Who Would Have Thunk?

(Wednesday July 27 - Dist: 30.6 mi; Avg Speed: 7.9 mph; TTT: 3:50 hrs)

The Hudson River

The Palisades

I had heard that the Hudson River was beautiful but I had no idea.  In some places it reminds one of the shoreline in northern Ontario and at other times the fiords in BC on the way to Whistler.  The Hudson River to Albany is actually an estuary or even a fiord.  The tidal currents from the Atlantic Ocean reach that far.  In fact there is a four foot tide in this last stretch before the Erie Canal.  The Appalachian Mountain range give it the fiord sense. 

It is interesting that on the east side of the river there are commuter trains to NYC galore.  Amtrak also has trains from Grand Central Station to places like Montreal, Toronto, Buffalo and Chicago.  Here you can see a commuter train enter a tunnel on the east side.

The west side, still New York State, is the working side evidently.  About 60 freight trains a day travel the shore.  You can see how closely they hug the shoreline by the bridge that is near water level along the face of the rock.

Linda and I decided on a fairly easy day so we stopped at Half Moon Bay Marina at Croton-on-Hudson, an AGLCA sponsor.   Unlike most marinas on the Hudson River, they have a break wall in an effort to cut down on the wakes and swells from passing boats.  Note the boats beyond the end of the break wall.  There is a very nice beach there that unfortunately we were not able to take advantage of because of the storms.

We got hit with a full fledged storm complete with tornado warnings and actual hail.  The wind gusted soooo bad that it blew our table out of the cockpit.  That table is at least 40 pounds and has been in my cockpit since 2004....and has never moved let alone fly out.  After the storm I borrowed the neighbours grappling hook and started dredging beside our boat.  No luck, then Linda saw it floating past the front of the boat.  Evidently it got blown down south and then the tidal current brought it back into the basin.... how fortunate is that.  I did not even figure that it would float let alone come back to me.

The Table came back.

I have mixed feelings about Half Moon Bay.  The seasonal boaters were tremendous; fun, sociable and helpful.  There were a couple of good places to eat that we found, Memphis Mae, a BBQ place and the Tavern at Croton Landing.  The tavern is my favourite; the BLT was absolutely superb, the best ever.  I know that I have said that a lot on this trip but it is true.  You will have to try it before laughing at me.  Linda really enjoyed her choices as well.  On the down side the ad says there is a laundry...true, in town over a mile away.  The ad said there is a pool... true, but restricted to condo owners only.  The ad said lower rates than NYC and an easy commute to the city.... true, except for 79 TH Marina and the commute is 40 minutes.  All this aside we did enjoy our stay there.

A few more scenic photos for you: