Mountains, Castles, and Oh So Many Logs

After thoroughly enjoying the Hudson Valley on our little mini vacation over Memorial Day weekend, we decided it was time to move on up the Hudson River to see some new sights and start making our way closer to the start of the Erie Canal.

We had been in the vicinity of West Point Military Academy the entire time we were there thus far, but hadn’t seen it yet. It is quite a sight to see from the water! The prestigious academy sits high atop a cliff and looks reminiscent of a castle and is tucked into the mountains along the river.  Just as we were passing by and gazing up in awe, a bald eagle flew right in front of us in close proximity. It was just kind of powerful since bald eagles symbolize the United States, and here we were cruising by this amazing location where our military officers train to protect the freedom that gives us the ability to live our lives on this floating home of ours.

A Bald Eagle flying in front of West Point Military Academy

Just beyond West Point’s campus, we chose the most perfect spot to anchor for the night in Cold Spring, New York. We had towering mountains immediately in front of us that sort of cascaded into the horizon. There were waterfalls raining down from the mountains and we had the absolute perfect view of the sunset from our location each night. We ended up staying here for 4 or 5 nights. We didn’t get off the boat once and didn’t even mind because it was so beautiful and peaceful there. We were the only boat there for most of the week and really just enjoyed being immersed in nature and appreciating God’s handiwork.

When the weekend came, we decided to keep on our way north. We immediately came upon Bannerman Castle. In the small amount of research I had done about the Hudson before we arrived, this was one of the main sites that I was looking forward to seeing! The ruins of this lavish estate remain on an island in the middle of the Hudson River, surrounded by beautiful mountains in the backdrop. They give tours of the island which you can only reach by boat, however, boaters must still purchase a ticket even if they wish to visit on their own for a self-guided exploration. Since we had just started on our way that day, we chose to just enjoy from afar and after thoroughly soaking in the views, we kept on our way.  For more information about the history of this island, you can read more on their website: https://bannermancastle.org/history/

We saw many more interesting and unique points of interest along the Hudson River that day including Buddhist monasteries complete with large and ornate shrines, the Culinary Institute of America where you can actually visit for a meal, one of the Vanderbilt mansions, and Mount Academy which is a private school that will make you feel like you are in Europe! We could only see the tippy top of a castle-like structure, so out of sheer curiosity, I googled it and learned about this magnificent campus. https://www.mountacademy.org/

We anchored in Poughkeepsie the first night and then continued on the next day.

We stopped in Kingston, NY in search of water and a pump out. Kingston is a very charming little town! 

We had a heck of a time finding a place to fill up our water tanks that week because most marinas only allow boaters to do this when they purchase fuel. We had purchased fuel when we arrived in the Hudson, not knowing we were going to get stuck here for a month waiting for the locks to open on the Erie Canal, so we didn’t have room in our tanks to buy any more diesel. Because of this, marinas wouldn’t allow us to fill up water. We had to stop 4 different places before we finally found water. It was getting very frustrating. The Hudson River is beautiful, but if you are like us and don’t want to spend an arm and a leg to get a slip, then it gets a little tricky getting to shore and finding necessities like food and water. 

We ended up stopping in Catskill, NY for the night because they had a free city dock to utilize to pick up a grocery order from Instacart. We learned that it is pronounced “Cat’s Kill” rather than “Cat-skills” like most people say. When we had been driving around in the rental car, we kept seeing town names ending in “kill” such as Fishkill. I googled what kill meant in this context and learned that it was derived from the Dutch word “kil” which means creek or stream. So really Catskill just means Cat’s Creek. I thought this was interesting. We learn so much through traveling!

Catskill Mountains in New York

We had a gorgeous view of the Catskill mountains, however the anchorage was just on the side of the river, so we were not protected from any of the debris rushing down the Hudson. The Hudson River is a tidal river, meaning it flows to the ocean so the tide changes creating a viscous cycle of trees and logs and debris endlessly floating back and forth all day and night. It can be quite treacherous at times! We actually had to turn our engines on at one point while we were anchored to pivot out of the way because we looked up the river and saw an entire tree with the roots and everything floating directly at us just as the sun was setting. Thankfully, we managed to dodge it but decided we definitely needed to find a new spot the next night.

The next day, we ended up stopping at Donovan’s Shady Harbor Marina for fuel and they finally let us fill up our water! Hallelujah! I had seen advertisements on Facebook for a shindig that this marina was having that weekend for people doing the Great Loop, and the entire marina was packed with Loopers!  It looked like a lot of fun and their nightly rates weren’t bad, so we decided to get a slip for the night. Thankfully, were able to get the very last slip that Trouvaille would fit in with her fat bottom self! Immediately after getting situated, we decided to utilize the laundry facilities on site before the festivities started. It was quite hot out that day, and we were so excited to have AC for a change!

Got a slip for the night to attend a Looper shindig and enjoy some AC!

Our dock neighbor had a very colorful Aquila power cat that had been wrapped to look like a Kandinsky painting and was cleverly named “Katinsky” since it was a catamaran. We met the owner, and he was a very nice man who really loved color. Everything he owned was very vividly colored, including the t-shirt he had on. He was kind enough to give us a tour of his boat and it had some really nice features and upgrades. Throughout our conversation with him, we learned that he actually invented the Roku stick, which explained his super nice boat!

Later that evening, we headed up to the tiki area at the marina for the Looper party.  They had a pig roast and a potluck, tiki bar with drinks, a pool, bonfires on the beach, and live music. It was a really fun time and it was so nice to be around people again after spending much of the previous weeks cooped up on the boat in bad weather in places without shore access.

The next morning, we moved the boat the rest of the way up to Albany, NY to stage ourselves to transit the first few locks of the Erie Canal in the coming days, as they were FINALLY opening up!

Dustin goofing around with our fenders as we prepared to go through the 35 locks of the Erie Canal!