As we headed out today, we felt a bit more at ease since we were in a river. The first thing we passed was a barge! Then we heard a heavy sound and saw trains on either side of us. Seemed that cargo trains tend to travel on the west side of the river and people trains travel the east side of the river heading to New York City. The terrain has changed greatly since we entered the New York Harbor. Cliffs on the west side of the river are huge. There are light houses on some of the points.
About and hour into our cruise we passed West Point. We had no idea that it was this large and all stone!
Next we passed an island that had what looked like a castle. I looked it up and found that the island is called Pollepel Island and is a 6.5 acre island in the Hudson River in New York. The principal feature on the island is Bannerman’s Castle, an abandoned military surplus warehouse. Part of it has collapsed and there are poles holding up one wall.
We got buzzed by 20 Sea Doo’s and later found out it was a run for charity. There were nice houses on the hills as we cruised north as well as a few older stone buildings at the water’s edge.
Sea Doo over taking us! 
Old stone boathouse 
As we approached the creek where out next stop was located, we noticed a large cargo ship coming at us and the timing would be just as we needed to turn in. We were surprised that this large of a ship would be this far up the river. This put us back on our toes to make sure we did not get in his way. These ships travel much faster than barges.
We entered the creek and found all kinds of things to look at.
The Rondout Yacht Basin is a membership club that also provides transient slips. They had a nice Tiki Cafe that served good food at reasonable prices. We had lunch and did some chores then tried to stay cool in the near 100 degree temperatures. A mother duck and her babies also came to welcome us!
goparaiso.com 