Day 12 - 6/7/18 - Entering the Hudson River!Bayonne, NJ to Piermont, NY

Gray skies and a gentle breeze from the south funnels up from the straits of the Verrazano Bridge as we poke our heads out of Eclipse this morning. Liberty Park in New Jersey was our home for the night and with a strong breeze and deep waters, we grabbed a mooring ball in the park and had tied up to it rather than to risk an anchor line. Gary pulled together a breakfast using the remaining Wild Boar Bacon and some toasted homemade bread and then afterward, we dropped the mooring and motored out into New York Harbor.

Lady Liberty greeted us once again as we passed behind the statue and continued on past Ellis Island. Ellis holds a special place for me since my great grandfather emigrated to this country from Armenia during the genocide in the early 1900's. I happen to have his certificate that was signed and given to him on Ellis Island and so it was meaningful to be passing right by the very building where my great grandfather once stood on the verge of starting a new life all over in this country! How cool!

Ellis Island

It was still early as we proceeded out into upper New York Harbor and then into the Hudson River. The afternoon rush hour traffic we had encountered yesterday had been replaced by a much less frenzied morning and with less turbulent waters to navigate. Still, rush hour was beginning to ramp us and ferries of all sorts awoke from their night's slumber and began to appear from unseen slips behind office complexes and wharves. Each one added to the waves in the harbor and within a half hour, by 8:00am, the city harbor was in full swing and the seas were back to their choppy rhythm.

Entering the Mighty Hudson River near Battery Park.

The old Lackawanna Ferry Terminal

With the tide going out and the winds blowing up from the opposite direction from the south, it was possible to raise the sails and sail the Hudson, sailing forward at about three knots and being pushed back down the river at two knot. As such, people on the shore were walking faster past us than we were sailing.

At the 79^th street boathouse, we decided that enough was enough and that we would wait for the tides to reverse the current. We grabbed a mooring ball and retired to catch up on blogging and other daily minutiae until we could once again begin traveling with some level of rapidity higher than that of a Devonian Sloth.

Gary watches as we approach the George Washington Bridge

The tide turned for us about 11:30 which was about two hours after low tide. We bid our mooring buoy adieu and raised sails. Sailing up the Hudson, how cool!!! We made excellent time at an average of 5 knots upstream and soon were wending our way under the George Washington Bridge and the little red lighthouse beneath. Off our port side, basalt cliffs lined the western shore of the New Jersey side.

Another hour of easy downwind sailing up the river brought us to Yonkers where we passed a replica of an old whaling ship on display in the port. From high above us, a construction worker on a high scaffold called out to us, “Like your Dinghy!”. That dinghy seems to get a lot of attention, there is no doubt of that! We sailed past waterfront parks where citizens strolling or sitting would wave to us as we passed.

The Tappan Zee Bridge loomed ahead now, 24 miles from where we started this morning at the Statue of Liberty. Here, the Hudson widens to nearly three miles wide in a broad expanse that is more reminiscent of a lake than a river. We cross to the west shore in the town of Piermont where we set anchor for the night. The Hudson is still tidal here, all the way to Albany in fact, and we are warned by a paddling team that our current anchorage is not in deep enough water to allow us to remain afloat at low tide. After a dinner of stuffed cabbage with sausage, rice, onion and pepper, we pick up anchor and motor out to deeper waters for the night. We watch as the sun sets behind the steep hills that line this beautiful gem of a waterway and bid another fine day goodnight.