“Hurricane Sandy strengthening as it closes in to New York City” is the headline of the NYC Post newspaper for today and we are on the Hudson River, some 40 miles north from there. Hurricane Sandy is called “Mammoth Sandy” and may pack more trouble than the infamous 91 storm “Perfect Storm”.

Last night we arrived at the “Half Moon Bay Marina” in Croton on Hudson, NY, where we tied up long side to a floating finger dock at the entrance to the marina. I have a clear view from here of the Hudson and the bay where one ketch is anchored and a small sloop is tied to a mooring ball in the corner.

The decision where to go for safety during the storm was not easy. In Albany the dock master at the Waterford Harbor suggested that we could ride back up and stay between lock number 2 and 3 where there is a small basin together with all the commercial vessels that were already up there. Later that day our friend “Deb”, who locked through after us, said that all pleasure boats were told to leave and from lock number 12 on the canal would be closed for further traffic. We stepped our mast at the Castleton Boat Club and stayed the night at one of their mooring balls. The guys from the Boat Club were pulling boats out and dismantling docks to be taken out in the next couple of days. The next day we moved on to Kingston where we traveled all the way up the Rondout River and anchored for the night at the very end which is blocked by a low bridge. That was a very sheltered spot surrounded by hills. However, beyond further up the bridge there is a dam and a reservoir with electrical generator station and during Hurricane “Irene” they dumped water to prevent dam damage, which caused a flash flood coming down the river flooding the roads, houses and causing havoc in the marinas. It is not so much the wind that concerns us it’s the rising water and flash floods during heavy rain fall which makes all the otherwise cozy anchorages unsafe as the water rushes at 100/mph downstream taking everything with it.
As we were motoring down the mighty Hudson a steady stream of Coast Guard vessels were going up the Hudson. The troops were leaving town. Even NYPD, New York Police Department patrol boats were rushing up into safety. Most marinas were already closed for the season and had their docks pulled out. I managed to get Wifi reception off and on while moving on the Hudson and contacted various marinas, but they would NOT take any transient vessels because of the storm.

So far, all is good. If Wifi stays up, I’ll post some more later.