After yesterday’s events, all four of us did not sleep well last night. On reflection, it would have been so much friendlier and relaxing if the Coast Guard Officers had left their guns behind and worn flip flops instead of their heavy steel toed boots on our yacht. Also, if any Coast Guard, Police Department or Customs Officers wanted to check us, all they needed to do was make a phone call to Customs for information as we are required to report in on almost a daily basis. Instead, we were automatically assumed to be a risk of something yet to be determined. For sure, 9/11 changed the way the entire world approaches security and without doubt, countries such as the USA have done a good job of preventing any other acts such as 9/11 but it comes at a real price and you can see the effects of the Patriots Act everywhere and as foreigners, it makes it particularly difficult to do even simple things such as purchasing a phone or conducting banking transactions. Hopefully in due course, a good balance between security and personal freedom can be found. It is interesting to note that we have received much support for the stress we endured yesterday yet people seem reluctant to make comment on the blog for fear it may cause further trouble.

As it turns out, we have another ticklish problem. We were thinking we were going to renew our annual Cruising Permit which expires mid-October as we were told by various Customs Officers along the way that this was an easy procedure. Today, we found out that we need to leave the USA before an exact day in mid-October. Failure to do so will result in a fee and confiscation of our boat registration papers. They will give our papers back on the day we depart the USA but we are not allowed to move until we clear out of the country. Bureacracy. Don’t you just love it? Has anyone noticed that it’s still hurricane season?

Going back to Canada is not an option as it’s just too late in the season and we couldn’t renew the permit when we were there because the law states that we have to wait until it expires before re-applying. It’s a real Catch-22. Unfortunately, our Cruising Permit was originally arranged by Marlow Yachts October 2011 but since the boat was not completed and cleared to us until June 2012, we lost 8 months of precious cruising time in the USA. This is now causing us to consider when and how to travel to the Caribbean in hurricane season as there are apparently no extensions allowed for a foreign built vessel crewed by foreigners, registered in a foreign country.

The weather was a little dodgy for moving south, so the Captain decided to take his friend Charlie’s advice and see the Hudson River Highlands. Instead of turning left at the Statue of Liberty, we turned right and headed up river. We anchored overnight near a town called Nyack, New Jersey then headed off north again before passing the famous Sing Sing Prison built in 1824-26 which holds 2,000 maximum security prisoners. We went 40 miles north up the Hudson River with grey misty rain hanging heavily over 1,400 foot high mountains. The river narrowed from three miles to less than 800 yards throughout the 15 miles long gorge between Dunderberg Mountain and Cornwall-on-Hudson. As we motored north we passed under the Bear Mountain Bridge before passing the famous U.S. Military Academy West Point which Maynard and I visited 30 years ago. We went as far as Bannerman’s Island which is a castle ruin built in 1901 by an eccentric Scotsman. Frank Bannerman VI purchased the island as a place to store his ammunition as he was a munitions dealer at the turn of the century. Again, we saw very few vessels. In fact, we only saw three transiting the river even though it is one of the prettiest places this side of Maine on the U.S. coast. Fortunately the current weather looks fairly benign in the North Atlantic so we may take a chance. I wonder when we will get a good night’s sleep again?