Troy Docks @ Troy NY day 83 to 86 June 26-28, 2010

Troy Docks @ Troy NY is the last stop before you need to decide to continue via Lake Champlain or go via the Erie Canal.  Troy, NY makes it very nice for transient boaters.  They let you dock at their facility for free!  And free includes electricity and city water.  This was the best bargain anywhere.  And the dock master was genial and on top of things.

There are many bridges that cross the Hudson.  This one is just north of Newburgh, called the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge.

This pair of bridges is referred to as the Poughkeepsie bridges (plural)

Pretty view of the first of the two Poughkeepsie bridges.

The bases of the second of the two Poughkeepsie bridges.  Maybe some stimulus money here?

Flat water, with a lighthouse in the background.

Another lighthouse.

And another.

This looks like a bridge section that got lost.  It is actually a section that has just been assembled and is on shoring, waiting to be transferred to a barge for transport to its final destination.  The facility is larger than what the picture shows.  They have lots of fabrication activity going on besides this project.

On up the Hudson, there were residential properties such as this one.

This is the state capitol at Albany.  Old English architecture.  Very pretty.

Warship moored at the Albany shoreline.  I have to think she is retired and on museum status.

This tickled our funnybone.  If you do not have a launch vehicle, you can always rent one!

View of the Salt Shaker moored at the Troy Docks.  Note the ham radio antenna at the front of the bow rail.  This antenna and the ham equipment aboard is capable of world wide ham radio communication.  I have had a ham license since 1953.

Here is the happy result of a real shot in the dark.  Pat telephoned her cousin, Kim who lives very near Troy just on the off chance we could hook up.  Turned out Kim was having a cousin convention and we did all get together at Kim's house.  Everyone participated in bringing us back to the boat.  We have Kim's husband, Charlie, Charlies son, Andrew, Pat, cousin Janet cousin Diane, and cousin Kim.  The only cousin who was unable to attend was Joan.  That would have made it a perfect 100%.

Andrew was very interested in the ham radio I have aboard.  I showed him as much as I could in the short time we had.  There was an amateur contest going on at the time.  We make a contest contact with K9ZA in Illinois in Morse code.

The "Just Rosie" (Don and Rosie) and "Heavenly Ours" (Mark and Sylvia at Troy docks ready to leave.  We have just motored away from the dock.

Decision time!

Trip from Haverstraw to Riverfront Marina @ Newburgh, NY

Your most happy captain preparing himself to depart Haverstraw.

Looking back at the Hudson Water Club (Part of the Haverstraw Marina complex) where we had dinner with Mark, Sylvia, Rosie and Don the night before.

The Indian Point Power Plant at Buchanan, NY on the east shore of the Hudson.  This is one of four in the region that has public pressure to do less harm to the aquatic environment from their huge cooling water discharges.  Many lawsuits etc.

Storm squall that happened just south of West Point.  This is part of a system that took down some trees on shore and did some other damage.  We got into zero visibility briefly with the amount of rain and force of the wind.  I believe it was shortly after this that we decided to keep the plastics up that close the gap between the upper edge of the windshield and the bimini top.

One of the many spectacular views of West Point.  This is only a little portion of it.

Typical view along the Hudson River.  I felt like Captain Henry Hudson here.

Bannerman's castle on Bannerman's Island just south of our destination, Newburgh, NY.  Here is a link to its history.  http://www.dupontcastle.com/castles/bannerma.htm  .

It does not show here but it was about as windy a harbor situation as we ran into up to this point.  We made a couple of attempts to get into the finger dock we were assigned but were not successful either time.  Our next assignment was the face dock on the north side.  This I could do!  All boats that came in this day did not get docked damage free.

This sign was for real.  It was put there because of an 80+ year old gentleman who insisted on wearing his which caused many grimaces and complaints from the local ladys.  This was the solution to the problem.

Other problems at Newburgh were caused by an over exuberant local staff of official vessels harrasing the boaters.  Local law enforcement from various agencys.  There were instances of a single boater being stopped for safety inspecions multiple times on the same day.  Needless to say, this kind of behaviour on the part of law enforcement is not productive.  I asked about it and I was told it had its start when the stimulus money started to appear and was looking for places to find itself.  That was the local observation.  We saw constant presence of many official boats but fortunately they left us alone.

Don and Mark enjoying a cold beverage aboard the Salt Shaker.  The ladys were out shopping.  They told us it was for groceries and provisions.  We were confident that the mechainical repair parts we ordered for the boats would be correctly obtained.

Best I could do as far as the exposure setting was concerned.  This is one of the many ferrys that criss cross the Hudson, picking up commuters and dropping them off, going to and from work and for their other various purposes.  There is an Amtrak and a local service train station on the East side of the river.  The full moon added its touch to the night.

Sylvia on the stern of Heavenly Ours as we were departing Newbergh.  Mark has many interesting storys about the various things that can happen in the engine room of a vintage boat.

On to Troy, NY

Summary of trip since Haverstraw, NY

My apologies for being off line for so very long.  Once we entered Canada at Brighton, Ontario on July 7th we have been on Canada internet ever since.  It surprised us that for more than a month, back in the US, we did not have clean internet access to US towers because ironically we were closer to Canadian towers than to US towers until Aug. 24 when we left Port Huron, MI to travel north up Lake Huron to Presque Isle, MI and then to Mackanac Island where we are now.  What a beautiful place to be writing this posting.

It will be quite a task to catch up with pictures and storys from when we left off.  This post will simply be a list of all of our stops and the dates.  Then I will start to catch up with the details.

06/22/10  Haverstraw Marina, Haverstraw, NY  (On the Hudson River)
06/23/10  River Front Marina, Newburgh, NY
06/26/10  Troy City Docks, Troy, NY
06/28/10  Waterford Welcome Center, Waterford, NY  (Last stop before entering the Erie Canal)
06/29/10  Schenectedy Yacht Club, Schenectedy, NY
06/30/10  RiverBank Park, Amsterdam, NY
07/01/10  Rotary Marina, Little Falls, NY
07/03/10  Winter Harbor Marina, Brewerton, NY
07/06/10  Otsego Marina, Otsego, NY (Jumping off point for Canada across Lake Ontario)
07/07/10  Harborview Marina & Motel, Brighton, Ont.
07/08/10  Frazer Park Marina, Trent Ont.  (Beginning of Trent Severn Canal system)
07/10/10  Old Mill Park, Campbelford, Ont.
07/12/10  Hastings Park Wall, Hastings, Ont.
07/13/10  Little Lake Marina, Peterborough, Ont.
07/14/10  Lakefield Marina, Lakefield, Ont.
07/16/10  Buckhorn Marina, Buckhorn, Ont.
07/18/10  Cedar Point Marina, Bobcajun, Ont.
07/19/10  Fenelon Falls Lock Wall, Fenelon Falls, Ont.
07/20/10  Port Orilla, Marina, Orilla, Ont.
07/22/10  Christies Mill Resort, Port Severn, Ont.  (End of the Trent Severn canal system)
07/23/10  Midland Municipal Marina, Midland, Ont.  (At bottom of Georgian Bay)
07/24/10  Henry's Fish Restaurant, Frying Pan Island Ont. (On east side of Georgian Bay)
07/25/10  Big Sound Marina, Parry Sound, Ont.  (On side shore of Georgian Bay)
07/26/10  Tobermory Municipal Harbor, Tobormory, Ont. (on north end of the Bruce Penninsula)
07/29/10  Harbor Light Marina, Bayfield, Ont.  (last port in Canada)
07/30/10  Bridge Harbor Marina, Port Huron, MI
08/01/10  Jefferson Beach Marina, St. Clair Shores, MI (where my brother keeps his boat)
08/03/10  The Old Club, Harsons Island, MI  (for a GIYC rendezvous)
08/06/10  Emerald City Marina, St. Clair Shores MI (For repair of the power steering system)
08/07/10  Grosse Ile Yacht Club, Grosse Ile, MI  (My brother's yacht club)
08/09/10  "B" Dock, Put-in-Bay, OH  (where Commodore Perry made history in 1813)
08/15/10  Grosse Ile Yacht Club, Grosse Ile, MI  (Pat went back to FL for family visits etc.)
08/23/10  Port Huron Yacht Club, Port Huron, MI
08/24/10  Presque Isle Marina, Presque Ile, MI
08/25/10  Mackanac Island Harbor, Mackanac Island, MI

No wonder we are tired!