Our Voyage South

Mon. Sept. 10, 2012

We left Waterford in the morning & did Lock #1 at Troy, starting down the Hudson River. We saw ‘Knot Yet’ in Albany as we headed south, but were unable to raise them on the VHF radio. The trip down the Hudson was not fun due to the huge number of power boaters who were out for the weekend. We arrived at Riverview Marina in the afternoon & started getting prepped for the mast going up Tues. morning. The crane operator & his assistant were really helpful getting the mast back up. All went smoothly. We spent the rest of the day doing rigging, putting the sails back up, laundry & odds & ends.

Headed south again on Wed. & made it as far as Cornwall-on-Hudson. The trip was more enjoyable this time, with the mast back in place & very few power boaters on the river. Planned to anchor behind Pollepel Island but it looked tricky to get into. We saw 2 sailboats anchored on the opposite side of the river, so decided to anchor there instead. The Pollepel Island has the ruins of an interesting old castle.

The architecture of the buildings along the Hudson are really spectacular. From giant mansions, new & old, to West Point Military Academy & even the lighthouses were really neat. This is the area where the families like the Vanderbuilts & DuPonts built their mansions & is still the choice of wealthy people today.

We anchored early on Thurs. in Haverstraw Bay, across from a park. Was very peaceful & quiet. We decided we’d go to Half Moon Bay Marina the next day to catch up on groceries & use the internet, about 2 miles away. The dockmaster was very helpful & took us into the town of Croton-on-Hudson. However, the only grocery store was a gourmet one & very expensive.

Sat.’s plan was to go back to the anchorage 2 miles away to wait out bad weather in New York City. The forecast Sat. morning was alot worse so we decided to stay another night in the marina. It turned out to be a good decision because there were reports of tornadoes touching down in New York City & wind gusts up to 44 knots in the anchorage we were planning to go to.

Sun. we left for Liberty State Park Anchorage located behind the Statue of Liberty. The closer we got to Manhattan, the busier the river traffic became - loads of ferries, tour boats, water taxis of every size & description. When we got to the Jersey City/Manhattan area the U.S. Coast Guard had 3/4’s of the river closed to traffic for a super-boat regatta. This funneled all the traffic through a very narrow section of the river and meant we got up close & personal with a lot of these vessels. It was a relief to finally pull in behind the Statue of Liberty to the Liberty State Park Anchorage. It is a nice quiet anchorage with good holding.

Lighthouse on the Hudson River