It seems somehow fitting that the entry to New York City should be something dramatic and as we left City Island and rounded the first bend going under Throg’s Neck Bridge the entry to a section of water known locally as Hell Gate was exciting for more than one reason. I wish that I could post all of the photos that Paul and I took going down through Hell Gate and through the East River. Many of you have been to NY City some, I know have even lived there but the feeling of moving down the East River at 10.5 knots with the city bustling along not the least bit interested in our progress was phenomenal. There was some traffic on the East River but not nearly as much as I had anticipated. The current was incredible but we had (after much discussion) nailed the timing and the current worked for us boosting our normal 6.5 knots to nearly 11. The kids and I had a great time sight seeing from the deck watching all of the helicopters and sight seeing boats and pointing out the different buildings. “You don’t see that in Maine” was the most common comment.
We had decided to try to stay on Manhattan Island, expensive as it was going to be it would allow us access directly to the city and in doing so save us the time and expense, not to mention hassle of getting to NY from any place else. With that goal in mind Boyd brought us under all of the bridges around the tip of Manhattan, past the Statten Island Ferry terminals and into this Marina called North Cove.
Truly guys, it should have been called North Cove Olympic swimming hole (except as in most of NY you would not have wanted to swim in it). When Paul and I rigged to go in and we started to make the corner into the entry I thought there was no way. I don’t think the entry was more than 50 ft across and the waves, between the confusion of the swell there at the tip of the island, and the wakes from those ferries, wow! We surfed through the entry way at a good 5 knots and slid into a slip like Boyd’s been doing it for 100 years. I have to tell you, I was some impressed! I guess truth be told he has been doing this a long time, but not with this boat, and not in those waters, and not with me watching. It was exhilarating. When we were all tied up and jumped off onto the dock. Well, you just looked up into the financial district towering above you. People were walking, jogging, running in the plaza, there were women and men hurrying by dressed in their business attire. It was sooo New York.
The kids were beside themselves and who could blame them. There was a nostalgia for me since I’d lived in NY city for a short time in my pre teens but it was so big any memories I had only enhanced the experience. Boating into New York City… we hadn’t been at the dock more than a few minutes when Boyd reported that we’d had our first request for a charter. That’s NY for you. I guess one of the “suits” who saw our boat wanted to have us take him on a tour of the harbor.
Deciding to take advantage of the brilliant day and our adrenaline we registered and closed up the boat. It took us just a few minutes to get out to “the street” and we were off on our adventure to the Empire State Building. We took the subway (another one of those you don’t see that in Maine experiences) and without much difficulty located and toured the Empire State Building.
Just a quick couple words about that, if the person that you are with should say, oh I don’t know, something like “when we get close we’ll be able to find it, we’ll just look up” don’t believe them. Looking up in NY City is like looking up in the Red Wood forest of California. You just see the trees that surround you. Now, don’t go looking for anything with me because for the entire time (up until we actually entered the Empire State Building) I thought we were looking for the Chrysler Building which I had seen from the East River and proclaimed to the kids to be the Empire State Building. Can’t, apparently take me anywhere. Word two about this, it ain’t cheap. Now I know why my parents never took me to any of the landmarks in NY. Eighty bucks got us most of the way up, but there was no wait, the weather was BEAUTIFUL and it was a huge rush. The kids loved it, we looked all around, saw the bridges, Central Park, Lady Liberty, the harbor, everything. It was without a doubt worth every dime.
Returning to the boat we found it amazingly completely intact. The only security that the “Marina” had was a single line with a clip run across the top of the ramp and a small hanging sign that said “no entry”. We decided, based on those dang ferries and their incredible wakes which kept the whole marina bobbing, to go out to dinner and found a cute little Mexican restaurant just a block from the boat. The four of us ate for less than $30 and it was delicious!
I have to admit that once we got back to the boat, tired as I was I was a bit concerned about the whole bobbing issue but we all went down below and went to bed. I know the ferries stopped at some point and so did the bobbing, I really couldn’t tell you when. I was out, and so was everyone else. They did restart at exactly 6 am!