Current Position: Anchored at Raritan Bay.

Day seven of the 2007 Schenectady-Nijkerk Voyage of Discovery, and quite the special day for one particular member of the crew.

0700 Hours

Sometimes, the captain determines what course his vessel will take. Sometimes, as Captain Hudson himself found out, it's the crew that makes that decision.

But sometimes, the forces of nature step in to resolve such debates on their own. We rise this morning to be greeted by blustery winds, a constant downpour, and minimal visibility. It goes without saying that we will not be spending the day sailing on the ocean off Sandy Hook. Instead, our plan is to head upriver as far as we can go.

0830 Hours

Wet and blustery days like today do have their advantages. For one, Mrs. Barton never suffers a shortage of helpers hanging out in her galley.

0845 Hours

A breakfast of French toast and sausage is served below decks, where most of the crew will be spending most of their day.

0930 Hours

The flood tide is beckoning us inland, so we start making preparations to weigh anchor.

We circulate the crew to new positions and let them teach their replacements what to do at each station. Here, Becky shows Nicole how to tend the rode, while Dorien helps lead the line back around to the waiting fakers before heading abovedecks to the capstan. Mr. Bamberger is manning the bits as a standard safety precaution to prevent the rode from accidentally backsliding.

1000 Hours

Weighing anchor is now underway! As the capstan team works on the weather deck above, the orlop team guides the anchor rode below.

This morning, Nicole tends to the lower capstan, preventing overrides.

1015 Hours

The anchor chain comes in oozing with thick, slimy, pungeant muck. Rutger and Hanneke stifle their horror before rolling up their sleeves and doing their duty: grabbing the muddy chain to haul it back toward the hawsehole and help reset it once they've finished faking the rode.

1045 Hours

The anchor is secure and we're on our way. Our orlop team would really like to wash their hands right now.

We use our canvas buckets to haul up water from the bay and let our fakers take first crack at washing up.

The chain dragged a fair amount of mud into the orlop as well, which our crew members are now unavoidably tracking all over the deck and the stairs. Time for a complete deck wash and orlop scrubbing!

We finish scrubbing as we pass under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, re-entering the inner New York Harbor.

1100 Hours

With the weather so inhospitable, we take pity on our abovedecks crew. We split the stations of helm and lookout into half-hour rotations so no one will have too spend too much time at the mercy of the elements.

Unfortunately for the our officers, there's no such luck for them; Captains Reynolds and Barton spend most of their day bundled up on the quarter deck and making do.

1200 Hours

We've now reached the mouth of the Hudson River. Somehow, our view of lower Manhattan doesn't seem quite so impressive today.

1300 Hours

Due to the weather, sailing is out of the question, so there'll be no opportunity for anyone to go aloft. As we motor northward, the crew hunker down belowdecks and keep themselves busy.

In the galley, Anna helps prepare and serve lunch.

1600 Hours

When not being called to duty elsewhere, most of the senior crew spend their day in the foc's'le, working on marlinspike projects -- specifically, creating grommets for a ditty bag due to soon be presented to Nick as a birthday present.

Meanwhile, two decks down, Mr. Spuls helps Mrs. Barton prepare a chicken dinner.

The student crew spends most of their day at the galley table, socializing, playing various games, and congratulating birthday boy Nick.

Mouse over to soak up the atmosphere.

Above decks, the weather remains blustery and wet, but our fore deck and Quarter deck crews remain at their stations.

Mouse over to talk to the hand.

1800 Hours

Signs of cabin fever are creeping into the crew, as Rutger's hand puppet would be happy to tell you. Fortunately, we have something special planned for tonight to liven the place up.

1815 Hours

We've passed Verplanck, and have decided not to return there at the conclusion of this voyage. Instead, we'll continue upriver, making arrangements with the students' hosts and families to deliver our crew to one of several possible ports of call along the northern Hudson -- most likely, Athens.

Meanwhile, the rains have finally abated, and our crew reemerges to take in the view as we pass Bear Mountain Bridge and enter the Hudson Highlands.

1900 Hours

Tonight's dinner is roasted chicken with mashed potatoes and string beans. It's so popular with the crew, in fact, that they gobble it up before we can even get a photo!

1945 Hours

We pass Pollepal Island, the northern gateway to the Hudson Highlands. One upside today is that we're making excellent time, and will soon reach our destination -- the northern end of the bay between Newburgh and Beacon.

The ruins of Bannerman's Castle are looking particularly gloomy and Gothic as fog rolls over the looming mountains.

2000 Hours

With an assist from Ms. Niehaus, Nick guides the Half Moon toward our anchorage for the night, just south of the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge.

2015 Hours

We've now reached our destination and set the anchor. Thanks to the volume of mud that dripped off our anchor chain, the hawsehole looks a bit like an ape house at the zoo, but the good news is that with all that slimy muck, slipping chafing gear under the rode tonight is a piece of cake.

2030 Hours

We have one last major task to see to today: Luring Nick into the galley for his surprise party. Everyone greets him with songs -- in both Dutch and American versions!

As is his wont, Nick celebrates his birthday with a fresh, juicy watermelon. (Mrs. Barton has also made a chocolate cake for the traditionalists in the crowd.)

Nick's delighted to discover his gifts -- particularly the final Harry Potter novel (we'd have to sail a lot farther to escape that wave). He's immediately sworn not to reveal any of its plot twists to Mr. Mangrum or Ms. Niehaus.

When Nick sinks his teeth into a watermelon, you'd better count your fingers!

Fortunately, there's plenty of melon and cake for everyone.

2100 Hours

Since the entire crew is already crammed into the galley, Captain Reynolds elects to hold a quick anchor watch briefing right here. At this point, our new crew members have enough experience to know what markers and hazards to look out for tonight.

Now at the wizened age of twelve, Nick helps Ms. Niehaus prepare the new anchor watch and duty roster before retiring to his bunk. (As of 0045 hours, Nick has just called it a night after reading the first 300 pages of his new book.)

2200 Hours

Anchor watch begins. After such a soggy day, the storms have blown over and, for now at least, we begin with a cool, calm, pleasant evening.