Traveling the Hudson

June 22, 2018:  Leaving Jersey City mid-morning, the weather was subdued, mostly cloudy, calm winds and in the low 70’sF.  Until we motored under the George Washington Bridge and out of NY Harbor, ferries and water taxies criss-crossing between the Jersey and New York sides of the river really churned up the water.  After the bridge, all was smooth sailing. 

Upper West Side, Riverside Cathedral and to left, Grant's Tomb

Next we cruised under the Tappan Zee Bridge, which is the longest bridge to span the Hudson River.  Last year, we took pictures of the new spans nearing completion.  Now much of the old bridge spans have been dismantled.  We observed a tug and barge loaded with a section of the steel work from the old bridge northbound ahead of us and the tug captain announced on the marine radio that they were headed to Albany. 

Our destination for the day was an anchorage in Haverstraw Bay, a five-mile long shallow bay on the east shore of the Hudson.  Since the navigation channel hugs the western shore, we were away from any wave action from the passing of other vessels.  Native Americans harvested oysters here and now the bay is surrounded by State parkland with a swimming beach and forest to either side.  It was a very relaxing couple of days.  Only three other boats were anchored overnight the first night and we had the anchorage to ourselves the second night.

June 24, 2018  We began the days cruise with a little light fog and mist on the water, expecting a mix of sun and clouds later with a forecasted thunder storm in the late afternoon hours.  The fog disappeared quickly but it was still mostly cloudy when we entered the Hudson Highlands, a ten-mile stretch of River 40 miles north of NY Harbor.  This section of River includes Bear Mountain and West Point is often compared to Germany’s Rhineland.  The River narrows and makes sharp turns as it cuts through the Appalachian Mountains.  This beautiful area is inspiration for the Hudson River School of landscape painting in the 1800s. 
  

World's longest suspension bridge in 1924 at Bear Mt

 
Our destination for the day is Roundout Yacht Basin in Kingston, NY.  The Dutch settled Kingston in 1653 on land purchased from Native Americans.  A few years later, they built a fort or redoubt and that is thought to be the genesis of the name Roundout.  At the time of the Revolutionary War, Kingston was the Capital of New York and was burned to the ground in 1777 by British sailors arriving on 30 war ships.  The town was rebuilt and in 1828 the Delaware and Hudson Canal was completed from Roundout Creek to Honesdale, Pennsylvania in the Pocono Mountains.  The canal was 108 miles long and was closed in 1904 when trains became the preferred mode of transportation for goods and people.  The entire length of the Hudson River you are never far from the sound of a train as they travel through communities on both shores of the River.  Surprisingly, we never learned about the Delaware and Hudson Canal during the twelve years we had a cottage in the Poconos, near Honesdale!

Roundout Lighthouse

The tranquil (not captioned) view is taken from
Santorini at the inside face dock at the marina.  We were provided with hours of entertainment by a doe and her fawn, turtles sunning on a log, a Giant Blue Heron coming in to fish and a variety of serenading small birds. 

Kingston is a favorite stop for us to resupply with fresh food from the farmer’s market, visit sites in this history rich area and to visit Donna’s family in northern New Jersey.  The friendly marina also has a lovely pool, laundry facility and a great dockside café open on the weekends.  We have planned a week here and the timing couldn’t be better.  While in Haverstraw Bay, Donna came down with a miserable head cold that kept her coughing and fatigued for three days and now Kapt Karl has succumbed just as Donna is feeling better.  It is good that we do not have to handle cruising the boat for a few days and have a rental car to go to the pharmacy. 

June 29, 2018:  Friday afternoon we drove to Wayne, NJ to visit Donna’s Mom Lorraine and have dinner together along with siblings Debra and Michael, Michael’s wife Colleen and Donna’s Aunt Louise, cousin Val and his wife Barbara.  We stayed at the restaurant until closing and had a wonderful time catching up and laughing at each other’s clever puns and turn of phrase. 

June 30, 2018:  Our last day at Roundout is filled with departure activity including an early morning trip to the farmer’s market, return of the rental car and other exciting stuff like vacuuming, changing out Clio’s litter box, laundry and topping off the fresh water tank.  Tomorrow we leave for a 65-mile cruise to Waterford and the start of the Champlain Canal.  We will leave salt water behind us for a time after transiting the Federal Lock at Troy. 

View looking up Roundout Creek to the rail road bridge

Catching our breath

Summer 2018 -- Reprise cruise to the North Country:

A shorter cruise planned this time, three months instead of five and a half months, cutting the Erie Canal leg and going straight up through Lake Champlain to Montreal.   New this year is a ten-day visit to Quebec City.  We will spend August on Lake Champlain going to new destinations and revisiting last year’s favorites.  We will be meeting Karl’s family again at Basin Harbor Club and hope to catch up with more friends and family along the way.

June 15: Off to a slow start!  We delayed our June 15 departure date choosing instead to share Docktails with good friends Harvey & Sara, and meeting Sara’s cousin Diane and her husband Duane.  Di and Duane are seasoned boat travelers, currently on Diva Di a PDQ 34 power catamaran with their cat, Bud.  Donna used Duane’s blog for planning our trip last year as more than other blogs, Duane provides excellent detail and insight.  He was also extremely helpful and gracious when contacting him via email with questions.  As expected, we really hit it off and had a delightful evening.   We were glad we had not left the dock that morning for another reason, as the Bay was quite rough that day. 

And, we did not depart on June 16th so we could meet another pair of great friends, Rick & Ellen who are leaving in two weeks to live in Paris for the next one, two, three years – or beyond!  Donna couldn’t let Ellen leave the country without autographing her copy of Ellen’s wonderful novel, The Transformation of Bartholomew Fortuno.  If you have a chance, check it out; Ellen’s last name is Bryson.

And, we did not depart on June 17th, deciding to spend the late afternoon at our Cambridge Yacht Club gazebo and bar that Karl and other member volunteers spent a weekend this spring prepping and getting it ready for the summer season ... and yet, we won't even be there to enjoy it. 

Are they celebrating our departure?

View of Cambridge Lighthouse as seen from the yacht club

June 18-21: Catching our breath!

Whew, this was a long first day for me!

We finally did leave the dock on Monday morning June 18.  The Chesapeake was pretty flat and we made it; 85 miles to the top of the Bay and into the Chesapeake Delaware Canal where we anchored for the night in the Chesapeake City basin along with a sailboat and a trawler.  A nice breeze mitigated the hot day; we showered in the cockpit and turned in early.

After coffee and one of Kapt Karl’s excellent oatmeal-raisin breakfast cookies, we departed with the outgoing tide and rode it down the Delaware Bay to Cape May, a 62 mile run.  After tidying up Santorini, Karl tackled a couple of minor boat issues, and Donna walked to the beach, admiring the architecture and gardens along the way.  The beach and wading in the ocean is always therapeutic.  It was overcast and really didn’t present any photo ops but beautiful none-the-less.

Leaving Cape May on June 20, at 6:30 AM, we made the 120 mile offshore run, an 8-hour cruise to Liberty Landing in Jersey City.  Last year we cruised up the Jersey coast and ran a course between 6-8 miles out.  This time, based on predicted winds, we travelled the Jersey coast only about a mile out; it was fun, close to land, and we enjoyed the view of the small beach towns that brought back a flood of childhood memories for each of us ... Karl and his dad fishing for flounder in the whirlpool at the Townsend Inlet Draw Bridge in a wooden rowboat with a small motor off the back; or fishing under the Avalon Route 601 Swing Bridge where they caught sea bass; or at the tender age of seven, Karl's mom and dad would send him to catch crab off a small bridge over a tidal creek, or to the beach to dig for clams.  He said it was quite the seafood feast, and back in the days when children could be out and about by themselves without fear or a cell phone.  Karl and his dad once rescued a group of Catholic nuns out on a cruise boat that ran aground near the Townsend Inlet bridge ... but that’s a story for another time.

For Donna it was Sea Side Heights, crabbing with her grandparents and being frightened when the bushel basket overturned on the sidewalk at the apartment as the crabs all rushed to one side.  They tried to scramble away to Donna’s shrieks as grandpa picked them up.  Donna didn’t have an issue with feasting on them later that evening.  Donna’s dad spent a fortune playing games of skill on the Boardwalk such as ring toss and knock the pins down so he could win three stuffed animals for Donna, her sister Debra and brother Michael. 

Wow, we actually were able to take advantage of three consecutive "perfect" cruising days to push through to the Hudson River and take a lay-day to rest. 

June 21 we walked into the historic district of Jersey City and had lunch at our favorite chinese restaurant Shanghai Best.  You know its authentic when the restaurant is filled with Asians and nary a word of English spoken.  Our waiter approved of our selection of one of their specialties, fresh chicken in a special sauce redolent with fresh ginger and garlic; not sure we want to know what part(s) of the chicken we ate but it was delicious.  After lunch we walked to a French bakery and bought pastry for tomorrow’s breakfast.  Just in one block we passed a Wurst House, Jamaican, Italian, and Vegan restaurants and a Jewish Deli ... diversity appropriate for a city that grew up in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island!  Residential blocks are tree lined with old brownstone town houses reclaimed after years of neglect, complete with window boxes and tiny gardens exploding with a riot of flowers. 

2017/2018 Clipper Race

Leg 8 is the last leg of an around-the-world sail boat race; they are leaving Liberty Landing this weekend headed for Ireland.

Santorini basking in the shadow of Manhattan

Tomorrow we are leaving Jersey City for a short cruise up the Hudson River to another anchorage for a couple of days in Haverstraw, NY.  We will let you know how that turns out.

Champlain Canal ... back to the Hudson

August 28 - 30:

At the southern end, Lake Champlain narrows and appears more like a river than a lake.  We cruise past Fort Ticonderog and promise ourselves we will come back and anchor here to tour the Fort next summer.  Granite cliffs appear off our port side and on starboard marshes; it is very beautiful and tranquil.

This boat house on the canal has seen better days!

We arrive at Whitehall, the very end of the Lake, beginning of the Champlain Canal and eleven more locks!

 Very tight squeeze,  Kaptain Karl amazed marina staff with his boat handling skills!

Looking at the entrance to Lock 12

A hundred years ago, the canal towns on the Erie and here on Champlain were thriving and pulsating with commerce.  After years of decline, a number of towns are beginning a renaissance based on tourism and increased interest from boaters.  Below are a couple of photos of Whitehall:

Our next stop, Schuylerville, near Saratoga and a good mid-point on the Canal. The owners, Judy and Phil, are legendary for their hospitality and they did not disappoint.

Judy suggested a scenic walk through town and along the old canal towpath.  Along the way, we saw this curiosity, a large wooden water pipe that feeds the town with fresh spring water from the mountains.

Spray from leaks in the pipe

August 31:  Reflections from Waterford, NY

We are back on the Hudson River. 

We have travelled 1,123 miles from the top of the Chesapeake Bay, up the New Jersey coast and the Hudson River to Waterford at the start of the Erie Canal; and then the loop of the Erie, Oswego, Lake Ontario and the St Lawrence Seaway to the Richelieu River, Chambly Canal, Lake Champlain and the Champlain Canal back to Waterford, NY.  (This does not include all the side trips on Lake Champlain.)

We transited a total of 58 locks (with one more to go back through the Troy Federal Lock).  The 23 Erie locks were the toughest with their slimy walls and ropes, and a number of them with a swift rise or fall of water causing turbulence.  The 7 locks on the Oswego came next, and then another 7 huge St Lawrence Seaway locks.  We found the giant Seaway locks, 2 in the U.S. and 5 Canadian were actually very easy to transit; lockmasters were friendly, handed the dry ropes to you and checked to make sure you were ready before filling or emptying the lock at a gentle rate.  This is quite amazing considering the locks hold 21M gallons of water, enough to fill 30 Olympic size swimming pools and that the total lift from first to last is 243 feet!  The Chambly Canal into Lake Champlain added another 10 locks through the Canadian Heritage Canal system, they are small and hand operated, require a tight squeeze, and are absolutely charming.  Lastly, leaving Lake Champlain, we travelled through 11 locks from the bottom of Lake Champlain back to Waterford, NY.  These were also small and easy to navigate.

“whew, 1123 miles and 58 locks, time to relax with my buddy”

It has been a wonderful trip and we do not regret the decision to leave the Saint Lawrence Seaway,  and our planned visit to Quebec City, in order to transit Lake Champlain.  It would have been a shame to miss this lovely cruising destination.  It seemed to us that the only cruisers who know about it are the Canadians and so the Lake waters are pristine and the landscape is unspoiled.  Upon further reflection, we realize that many boats are too tall to pass under the fixed bridges of the Champlain route.  We can clear under a 15’ bridge, which is ideal since Champlain bridges chart at a clearance of 17’ at normal lake levels and only 15.5’ at flood stage.  Ironically, most of the boats we saw on Lake Champlain were sailboats that had their masts stepped or taken down and put back up once through all the bridges and out on the Lake.