The sun came out for a bit on Tuesday, temperatures rose, and activity on the river picked up considerably. Dawn brought the arrival of the Norwegian Gem, returning from a Caribbean cruise. The Gem was joined shortly after arriving by a Vane Brothers tug and fuel barge for refueling or bunkering ahead of the next voyage.

Later, a Dann Brothers tug pushed an empty barge south, returning from a delivery in Peekskill, while the Vane Brothers pushed a loaded barge past the anchored Josephine Reinauer, heading for Newburgh after loading at the Chevron Asphalt Plant in Perth Amboy ahead of road repair season. The Jospehine had returned from making a fuel delivery in Providence and dropped anchor with its empty oil can about a mile south of the Teresa which has been parked here for a few days now.

While temperatures are warmer, ice packs are breaking apart up north and ice is flowing down river and accumulating around the piers here, along with tree limbs (and tree trunks!) washed into the river by recent storms. These can do some damage and are keeping the Army Corps of Engineers boats busy as seen here just south of the Boat Basin.

Nearby, a NY Waterway ferryboat took advantage of the warmer weather to conduct what looked like a person overboard drill with a PFD and a kind of cradle mechanism on the bow.

The hybrid ducks we met the other day also enjoyed the sun and were joined by the famous white Muscovy Duck, a domestic duck gone wild which has made its home at the 79th Street Boat Basin for years. Poor guys have no idea the wrecking ball is heading their way as the city prepares for a complete rebuilding of the Basin which will begin soon and take years.