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.

The fog is back on the river and traffic is light. A Vanes Brothers tug pushed a loaded oil products tanker up from the Arthur Kill heading for Albany around midday.

The only tug at anchor remains the Unico Commodities Teresa, anchored up in the West 90s. With her unusual Liberian registration and empty asphalt barge, she has been here for several days now waiting for a mission.

The Balsa 85 freighter sailed up the river on the flood tide this morning, heading for Yonkers with a load of sugar from the Dominican Republic. A sugar refinery has stood on the banks of the Hudson in Yonkers for over a 100 years, and currently processes sugar for the Domino brand, refining the raw product and packaging it for distribution all over the northeast. Raw sugar arrives by ship from foreign ports or on barges from Florida and leaves the plant in familiar looking yellow packaging by truck. A rail spur at the plant has not been used for many decades.

In the photo of the Balsa 85 above you can also see a stand-up paddle boarder in the foreground, warmly dressed against the still sub-freezing temps and enjoying the winter sun and flat river. The second photo below shows the Ellen McCallister tug, which headed towards Yonkers ahead of the Balsa to help with docking at the plant.

These residents of the 79th Street Boat Basin are not Mallards. I’m told by Manhattan Bird Alert that they are hybrid domestic birds, not wild breeds at all, probably released into the wild some time ago. They have apparently made their home at the boat basin for years, but with all the boats now gone, I wonder if they are able to get enough food. Hope they make it, there won’t be boats back on these docks for years and there is a lot of construction heading their way.

Military aircraft use the Hudson as a kind of sky highway for moving north at low altitudes. On Sunday, this Marine King Stallion flew past NYC at 300 feet. The chopper originated at McGuire Airforce Base in Lakehurst NJ which hosts a Marine reserve aviation logistics unit, and flew up the river into Dutchess County, made a loop around Anthony’s Nose and came back. A 1.5 hour training mission I assume, and a beautiful day for it.

An asphalt barge is the sole anchorer in the North River Saturday, with its accompanying tug the Unico Teresa. The tug is Liberian-flagged, rather unusual for a tug doing domestic work. The Army Corps of Engineers heavy crane Driftmaster made an afternoon loop up the river as well.