Waterford, NY

Waterford, NY:  OMG!!!!!  The bug infestation that hit the evening we arrived at Waterford was disgusting.  When we woke in the morning, we found the boat covered in dead bodies of winged insects.  Some online research revealed that the corpses were of the Mayfly species whose only purpose in life is to reproduce and die which is pretty much what happened on our boat and all the other boats docked at the Waterford lock dock.   Regardless of whether we planned on it or wanted to or not, all boats docked there overnight ended up having to clean their boats in the morning.  Since I was not interested in transporting Mayfly larvae to NJ, I was particularly careful to clean up all the larva which resembled crumbled pieces of uncooked spaghetti.  Unfortunately the bits and pieces stuck very well to the deck of the boat making it a devilish job to get done. 

After we finally got the boat cleaned up, we decided to go for a bike ride to Peebles Park before leaving Waterford for our next stop.  It was a pleasant ride with a cool breeze as long as we stayed near the Hudson River.  As soon as we started to get into wooded areas, the breeze was cut off and it got unpleasantly warm.  It is possible to bike around Van Shaick's Island but the bike trails appeared to be more suited to trail bikes which is not what our are designed for, so we aborted our bike tour and went back to the boat. 

When we got to the boat with the intention of an immediate departure, the captain said, "Where are my boat keys?" as he patted and emptied his pockets.  We knew he had them when we left the boat because he had locked the boat which requires the key.  I did not have my set with me, so here we are looking at the sliding glass door with no means to unlock it.  The captain asked if I had my set, and I said, "Yes, they are locked in the boat because I didn't bring my purse with me on the bike."   Clearly that was not the answer the captain was hoping for. 

Plan B ... get into the boat via a window / hatch.  We had closed the main hatch window but not latched / locked it down, so with rather appalling speed, the captain was able to "break into" our boat by dropping through the front hatch onto our master stateroom bed and then unlocking the slider from the inside.  Once he got the door open and gave me access to the boat, he took off on his bike to scour Peebles Park for his keys.  He retraced the route we had taken exactly and in so doing, he found his keys in the park near the edge of the Hudson River by a set of picnic tables he had biked around.  Phew!  Close call on that one!  He returned rather rapidly to the boat since without me tailing behind him, I am sure he was pretty much flying on that bike. 

As soon as he got back, it was now already going on for 1 o'clock, we started our engines and pulled out to head down the Hudson River to go as far south as we could today.    We ended up staying in Kingston, NY which is a place we have been to on prior Hudson River trips and enjoyed. We checked in at the Kingston City Marina and then went in search of dinner. We walked around town checking out the various restaurant options and then had a lovely dinner at the "Ship to Shore Bistro and New York steak" restaurant based on the recommendations of two different people - one person who was dining there when we strolled by and another random person working in an auto repair store. 

The auto mechanic said, "Your best choice is Ship to Shore, after that they go downhill from there."  Actually his first choice recommendation was the Armadillo Mexican restaurant, but since neither the captain nor I are huge fans of Mexican, we chose not to partake of that option. We did at least go to the restaurant to check out the menu, but the venue was "noisy bar", so that plus the food selection drove us back to the docks for our dining experience.  I'm very glad it did since dinner was excellent.  We still have Berry Berry Pie in the fridge from Essex, NY so we decided to have dessert on the boat instead of the restaurant.

We want to be back to Sandy Hook area by tomorrow night.  We may or may not anchor out there before heading home depending on weather, time, and our mood.  The forecast is for thunderstorms during the day - intermittent and appearing in 3 hour intervals, i.e. chance of storms at 1:00 p.m., 4:00, 7:00, and 10:00 p.m. and sunny in between times.  Should / could / might prove to be an interesting day on the water.  We'll check our forecasts again in the morning to see what the latest updates look like. 

Seems to me that we should try to get out of Kingston as early as possible due to weather predictions, but the captain says we'll be fighting the tide / current until early afternoon so leaving early won't give the payback one might expect.  Today, in the afternoon, we had the current with us and we were "flying along" at over 16 knots instead of our usual max of 14.  If, instead, we were going against the same current, we'd be going along at under 12 knots.  I know 16 knots (20 mph) doesn't sound like flying.  Our Mainship is a performance trawler thus the 14 knot capability. as compared to most trawlers that go no faster than 8 knots (10 mph).   Believe me, after traveling at 8 knots through all those canals, 16+ knots feels like we broke free and we're "flying".