Monday, 27 May – Brielle, NJ to Jersey City NJ – 45 mi –
1754 cum mi
Blue sky, cool, 49 degrees, finally turning into a beautiful
day. We were pleasantly surprised by last night’s fireworks display at the
beach and the festive Memorial Day celebrations at the restaurants and bars
near the marina.
It was low tide when we left which added some drama to untying
lines and disconnecting shore power (Had to climb up on the boat’s roof to get off the boat to the dock). Although eventually headed in
different directions, we (five trawlers) traveled together towards New York City. Seas were quite nice – about one foot. Lots of boats were in the water, seizing the opportunity to spend Memorial Day on the relatively calm water. Soon we saw the NYC skyline in the distance.
The seas in the harbor were a little rougher, with a WNW wind picking up a bit. What’s Next?? was way ahead of us heading north up the Hudson River. Tranquility veered off to the East River, heading to Long Island Sound. We followed a huge cargo ship through the Verrezano Narrows Bridge. It’s quite stunning to be in the Hudson River, surrounded by huge boats, shipyards to our port, tall concrete and
glass
buildings to our starboard, then catching our first glimpse of the Statue of
Liberty right in front of us. Never saw it from the water, let alone our own
boat. Magnificent!Teaghlach was anxious to get home, so they headed north to get as far as they could go. Time and Tide planned to anchor out near the Statue of Liberty. We docked at the Liberty Landing Marina at Liberty State Park. By noon, we had washed the salt off the boat and were on our bikes exploring the park and the town. We enjoyed lunch at the Brownstone Diner,
which was featured in a Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives episode on the Food
Channel. Later we had docktails on Freeheelin with Joe and Deb who cruised up
from Atlantic City. Really nice to see them again. We especially enjoyed the
Manhatten skyline at dusk, as the lights turned on.
Tuesday, 28 May – Jersey City, NJ to Haverstraw, NY – 37 mi.
, 1791 cum mi.
Blue sky, 62 degrees, calm, nice sunrise over NYC skyline.
Heard sudden splash – guy next door fell
into the water, jumping off his boat
and trying to grab his towel. We helped pull him out with a line for a foot
hold and some wrist-to-wrist pulls. They were French Canadians – nice folks –
commented on what a good looper story that would make. We headed north up the
Hudson River. Lots of water taxis were shuttling people across the river. It
turned cloudy and rainy before noon. In fact it rained all the way to
Haverstraw, and then some. We fueled up, got the fuel filters changed, then
docked (without help, since dock hands only worked on weekends) in the rain on
a slippery floating end slip about as far from the office as could be. The saving
grace was the Hudson Water Club - the wonderful restaurant we discovered at the
marina. We sat next to the fireplace and almost dried out by the end of our
meal.
Wednesday, 29 May – Haverstraw to Kingston, NY – 43 mi.,
1834 cum mi.
Cloudy, drizzling, 61 degrees, calm but foggy. The Waterway
Guide said we passed some of the most beautiful river scenery in the US (near
Bear Mountain State Park), but it was too foggy to see. We did 
see the Bear
Mountain Bridge where the Appalachian Trail crosses the river. Built in 1924,
it was the highest suspension bridge in the US. It did clear up by noon, and we
saw West Point and homes on huge cliffs along the shore. We had to keep a close watch going upstream, since there were tugs pushing big barges and a lot of debris floating down the fast moving river. Eventually it turned out to be a beautiful afternoon and evening. We docked at the Kingston City Marina at Rondout Creek and bicycled about town, exploring the maritime museum, watching the Rondout Rowing Club practice for their meet with another town this weekend.
And we found a really good restaurant – the Ship to Shore. I would highly
recommend it to all – delicious food presented beautifully.
Thursday, 30 May – Kingston to New Baltimore, NY – 31 mi.,
1865 cum mi.
Foggy, 66 degrees. Actually, the fog was so dense, we could
not see anything on the river. Waiting for the fog to lift gave us a chance to
enjoy breakfast in Kingston and walk around some. Nice little town. Not so
little – population of 23,000. Once underway, the scenery was very nice.
Cliffs, hills, lighthouses, stone quarries, trains, barges – lots to see. Had
to steer around a lot of debris floating down the river – logs, plastic, junk,
even a basketball – due to storm runoff. And a lot of big boat traffic. We docked at the Shady Harbor Marina. Very nice, helpful people here.