We pulled out of NYC and past Lady Liberty herself and headed up the Hudson River.  This officially closed another chapter on our loop and started the next.  It’s hard to believe after so many months that we are done with salt water and tides and the ocean.  No more dolphins either.  We miss dolphins.  But alas, we headed up the Hudson against a VERY strong current slowing us WAY down.  The city stretches on for what feels like forever.  After quite awhile we got out of New York City and into the beautiful Hudson countryside.  We passed the famous Sing Sing prison and some gorgeous countryside along the trip.

 

 

We made our way about 55 miles up and anchored in Croton Bay in Croton-on-Hudson, NY.   The bay was full of boats anchored there for the day and lots of people were swimming.  Welcome back to fresh water!  No jellyfish or worries of anything else.  After some hot and steamy days in NYC the girls couldn’t jump in fast enough.  They quickly got back to their game of constant jumps off the side of the boat.  Swim to the ladder and climb out.  Repeat.  I was happy they were able to swim again.  After a slow day on the water they needed to burn a lot of energy off as well.

Sunday morning we continued up the Hudson.  We boated past Bear Mountain and West Point Academy.  After spending time in the big city, it was such a change to see huge cliffs and mountains, covered in lush green wilderness.  The bridges are a work of art across the Hudson connecting the sides of the mountains.  There are beautiful houses nestled up in the hilltops.  And West Point is impressive.  The history in those buildings is obvious just looking at them.  It was a relaxing and enjoyable cruise to Kingston, NY.

We made the turn into Rondout Creek at a lovely lighthouse.  We cruised up the creek past another maritime museum and past cute little downtown Kingston.  We chose to stay on the other side of the creek at a marina with a pool.  It had been a cooler morning but just as we tied up the sun came shining through and we made a beeline for the pool.  Even Ben got in the pool!  And the pool had sun shades!  The girls met a 9 year old girl in the pool that was also on her boat and hit it off.  They had so much fun playing together.

Ben’s Uncle Geff came to see us.  He lives in Clarksville, just outside of Albany.  He was in the area for a concert and drove over to join us for dinner.  We went across the bridge to a waterfront restaurant in town and had a good visit and a good dinner.  Geff was hoping to see us underway so we told him we’d keep in touch the next day on our schedule.

We woke up Monday morning to rain.  We had told the girls they could play with their new friend before we left.  As soon as it stopped POURING they ran over to her boat.  Then we invited her parents onto our boat to see it and the girls all came here for a bit as well.

We got a late start, leaving Kingston at 1 pm.  We planned to go all the way to Waterford, NY, finishing our time on the Hudson River.  We boated through downtown Albany (very industrial!) and on towards Troy.  And there was Geff!  He was standing on the side of the riverbank waving as we went past.  The first lock of our next few months was the Federal Lock or Lock 1 in Troy, NY.  We hadn’t done a lock in awhile so we asked the lock operator how the Erie canal locks are set up.  They are different from the western river locks we did last summer so I’m glad we asked.  Geff was hoping to see us lock through.  All of the locks on the Erie Canal have footbridges and public access to watch.  Unfortunately the Troy Federal Lock did not allow this so Geff wasn’t able to watch.  He drove the rest of the short way to Waterford and instead saw us pull in there.  We approached the sign where we had to make the decision to turn left or right.  Left for the Erie Canal or right to stay on the Hudson up to Lake Champlain.  We turned left!  And just like that we were off the Hudson River and starting yet another leg of this trip.