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Southbound ’17 – Travel Day 1: Catskill to Poughkeepsie

FROM: The Captain

Travel day:  October 31st (the Captain’s birthday)

Destination: Shadows Marina, Poughkeepsie, NY

Forecast:    Mostly sunny.  Winds S 5-10kt.

Distance traveled: 33.2 nautical miles

Time underway: 3 hours 29 minutes

Average Speed: 9.5kts

Max Speed: 12kts

Fuel used: 34 gallons

It’s actually happening!  With months of prep finally completed and last provisions loaded on board, OLOH shoved off from Catskill, New York on Halloween, 2017 at 12:52 pm bound for the south and untold adventures.  A massive rainstorm had blown through the area two days earlier leaving the Catskill Creek and Hudson River a muddy mess.  After such a substantial rain the river is typically littered with tree debris so we were a bit apprehensive and figured it would be a tense, slow ride to our first destination.  You can always keep a sharp lookout but it’s the tree-evil that lurks just beneath the surface that can quickly ruin your day with a strike to your props.  To our delight, there was barely a stick to be seen in the channel as we pointed our bow south in the Hudson and with the sun shining along with the calm conditions we couldn’t have asked for a better start to our journey.  It was unseasonably warm allowing us to comfortably run from the bridge (a much better vantage point for debris spotting) and had an easy run for our relatively short leg to Shadows Marina in Poughkeepsie, NY, arriving at 4:21 pm.

Shadows is the marina attached to the restaurant of the same name and probably has the nicest docks in the mid-Hudson region.  For all of our time up and down the river we have never stayed here before and because of its exposure to the Hudson it can get rocked quite a bit by passing boat traffic (they put bigger boats like ours on the outside docks, unprotected by their wave attenuator).  But being off-season, boat wakes were not an issue.  We were one of two transient boats in the entire place.  Captain Keith, the dockmaster, was there to grab our lines when we approached and is a consummate pro in all aspects of running the show.  

                                        

Once safely tied the Admiral didn’t waste any time in getting our birthday Halloween decorations in place.  

We were paid a surprise visit by fellow boaters and dearest friends Jojo Beans and Pauly Walnuts who joined us and the Captain’s Papa on board to wish us fair winds and following seas. They left us with a few tears and a promise they would join us somewhere along our journey.

Before long the Grim Reaper stood tall on our foredeck next to a floating graveyard and the first-leg-arrival-and-birthday-cocktail-hour was underway (OLOH-Ritas, recipe to come).

                                      

Shadows On The Hudson is a restaurant that seats hundreds – we were one of maybe three tables there for dinner that night.  And the only ones in costume.  We had a respectably good meal and a bit more celebrating on board before calling it a night on the first day of the rest of our lives.

Jasper contemplates swimming back to Catskill to see Lady and Tanner (his best gal pal and his new buddy) one more time…

 

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