Great Loop: Up the Hudson

Days 142-146: June 8-12, 2023

West Point

After Ossining we made our way up the Hudson and anchored in the river just north of West Point. The rivalry was clear with “Beat Airforce” on the top of one building. We had a nice dinner of charcuterie and skewers with local wine-like beers (interesting though perhaps not the hit we’d hoped for) and Barbara’s homemade cherry crisp.

Bannerman Castle

Just a further bit north of our anchorage was Pollepel Island with Bannerman Castle, which isn’t a castle we’d typically think of as it’s actually an abandoned military surplus warehouse. It had quite the interesting history. It wasn’t open when we were there, so we poked in closer to take some photos as we cruised by.

Kingston, NY

Next up we anchored outside of Kingston, NY. Mayli voluntold me I was going with Boris into town to walk the dog. We took the opportunity to stroll around and grab a beverage at the local watering hole. Neat little area. Reminds me a bit of La Conner back in Washington.

Pig Roast @ Shady Harbor / New Baltimore

The plan was to stop in Catskill. However, Mayli’s FOMO (fear of missing out) got the best of her, and we revised the stop to Shady Harbor in New Baltimore to join the annual Looper Pig Roast.

As late arrivals they put us up on the restaurant dock. A bit on the shallow side but enough to get us in for the weekend.

If I remember correctly, there were about 40+ loop boats in attendance (check out the boat tracker map below). It was a fun meeting everyone and getting to hear the stories of the East Coast travels.

The weather was great, and we got a bit of pool time in. They had a bonfire and the girls had fun participating in the vodka tasting. And, of course, the main event was the pig roast. Love roasted pig. Tasty!

We decided to stay an extra day after the festivities to rest up. Coda who had stopped in Catskills to get Toni back to the airport arrived and we had a nice docktails with the remaining boats. Barbara even broke out the harp to serenade us.

We were having such a good time we got only a few photos.