of friendly help at the ticket booth and used the automated system to
print out two single fares.
We missed the opportunity to get an express
train so we rode the milk-run from 79th Street to 13th
Street and then walked across to the east side where we found Bfold. This cool
little shop in the basement of an apartment building had the largest selection
of folding bikes we had ever seen! From racing bikes to mountain bikes to
commuter bikes, they had them all, with a huge range of prices from a few
hundred to the thousands.
We were greeted with great enthusiasm and
told that they had been worried we wouldn’t arrive before someone wanted to buy
the ones they had set aside for us. They had only one other Mariner in stock
and there were no more in the city. Whew! We got some great training and then
we were away, riding bikes across Manhattan! It was a tad scary but we had great
directions to get onto the busiest bike path we had
ever seen. It was like a bike highway that follows the western edge of the city, going north and south for
miles and miles!
There were even bike and pedestrian traffic
lights where streets and driveways crossed the path, making it feel very safe,
except for the maniacs who would pull out to pass us lollygaggers in the face
of oncoming cyclists. Given our anchor situation, we were very anxious to get
back to the boat so we didn’t stop for sightseeing, although the route had many
interesting destinations and lovely riverside parks.
We were relieved to see that Peapod hadn’t
budged as we approached in the dinghy. It was a gorgeous evening – warm and
still.
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| Peapod safely at anchor in NYC |
We were also very happy to be back on board
after a long cruising day and a wee taste of the busy city. David fired up the
BBQ and made delicious turkey burgers while we enjoyed a free concert from the
park beside us on shore. Boat traffic was light so we didn’t experience too
much of the rocking and rolling we were warned about. We were, however, on the
flight path for planes landing at JFK airport.
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| Free concert in golden light |
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| Aerial entertainment |
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| Candlelight and burgers |
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| Night lights along Riverside Park |
The next morning we awoke to the sound of a
coxswain urging on a team of women in an outrigger canoe. Only in New York!
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| Serious paddlers |
We decided we needed some weight-bearing
exercise so chose to spend our day touring on foot. We encountered a huge group
of people in the Riverside Park walking for a charity that helps those who need
facial reconstruction surgery. It was a fun and festive atmosphere in a
gorgeous setting of trees and gardens. You would never know you were in one of
the world’s largest cities!
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| Walk for faces |
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| Gorgeous gardens by the river |
Our main goal for the day was to explore
Central Park, another amazing natural resource. We walked our brains out across
the park, on the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir walking/jogging trail
(which only allows clockwise travel!) and saw the Central Park Police precinct
along with their fleet of 3-wheeled vehicles, which reminded me of Italy and my
daughter Rachel.
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| Mini cop car |
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| Amazing jogging trail |
We finally popped out at the Metropolitan
Museum of Art; a gorgeous building undergoing what seemed to be massive
renovations. I also indulged in my passion for gorgeous buildings.
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| The Met |
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| Beautiful apartment |
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| Old synagogue |
We were too tired and hungry to go into the
Museum, and still needed to get groceries, so we carried on in search of lunch.
We had no clue where to go, having no map or tourist guide. As luck would have
it we happened upon a lovely little restaurant called Orsay at Lexington and 75th.
We were fortunate to score a table on their small outdoor patio and soon
realized that we were in quite a classy, white tablecloth type of place.
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| Fabulous eatery |
Here we were, sweaty and tired, in our
running shoes, t-shirts and shorts in amongst a fashionable Sunday brunch
crowd appropriately skinny and very well dressed! Oh well, the staff didn’t
seemed to mind and treated us with great service and amazing food. We both had
the house-smoked salmon appetizer (a meal-sized plate!), which was the best we
had ever experienced. I had a salad with warm chicken breast that was
unbelievably tender and David had a delicious burger cooked to his
specifications with homemade fries (yummy) on the side.
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| Happy tourist |
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| Divine salmon minus one bite |
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| Warm chicken salad |
By this time, we were ready for a nap but
still had to foray for provisions. We headed back toward the Boat Basin, again
through Central Park. This route took us past a marvelous band of drummers,
horse and bicycle-drawn carriages, the pond full of people in rowboats and the
square with a dancing couple and other Sunday celebrants.
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| Drummers |
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| Great way to see the park |
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| Happy people |
We found a fabulous market close to the
boat basin and stocked up on fresh food, including a lovely piece of Canadian
Atlantic salmon. This place was like no other we had seen. It seemed to go on
and on beyond its outdoor fruit and veggie stalls into the bowels of a very
deep, windowless building.
Its aisles were stocked with an amazing array of products and so skinny you could hardly
get past another shopper with a cart. It was actually quite overwhelming! I was worried about the checkout
process as the place was a zoo, packed with people. However, David had
discovered the express line (“no checks”) that guaranteed the fastest checkout
in NYC. They kept their promise and we were out of there at lightening speed
with our backpacks fully loaded.
By this time, we were exhausted and trudged
back to the boat basin complaining of stiff hips and knees. After stowing our
goodies we had a well-deserved nap and a very light dinner of leftovers given
our brunch indulgences.
The next morning, Monday July 21st,
we got up at the crack ‘o dawn hoping to avoid rush hour in New York Harbour. It
was indeed an awesome sight, ghosting down the Hudson toward Lower Manhattan in
an early morning mist. I was nominated to record the occasion for posterity on
our Go-Pro video camera, purchased earlier this year for a trip to Mexico with
Adam, Isa and our darling grandson Oscar.
On that vacation, David had been the
designated photographer so this was my first time using the camera. It took me
a while and many minutes of video from the bow before I realized that I was
holding it backwards and taking selfies with NYC in the background. Doh.
In the meantime I used my trusty iPhone to
snap photos of the Manhattan skyline and the New Jersey side, so all was not
lost. The harbour was busy but not as crazy as we had expected it to be. There
were ferries crossing this way and that but we managed to avoid them as we
approached the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. These landmarks, so etched
in our consciousness, were as impressive as expected. Seeing them, up close and
personal from the water, was awe-inspiring.
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| The new tower |
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| NJ ferry terminal |
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| Ellis Island |
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| The famous lady |
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| The famous ferry |
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| NJ clock |
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| Beautiful skyline |
As we approached the Narrows Bridge,
connecting Brooklyn to Staten Island, we said goodbye to the sheltered
environment of the Hudson River and headed into the North Atlantic Ocean.
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