Bruce and I slept in steady beds for two nights! And with room to run around like wild horses if we had wished. We stayed with Eileen Madden and Paul Osmolskis in Pelham, NY, in the Long Island Sound. Eileen and I were in Nestle's Regulatory Affairs Dept. Paul is a champion sailor, with many winning trophies displayed in their home. I had sailed with them once about 14 yrs ago. They were able to swing a guest tie-up at their yacht club for us, and then invited us to stay with them! Wonderful! We took a day cruise up to Norwalk, CT yesterday and Paul was able to share volumes of local history and interests, like how Hart Island is where they bury the homeless who die in NYC. He even got me back safely after dark, avoiding all the rocky and other shallow hazards along the CT coast.
It was so much fun to see Norwalk and Greenwich and Larchmont, little coves with character, which I think of as New England. And being near the bottom of the Sound, you look right across to Long Island as if it's only a couple miles across. In Norwalk, we took the short walk into the old main street and had lunch at an 1889 pub. Two pitchers of a local ale later.....
Eileen and Paul BBQed steaks for us, Eileen made pancakes with fresh blackberries, we watched a movie, we did two loads of laundry -- all the comforts of home for a break. Their home is a gem, built in 1901.
Today we departed in bright sunshine and glassy seas, returning to the East River. We experienced something extraordinary that we hadn't last Saturday when we were going the other direction -- Hell's Gate. It's located in a narrow tidal strait just north of where the Harlem River diverts off. If the tides coming and going are "right", there are sudden huge swirling surging waves that can toss and turn boats - which they did to us! It was like we were suddenly in a rough ocean! I had to cut the engine to idle to survive the swells. About 30 seconds later, it was normal again, and we turned westward into the Harlem River. Last Saturday, the tides were such that we passed through Hell's Gate with no clue that it could deserve its reputation.
Then, the Harlem River was interesting. It cuts over to the Hudson, and is what makes Manhattan an island. It was a quiet and calm waterway. We saw only three other boats the entire 7 miles. We went under about 10 bridges, all tall enough so that I didn't need to call bridge operators. Yankee Stadium was right there, where we were last Thursday. Lots of city sights! The only bridge that was potentially a problem was the last one, a railroad swing bridge right at the Hudson. It had only a 5 ft clearance, so I wanted to know if it actually opened for pleasure boats, and if so, what was the schedule? I called the bridge operator over and over the entire way, with no answer, so I was afraid I might need to turn around and go completely around the base of Manhattan and up the Hudson from its start. Once I got within sight of the swing bridge, the operator finally answered and scolded me for calling him so often. He said he couldn't open it 20 minutes before I got there. I explained I hadn't been calling him to open it, only to inquire about his schedule. He did not respond. He told me to wait. I idled for 15 minutes, when it finally swung open and out we went into the swift moving Hudson River!!
Right away we were curious. There were five NYC Police boats idling across the width of the river there. What was going on? One seemed to be approaching me, but then he turned away. We'll never know what that was all about (did Trump's boat need a police escort?).
While our tide-aided speed at 1600 rpm on the East River had been 11 mph, we now slowed to 5 mph against the Hudson tide. But who cared in such beauty? The tall cliffs on the NJ side, the Palisades, were so beautiful (see photo, which also shows our CALM water!). It was so exciting for me to be cruising up this historic river. I did a school report on Henry Hudson when I was in the 4th grade (which I still have since my parents saved EVERYTHING), and since then I've been entranced with this river. It is SOOO wide, and got even wider at the Tappan Zee Bridge (see photo). My estimate is that it was 2 miles wide there. We had the river almost to ourselves, until we neared the end of our 8-hour non-stop trip. When we finally got to our anchor spot, it turned out to be directly across from a nuclear power plant (in Peekskill). Ugh! But we can just look at the pretty trees and hills on the near side, the west side, of the river here.
Tomorrow we hope to tour West Point, which is only about 14 miles north of here. The river narrows considerably here.
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