Haverstraw NY (2013-10-19)

N41° 12.104', W73° 57.682'

Tonight finds us at anchor in Haverstraw Cove NY.  Tomorrow, New York City!

Last night we experienced a weird swell coming in to the Mariner's dock from the southeast, so we were rolling a bit for most of the night.  We still slept well.  Well, as well as could be expected with having a level crossing for the train track about 100 feet away.

I've come to realize something about boating on the Hudson River.  If you are going to have a boat in a marina on the Hudson, you had better learn to like trains.  The tracks run right along both the east and west shores of the river, so they are always running right next to all of the marinas.

It was a little cool and misty when we headed out this morning, and there was a bit of a wind that kept it feeling cool most of the day.

A light mist in the distance on the Hudson

I was looking forward to today's travels, as we would be reaching a couple landmarks that I was eager to see.  The first was Bannerman's Castle on Pollepel Island.
 

Bannerman's Castle

The next landmark I was looking forward to was West Point, the US Army Military Academy.

West Point

It was as impressive as I had expected it to be.

Sorry, I would have to root for the Air Force... :-)

 Early in the afternoon we turned the corner and entered Haverstraw Bay, a large wide area on the Hudson River, with many marinas dotting the shores, and many ActiveCaptain recommended anchorages to choose from.  I had my eye on a very sheltered anchorage in Haverstraw Cove.  If it hadn't been for the ActiveCaptain marker I might not have even spotted the entrance to the cove. 

Once we were in and settled we were visited by a couple of the local residents, looking for a handout.  Normally I don't like to cater to this kind of behaviour, but these two were cute, so we made an exception in their case.

Quite friendly once we gave them a snack

Shortly after dark we could hear some booming.  When we stood up we saw that there were fireworks going on out on Haverstraw Bay.  We're not sure what the event was, but one of the anchorages we had as a plan B would have been pretty close to where this was going on.  Oh well, we had a pretty good view from where we were, and we really like how well sheltered this anchorage is.

Fireworks on Haverstraw Bay

 Tomorrow morning we'll continue on our way, and should be in New York City early in the afternoon.  We'll probably end up anchoring, as the marinas are very expensive in NYC, and more than likely we'll end up in an anchorage behind the Statue of Liberty.