A trip 30 miles up the Hudson on Wednesday to Verplanck, NY, beyond the limits of the North River, found some familiar vessels. The Coast Guard Cutter Sturgeon Bay, which passed us heading north on Tuesday, was anchored near the top of Haverstraw Bay.

Sitting across the river at Stony Point is an old fire boat which looks like the retired FDNY fire boat John D. McKean. The McKean is apparently wintering at Panco Petroleum in Stony Point but will return to Pier 25 in Tribeca in Spring 2022 (https://www.fireboatmckean.org/about ). The McKean is not to be confused with the older retired John Harvey fire boat which is moored at Pier 66.

These sailboats have also been wintering up north, in the Viking Boatyard in Verplanck, but will soon be returning to their moorings off Pier 66 or Dyckman Street.

The Viking Boatyard is also home to some boats that are not usually seen in the North River. Two tugboats, the Emil Johannsen and Fred Johannsen apparently reside there. So does a Westchester County Police marine unit, a New York State Environmental Conservation Police Boat and two boats from the New York Naval Militia which is the marine component of the National Guard.

The Hudson River is at its widest at Haverstraw Bay but narrows significantly beyond Stony Point on the west side of the river and Verplanck on the east. The River Division of CSX railroad running on the right of way of the old West Shore Railroad comes down to meet the river at Haverstraw and then runs along its west bank heading north to Albany. The line sees multiple large freight trains every day heading between Albany’s Selkirk Yard and the rail yards in North Jersey, including the southbound intermodal train and northbound manifest freight pictured below. South of Haverstraw, the rail line moves inland and is not visible from the river.

Closer to home, the unusually designed Chesapeake Coast arrived with an empty barge and anchored in the North River on Wednesday.