1 June 2019 – We enjoyed a very nice cruise up the Hudson today, under blue skies, with current helping push us up the river. Lots of pleasure craft out on a Saturday, but plenty of room for everyone, and very relaxing.
Having seen the Hudson mainly by driving over it’s bridges at 70 mph, we didn’t quite appreciate how stunning some of the river is, with high stone cliffs; we’d heard ‘fjord’ used to describe it, and with the depth sounder reading 150 (!) that seemed pretty apt.
We came up on a big tow – a tug pushing six large barges, south of West Point. Most that we have seen on the waters so far have either been singles, or doubles, so this one was much more like what we will see on the interior river system. Since the river was a bit curvy here, I hailed the tug to work out what side I should pass on.
“Pass on my two whistle” This was exactly what I was looking for – to see whether he would come back with the same kind of reply that we’d get coming down the Mississippi, Illinois, Ohio and Tennessee Rivers. It meant that he wanted me to move to starboard, and pass him on his port side. It took us quite a while to pass him, as our speed differential was only about 2 mph, at our leisurely and efficient cruising pace.
We got a great view at the next turn of the US Military Academy at West Point. We’d been there and looked out at the river, and now we are on the river, looking back at it.
As we got north of Poughkeepsie, we got to watch a bald eagle, as he flew back and forth in a zig-zag pattern, hunting. Closer and closer, until Chantale was able to snap a good picture.
By mid-afternoon, we had reached Norrie State Park Marina, where Ben’s cousin Alec was standing on the dock waving us to come in through a couple of very unofficial red and green stakes that apparently marked the channel. Looked a little sketchy, but Alec guided us in to dock at a T-head where we were the biggest boat in the marina. A great spot with views across the Hudson River, and a chance to connect with relatives for a few days (and take advantage of a car for provisioning!)
