AUTUMN CRUISE UP THE HUDSON RIVER 2012

It seems there is always someplace new to experience on the water. After making the transit down the East River I rounded the Battery a little after sundown and I wanted to find an anchorage soon.  In the past I have poked into the basin behind the Statue of Liberty. But, it does not have a lot of room and if it was filled with a few cruising  boats on their way south I'd have to find another spot in harbor after dark and also fight the ebb current coming down the Hudson (North) River. So I decided to check out a new anchorage that looked inviting but, had never seen to many boats use. It is an area north of Ellis Island. So after rounding the Battery in Manhattan's southern tip I made a B line in the fading light for the area. Winds were out of the west blowing 10 to 15 knots and I put the bow as far west as I dared and dropped the anchor.

It turned out to be a pretty good spot. A little rolling at first but, it calmed down nicely until 4 AM when another roll woke me up. In the morning I waited until the flood current began to push up the Hudson and then weighed anchor and used the current to help push BIANKA along.  First past the still unfinished Freedom Tower:

Below is a photo of what it looked like during BIANKA's cruise in 2011. 

 A lot of progress was made but, last year I thought it might have had all the glass installed by this year. Hopefully, it will by next years cruise. Though there are signs that things will be reaching a peak soon. The parts of the tower that will be making up the transmission tower aka the spire on top have begun to arrive in the harbor as seen in this Tugster Post.

Continuing up the river the Empire State and Chrysler buildings soon showed up in my view with Pier 40 in the foreground:

A little further on I passed the Intrepid Air and Space Museum. Which had a new addition since last years cruise. That white bubble near the stern housed the  Enterprise Space Shuttle.

A week after this photo was taken Hurricane Sandy destroyed the tent which covered the spacecraft and exposed the shuttle to the elements.

Further on several those floating cities known as cruise ships where tied to up the land based city getting ready for their afternoon departures.

Soon BIANKA was passing the George Washington Bridge one of the bridges that make up the gateways to the City of New York. Near the eastern base of the bridge is the Little Red Lighthouse made famous in the book The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge:

 BIANKA then sailed past the Yonkers Recreational Pier.

The last Victorian steel pier on the Hudson. A leftover from the days before air conditioning when people headed toward the waterfronts to escape the stifling heat of summers without indoor air conditioning in their houses.

Further on the main reason why I wanted to make this fall cruise soon appeared as the dramatic Palisades started showing some of the fall colors.

There was not a lot of boat traffic on the river which made for a very pleasant sail. I did come across another boat sailing back to New York. I think it was the ADIRONDACK a day sailor based out of the Chelsea Piers. I was thinking as it sailed by this is what it must have been like on the Hudson in the days before the steamships started plying the waters:

A few miles further on and BIANKA would reach the intended destination of the cruise which I will write about in a future post.

CAPT. MIKE IN THE EXUMAS DAY ONE: NASSAU

Well,  my girlfriend needed a vacation between teaching gigs and decided it was time for us to check out the Exumas in the Bahamas. Who am I to say no to eight days of swimming, snorkeling and boat drinks on a chartered catamaran even though it delays getting BIANKA into the water. So come along on the journey as I head to check out some new waters.

We come on the sloop John B

My grandfather and me

Around Nassau town we did roam

We had a direct flight into Nassau where we spent our first night. Nothing looked familiar from the last time I was in Nassau back in the 1980's. But, the ride to the hotel showed there was a lot of construction going on. Including a brand new Airport terminal nearing completion. The ride from the airport had some interesting sites. Many of the round abouts we drove around were decorated with borders of empty Conch shells:

The shells made a nice pink border, kept the weeds from growing and was a great way to recycle the shells. It also made me kind of hungry because one of the treats for me traveling to places like the Bahamas is I get to eat some Conch.  That chewy sweet tasting mollusk that I enjoy in all it's forms. I usually only get to taste it once a year or twice a year on trips like this.  

After a twenty minute ride we ended up at the British Colonial Hilton Hotel.  Though our cab driver did point out that the Nassau locals only refer to it as the Hilton Colonial Hotel. Preferring to have little reminder of the British presence on the island as possible. Though the original Hotel was built by an American the Standard Oil tycoon Henry Flagler and has a rather interesting history including being part of location shooting of several James Bond films including Thunderball .  It was not long after we checked in that I found myself  sitting in the outdoor restaurant enjoying one of the local brews:

In this case a Sands beer neither shaken nor stirred. I had a nice view of the Nassau Paradise Island (Hog Island) Lighthouse:

Built in1817.   They say this is and the oldest surviving lighthouse in the West Indies. It marks the entrance to Nassau harbor. If I turn my head to the right I can see the giant cruise ships lined up at the dock:

Later in the day as I sat in the lounge chair on the beach I watched as these floating cities heading out to their next destination.

Maybe it's just me but, I think the design on the side of this ship makes it look kind of fruity and cartoonish.  Speaking of cartoonish Nassau has it's share of tourists drink until you drop bars like Senor Frogs:

Not sure if it's wise to have a seven foot frog standing outside a bar where people tend to drink heavily.  

After watching the ship depart I headed into downtown area. The newly built straw market was all but, closed up  now that the cruise ships had departed. But, heading toward the waterfront I found a local fisherman who was selling some of his catch, conch shells and would also whip up some conch salad for you:

I was tempted to try some but, since it was getting close to dinner time I resisted and headed back to the hotel. Where I proceeded to conch myself out starting with this:

An appetizer of Conch Salad, Conch Chowder and a Conch Fritter. Followed by:

Some delicious Shrimp and Conch Curry for the main course.  After such a satisfying meal only thing left to do was get a good nights sleep before heading off to Staniel Cay in the morning.