Greenport to Albany New York

Leaving Long Island

Since we had sold our car in NY and Don and Sammie's car had been pre-positioned in Syracuse for

the end of the month, we had been using a rental car. for our last day, that involved an elaborate plan of getting the last minute grocery stocking completed, driving to Riverhead to return the rental car, having the rental agency drop Mike at the Riverhead train station, and taking the only one of two LIRR trains back to Greenport that day.

We were able to finish stocking the boat on time and with some of the new cargo not yet fully stored, we left our marina of 15 years mid-day on June 3. It was an odd feeling to radio the marina the last time and report that we were permanently leaving our dock.

We had a pretty good day running from Greenport to our first stop in Port Jefferson. Naturally, we have visited Port Jefferson many times by land and a few times by ferry. However, it is always a better experience to approach a town by water. We stayed at Danford's - they could not have been more accommodating. The weather forecast the next day promised rain so we stayed at Port Jefferson an extra day to let the weather safely pass. While at Port Jefferson we were able to walk around a bit, mail some last minute postage, and, of course, sample the goods at the ice cream shop. Deb and her mom took advantage of the best Tea Room on Long Island to enjoy afternoon tea together at the Secret Garden.

June 6th took us to the anchorage at Oyster Bay, NY. The harbor at Oyster Bay is a nice slow cruise through fishermen harvesting clams from the bottom, beautiful homes, and boats of all sizes. We shared a huge anchorage with only one other boat. Our 73 pound Rocna anchor buried deep in the mud overnight and it took over 20 minutes in the morning to lift the anchor and clean the chain.

New York City

June 7th we entered New York City! What an amazing way to travel through the City! Of course, the skyline is visible for many miles upon the approach, just heightening the anticipation. That anticipation included timing the transit through Hell Gate at slack current to avoid the notorious currents through the narrow channel of the East River, expecting to meet commercial traffic in the crowded river, and confusing navigation. Our experience could not have been any more different! We hit Hell Gate right at the best time for the current, we met only a few commercial boats and they were all very friendly and helpful on the radio, and the navigation was clear and straight forward.  Going past LaGuardia Airport with the planes approaching directly overhead and taking off and landing in rapid succession was impressive. 

Turning towards Manhattan, the first impression was that of a looming concrete and steel canyon but soon we were able to pick out familiar buildings and see architecture that you cannot see from the New York streets.The amount of new building and reconstruction that can be seen from the river was amazing! For the most part, we had a leisurely cruise past Manhattan, taking plenty of time to take in the sites. When we began to approach Lower Manhattan the activity took on a whole new dimension. In that area the NY Waterway boats were darting from point to point, the yellow and black water taxis were going back and forth,  the famous Staten Island Ferry was loading and unloading  at the
ferry terminal, and helicopters were taking off and landing at the heliport.  It was busy but everybody was sticking to the navigation rules and all was well. 

As we approached New York Harbor we were able to break from our slow crawl through New York and exercise Carousel's twin Caterpillar 3208TA 435hp engines and come up to full throttle to safely move across the harbor towards our planned anchorage behind the Statue of Liberty at Liberty State Park. It was a fantastic privilege to slow down and do a close pass of the Statue with views better than any harbor tour boat. Our anchorage was amazingly quiet considering the location. From that tree-lined vantage point, we were able to see the back of the Statue through the trees behind us and the amazing works at the New Jersey docks ahead of us. On the morning of the 8th we battled the muddy slime of the bottom of New York Harbor when raising our anchor. We took a slow, close pass by the Statue and Ellis Island before proceeding up the Hudson River.

Heading Up the Hudson

We picked a convenient spot in the middle of the Hudson with the morning water taxis and ferries moving back and forth between NY and NJ, claimed it as ours, proceeded past Lower Manhattan, Chelsea Pier, the Intrepid Museum, and towards the George Washington Bridge. For the past few years, every time we crossed over the GW we commented that soon we would be crossing under. Now, with Deb's parents on board, June 8th was our day!

On our way to our next stay at Croton-on-Hudson we passed under the very very interesting construction site of the new Tappan Zee bridge.

We used a planned two day stop at Croton-on-Hudson to rent a car to go to the Culinary Insistent of America for a French style dinner and visit Eleanor Roosevelt's Val Kill home, The Roosevelt Hyde Park estate, and the Hyde Park Vanderbilt home. Upon returning to Croton-on-Hudson, we took a detour to find the beautiful Croton Dam, a water reservoir for New York City. While at Croton,  a northwest wind pounded waves into the harbor and the boats were bouncing and tugging at their lines for the two days.

For June 11, we found a peaceful anchorage on our way up the river at Esopus Creek beside the town of Saugerties, NY. We put our anchor down right in the middle of the creek and lay quietly as the wind continued on the river. We timed an early departure so that we would get to our next stop on June 11 at the Albany Yacht Club just ahead of some oncoming thunderstorms. Unfortunately, probably because of global warming :), the forecast was about 1-2 hours off and we arrived in Albany at the peak of the storm. Don and Deb got drenched getting us tied to dock. 

For June 12, anxious to get up the river 9 miles to the first lock of the canal, we decided to stay at dock for the day to let a system pass that promised gusts up to 45 mph. The extra day at dock afforded us the ability to re-stock a few groceries, do laundry and tour the Crailo House - the home built by the family after which the city of Rensselaer is named.  They provide a very good guided tour where we learned much more about the Dutch settlers both in New Amsterdam and the Caribbean.

Arriving at Albany, we have traveled 230 miles on the Long Island Sound, East River, New York Harbor, and the Hudson River. Hopefully, on June 13, Mike's birthday, we will be getting through our first lock into the New York canals.