Day 2 & 3: Haverstraw Bay to New Hamburg to Schodack Creek

Day 2: July 19: What a peaceful night in this little cove on Haverstraw Bay. John and I debated over what the name of it is. I of course think I'm right that it is Croton on the Hudson because my snapped pictures identify it as such.  Regardless, it was delightful!  Here are a couple of pictures taken last night as we relaxed after a swim and dinner.

We were in no hurry to get UW today as we only planned on traveling about 28 miles to New Hamburg, a small hamlet located on the southern corner of Poughkeepsie. Cruising the Hudson is unlike traveling on Buzzard's Bay or RI Sound. I'm sure it can get a bit rocky depending on the wind and tide but today we floated along on calm waters. We noted how grateful we are for being able to take this trip and lumber along like we were on a riverboat cruise surrounded by the Catskills and Hudson Highlands. With trains running continually along both sides, horns bellowing their approach, beautiful landscape and glass -like waters with hardly another boat in sight, it was truly an amazing day! From left to right here are some of the sites we saw! Jones Point, Bear Mountain Fixed Bridge and a tunnel in the mountain at the Bear Mountain Bridge. We did see a train pass through the tunnel but I wasn’t fast enough to snap a picture.

Here is the looper (Remedy) we anchored next to on Haverstraw Bay. They left the anchorage earlier than we did so we didn't get to make their acquaintance.  We caught up to them as we headed toward New Hamburg and soon overtook them. I'm sure we will see them again along the route. 

Some other cool sights included a waterfall cascading by a house up on the hill. With binoculars we could see it was quite a large fall. We determined this was Highland Falls (aptly named). Shortly thereafter we came upon the impressive West Point Military Academy. John saw what looked like about 100 cadets lined up on the grounds all dressed in their fatigues ready to march somewhere (perhaps in for lunch?). 

Perhaps the most interesting sight was Bannerman's Castle located on Pollepel Island, which is an uninhabited 6.5 acre lot. A victim of neglect, it can certainly be called a ruin. The castle was built by Frank Bannerman, a Scottish patriot and descendant of the few Macdonalds to survive a massacre at Glencoe in 1692. The Bannerman family used the castle as a storage facility for military arsenal in support of their growing business dealing in weapons. The property is now owned by the NY State Office of Parks Recreation and Historic Preservation. The Bannerman Castle Trust nonprofit is currently in control of the island and castle, working to make it safe for the public to visit and enjoy cultural events. 

Reading more about the island, I came across a curious fact. On April 2015 Vincent Viafore and his fiancee, Angelina Graswald, were taking a kayak trip to the island. Viafore drowned and his fiancee was charged with his murder. She eventually pled guilty to criminally negligent homicide and served a short time in prison. Who would have dreamed of such a thing?

Our friends Rafael Bou (AKA Ralfy) and wife Orissa live in Poughkeepsie; we met them a few years ago in Puerto Rico and always stay in touch. In order to visit with them we got a slip at White's Hudson River Marina, a family owned business that I highly recommend. The people couldn't have been more friendly and helpful getting us situated, even jumping onboard and riding with us around to the back to guide us into our slip. And at $2.00 a foot it was well worth the stop. A place to offload garbage, fill the water tanks and take a real shower! Take a look at the vintage boat that was docked at the marina. Beautiful with teak decking and what looked like brass awnings over the windows. 

Unfortunately Orissa had babysitting duty for her grand-babies so only Ralfy was able to drive the 15" to the marina to visit with us. After a cocktail on the boat we drove to get pizza at Longobardi's Restaurant in Wappinger Falls. Ralfy said this is one of his and Orissa's go to places and I can see why. Thin crust and crunchy, the pizza was terrific. On the way back to the boat we had to stop at a Rite Aid to buy a shaver for John as he forgot to bring one. I think he was hoping to grow a beard on the trip but I just gave him the evil eye and he thought better of it.

At the end of the day we traveled 28 NM in about 3.5 hrs. from Croton on the Hudson to New Hamburg. 

Day 3: July 20: Knowing we were going to wait for a good tide to push us along today we were in no hurry to get UW.  Since we would not be needing our radar along the Hudson and we were in stable conditions at a dock, we decided to try our hand at lowering the mast in preparation for the Federal lock at Troy (originally Erie Canal Lock 1) and the Erie Canal. The reason is there are fixed bridges on the canal and we would not be able to fit under some of them with the mast/radar up. Within 1 mile after passing through the Troy Lock we will come upon a 21' fixed bridge. Some bridges on the NY canal system are similar in height so the mast will remain down until we get through the Erie and Oswego Canals and begin our trip onto Lake Ontario. We will pass through Troy Lock 1, 22 locks on the Erie and 7 on the Oswego.

I was a bit anxious about the whole lowering the mast thing. I had visions of it crashing and being destroyed. We had been discussing ideas for quite awhile and I reached out to the Great Loop forum for ideas as well. We did receive some valuable information from a man named Denis from Australia who also owns a 42' Grand Banks. He was kind enough to send us detailed step by step instructions as to how he lowers his mast (by himself) as well as pictures. John blended his ideas with Denis' (including the use of a block and tackle) and voila! we successfully lowered it. I was certainly relieved. 

We got UW a bit after noon so we would have the tide running with us. Once again the water was flat calm and we were able to enjoy the beautiful scenery around us as we ranged from 8 to 11 knots. Other than a few kayaks and jet skis I believe we passed 4 or 5 other boats on the entire 6 hour, 55NM trip. Amazing that this incredible river is so empty of boaters given there is a marina around every corner. Perhaps it being a weekday? Whatever the reason we are thankful for the peace and quiet.

Here are some of the houses and other structures we saw along the way. From left to right: the Hudson Athens Light, Esopus Meadows Light and Saugerties Light. Beautiful huge houses and what looked liked cottages or boathouses dotted the waters edge also.

We also passed under the Walkway Over the Hudson, the world's longest elevated pedestrian bridge measuring 1.28 miles. Once the Poughkeepsie-Highland Railroad Bridge, it was abandoned after a fire in 1974. A public-private partnership between the state of NY, the federal government, neighboring municipalities, private companies and non-profits resulted in Walkway Over the Hudson Historic Park.

We passed by Nutten Hook, home to the ruins of the R and W Scott ice Company Ice house and brick powerhouse. It was constructed in 1885 to compete in the growing ice industry in the early 19th century.

A remaining chimney can be seen on the shoreline, standing nearly 85 feet tall. The Nutten House Reserves Historic ice House has a walking area and nature trail open to the public. 

We finally anchored in Schodack Creek in an anchorage called Houghtailing Island. Not a soul passed by as we settled down in this peaceful spot after our 6 hours of travel. 

Here is a snapshot of where Schodack is as well as our summary of the day's trip.