5/31/18: We checked the tide/current tables and decided what time to leave to go up the river. Surprisingly, the ocean tides affect the river for well over 50 miles up river. Low tide would be at about 6:00am, and continue a flood current for a good 5 hours. We have about 50 miles to travel today. Our normal speed without current is about 8.5mph. We should be able to ride the current for the whole day. We decided to leave by 7:00 so that we’d be riding on the stronger side of the flood. (The things you learn when you are planning and navigating this kind of trip!). So, up and atum by 6:30, make coffee, and see who else is up and leaving this morning. Why? Because if you plan things right and have other looper boats with you when you go past the Statue of Liberty, you can take pictures of each other! SWEET! Yes – our Aussie friends on Someday, (that we met way back in Beaufort NC), and other friends that we met way back before NC on Xanadu are leaving by 7:00 too. YAY!
It took about an hour from Great Kills to get up to the Verrazano Bridge – the official entry to the inner New York Harbor. It was forecasted to be foggy again today. It was cloudy, but not really foggy down on the water, and not raining. And there was a little wind, but not bad.
As we came into the harbor, we tried to find a route where we wouldn’t be in the middle of a busy channel anywhere, since there was a lot of traffic zooming around everywhere. Yep – we were finding the busy part of New York Harbor. Good morning Manhattan!
This is a way better picture of a Staten Island Ferry.
We slowed way down so that Someday and Xanadu could catch up with us. And then we did a bunch of posing in front of the Statue of Liberty, taking turns taking pictures of each other, all while trying to not get run over by a high speed ferry. I think at any one time, you could look around and count at least a dozen ferry boats of different sizes and types and speeds going a whole variety of directions. But – we got our portrait!! I am so thankful that we had friends to take our picture!! Isn’t Island Girl looking good with Miss Liberty??
Just past the Statue of Liberty is Ellis Island, with its unusual building that served as primary immigration station from 1900-1954,
We continued up the Hudson river, watching the cityscape change as we went along.
We finally saw the Empire State Building. (The pointy one on the right in this shot). It is quite a ways away from Lower Manhattan! There was a lot of construction and crane work going on in that part of the city.
We finally got out of all of the crazy waterway traffic, and we settled into our up-river journey. We were catching about 1.5 mph benefit with the current! It seems odd that you can go up-river, and have current helping you! Someone explained it to us that the tidal push happens on the top surface water of the river, and the river’s natural flow happens below in deeper water. I don’t know, but we enjoyed some good fuel economy today!
The dome shaped building on the left is General Grant’s National Memorial. The large church is the Riverside Church, a 13th century gothic cathedral style building, constructed in 1927. It has hosted speakers including Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King Jr. Both of these would have been awesome to see.
As we continued up the river, the shores on the west side of the river became more and more rugged and beautiful. This is known as the Palisades. Just beautiful sheer cliffs that rise over 500 feet in some places. A striking contrast to the city that we just left an hour ago!
We passed this beauty, just hanging out in the river. Our AIS said there was a pleasure craft at anchor. It looked like a cruise ship from a distance down river! I didn’t find a looper flag on it anywhere.(HA!) .. and it’s dinghy is bigger than us.
After awhile, this cool unit came zooming past! Later we found out that we would be docked where it was earlier today. I don’t remember what kind of boat it is, but it was very unique.
Before 1:00, we found ourselves at our destination – Half Moon Bay Marina, in Croton-on-Hudson (that’s the town name). Within an hour of us docking, the weather turned to this! Wet, soggy, fog! It hasn’t really rained, but everything is soggy doggy wet. I’m glad it waited to settle on the water so that we didn’t travel is this soup.
We said hi to other looper boats that are here – some we haven’t seen since the Chesapeake. It is so fun seeing people and boats we’ve met before, and meeting new folks all along the way. We were hungry – so went and found some BBQ at Memphis Mae’s. It was pretty good. There isn’t a lot here, but there are a few restaurants, and an Enterprise car rental joint. I think we may need a car to zoom around in for a day. Tomorrow’s (Friday) weather looks cloudy with a chance of wetness. Saturday & Sunday look even wetter. Our current plan is to be here until Sunday. But who knows….. plans tend to get changed when the weather gets involved.
The picture of Island Girl in front of the Statue of Liberty is so great. I always wanted to see it in person. I got close once when driving truck to New York, I could see a faint outline of it through very strong binoculars. You have posted so many pics of the places and buildings that I had hoped to see someday.