We left Manhasset at daybreak with the rising sun so I took a rare sunrise photo. We had the current with us as we sped towards Hell Gate, intending to take advantage of East River being open on the weekend. However, along the way be caught a transmission on VHF that the west branch of the East River was closed after all! The east branch was still open but the Roosevelt bridge had to be raised to get through. After several frantic pleas for information from the Coast Guard and the bridge operator on channel 13, we finally learned that the bridge would be raised every ½ hour so you had to time your passage to coincide with that time schedule. With the 
rapid Hell Gate currents that reached 3.5 kts, that could be a challenge. I put the location of the bridge into the chartplotter and it automatically calculated the estimated time of arrival at the bridge given the current speed so I just sped up or slowed down to maintain the top of the hour arrival time. There were a half dozen boats doing circles, waiting for the bridge to be raised but we arrived just in time and were the first boat through.
There were many barges sitting at anchor on both sides of the East River waiting, I supposed, for the river to be opened on the west side which wasn’t scheduled until 6:00 pm that evening.
Without the barge traffic, the East River was relatively calm. Going up the Hudson, we passed several large liners in port. They make an impressive sight at dock with the skyline of NYC in the background! As many times as we’ve been through the passage by NYC, it’s still an exciting trip.
rapid Hell Gate currents that reached 3.5 kts, that could be a challenge. I put the location of the bridge into the chartplotter and it automatically calculated the estimated time of arrival at the bridge given the current speed so I just sped up or slowed down to maintain the top of the hour arrival time. There were a half dozen boats doing circles, waiting for the bridge to be raised but we arrived just in time and were the first boat through.There were many barges sitting at anchor on both sides of the East River waiting, I supposed, for the river to be opened on the west side which wasn’t scheduled until 6:00 pm that evening.
Without the barge traffic, the East River was relatively calm. Going up the Hudson, we passed several large liners in port. They make an impressive sight at dock with the skyline of NYC in the background! As many times as we’ve been through the passage by NYC, it’s still an exciting trip. We followed the waypoints listed on the chart published on the PYC website for entrance into Haverstraw Cove while avoiding Fitchett's Reef off starboard (which is shown on the chart as a submerged island). The lowest reading I saw was 6 feet at low tide on the way in. We're anchored in 25 feet for the night.
There’s supposed to be rain tonight and tomorrow morning. If it’s too heavy, we may just wait around awhile for things to clear up or even come upriver on Monday. You can always track us on Spot to see if we’re on our way.
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