Busted!

Monday September 2, 2013
Croton-On-Hudson
41 11.529 N
73 53.860 W

We filled the water tanks and were out of the marina by 9 AM. We had a fairly long day ahead of us (49 NM) to get to the anchorage that would put us withing striking distance of NYC on Tuesday. It had rained all night and the rain was still hanging around, but it was warm enough.

View of main street on the way out the creek

Today was Labour Day, last day of the long weekend and there seemed to be quite a bit of boat traffic as people made their way home. Also noticeable were the police boats. One such boat passed and re-passed us several times, we dutifully waved and smiled each time. The 5th time we were not so lucky, on went the blue lights and we were stopped and boarded by the Cost Guard for a "safety check". Local police cannot stop you without "probable cause" but the Coast Guard need no reason.

So we welcomed them on board and were "inspected". Deidre and I are very familiar with the rules and so I was able to walk them thru the boat and help check off all the items. They were really a pleasant couple of kids and it was a bit of fun to have them on board. We got a clean bill of health and were only delayed maybe 30 minutes.

For most of today the Hudson cut thru a branch of the Adirondack Mountains, so the river was contained by some quite high mountains and narrow gorges. We had caught up with the tide by about 2 PM and when the river was constricted  we really got a push from the current, reaching over 9 kts in a few places.

There are train tracks on both sides of the river. The amount of train traffic is quite amazing. Some of the trains must be over a mile long.

We reached the anchorage by about 4:30 PM and anchored in about 10' of water in a small bay on the east side of the river.

Lyn and Tony made dinner and we ate on the aft deck. The wind settled down as the sun set and it looks like it will be a calm night. There are a couple of yachts with us in the bay.

Tuesday AM

Series of small storm cells came thru the anchorage last night. Tony and I were on deck shortly after midnight and played out some more anchor chain "just in case". It seemed that we had dragged a 100' or so before the anchor reset itself. Because the wind came from just about every direction as the cells came and went, and because the change of tide moved the boat around too, it was hard to tell what was going on. But it was all very minor and we were back in bed soon. This morning the water is dead calm.