Day 65...Haverstraw Cove to anchorage at Pollepel Island New York

FOR SOME REASON THE TEXT CHANGED SIZE.  I HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO FIX IT.  SORRY.

SATURDAY, JUNE 2, 2012

     It rained and rained last night and early this morning.  We knew we didn’t have far to go so we cooked and ate breakfast before we left at 9:55 a.m.  Here’s an early morning picture of the crew.

     The current was with us as we started out.  We were moving right along at between 6.8 and 7.2 mph.  Yesterday against the current, we saw as low as 2.8 mph for a long time.  What we did notice right away was the enormous amount of debris that the rain had washed into the river overnight.  There were sticks, boards and even large logs that were all out in the river.  One time I even saw a kayak paddle.  It was an obstacle course for Gary to steer through trying not to hit anything that would damage the boat.  I never knew the water was so deep.  I thought 90 feet was deep until the depth gauge read 115 feet and then 150 feet.

     We are starting to get into the mountains and not just big hills.  As we passed under Bear Mountain Bridge, Allison told us her family hiked all the way to the top of Bear Mountain when they lived in the area.

     I noticed Highland Falls written on the chartplotter and as we passed we could see the falls right on the edge of the river.  We can see a lot of interesting things by being a slow traveler.

     I don’t see how anyone, fast or slow, could miss West Point.  I think it is incredibly majestic.  It looks like what I think a Medieval Fortress would look like.  It was very impressive.

     Since we knew we were going such a short distance today, we had already decided to stop at Cold Spring, New York.  Allison had also visited here and thought we might enjoy walking around the village.   We anchored TRAVELLER on the side of the river and dinghied in to the marina dock. Policemen down at the docks gave the kids marine safety information.

     To get to the main part of town you had to walk into a little red brick building, go through a tunnel under the commuter train tracks and come out the other side in another little red brick building.  

We walked around town checking out places to have lunch.  

We decided on pizza.  Allison and the kids had been missing authentic New York pizza.  

     On the way back we had ice cream for dessert.  We had ice cream with names like Carrot Cake, Panda Paw, Caramel Cup Craze and my favorite, White Lightning (dark chocolate ice cream with swirls of mint). Delicious!!!! We were all very pleased with our selections.

      Here is a plaque that tells a story about how Cold Spring got its name.  It took us two tries to find the spring.  Al least the man at the Visitor’s Center said that this was the spring.  I can't imagine the frogs were there then.

     Before we left the kids took the opportunity to run around a little at a nearby park.  

     I also took pictures of a gazebo, riverside park and paddle wheeler going by before we went back to the boat to move to our anchorage for the night.  Cold Spring was well worth the stop.  It reminded us of Fernandina Beach.

     Just before we reached our destination, we passed Break Neck Ridge.  This is another place that Allison's family has visited.

     Allison had seen Pollepel Island from shore so we decided to anchor near the mostly rocky, 6.75-acre island. We knew the Metro-North’s Hudson line and Amtrak trains run by the island but didn’t realize they are less than 1000 feet away.  The view was well worth the train whistles.

     The ruins of Bannerman’s Castle are on the island. Frances Bannerman VI started building the castle around 1901 as a military surplus warehouse built in the style of a castle.  The castle served as a giant advertisement.  One side of the castle still reads “Bannerman’s Island Arsenal”.  He also built a smaller castle on top of the hill as a residence.  Construction ceased when he died in 1918.  Since then the castle has fallen into ruin although efforts are being made to at least keep it from deteriorating further.  

We could dingy close to the island but are not allowed on unless we go with a tour.

You can’t beat the view from our anchorage tonight.  

     We traveled for 3 hours and 23 minutes covering 20 miles.  Our total miles traveled is 1381 miles.