Along the Hudson River

At noon on Saturday (June 11), with no wind at the dock, we easily cast off and glided out of our slip at Liberty Landing Marina and motored down the fairway to the not-so-calm Hudson River, due to the current and wakes from many ferries and a few powerboats. The light wind was not favorable for sailing, so we powered up the Hudson under gray skies, enjoying the views of Manhattan to our east and then the Palisades to our west after we passed the city. 

The Empire State Building from the Hudson

The Cloisters

As we were motoring upstream we passed the downstream bound S/V Maiden. In 1990, this vessel was the first one with an all-female captain and crew to sail around the world, competing and finishing second in the Whitbread Around the World Race. She is now the flagship of the Maiden Factor Foundation, which raises funds and awareness for education of girls throughout the world.

S/V Maiden motoring past the Palisades

We anchored on the west side of the river at 6 p.m., by the town of Nyack, NY, in sight of the Tappan Zee Bridge. The Tappen Zee is a 10-mile stretch of the Hudson River where it is 3 miles from shore to shore. ("Zee" is Dutch for "sea.")

Tappan Zee Bridge at night from Mantra

I had skipped breakfast because I got up late, and we had only had tortilla chips and queso blanco dip for lunch, so I was a bit hangry and could not wait until we launched the dinghy and got to town for dinner. So, I quickly made a caprese salad, which helped, but it takes a while to get over being hangry, so I was not quite on top of things the rest of the evening. Nevertheless, we successfully launched the dinghy and motored in a short distance to a town dock. We walked up the hill to the heart of town, where we found many restaurants and bars open along Main Street. Looking for a place for dessert and/or a drink, we were finally enticed into the Dragon Den and Dungeon Hall by the items on their menu. Unfortunately, our first choices were no longer available, so we settled on the last remaining slice of cheesecake and wine. At first, we sat outside, but other people sat down very near us at a table at the restaurant next door, all of them smoking, so we retreated into the den, where we felt that our children would fit in more than we did. However, everyone was very welcoming. At various tables, groups of people were playing Monopoly and role-playing games. On the televisions on the walls, instead of sports, anime films were being shown with subtitles. We arrived too late for the 6 p.m. poetry slam, which would have been quite interesting, I believe, but we tried to get into the spirit of the place by borrowing a deck of cards from the shelves along one wall and playing gin rummy. (Does that even count as gaming?) 

Anime on the screens

Our temporary new friends

Peter gaming(?)

Gaming table cover

The next morning, with the skies still overcast and with a nip in the air, we pulled up anchor around 10 a.m. and set off to explore a bit farther up the Hudson. In two hours, with calm water and 8-10 knots of wind from the south, we were able to sail pleasantly on a deep broad reach, averaging about 4 knots of speed, making several jibes to tack along the course. 

Sing Sing Prison

Anchoring in Croton Bay, we tidied up and turned off the instruments, boarded our dinghy, which we had towed, and headed into the private marina, where we tied up at a dock, paying $10 for the privilege. Walking over the railroad tracks and under the highway, we reached the outskirts of town, where we turned left on Maple and followed this gently inclined street to the heart of the village of Croton-on-Hudson. It was the final day of the soccer season, so there were families out celebrating with lunch and ice cream. We found a great place for a meal, the 105 Twenty Bar and Grill. Seated on the balcony at the back of the restaurant, we chatted with a family with three boys at the table next to ours while awaiting our food. Peter had a tempura fried fish sandwich and sweet potato fries and I had ordered the vegan burger which came with flavorful toppings and a tempting side salad. Peter said his meal was great and my vegan burger may have been the best I have ever had. I ate the burger and saved the salad to go because I wanted to have room for ice cream at the nearby Blue Pig. We thought we could only handle a scoop each, being sated with lunch, but the menu was too tempting, offering a variety of homemade and unusual flavors, so we enjoyed sundaes in the outdoor eating area before walking back down the hill. 

Asbury United Methodist Church in Croton-on-Hudson

We decided to take a different route back to the banks of the Hudson and followed Brook Street. Indeed, there was a burbling brook running through dense green woods along some sections, but it had been forced underground in some places. Houses had been construted directly over the stream, sometimes flowing out the downhill side of the foundations. Here, there were no lovely front yards or well-maintained historic buildings. The sidewalk was directly in front of the houses, which were not very well-maintained and had overloaded garbage bins sitting under windows. We figured that while Croton-on-Hudson in general is desirable real estate, structures built over a stream that intermittently surfaces and runs directly and not very deeply under buildings are probably not very valuable. 

Crossing over the highway and the tracks on a high pedestrian bridge at the the end of the street, we then walked along the waterfront to the marina. We motored our dinghy over to the beach, staying clear of the well-posted area that warned boats to stay 750 feet offshore. Tying up to a fallen tree below a steep wooded bank, we walked to the main beach, where the signs, in smaller type, stated that swimming and wading were prohibited. There was another sign, not visible from the water, that warned against trespassing on the county park land where we had just come ashore. Peter is so frustrated by the regulations that restrict access to public lands and the lack of designated dinghy docks in this area of the world. (There are none at all in New York City!) The intent seems to be to discourage anchoring and forcing boats into marinas. Peter was so disgusted that we just turned around, returned to the dinghy and came back to Mantra.

I decided to clean out two drawers with flatwear, knives and cooking utensils in the galley, and this small project created more work than we anticipated for both of us. Peter had noticed that one of the drawers had been badly repaired, so he spent an hour or more taking it apart and doing the job right. Since I had already started cleaning the drawers and the inner trays, I went on a cleaning binge, moving on to the bathroom and then the walls and steps of the companion way, which I attacked with bleach and vigor. After that, I set to work making a large pot of corn chowder. I am making meals in advance of our family visiting so that I can just heat things up rather than spending hours in the galley.

It had been a busy day of sailing, exploring, cleaning and cooking, and I was so exhausted that I had trouble getting to sleep. This morning I slept in and only served cereal for breakfast rather than a meal with eggs. Peter has been whipping parts of the shrouds to prevent chafing with the recently installed boom break, which we tested yesterday while jibing.

Now we are ready to head downstream. Our plan is to anchor below the Palisades and do some exploring of the water by the shore and in the woods on the land.