June 20-28
New York to Oswego
Crew - Nora and the MacDonalds

6/19    Arrived New York, Newport Harbor Marina to excellent weather.  Cleaned boat had cocktails and dinner at the Newport Restaurant, which was excellent.

6/20    Took a harbor tour for sightseeing and photos, including the famous statue, Ellis Island and Manhattan skyline; then headed up the Hudson past Commercial piers where QE2 docks, although she wasn't in port.  The busy harbor traffic subsided dramatically past the George Washington Bridge. Past the high bluffs of the Palisades. Anchored for lunch near ? then proceeded on to West Point, where we had called ahead and got permission to dock at their dock for a few hours to visit the campus.  The river is beautiful, particularly around the Point, with deep water, generally 40 to 50 feet, but nearly 200 feet near West Point.

The dock at WP leaves a little to be desired, it is a commercial dock designed for large boats and ferry traffic, took a bit of improvising to secure the lines and to get the crew off the boat (had to launch the dingy as the distance from boat to dock was too big a step for the shorter members of the crew).

We did a walking tour of the Academy, which was sparsely populated as school was not in session.  Truly impressive - The biggest and most beautiful of the three major service academies that I have visited.  Quite a hike up the hill from the river.

After the Point we continued on to anchor just south of Poughkeepsie in 50 feet of water.

June 21    Stopped at Hyde Park Marina at Poughkeepsie and took a cab to the Vanderbilt Mansion (William V.).  This is the smallest of the V-mansions, although the grounds encompassed 400 acres originally and included horse stables, several guest houses, staff houses, dock, etc.  Lunch at the Brass Anchor restaurant adjacent to the marina.

Continued on to Catskill, where we stayed at the Hop-A-Nose Marina (named after an old Indian) in a well protected creek.  The marina was in a state of disrepair, but has recently been sold and the new owner plans to upgrade.  Dinner at La Conca de Oro was good, although not exceptional. THE ERIE CANAL IS CLOSED FOR REPAIRS! we learned to our dismay. A storm had broken a dam which flooded the canal and broke the door at Lock 12.  Repairs are not expected to be completed until July 2. This resulted in adding a new leg 5a from Albany to Oswego, and the rescheduling of legs 6 & 7.

Broken dam/lock

6/22    Flexibility being an attribute of seafarers, we backtracked to Kingston, a popular destination which we had to bypass on the way north.  We stayed at the Rondoubt Yacht Basis for two nights, dined at the  ? restaurant at the top of a hill overlooking the harbor.  The restaurant is in what was an old church and has good food, pot roast is a specialty and it was excellent.   

6/23    The following day John and I toured the maritime museum and Nora and Kathy went shopping.  We then caught the trolley to town for some re-provisioning. The dingy wouldn't start upon our return due to an overheated gas line which broke the primer bulb.  We had to get a tow back to the marina.

6/24    Back north, past Catskill, Hudson and Athens to an anchorage at Houghtenin Island, near Coeymans.  A nice quiet anchorage off the main channel.  Afternoon activities included bottom cleaning and some minor maintenance.  For dinner Nora did the fixings and we BBQ'd pork tenderloins on the grill.

Under tow.

6/25    Motored over to our layover marina and docked (in a big breeze) at our rina at Coeymans' Landing. Got a new primer bulb for the dingy. Dinner at Yanni's Rest. at the marina. Toad strangler rain in early evening.  Nice couple run the marina, Hedy and Carl.

6/26    Taxied to Albany and hotel for the night.

6/27    Rented a car and drove to Syracuse via the Mohawk River/Erie Canal and Adirondack Park.  Stopped at Lock 12, site of the damage and took above photo. The lock itself is not damaged, just the dam and bridge.  Apparently the lock is closed due to fears that the dam could break.