Day 128 - Up the Hudson River

Our day did not begin real early due to our late night and the Captain decided to add in an extra stop at Croton-On-Hudson in Half Moon Bay.  We did not want to rush our trip through New York Harbor and up the west side of the city on the Hudson River.  Our warm, sunny weather had returned.  We said good-bye to John and left the Great Kills YC on the rising tide at 11:50 am.  There were 2 swans in the harbor as we headed out.  The breeze was stiff (the backside of Arthur) and the water choppy.

 

Brooklyn and Long Island were in front of us as we turned to the port and went under the Verrazano Bridge, which connects Staten Island to NYC.  The East River and Brooklyn Bridge were now to the starboard.  I went crazy with the camera and will let the pictures tell the story of our cruise past the city.
 

 

 

 

 

 

Beyond the George Washington Bridge the scenery changes dramatically as you enter the  Palisades area of the Hudson.  The Palisades are tree-covered 300 to 500 foot cliffs.  The Spuyton Duyvil, located to the starboard north of the GW Bridge, is the northern part of the Harlem River and is the route followed by the Circle Tours, the boats that circumnavigate the island of Manhattan. 

 

We passed several old manufacturing towns such as Yonkers and Tarrytown to the east before going under the Tappan Zee Bridge.  Just north of Tarrytown is Ossining and the famous prison, Sing Sing.  It is only a short distance from here to Croton-On-Hudson and the Half Moon Bay Marina, where we docked at 3:40 pm.  We saw a boat in the bay that looked like it was once a Chicago Police boat.

 

Steve, the friendly marina owner, welcomed us and graciously offered to drive us to the (very small) town for dinner.  We ate wings, ribs and Chattanooga chicken salad at Memphis Mae’s BBQ.  The portions were generous and we ended up having to take some back to the boat.

 

Later we saw fireworks over the breakwall (fence) that protects the marina from the large waves that can form on Half Moon Bay.  My favorite was one that looked like a beach ball with red, blue, green and yellow quadrants.