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Sultry Sunday
Hot steamy conditions persisted on Sunday, but there was a light breeze and cool water temperatures made things tolerable on the river. Commercial traffic was light but two tug/barge combinations anchored off Riverside Park.
Evelyn Cutler pushed a loaded barge towards Albany 
Saint Emilion returned from Albany with an empty barge and headed for Perth Amboy 
Kristin Poling brought her empty barge back from New Haven and anchored off 72nd Street 
Jennifer Turecamo anchored with an empty barge on the hip a bit further north 
HMS Justice pushed a loaded barge up river late in the day A Hoboken Sailing Club J80 followed a cormorant downriver on a port tack 
Fireboat Feehan made a late loop up the river -
Summer arrives early
What started out as a cool and foggy morning quickly morphed into a hot and hazy day, with temperatures getting up into the 90s. The water remains cold, keep temperatures right by the river rather moderate. Traffic was fairly typical of a summer Saturday though.
A foggy start to the morning. New Jersey is out there somewhere 
DEP’s Red Hook was servicing the North River plant, overtaking a sail boat with its mast shipped “on two whistles” 
The Coast Guard was on patrol in a 29’ boat 
This 62’ NYPD dive boat had a crowd on the top deck 
The Army Corp of Engineer’s Hayward made her usual rounds 
Dann Marine pushed an empty cement barge back to the Lafarge plant in Ravenna, NY 
Mr. Jim was also heading back to Coeymans with at least one loaded hopper 
Franklin Reinauer was pushing oil products towards Albany. Built in 1984 Franklin is one of the older tugs in the Reinauer fleet, though not the oldest 
Nicole Leigh Reinauer passed a Circle Line boat “on one whistle” 
A Weehawken-bound ferry took the stern of an ATB heading for the Upper Bay 
The Pier i raft fisherman was back on-station 
Kayakers fought the flood heading south 
And passed one heading north in the haze Life is easier with an engine -
Maiden voyage of the Knot Refined
Thursday began cool and rainy but ended hot and rather steamy. There was a lot of interesting traffic on the river for the first time in a while. Most notable was the arrival of Dann Marine’s Ruby Coast pushing American Sugar Refining’s (ASR) brand new 450-foot long barge cleverly named “Knot Refined”. The Knot was launched in March by Senesco Marine in North Kingston, Rhode Island, and left Palm Beach on its maiden voyage about 10 days ago. According to ASR, the name was chosen by means of an employee contest.
ASR’s Domino plant in Yonkers has been receiving what seems like an unusually high volume of deliveries of late. In addition to the Knot, Dann Marine brought up a second barge later in the day on Thursday, a bulker loaded with Mexican sugar arrived just Sunday evening, and a number of barges have been seen heading up there in recent weeks. It is not obvious what supply side, demand side, logistical, technical or seasonal explanation there might be for this, but the plant seems to be running at high capacity right now.
ASR’s Knot Refined barge heading for Yonkers on her maiden voyage 
Followed a few hours later by the smaller Jonathan sugar barge Another notable vessel Thursday was the General Purpose oil/chemical products tanker the MTM Kobe, arriving from the Port of Quebec and signaling Albany as destination. Foreign flagged tankers are not common on the Hudson, with most oil products heading north on US flagged tug/barge combinations. Valero runs a refinery in Quebec and diesel supply has been tight in the northeast so perhaps this a cargo of imported oil products coming in.
Tanker MTM Kobe heading for Albany The Kobe and Knot Refined were followed late in the day by a big bulker, the Tac Imola. The Imola seems to be heading up to Coeymans after having just been up in Albany last month, with no foreign ports visited in between, so presumably she is heading up there to pick up a cargo, perhaps scrap metal.
The Tac Imola heading for Coeymans More familiar vessels were also on the river going about their usual business.
Reinauer Twins returned from Albany and headed for the Upper Bay 
Evelyn Cutler also returned from Albany and headed for the Arthur Kill 
The DEP’s Red Hook made sludge runs from North River to the Passaic Valley plant in Newark 
Cormorants relaxed on old New York Central piers while a J80 sailboat moved down river in the background 
And another bird kept to himself. Is this a loon? Nope, it’s a double crested cormorant according to replies to my iNaturalist posting -
A ducky Wednesday on the river
Another lovely day with winds dropping and the sun shining. Recreational boaters were out in force but commercial shipping was fairly light.
The Corps of Engineers was on patrol as usual 
As was Harbor Charlie 
Wicomico and the Haggerty Girls came down from Albany with empty barges 
A smoky car fire on the helix leaving the Lincoln Tunnel in Weehawken snarled traffic as all lanes were shut down for a short while 
FDNY Fireboat Feehan approached Weehawken, perhaps to investigate the smoke but did not stay long A mother mallard minded her chicks on the gangway to the wrecked kayak dock at the end of 72nd Street -
Tuesday bluster
Tuesday brought beautiful weather after Monday night’s storms, though gusty winds picked up in the afternoon. Activity was fairly light on the river.
Dann Marine pushed an empty cement barge past Riverside Park, heading back towards Lafarge’s Ravenna plant after an early departure from the College Point cement terminal 
Mr. Jim was also heading back home to Coeymans with loaded hoppers Dean Reinauer was going in the other direction, bringing an empty barge back from Newburgh and heading for the Upper Bay 
The DEP’s Red Hook was on its appointed rounds, heading for the North River plant to ferry sludge to the centrifuges in Hunts Point for dewatering 
A huge C130 flew low up the river, eluding my camera but not FlightRadar24 which shows the plane making a big loop from Grabeski in West Hampton. Air National Guard C130s based at Grabeski are part of a search and rescue group made famous by The Perfect Storm.
Source: FlightRadar24 -
A Pea Souper
Sunday opened with a thick layer of fog sitting over the river. The soup burned off, though, over the course of the morning, and afternoon brought sunny skies and warm temperatures, with plenty of recreational activity on the river.
The upper wheelhouse and forward barge mast of the anchored Saint Emilion were barely visible in the morning fog 
Once the fog cleared she weighed anchor and headed down to Cateret 
An outrigged kayak was happy to have an orange hull in the fog 
More kayakers and SUPers ventured out as the conditions improved. This group passed a North River Lobster Company lunch cruise. 
A J80 sailboat from Hoboken Sailing Club used the steady south wind and its spinnaker sail to run upriver agains the ebb tide 
And then easily tacked back upwind, passing the Palisades Medical Center in North Bergen 
Buchanan12 had to work harder to move upriver with its lash-up of empty hoppers heading back to Clinton Point 
Kimberly Polling anchored overnight near Yonkers and then shifted down to around 86th Street once things cleared up 
Cormorants were hunkered down in the damp, with one exception 
The gosslings are getting bigger 
Ducklings have arrived on the scene as well now 
These look like Canada geese at first glance, but they are Brant, a different species. Here they are passing the 72nd Street kayak pier wrecked by Sandy 
The dredge is now working off the end of Pier 92; Norwegian Joy is back from Bermuda and set to leave for there tonight with a stop in Norfolk on the way -
Spuyten Duyvil
Spuyten Duyvil is the name of the neighborhood in the Bronx directly across the mouth of the Harlem River from the northernmost point of Manhattan. It is also the name of the rail bridge which spans the Harlem River at that point,and the creek which originally flowed from here to the Harlem River. When the creek was widened and filled in and a canal dug through Marble Hill, the body of water separating the north end of Manhattan and the Bronx became known simply as an extension of the Harlem River. While there is no agreed definition of the limits of the North River section of the Hudson, the Spuyten Duyvil Bridge would be a reasonable demarcation point.
The name Spuyten Duyvil of course comes from Dutch, but it is not exactly Dutch and time has obscured what it was intended to mean, with a number of theories out there. The Wikipedia entry for Spuyten Duyvil has a good survey of the various views on the etymology of the name.
An Amtrak Empire Service train passed over the Spuyten Duyvil Bridge Saturday morning heading for Albany from Penn Station, with the Henry Hudson Bridge carrying the Henry Hudson Parkway looming behind The bridge opens on demand for ships and boats, Amtrak schedule permitting, including this Circle Line sightseeing boat on Saturday 
Evelyn Cutler emerged from the fog shrouding Yonkers and the Cuomo Bridge farther north, heading for an anchorage in the Harbor 
Nicole Reinauer passed the Spuyten Duyvil neighborhood with an empty barge, heading for the Kinder Morgan terminal in Perth Amboy 
A paddle border enjoyed the flat conditions Saturday morning approaching the George Washington Bridge. When we spoke to her by the Dyckman Marina, she indicated she had come all the way up from Pier 84, a distance of over 8 miles. She didn’t say what her plans were but presumably she rode the ebb tide all the way back. The animal swimming towards her from the shore is not a marine mammal but rather a retriever dog playing fetch. 
In Harlem, these geese were proud parents to an only child. The kayak dock in the background was wrecked in Hurricane Sandy only a short time after it was installed and, similar to the kayak dock at 72nd Street, it has not been repaired. 
Further south, Saint Emilion remains at anchor off 84th Street 
Looking back to Friday evening, we saw this cement barge being pushed back to the Lafarge plant in Ravenna after leaving the College Point terminal -
Bienvenue a New York
CORRECTION: This post has been updated to reflect that the Fulmar is now a French Navy vessel rather than Gendarmerie Maritime.
A low pressure system moved in from the south on Thursday, generating a southerly wind and a thick bank of fog which rolled up from the harbor, gradually obscuring the Narrows and allowing the Verrazano Bridge to do a disappearing act more typical of the Golden Gate. By Friday morning, the haze had moved all the way up the river, gradually burning off over the course of the day.
Meagan Ann emerges from the fog covering the harbor Thursday evening, towing a mud scow back to the dredge site, which has now moved up to between Pier 90 and 92; Hoboken Sailing Club J80s are racing on the right off Jersey City, with one blue sailed Hudson River Community Sailing J24 in the mix as well Meanwhile, a French Navy patrol boat has come into town and is docked at the end of Pier 86 (the Intrepid Museum pier). The Fulmar is a converted fishing trawler and is based in the French Overseas Territory of St. Pierre and Miquelon, which is off the coast of Newfoundland, Canada. Her primary mission appears to be fishery enforcement and Arctic patrols, along with coastal rescue, and it is unclear why the vessel is visiting New York City.
French patrol vessel visiting from up north 
Vessel hails from St. Pierre & Maquilon, French territory near northern Canada
Photo Source: GoogleAlso visiting by Pier 86 was a North Hudson Regional Fire and Rescue marine unit. North Hudson is a consolidated fire department that covers the towns of Guttenberg, North Bergen, Union City, Weehawken and West New York. This vessel has been around the passenger terminal at least three times now over the past few weeks. Its not clear what brings it to this side of the river, though perhaps the cruise terminal piers provide some combination of better protection and deeper water for some types of exercises than is available on the Jersey side.
North Hudson’s fireboat near the cruise terminal NYPD boats also tie up at Pier 86 from time to time, and two were there on Friday.
NYPD 31’ and 25’ boats tied up at Pier 86 with the Growler submarine, part of the Intrepid Museum, in the background 
Tugs with mud scows remain active as dredging continues near Pier 90/92 
A Waterway ferry passed a small bunkering tanker 
Buchanan12 rode the ebb tide down from the Tilcon quarry in Clinton Point, passing the anchored Saint Emilion -
Then and now
Watching Margaret Moran assist the small Polar cruise ship Silver Cloud leave Pier 88 Tuesday evening reminded me of a photo I took in the mid-1980s of that same tug assisting the old QE2 leaving the same pier. I have posted this picture before in Back to the 80s but this is a good excuse to once again share what is most certainly the first photo I ever took of North River shipping.
Modern cruise ships use rotating propulsion pods and do not need tug assistance leaving the pier, so Margaret spends most of her time in the approaches and docks of Elizabeth, Newark and Bayonne, assisting container ships and bulkers, and rarely coming up the North River. Silver Cloud is an older ship, built in 1994, and, though upgraded to face Antarctic conditions, she requires assistance entering and leaving the pier.
This version of the QE2, meanwhile, has retired and is currently a floating hotel in Dubai. Cunard has a new ship known as Queen Elizabeth (no number), who serves alongside Queen Mary 2, Queen Victoria, and Queen Anne.
Margaret Moran helps the QE2 leave Pier 88 in the mid-1980s 
Margaret Moran helping Silver Cloud depart Pier 88 on Tuesday night While we are on the theme of “then and now”, I can add a photo that I wanted to include in my Back to the 1960s—fireboat special post but could not because I hadn’t taken it until today. Below is one of the photos of the barge fire from the family collection taken in 1965 by my mother, and next to it is the same view taken Wednesday. How many differences can you find? I will also update the original post with this photo.
Barge fire 1965,
Katzive Family Collection
The same view today Meanwhile, Wednesday brought beautiful conditions and some interesting river traffic.
Treasure Coast brought an empty cement barge from Lafarge’s New Haven terminal heading for the Lafarge plant in Ravenna, NY for more cargo 
Crystal Cutler anchored in the river overnight with a loaded barge (unusual) and then headed for the Motiva terminal on Jamaica Bay near JFK 
Bulker Ereclea arrived from Gdańsk, Poland, heading north for either Coeymans or Albany most likely and looking empty or lightly loaded 
The New Jersey Responder, a pollution control vessel, made a run up the North River and then returned to its base in Pert Amboy 
Both the North River and the Port Richmond were servicing the North River plant, making sludge runs to Hunts Point 
The Nicole Reinauer and the Quenames push loaded barges up the river. Not sure why this photo from the GWB looks like an impressionist painting 
An NYPD airship made a circuit low over the river in the morning 
A cormorant fished near the shoreline at 100th Street and played hide and seek with a photographer 
A groundhog was operating in Riverside Park north of the North River sewage plant -
Another keeper
Another glorious day with light breezes and moderately heavy river traffic Tuesday.
Dean Reinauer and Genesis Victory were anchored south of the bridge all day 
Port Richmond was running sludge between North River and Hunts Point 
The Corps of Engineers was on the river as usual Kristen Polling left anchorage off Spuyten Duyvil and headed for New Haven 
North Hudson Fire Department, which covers 5 towns along the North River, had a boat in the water visiting Pier 88 and Jersey City 
Daisy Mae headed back north with hoppers full of what looked like dirt fill 
A pair of Blackhawks made a run up from the National Guard base at Trenton airport, looping back at around 79th Street at around 600 feet up.
Observations on the Hudson River as it passes through New York City. The section of the Hudson which passes through New York is historically known as the North River, called this by the Dutch to distinguish it from the Delaware River, which they knew as the South River. This stretch of the Hudson is still often referred to as the North River by local mariners today. All photos copyright Daniel Katzive unless otherwise attributed. For more frequent updates, please follow northriverblog on Facebook or Instagram.
North River Notes 