SUNDAY September 23, 2007
The clouds have gone, and the sky is a perfect clear blue. We all had a great nights sleep, it was quiet, the water was flat, and it was a nice temperature for sleeping. Haverstraw Marina was very nice. It is huge, with so many boats they give you a map of all the docks when you check in. They have nice bathrooms with a good sized laundry room, a game room, olympic sized pool, marine store, and nice park area to walk dogs in.
There is a large sculpture at the entrance called "The Mariner's Gateway". On the way past the marina building to see it, we walked by the New York office for Normandeau Associates, which reminded Lin of some great friends she met back home, at the branch near where we now live. Small world! our neighbors on the close-by boats were all friendly and greeted us cheerfully this morning. No complaints about Haverstraw at all, it is a very nice place!
We left the marina at about 12:15, and headed north. The river is beautiful! There are huge rocky hills that raise right out of the water, which is very deep. Sometimes it is over 150 feet. Most of the river is undeveloped, or at lease appears so from the water. There are steep, rocky hills and lots of trees. Not too many houses, but a few small towns along the way, including Cold Spring, which looked just like it was right out of Mayberry. We considered stopping there, but it didn't look like we could get our boat in. We also passed a few power plants, including a big nuclear power plant. We wondered which way we'd go if it exploded. Up, I think.
We passed West Point Academy, parts of which look like a big old gray fortress. We went by Pollopel Island, and saw troops of people in huge, oversized canoes, and the ruins of what looked like it had been a castle.
Now we're at the Torches Restaurant Marina in Newburgh. We got here about 3:30 this afternoon. Lin lassoed the dock front of the cheering crowd outside the restaurant, and then a live band began to play. Ok, not really. We were parked in front of the bar, which is now piping music outside, and is surrounded by burning tiki torches. The afternoon choppy water from all the speeding boats has died down, and now the water is flat and calm. A leisurely afternoon was followed by a great dinner just up the street. We were able to get outside seating and tie Dixie on the fence next to our table. She shared our bread and drank water from a goblet. We 've gone 420 miles since our trip started. It's clear and cool, more great weather for sleeping!
MONDAY September 24, 2007
This morning we slept in until almost 8:00. We awoke to another perfect September morning, clear and blue and cool. We took off early to catch a lift north with the incoming tide, and saw some interesting sights and two old lighthouses that have been restored. There were hardly any boats on the water today, which made it extra nice. We saw a lot of trains runing along the shore. Some were sleek bullet-fast passenger trains, and others were cargo trains. We saw one cargo train with 5 engines, pulling 107 cars!
We arrived at the city of Kingston Municipal dock around noon. It's a really cute town, all of the brick buildings have been re-done and painted in different colors. We are almost next to the Kingston Maritime Museum and a trolley museum. There was a wooden boat show at the Museum and they had no room for us there, so we tied up next door at the town dock. Lin had a bunch of phone calls to deal with for work, and Moe and Dixie got their bearings on shore. After that, we all had a nice walk through town, had a great lunch at a Mexican place where Dixie was welcome to join us in the outdoor dining area. We did some window shopping, and took turns holding Dixie so the other could go into a couple of antique stores.
By mid-afternoon, it was really hot outside. We came back to the boat and Moe took Dixie on another walk while Lin did more work. There is a lot going on back home! We had dinner at a great Italian cafe, where the owner told us Dixie "was more than welcome", and then had dessert just a few doors down at a little Italian Ice shop. moe and Lin had Guiness and Mango flavored Italian Ices. The owner here gave Dixie a tiny ice cream cone filled with vanilla soft serve. She loved it! Yes, she is a little spoiled.
The temperature has dropped quite a bit, so it should be another great night for sleeping. Dixie (aka Cujo) keeps her ears tuned for any sounds, and barks like crazy if she hears anything unusual. It's just like having an alarm system on the boat.
This is the farthest north we're going to make it on this trip, and we'll be heading south tomorrow with the outgoing tide.
TUESDAY, September 25
Another busy morning of work and e-mails for Lin. Moe and Dixie went on a long walk on shore, and then we all had breakfast on the sundeck. It's a gorgeous sunny morning again, and the weatherman says it'll be another hot afternoon. Tomorrow we are supposed to get rain and thunderstorms, so we may try to get further south today than we'd originally planned. There were hardly any boats on the river today, but the few that we did see were all speeding and leaving huge wakes behind them. After a long and leisurely day, enjoying the scenery on the Hudson, we arrived back at Haverstraw, in the exact same slip we were in a couple of days ago. It was another hot day but is now cooling off nicely. September is great. We have traveled 493 nautical miles since we started our trip in June, with traveling time of 78.5 hours, traveling at an average speed of 6.3 knots. Because of the bad weather forecast for Thursday, we plan to make it back to City Island Yacht Club tomorrow. This will give us plenty of time on Thursday to prepare some type or seagull-proofing system for the next time we leave the boat.