[Journal entry for September 23, 2012; Hudson River at Plum Point NY] Dallas and I launched Tepha, our tandem sea kayak, in the Hudson River from the Kowawese Unique Area at Plum Point, which is just north of Mooda Creek in New Windsor New York. The sky was bright blue with puffy clouds. The Hudson was a bit choppy, owing to winds set up by the thermals. The view of the tall hills of the Hudson Highlands is spectacular. Storm King is to the south, and Mt Taurus and Breakneck Ridge are across the river to the east. The downriver view is surely one of the Hudson’s River’s most dramatic, with the steep sided hills rising out of the river. We can see few signs of fall; the tree-covered hills are still deep green. Plum Point is a little peninsula on the relatively flat region just north of the Highlands. We put in from the beach and paddled across the river to Pollepel Island, the site of Bannerman's Castle, an abandoned military surplus warehouse built in the early 1900’s and now falling to ruin. Two large, slow tow-boats passed; they and several power boats left substantial wakes which required some care on our part to traverse. We passed a large group of kayakers near the islands main dock who were just finishing up a tour of the island. We paddled a circuit around the island, passing three small towers and an archway that stand in shallow water on the south side of the island. Our impression was that the north side of the castle was more of less intact, but that the south side had suffered considerable collapse. We passed them on the outside, as the shallow water that they enclose is very rocky. We then crossed back to the west shore of the Hudson and paddled south, past the steeply sloping flank of Storm King Mountain. We padded beneath the railway bridge and into Storm King Marsh, a small wetland nestled between two lobes of the mountain. We sighted a great blue heron flying above the calm water. This individual actually looked fairly blue, in contrast to many others that we have seen over the years, which are grey in color. We headed back after a brief rest. The opening in the bridge is low, but our profile in the kayak was lower still, and we even need to duck as we passed beneath. This area provides a very nice view of the bare rock cliffs on Breakneck Ridge. We then headed north, following the shore and passing a park with large colorful statues of alligators. We passed by the confluence of Moodna Creek, but did not approach the bridge too closely for the area was littered with large half-submerged tree trunks that posed a serious navigational hazard. Several groups of children were playing on the beach as we returned to Plum Point. About two hours.