Up a Muddy River

We dropped the lines at 730a this morning hoping to get up river to an anchorage near Albany. But we were fighting the current all the way going only 4.8 knots at times!  With all the rain there was plenty of debris in the chocolate brown water so we had to be alert. When I took over the helm I stood on the Captain's chair foot rest so I could see better... logs were nearly the same color as the water!

The first bridge we went under was the Kingston-Rhinebeck Bridge.  Just north of this bridge there are shoals that require large ships to crisscross the river here.   Fortunately we didn't meet our first large tow until well passed this spot.

Kingston-Rhinebeck Bridge

Barge & Tug Passing us Port to Port

Saugerties lighthouse

Then we passed the Saugerties lighthouse built in 1869 marking Esopus Creek and the harbor for Saugerties. And soon we were going past the town of Catskill and then the distant view changed from low forest to mountains.

Mountains Beginning to appear on the East Side of the Hudson 

Shortly after 10a we had white caps on the river and the wind speed increased to 30MPH. However, it was not so rough that we wanted to quit. I was already wearing long sleeves but had to put on my wool cardigan. I'm loving the cool weather! 

We started hearing some interesting comments on the radio. Apparently due to rain the Erie Canal locks are closed!  We are not going that way but we did want to stop near the beginning of those locks at the very nice Waterford, NY city docks which are free for two nights and you can buy electricity if you want it.  We heard that they are full probably because of people waiting to get onto the Erie Canal.  Last night the water in the Erie came up 7 feet!

Just before Hudson, NY we passed the Hudson-Athens Lighthouse where some school children had just arrived by boat... lucky kids! We saw the water front of Hudson, NY and directly across from it was Athens, NY. An island mid-river blocked our view of Athens.

The Hudson-Athens Lighthouse

After nearly 7 hours we have anchored just north of the town of Coxsackie (pronounced “Cook-sacky”). It seems to be a protected anchorage located between the island of Coxsackie and the west bank of the river. We heard several boats ahead of us stop at a New Baltimore marina just slightly north of us on the east side the river.

Tomorrow we are hoping to get passed the first lock at Troy, NY and anchor just before starting the Champlain Canal. I'm excited and scared about doing a REAL lock!  Those two little locks along the Great Dismal Swamp were easy and the lock master came & stood right over me on his dock and “walked” me through what I was to do... the locks to come, about 143 of them,  are busier & bigger and I doubt there will be time to ask questions.... ha!  I have also heard some Loopers use the word “slime” in association with Locks... said we need long heavy gloves.  I have some garden gloves?!

Here's the Captain blowing up the big orange ball fenders (bumpers) for the locks.

Fenders Ready for Tomorrow

Looking forward to swinging on the hook (anchor) tonight and rocking gentle to sleep.