Liberty Harbor to Kingston, New York, July 5th

Bear Mountain Bridge, July 5, 2003

The next morning, the Hudson River was relatively quiet. It was a slow ride because the currents were against us and the tide change was following us upriver most of the day.

Houses along the Hudson. Click picture to view larger image.

The most picturesque portion of the Hudson is the West Point area where there are steep cliffs and the Hudson becomes narrow and makes a dog leg right then left.

West Point looking North, Gees Point, Worlds End/Magazine Point and Constitution Island.

West Point looking South, Magazine Point with jet ski and paddle boat, Storm King Mountain and Pollepel Island.

Pollepel Island, also known as Bannerman's island, is where a munitions dealer by the name of Bannerman built a replica of a medieval castle as a summer resort. It later burned. Stopping on the island is not permitted although it didn't stop a neighbor of mine from doing just that sometime back. He didn't recommend it as he said that he found the ruins quite hazardous.

Pollepel Island, Ruins of castle on Pollepel Island, More ruins south of Pollepel Island.

Closeup of the castle on Pollepel Island, Poughkeepsie Mid Hudson Bridge, Esopus Lighthouse.

The Esopus Lighthouse is located in the middle of the Hudson river and north bound boats that want to avoid shallow waters must go all the way to the right of it. Shortly after Esopus, the Rondout Lighthouse comes into view marking the entrance to Kingston and the end of a day on the Hudson.

Esopus Lighthouse and Island, Rondout Lighthouse, Rondout Creek.

Kingston is a great place to stop with a nice town dock right in historic Kingston and several marinas near by. I attempted to get a reservation at a marina 5 days before July 5th, but they were all full. Fortunately, two days before, I was able to reserve a place at the town dock (845-331-6940). Their VHF does not seem to be functional so the phone is a good way to call them if you can't hail them on channel 16.

The dockmaster placed me in the slip for the police boat and was going to move me to a slot that was going to open up as soon as two boaters returned from lunch. The new slot opened up, but they decided to leave me were I was and put another arrival in the open slips. There was some concern that that would give very little room for the tour boat Teal to dock. I talked to John, the captain of the Teal, and said I didn't mind moving. If he felt it would be a problem, we could ask the dock master to juggle some boats. He said that he didn't like what they had done, but figured he would work around it because weather wasn't an issue that day.

He made two runs that day and my bow was still intact afterwards. After his last run I ran into him on the dock and we talked. His wife Linda wasn't happy with having to jump off and pull the boat over, but offered me something to drink from the bar on the boat anyway since she knew I offered to move.

I learned they had bought the Teal from an operator in Red Bank, NJ. I also found out that they knew John Callaghan from the canal corporation and Tom Ryan from the Erie Canal Boat that we would later meet in Little Falls. He gave me a tour of his other boat that he used for business and pleasure.

Kingston, Kingston Shops looking towards creek, Public docks at Kingston Creek.

One of the shops on the main street is a deli which was useful for picking up drinks, ice and sandwich meats.

For dinner, John Callaghan recommended the Ship to Shore restaurant for dinner. His assessment of slightly more expensive but worth it was right on the money. The first thing you see when you get off the public dock is Mariners Harbor, but after testing the food on our return visit, it wasn't very remarkable.

A peninsula in Rondout Creek, The Clearwater tour boat, The Clearwater underway in Rondout Creek

The mast of the Clearwater tour boat moored at the Hudson River Maritime Center Museum is well over the height of the 56' high bridge located just behind it's dock.

See July 6th for more pictures of Kingston.


FIRST PREVIOUS NEXT LAST
BACK HOME


Comments can be mailed to the Webmaster at: webmaster@seamoss.dhs.org