18 May 17

Another day in paradise. We were up early, having slept well again. After breakfast, we stopped by Hannaford’s for one last grocery top-up and then turned in the rental car. We were away from the dock by 10:20 and pulled into the stream - i.e., against the ebb current on the Hudson River - headed north. It was a beautiful day; clear, dry and hot, but as soon as we got out onto the river, the water temperature (61 F), in combination with a southerly wind, kept us cool and comfortable all afternoon. We crossed under the Kingston-Rhinecliff and Rip van Winkle Bridges and fetched up at our anchorage at Houghtaling Island at 16:40. Eagles, herons, cormorants and a couple of deer greeted and entertained us as we prepared and ate dinner al fresco in our private anchorage. A late Canadian cold front is headed our way later tonight, so we may get some thunderstorm activity (at sunset, we can see some pretty impressive lightning a few miles to the north; it is nice to be “short” - i.e., no mast - at times like this) and the temps should cool off a bit. But we are well-hooked in a well-reputed anchorage, so we should sleep fine. The auto-helm worked fine, the stern gland stayed cool and the oil pressure and cooling water temp were all within spec, so life was good today. We passed 7000 N-m on the ship’s log today; that would be 7000 N-m since Key West (where we got struck by lightning and replaced all the electronics lo, these 4 years ago). Add that to the ~500 or 600 miles from Houston to Key West (I’ll have to add those up one of these days), and we have done a bit of cruising since leaving Houston in early 2013. Living the dream; its a hard life, but someone has to do it.

And, ka-boom, at 20:15, the wind backed instantly to the North and started gusting to 15-20 knots; rain and lightning are just a couple miles north of us. Albany is showing WNW 14, gusting 50?!? Yee-haw!!

42-26.687’N, 73-46.395’W; 40.1 N-m