Month: March 2021

Today we traveled about twenty eight miles north up the Hudson River. We left around 7:30am and arrived to our destination of Athens, New York about 12:30pm, where we see there is a free city dock. The reviews say the dock does not allow overnight docking- but many people stay overnight- also there is an anchorage right across from the dock. We decided to head to the dock and scope out the situation. On the other side of the river is Hudson, New York, which sounds like a cool place to visit but there are no free docks there, so Athens it is. Upon arrival there were no other boats there so we pulled up and tied off. The town of Athens was formed in 1815 from parts of the towns of Catskill and Coxsackie. We had a good laugh over the town name of Coxsackie. I can’t help it. A major plot point in War of the Worlds (2005) took place in Athens. In the movie, most of the town is shown being destroyed. These are the scenes where the flaming train passes by the cast and the crowd is going towards the ferry. Other than that there isn’t much to talk about except a small lighthouse in the middle of the river. We got a pizza from Stella Pizzeria which was right across the park where we docked. We ate it on the boat while hanging out and watching people walk around the park. We decided we would hang out here at the free dock for the afternoon, then move later and anchor out in the river. We walked around town and checked out what we could. Most places were closed due to Covid so it was pretty quiet. I stopped in to a liquor store (which wouldn’t let me in, but sold liquor through the door) and got a couple of canned beverages. We made our way back to the boat and eventually moved out to the anchorage. Another boat had pulled in and anchored so we stayed clear of them and found a spot. Tomorrow we have to time the currents again, so we have time to kill in the morning/ early afternoon. The current won’t be in our favor until about 1pm so Lauren wants to explore Hudson, so we will check that out before departing for our next destination.

we pulled anchor and departed around 8:30am. We were going a little over forty miles today to hopefully a marina. There were several options and I called them as we were on the way. I finally got a hold of someone at a state park which was the most economical option other than anchoring, which we didn’t want to do with the approaching storm. We also had heard from some friends on their boat Tipsy Gypsy. We had met them back in Jim King Park at Sisters Creek near Jacksonville, Florida. They are heading to Michigan and we ran in to them one other time. They were in the area and also looking for a marina. Unfortunately I had reserved the last spot at Mills Norrie Marina, but they found a spot a bit farther up the river. We passed West Point Military Academy on the way and saw some military jumping with parachutes flying over us. We finally pulled in to the marina around 2:15pm. The dock master assisted us with the lines and we settled in. Lauren took Frank while I hooked up the power and secured the ship. We were in a large state park so there was nothing around except hiking trails. There is an island in the middle of the river that is called Esopus Island. It has campsites, picnic areas, trails, and fishing access points, but can be reached only by boat. “Aleister Crowley spent 40 days and 40 nights on Esopus Island (which he spelled “Oesopus”) in 1918, translating the Tao Te Ching, meditating, and painting slogans on the rocks with red paint. Friends had given him money to buy a tent, a canoe, and stores for his retreat to the island, but instead of food he bought the paint, brushes, and rope for rappeling, saying that he would be “fed by ravens”. Local people as well as friends brought him supplies” We decided to take the dinghy there and explore. There was no one around and it was kind of creepy. The bugs were also feasting on us so we didn’t stay too long. We made our way back to the marina and enjoyed some air conditioning since we have power. Dinner was made and after checking the weather, we see the storm is expected to hit us tomorrow afternoon.

Day 2- I went about double checking our lines and adding more. I spoke to the dock master and he said they could have a few feet of storm surge. At least we are on a floating dock so that won’t affect us unless it surges higher than the eight foot poles. If that happens I will go to plan B. A very large yacht showed up and anchored out in the river in front of the marina. They must really trust their anchor! I feel pretty confident we are secured and noticed people are showing up and adjusting their lines and checking on their boats. There is a quiet uneasiness for the unexpected. We kept watching the radar and seeing its approach. It looks like we are going to get some rain and winds, but it looks worse south of us and in the Long Island Sound area. The rain eventually started and the wind picked up. We sat in the boat watching the weather outside. The marina was really protected with trees all around. We got rocked a little but it wasn’t bad. There would be lulls in the rain and I would step outside and inspect everything, them come in when it would start again. It did this for a couple of hours then it was done. I took Frank for a walk and could see on the radar that it had all passed us at this point. Whew. That was so much better than expected. I did continue to monitor the tide to make sure water from upstream wasn’t going to surge, but it didn’t get anywhere’s close to even have to start worrying about it. While we were riding out the storm we looked at our next destination which will be Athens, New York. We walked Frank again and dinner was made while we felt a sense of relief that the storm was over and we had dodged our third hurricane.