Day 2-194 onward to Shady Harbor Marina in New Baltimore, NY

As far as we know, there seems to be nothing "shady" about Shady Harbor, and from what we have seen, there is nothing very "new" about New Baltimore... However, we are staying here for two nights, so we may learn more when we explore the local area tomorrow.

We left Rondout Creek at about 8:00 am, and made our turn north or up river at the Rondout Lighthouse. The lighthouse sits at the end of one of two breakwaters that line a very nice entrance into Rondout Creek.

The weather was still okay with low clouds and no haze, but that was to change soon with (very) light drizzle for just over half of our 42.1 mile trip. The tide was with us for the entire trip today so we made the 42.1 miles in just 4.5 hours from dock to dock, which is an excellent time, especially since the chartplotter had estimated 5.2 hours.

On the way out of the creek, we passed more tugs at the maritime museum (remember, this picture is really for Grandson Will). Altogether we counted 7 tugs at this one location. Pretty cool. Two of them had very tall smokestacks like they were still coal burning tugs. Most of the conversion of tugs, trains, etc. from coal to diesel was completed in the early 1950s so those tugs had been well maintained for a long time.

The views today were clear enough, but the sights were few. That is not to say that it was a dull trip since the tree lined shores and occasional islands made for beautiful scenery. Anyway, today will probably go down in the history of this blog as the "day of the lighthouses". This is the Saugerties, NY Lighthouse, which is a nicely restored brick structure on an what looked in part to be a bedrock island or hazard to navigation. Remember, we are going up stream so the river is narrower, shallower and now is flowing through more resistant (to erosion) bedrock.  The Saugerties Lighthouse is also a B&B and can be reached by walking from the land.

As luck would have it, the next nice view is the Hudson-Athens lighthouse at the southern end of an island just offshore of Hudson, NY. It is red brick with (real) stone corners and foundation. This one was built to last!  The north end of the lighthouse base was designed like a bow of a ship to protect it from the ice flows in the winter and spring. 

 

We only went under two raised, fixed bridges across the Hudson River today and neither was very pretty, although one had the marvelous name - Rip Van Winkle Bridge. The Admiral kept a close watch on me and although I desperately needed nap, I managed to stay awake. 

 

Well, most of you know me well enough to know that I am really a very modest person - NOT. When we finished docking at Shady Harbor, the Dock Master told the Admiral what a nice job that I had done docking Lucky Us. That was a nice compliment, but then the Admiral said something like "Yes, he has gotten pretty good at docking".  Sweet music to my not very modest ears. Maybe in a few more years I can work my way up to (just plain) good?