New York, New Jersey, and the Hudson River

We left the inlet to go on the Atlantic Ocean open water to travel until we reached Sandy Hook, New Jersey.  Another boat left a little ahead of us and reported that the ocean was large rolling waves but a good day to venture out.  So we traveled to Sandy Hook in 4-6 foot swells that were spaced a long way apart so it made for a good travel day.

We anchored inside Sandy Hook at the Atlantic Highlands area and proceeded to sit at anchor for 2 days waiting for the fog to lift.  The storm off the coast of Florida and Georgia made all the weather sit and our weather just stayed crappy.  Finally after a couple of days of fog, mist, rain, and wind, we left and headed into the Big Apple.  We were in a couple of the shipping canals that the really big ships use and numerous ferry boats that shuttle folks back and forth to New York.  We hit another foggy patch or two but luckily we have good radar and could still see a quarter to half mile without it.

We made into New York harbor and although the pictures are still hazy it was an awesome sight.  Here is a couple of the first views of the harbor.

The statue of liberty greeted us.  Here are some of the many pictures we took of her.  This statue is over 300 feet tall and has so many memories for so many people tied to it.  You can not help but think of the many of all of our ancestors that saw this for the first time arriving in America.

The thrilling part of us actually arriving in New York was that we anchored in Liberty State Park and as you can see from the next picture, we were at the back of the statue of liberty and we could see the entire harbor as well.  It was a beautiful, and very peaceful anchorage.  Hard to believe we were in the middle of such a enormous city and have such a quiet spot.

The next morning we left to explore the Hudson River.  I know, many of you would have gone into the city and enjoyed the sites, but if you haven't already guessed it we are not "big city folks".   The next pictures are going up the first several miles of the Hudson.  New Jersey is on one side of the river and New York is on the other.

Staten Island Ferry

Ellis Island (this is the processing point for the immigrants)

One of the two Twin Towers (note the progress on the completion of the building)

Both of the twin towers

New Jersey side of the Hudson

More of the New Jersey side

The Empire State Building

Since it was Memorial Day week end there were many additional activities planned in New York City.  One of them is Fleet Week.  They bring in several of the Navy ships and also the tall ships into the harbor so that folks can tour on them.  Here are some of the pictures we took as we cruised by.









Of course, here as well as all over the country, there is a security detail for every one's safety.  We could not get any closer as this Coast Guard boat was patrolling the area to protect all of the ships.











That machine gun mounted on the front of the boat was enough for us to keep a safe distance.

The Hudson River is very wide as you leave New York Harbor.  There is a series of bridges that span the width of the river and are very impressive.  I think one of our cruising guides stated it the best, this harbor and river are for the BIG ships and your boat will feel quite small in comparison.  The pictures do not do justice to the size of the bridges.  It was hard to capture that. 



There are also a number of lighthouses on the Hudson River, keep in mind that we traveled this river for about 150 miles (all upstream).  We anchored two nights on the Hudson.  It is a beautiful resource and we were surprised that there was a some boat traffic for the holiday weekend, but not a lot.

This is the captain checking out ahead of us.  We use these binoculars at least 30 times a day and they are a very important part of the trip.

One of the spots we anchored by was Pollepel Island.  This island has the ruins of a Scottish castle called Bannerman castle.  Note that the folks on the kayaks were enjoying an up close and personal view.

There are many sites as I said, one of them is West Point Academy, the others are the rolling hills and many rock cliffs along the banks.

We traveled past Albany, New York and took a picture of this ship there in the harbor.  We will be staying at Waterford Visitor Center at the Erie Canal.  We will keep you posted.