Reviews: Hudson Palisades

Review for Hudson Palisades

Reviewed by: Capt. Mac Rubel on Jun 11, 2023
LOA: 48'
Draft: 5.0'

The Palisades above the George Washington Bridge are breathtaking. You are still in New York City and you can see the skyscrapers through the central span of the bridge, but you are anchored just off cliffs several hundred feet high with no obvious human occupation. Sunset and the city skyline in the evening are quite special.

We timed our trip up the Harlem River to reach the Spuyten Duyvil Swing Bridge at slack tide on the Harlem. This meant that we were going to be faced with about three hours of adverse tide on our trip up the Hudson. Not wanting to deal with 5 mph travel, we decided to anchor on the New Jersey shore, above the Englewood Marina. We dropped anchor in 15 feet of water MLW with an ebb tide of about 3 mph using about 90 feet of 3/8" chain and a 90# Rocna anchor. The anchor bit and held as we backed down on it. It was later in the afternoon and we decided that we were going to spend the night and leave early on the flood to move up the river. We set a tight anchor alarm, and went about our late afternoon chores and dinner. The boat swung around with the tide and faced downriver towards NYC and dragged about 50 feet before it held when the current set in. We reset the anchor alarm and went back to bed. We swung back after midnight and did not drag. The anchor came up early in the morning with mud on it but not much on the chain. We motored off with a following current for our trip up the Hudson.

This anchorage is exposed to wakes (and there were some, even into the night with commercial traffic.) Winds from the north or south will be amplified by the nearby cliffs. Ebb currents can reach 3 mph so ground tackle needs to be properly deployed. There is road noise from the bridge, especially if there is a south wind, and trains run up the New York Shore until late in the evening. There is excellent cell reception but no shore access. We can only rate this anchorage as two star and then only because it is a good setup. We would prefer to anchor in more protected waters but this will do well in a pinch.

View location on the Waterway Guide Explorer