Back in the Paddle Again

It has been a while since my last post. Unfortunately, numerous family issues have kept me from both my boat and my laptop, but after a difficult Spring, I am hopeful for a wonderful summer. After all, this summer will bring, among other things, Baby Paddler. Needless to say, my wife and I are very excited.

I have been in the boat quite a few times, mostly to relax, but I have numerous ideas for future posts.

The question that I am asked the most is "is the Hudson clean"? I always reply yes, but I will know for sure this summer. When I was a kid, a good friend of my family was an oceanographer who worked at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. He studied waterways all over the world. But if you would have asked him what his favorite study was, he would have told you about the research he did on the salt pond located behind his house. Following in his footsteps, I will be doing my own official study this summer - of the Hudson River. I will be looking at the health (or lack thereof) of the Hudson by studying and quantifying the dissolved oxygen, coliform, pH, temperature, biochemical oxygen demand, nitrate levels, phosphate levels and turbidity of our waterfront. Think of it as a grown-ups science fair project. I will post all results right here on Hoboken Paddler.

And, of course, I will also be posting pictures of our ever changing waterfront.