July 21, as usual we were up early with me making coffee, and Suzanne cooking breakfast while we were still on the dock. We topped up our fresh water and left Peekskill behind. Out the channel and heading South down the Hudson River, we were making good time over ground due to the current and tide working with us. We managed to get over 11 knots, over ground, at some points of the trip. Our rocket speed down river didn't take long to make the shoreline look very different with more built up areas as we got closer to New York City. The widening river had a different feel than the narrow canals. Before long, we were in the busy harbour of New York. Suzanne really wanted to go see Lady Liberty from the boat, so that's where we headed. She sat in her favourite bow seat and got some great pics and memories. As we passed Lady Liberty, and Suzanne got her fill, we turned the boat around heading back upriver to our next destination. Now that great current, was no longer our friend and the boat slowed to a crawl at 3 knots. That's when the skies decided to open up as well and we got hit with a big storm front. Thunder, lightening and torrential rain with terrible visibility as we tried to navigate our way through the busy harbour. Lots of recreational and commercial boats, and the Staten Island ferry were our obstacles as we got ourselves on route. Eventually the rain did slow down, with one sailor was not as lucky. He radioed for help due to getting struck by lightening. He had lost most of his electronics. Our detour to see the lady did not take us much off track as we headed towards Hell's Gate. We had ensured our time we wanted to hit there as we needed it to be slack tide for us to get through. The currents versus tide will make the water stand up and a sailboat would not be able to maintain control other than at slack tide. We got there within 10 minutes to slack tide, so no worries about waiting around for a window to pass. Yippee!
Now this is the part where most people ask us "What are you doing passing through NYC? That's a stopover, not pass through for sure. It's a great city". That may be true, but this as you remember is a COVID year, and the USA doesn't have a great vaccination rate. While many do not believe in COVID, we do and were not too interested in stopping anywhere with a lot of people. Our stops, thus far, had been with minimal people. Although it had slowed enough for us to feel comfortable coming to get the boat, we had no interest in being a statistic of having COVID. Also, we are not "big city" people and prefer being in the country. We lived outside Toronto, Ontario for many years and rarely went in. We felt we would be able to stop by all these places again if we can stay healthy while en route.
Now past Hell's Gate with time to spare, we focused on where we would moor for the night. The decision was made for Port Washington, NY. We motored along and finally made it to Port Washington in the late afternoon. We caught a free mooring and radioed in. Water taxis were available here, and since we still had not had a chance to look at the outboard yet, this is what we used for the remainder of our trip. The taxi could bring you to one of three drop offs and everything in town was a close walk after that for $8 roundtrip, or $25/ day. We picked up some fresh groceries, liquor and wine, then were off for supper. Suzanne wanted a break from cooking, and as this is rare, I always let her. We had a great meal at La P'tite Framboise just a few minutes walk from the stopover at West Marine. We also stopped here as we need charts for the next leg of the trip, plus a few other things. We use OpenCPN to navigate with a GPS and AIS by USB, but like to have paper as back up. A boater never has a hard time spending a few hundred dollars at West Marine regardless. After getting dropped off to our boat by the water taxi once we were finished, we stopped by a couples 36' Island Packet, Jabiroo II, in the next mooring we had seen flying a Canadian Flag. They were full time cruisers, an American lady and a man that was a retired Canadian military pilot. They were flying out the next day, so after a pleasant evening, they sent us home with their fresh food, to not waste it. Suzanne also got a foldable toaster and diffuser. Toast on a boat is not as easy as you'd think. No electric toaster! This couple, as many do, fried their bread, others have other ways, oven, etc, but Suzanne felt this was as lose to electric toaster toast as it could be. After a few wine, this lovely couple gave us a ride back to our boat and we called it a night.
Now this is the part where most people ask us "What are you doing passing through NYC? That's a stopover, not pass through for sure. It's a great city". That may be true, but this as you remember is a COVID year, and the USA doesn't have a great vaccination rate. While many do not believe in COVID, we do and were not too interested in stopping anywhere with a lot of people. Our stops, thus far, had been with minimal people. Although it had slowed enough for us to feel comfortable coming to get the boat, we had no interest in being a statistic of having COVID. Also, we are not "big city" people and prefer being in the country. We lived outside Toronto, Ontario for many years and rarely went in. We felt we would be able to stop by all these places again if we can stay healthy while en route.
Now past Hell's Gate with time to spare, we focused on where we would moor for the night. The decision was made for Port Washington, NY. We motored along and finally made it to Port Washington in the late afternoon. We caught a free mooring and radioed in. Water taxis were available here, and since we still had not had a chance to look at the outboard yet, this is what we used for the remainder of our trip. The taxi could bring you to one of three drop offs and everything in town was a close walk after that for $8 roundtrip, or $25/ day. We picked up some fresh groceries, liquor and wine, then were off for supper. Suzanne wanted a break from cooking, and as this is rare, I always let her. We had a great meal at La P'tite Framboise just a few minutes walk from the stopover at West Marine. We also stopped here as we need charts for the next leg of the trip, plus a few other things. We use OpenCPN to navigate with a GPS and AIS by USB, but like to have paper as back up. A boater never has a hard time spending a few hundred dollars at West Marine regardless. After getting dropped off to our boat by the water taxi once we were finished, we stopped by a couples 36' Island Packet, Jabiroo II, in the next mooring we had seen flying a Canadian Flag. They were full time cruisers, an American lady and a man that was a retired Canadian military pilot. They were flying out the next day, so after a pleasant evening, they sent us home with their fresh food, to not waste it. Suzanne also got a foldable toaster and diffuser. Toast on a boat is not as easy as you'd think. No electric toaster! This couple, as many do, fried their bread, others have other ways, oven, etc, but Suzanne felt this was as lose to electric toaster toast as it could be. After a few wine, this lovely couple gave us a ride back to our boat and we called it a night.
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