We've covered a lot of ground (and water) since my last post and this comes to you from underway in Long Island Sound, NY. After getting laundry and groceries done in the rain in Annapolis, the weather improved enough for us to go for a walk and go out for supper after happy hour with the crew from Flextime and Ben from Cristel. We planned to leave Saturday morning to head for the Sassafrass.
The timing of the currents to go down the Delaware Bay to Cape May did not look good for spending the night anywhere but Reedy Island, on the west shore of the Delaware a few miles south of the exit from the C & D Canal, but we had collectively decided to do the trip to Reedy Island in two legs, spending the night anchored in the Sassafrass River and then transiting the canal and anchoring at Reedy Island the following night. As it turned out we made such good time heading north through the Chesapeake that we passed the Sassafrass around 2 p.m. and ended up doing the trip from Annapolis to Reedy Island all in one go.
As we went through the C & D canal, that connects the top of the Chesapeake Bay to the top of the Delaware Bay, we passed under a few bridges. As we approached one from a distance I couldn't figure out what it was for. It obviously was too small to be a car or rail bridge, so was it for pedestrians? When we got close it looked like a bridge made of pipe, and I found out from a sign that was in fact what it was - it was a natural gas pipeline that they ran over the canal instead of under - very interesting (to a geek like me).
Dave had predicted that we were going to get slowed down a lot by current much of the way going through the C & D canal but he thought we could make Reedy Island before dark because we would pick up speed at the end of the canal. And he was right! As we got closer to the end of the canal we picked up speed and then we shot down the Delaware with the current and anchored at Reedy Island just before 8 p.m. after a twelve hour, 68 Nm day. It was perfect conditions to be anchored there, with no wind at all, so we had a quiet night.
The day before there had been much discussion with Flextime about when the current was going to be right to leave Reedy Island heading down the Delaware Bay for Cape May. Predicting the currents in the Delaware Bay is not intuitive if you are looking at what the tides are doing, but after much studying of all the information available to him, Dave decided we would have to leave Reedy Island early the next day to have current with us as much as possible.
Sunday morning we left at 5 a.m. along with Flextime and Cristel and by 6 a.m. we were doing 9 knots over the ground. Dave's predictions were right on, and we zoomed down Delaware Bay. By 8:30 we had the jib up and we were sailing, which was an added bonus. Cristel was having engine problems, so Ben ended up getting Towboat US to tow him into the Cape May canal and to the marina. We motored into the canal behind Cristel and after surviving the wakes from the New Jersey powerboaters (it was Sunday after all), shortly after 1 p.m. we were anchored off the Coast Guard Station in Cape May. We were pretty tired after the long trip the day before and then the early start, so we just hung around the boat for the rest of the day and rested and caught up on sleep.
Based on the weather forecast we had decided to stay in Cape May Monday and depart Tuesday to do an overnight passage to New York City. Monday morning we heard the bugle at the Coast Guard Station summoning the recruits and then at 8 a.m. they played the Star Spangled Banner. It sounded like a live band, but it may have been just a really good recording. Soon a number of small coast guard boats went past in the channel, off to practice for the day.
Flextime and Cristel were staying at a marina, so we took our dinghy over there and went for a walk into town with Bob and Jane. Dave and I had been to Cape May a few times and walked around town, but we had never gone as far as the real 'touristy' section until this trip. We found a pedestrian mall not far from the beach where we did a bit of shopping and then had some lunch before heading over to have a look at the beach and then getting ice cream before we walked back via the grocery store. From the looks of things Cape May must be a pretty busy place in the summer - there is a huge beach and all kinds of hotels, restaurants, shops and ice cream stores - but it was still relatively quiet this early in the season. It is a pretty town and very well kept and people were out in force painting houses and buildings and fences and doing work in the gardens. That night we went out for supper near the marina with Bob, Jane and Ben.
Tuesday we didn't have to get up early, as our planned departure time was noon. This departure was scheduled to get us to the top of the New Jersey coast (at Sandy Hook) when it was starting to get light, so that we could go into New York Harbour in daylight. We got up and did some chores and got things ready but by 10:30 a.m. all the other boats had left the anchorage and by 11 a.m. we were getting antsy and couldn't wait any longer, so we called Flextime on the VHF and told them we were going to leave early. They were feeling the same, and as Bob said "we can always slow down".
We motor sailed for the first few hours but then there was enough wind for us to sail. It was a good direction and a nice beam reach and soon the wind picked up and we were flying. We did 3 hour watches until 9 p.m. and then switched to 2 hours after that. It was a relatively uneventful night passage along the Jersey Shore and it was comforting to know that at least two of the other lights we could see were friends and to have the occasional chat over the VHF radio while on watch. We had to reef the jib a bit when the wind picked up and we continued sailing until almost 2 a.m. when the wind died and we had to start motoring.
I actually managed to sleep on my off watches during the night, so maybe I am finally getting comfortable enough with night passages (too bad we probably won't have any more on this trip!). At 5 a.m. I went below to sleep and we were only 9 miles from Sandy Hook. I got up at 6:30 and we still weren't there - the current was against us and had really slowed us down and we were only doing 3 knots! We inched past Sandy Hook and towards the narrows at the Verrazanno Bridge, which we finally went under just after 9 a.m. It was excruciatingly slow progress and as we chugged along Dave said "you know, current really matters!". In planning for a daytime arrival we hadn't accounted for the current being against us going into New York City.
To make things just a little more challenging, it was Fleet Week in New York and they were having a 'parade' with a bunch of coast guard, fire department, police and navy boats (well, actually only one navy boat) so they announced that all boats had to stay outside a certain distance from the parade. As we headed in we were herded over to the edge of the channel or beyond by a series of coast guard and police boats. After one coast guard boat hailed us via a megaphone (and we talked back to a fellow on the bow) he ended with "welcome to the United States and sorry to bother you" - I guess because of our Canadian flag. We had to laugh at that!
Eventually we got past the Statue of Liberty and headed up the Hudson behind the parade which had passed us, finally arriving at the 79th Street Boat Basin to pick up a mooring just after noon. It was the longest 20 miles ever! We were very glad when our friends on Flextime, who were ahead of us radioed back to say that there were moorings available, because plan B was to go back down the Hudson and up the East River to a marina north of the city.
Although we have heard lots of complaints about the moorings at 79th Street, our two visits there have been very good. Lots of times I think the problem is that the current is the overriding influence on how the boats point and if there is a contrary wind it can make for an uncomfortable and rolly time. The whole time we were there we had very little wind and the only roll we experienced was when boat traffic went by in the river, which wasn't really that often. The current is wickedly strong though - at times it took the two of us to move the dinghy from behind the boat to beside the boat so that we could board it! You would definitely not want to let go of the line and lose the dinghy here. I didn't recall having a shower when we were here 11 years ago, but when we checked in to the marina I asked about it and they told me they had one. When we went to have a look and Dave decided he wasn't interested because it was too 'gross', I figured maybe I would wash my hair in the sink on the boat and have a sponge bath instead. Despite the potential pitfalls, we love this location - it is only two blocks to the subway station which takes you to Times Square in 15 minutes or less - where else can you stay on the Upper West Side of Manhattan for $30 a day?
We were pretty tired out after our marathon getting up the harbour, so we had a short nap before we got the dinghy down and headed to shore. We went to the subway station to get a map and then sat in a park poring over it trying to decide what kind of metropass to buy. In the end we opted for the 7 day unlimited pass and we went back to the subway and went downtown. Our first stop was Highline Park, where we took the stairs up to this park that has been built on an old elevated train line, and walked the mile length of the park. It was pretty interesting to walk between the buildings at this elevated level and look down over the streets, and the park is very nice, with lots of plants and well designed seating areas, despite the fact that it is only about 30 feet wide. We had pad Thai for supper and then took the subway up to Times Square where we went for a walk around and picked up some information at the visitor's centre before heading back to the boat for the night.
Thursday morning after perusing our tourist information and maps and doing some research on the internet we made a rough plan of what we wanted to see and do. We met Bob and Jane on shore and we all took the subway down to Times Square. After a good walk around and corned beef sandwiches at a deli for lunch, we headed for Discovery Times Square. I went to see The Art of The Brick Exhibit, which was an exhibit of art made out of Lego, and Dave, Bob and Jane went to see the Body Worlds Pulse exhibit, which was an exhibit of human bodies. Much as I would have liked to see that exhibit, I had my heart set on the Lego, and you can't do everything, so I picked that. I was really glad that I did, as the lego exhibit was amazing and I really enjoyed it. It included 'copies' of famous works of art made out of lego, as well as original works of art and then a collaboration project with a photographer where lego objects were included in some 'Americana' type photos. Dave, Bob and Jane said the Body Worlds Pulse exhibit was excellent too, so it was a good visit.
By this time it was after 3 p.m. so Dave and I went and got in line for discount tickets to Broadway shows. We ranked the shows we wanted to see and ended up getting into Pippin for 50% off. It was our 3rd choice, but our first two choices didn't have discount tickets available ever, so I was pretty happy. The show was at 8 p.m. so we hustled back to the subway so we could have a quick supper and a bit of a rest on the boat before going back downtown. Pippin was excellent. It had great singing, dancing and even some 'Cirque du Soleil' style acrobatics and we both really enjoyed it. It was two and a half hours long but by 11:15 we were back at the boat getting ready for bed after a very full day.
Friday we set off mid morning and walked across Central Park to 'Museum Mile' on 5th Avenue. We went to the Guggenheim Museum which ended up being the only disappointment of our whole time in New York. The building (designed by Frank Lloyd Wright) was impressive, with its gallery on a continuous spiral up, but glaringly impractical in some areas (at least to a couple of engineers). There was barely enough room in front of the toilet in the bathroom and once we walked the entire spiral up to the top of the gallery we found ourselves at an elevator, which we took down to the basement to look at an exhibit, only to find that to get out of the building we had to go back up to the 5th floor on the elevator and then walk down the stairs! Unfortunately neither one of us really liked the art on display. They had a small collection of impressionists and Picasso pieces which was not bad, and an interesting exhibit of art by kids (which was striking in how amazingly colourful it was) but the photography exhibit I had been looking forward to had already closed (I didn't read the dates) and the majority of the gallery space was taken up by an exhibit of Italian Futurism - eek. I tried hard, but only found three or four pieces in the entire 6 floors that I even liked a bit, and Dave hated it all. He vowed never to go to an art museum with me again and when we finally got out of the building he was fed up, so our plan to visit the Intrepid Museum that afternoon got revised.
Instead we took the subway down to Little Italy to have lunch. Well, kind of. We got out of the subway and thought we were heading in the right direction but in fact the captain didn't have his bearings and we walked away from Little Italy for a while until I looked at the map and got us turned around. It ended up being an interesting walk regardless, as we walked through a bunch of Chinatown and got to see some people playing handball at outdoor courts, as well as the vegetable and fruit stands full of exotic things, next to the fish markets with boxes of fish heads among other things while hundreds of little Asian women shopped pulling their little rolly carts behind them. We finally found Mulberry Street and had a wonderful pasta lunch sitting outside.
After we finished lunch we took the subway down to City Hall because we wanted to look for a nautical book store in that area. We found ourselves right at the Brooklyn Bridge, so we decided to walk part way across the bridge to have a look at Manhattan from the bridge. I couldn't believe the number of people walking on the bridge - and it wasn't even a weekend! We were getting a bit tired, so we didn't even walk halfway across but when we got back we went to look for the book store (which we found had gone out of business) and then walked past the new World Trade Center (which is apparently the tallest building in the western hemisphere). We were pretty much walked out, so we headed back to the boat around 5 p.m.
That evening we went over to Flextime for snacks, drinks and games. We learned a couple of new games and hung around chatting as rain poured down and thunder and lightning boomed and crackled around us. We had to wait for a lull in the rain to go back to our boat later on that night. Although it was cloudy and overcast for almost our entire visit to New York City, and we had sporadic rain, it didn't really affect us too much at all, so we didn't mind. New York city is a great place to be a pedestrian - in fact as far as I am concerned that is the way to go. We visited by car once and it was an experience I would not want to repeat, but it is a city designed for walking, which suits us very well.
Saturday was our last day in the city. We spent much of it at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum. Most of the museum is on the Intrepid aircraft carrier and it was very well done and interesting. We toured an old nuclear submarine and got to see the Discovery space shuttle as well as a ton of aircraft and the Intrepid itself. It was late afternoon when we left the museum and I was starving as we had only eaten a few snacks during the day and hadn't had lunch, so we stopped to get a hot dog from a street vendor. We were a bit taken aback when he told us the price was $5 per hot dog after we had them in our hands, but we figure the price would have been lower if we had asked before we got them - we will know for next time! We have pretty much blown our 'dining out' budget in the past few weeks anyway, but I think it will balance out in the next few weeks when we don't have a lot of stops planned where we will go to shore and eat.
After the museum we took the subway down near an outdoor store called Dave's New York, where Dave bought a pair of pants and a t-shirt and I got a shirt. Next stop was Macy's where I had always wanted to go but never been. When we got out of the subway it was pouring, but luckily the entrance to Macy's is only about 50 feet from the subway exit. I guess I should have known better than to take Dave there on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend but I didn't really think about it. It was packed! And it was even bigger than I expected it to be. We took a very quick tour and I bought a pair of shoes to replace my favourite ones that I had finally completely worn out (all the walking in New York was the last straw). I thought the wooden escalators were really neat and I could have wandered around for a lot longer, but Dave was being a pretty good sport about it so I thought we should get out sooner rather than later.
We decided to go out for supper and took the subway further downtown to Chelsea near where we had eaten the first day. We ended up wandering around for a while and finally found a Mediterranean cafe in the West Village where we both had wonderful supper and I had the best bread pudding I have ever eaten for dessert. We got back to the marina around 8 p.m. and stopped in for one last visit with Flextime as they were heading up the Hudson to go back to Ontario, while we were going around and up the East River to Long Island Sound.
That trip is one where you really want to get the currents right. Going up the East River the currents are very strong especially at one narrow section called Hell's Gate. In order to have favourable currents we had to get up and leave at 3 a.m. on Sunday morning. As it turned out that was a really good time to travel around Manhattan by boat. There was enough light from the city that we could see pretty well and there was no other boat traffic (quite a contrast to the daytime when it is a total frenzy of ferries, pleasure boats, tugs, freighters etc.). After we got past the three patrol boats around the navy ship just south of our marina We only saw one other boat until we got into Long Island Sound. Dave got the currents exactly right and in just over an hour we were hurtling under the Brooklyn Bridge and up the East River at 10 knots. We were in Long Island Sound before 6 a.m.!
Once we got into the sound the current was against us a bit, but only a knot or so and by 10 a.m. we were in Huntington Harbor, where we planned to stay a couple of nights and visit our friend Vida. After emptying our holding tank and filling up with diesel and water, we picked up a mooring, had an early lunch and then took a nap before Vida came to pick us up.
We had a really nice visit with Vida, meeting her new dog Taco (a long haired chihuahua), helping her take care of a few small jobs around the house and going out for a very good dinner the next day with a couple of her friends. I had excellent bread pudding again, so I guess New York state is the place to go for bread pudding. We spent Sunday night at her house and we were able to get showers, groceries (with a car, so we could stock up on some heavy things) and do laundry so that was a real bonus. She dropped us off on Monday evening, so we could get an early start this morning.
So here we are, under way in Long Island Sound. We are planning to push for the next few days to get to Maine and then slow down a bit to spend a bit of time there before crossing to Nova Scotia for the last leg of our journey home. Hopefully the weather will co-operate as it has been so far on our trip north. Although it is cool enough that we are wearing fleece in the mornings and some days we have even had our toques on when we get an early start, it usually warms up during the days and the last couple of days we have even been wearing shorts. One of the biggest adjustments to the cooler weather is having to wear socks and shoes, and they are the first things to come off as the day warms up.
With any luck by the time we head for Nova Scotia it will be warming up there too!
The timing of the currents to go down the Delaware Bay to Cape May did not look good for spending the night anywhere but Reedy Island, on the west shore of the Delaware a few miles south of the exit from the C & D Canal, but we had collectively decided to do the trip to Reedy Island in two legs, spending the night anchored in the Sassafrass River and then transiting the canal and anchoring at Reedy Island the following night. As it turned out we made such good time heading north through the Chesapeake that we passed the Sassafrass around 2 p.m. and ended up doing the trip from Annapolis to Reedy Island all in one go.
As we went through the C & D canal, that connects the top of the Chesapeake Bay to the top of the Delaware Bay, we passed under a few bridges. As we approached one from a distance I couldn't figure out what it was for. It obviously was too small to be a car or rail bridge, so was it for pedestrians? When we got close it looked like a bridge made of pipe, and I found out from a sign that was in fact what it was - it was a natural gas pipeline that they ran over the canal instead of under - very interesting (to a geek like me).
Dave had predicted that we were going to get slowed down a lot by current much of the way going through the C & D canal but he thought we could make Reedy Island before dark because we would pick up speed at the end of the canal. And he was right! As we got closer to the end of the canal we picked up speed and then we shot down the Delaware with the current and anchored at Reedy Island just before 8 p.m. after a twelve hour, 68 Nm day. It was perfect conditions to be anchored there, with no wind at all, so we had a quiet night.
The day before there had been much discussion with Flextime about when the current was going to be right to leave Reedy Island heading down the Delaware Bay for Cape May. Predicting the currents in the Delaware Bay is not intuitive if you are looking at what the tides are doing, but after much studying of all the information available to him, Dave decided we would have to leave Reedy Island early the next day to have current with us as much as possible.
Sunday morning we left at 5 a.m. along with Flextime and Cristel and by 6 a.m. we were doing 9 knots over the ground. Dave's predictions were right on, and we zoomed down Delaware Bay. By 8:30 we had the jib up and we were sailing, which was an added bonus. Cristel was having engine problems, so Ben ended up getting Towboat US to tow him into the Cape May canal and to the marina. We motored into the canal behind Cristel and after surviving the wakes from the New Jersey powerboaters (it was Sunday after all), shortly after 1 p.m. we were anchored off the Coast Guard Station in Cape May. We were pretty tired after the long trip the day before and then the early start, so we just hung around the boat for the rest of the day and rested and caught up on sleep.
Based on the weather forecast we had decided to stay in Cape May Monday and depart Tuesday to do an overnight passage to New York City. Monday morning we heard the bugle at the Coast Guard Station summoning the recruits and then at 8 a.m. they played the Star Spangled Banner. It sounded like a live band, but it may have been just a really good recording. Soon a number of small coast guard boats went past in the channel, off to practice for the day.
Flextime and Cristel were staying at a marina, so we took our dinghy over there and went for a walk into town with Bob and Jane. Dave and I had been to Cape May a few times and walked around town, but we had never gone as far as the real 'touristy' section until this trip. We found a pedestrian mall not far from the beach where we did a bit of shopping and then had some lunch before heading over to have a look at the beach and then getting ice cream before we walked back via the grocery store. From the looks of things Cape May must be a pretty busy place in the summer - there is a huge beach and all kinds of hotels, restaurants, shops and ice cream stores - but it was still relatively quiet this early in the season. It is a pretty town and very well kept and people were out in force painting houses and buildings and fences and doing work in the gardens. That night we went out for supper near the marina with Bob, Jane and Ben.
Tuesday we didn't have to get up early, as our planned departure time was noon. This departure was scheduled to get us to the top of the New Jersey coast (at Sandy Hook) when it was starting to get light, so that we could go into New York Harbour in daylight. We got up and did some chores and got things ready but by 10:30 a.m. all the other boats had left the anchorage and by 11 a.m. we were getting antsy and couldn't wait any longer, so we called Flextime on the VHF and told them we were going to leave early. They were feeling the same, and as Bob said "we can always slow down".
We motor sailed for the first few hours but then there was enough wind for us to sail. It was a good direction and a nice beam reach and soon the wind picked up and we were flying. We did 3 hour watches until 9 p.m. and then switched to 2 hours after that. It was a relatively uneventful night passage along the Jersey Shore and it was comforting to know that at least two of the other lights we could see were friends and to have the occasional chat over the VHF radio while on watch. We had to reef the jib a bit when the wind picked up and we continued sailing until almost 2 a.m. when the wind died and we had to start motoring.
I actually managed to sleep on my off watches during the night, so maybe I am finally getting comfortable enough with night passages (too bad we probably won't have any more on this trip!). At 5 a.m. I went below to sleep and we were only 9 miles from Sandy Hook. I got up at 6:30 and we still weren't there - the current was against us and had really slowed us down and we were only doing 3 knots! We inched past Sandy Hook and towards the narrows at the Verrazanno Bridge, which we finally went under just after 9 a.m. It was excruciatingly slow progress and as we chugged along Dave said "you know, current really matters!". In planning for a daytime arrival we hadn't accounted for the current being against us going into New York City.
To make things just a little more challenging, it was Fleet Week in New York and they were having a 'parade' with a bunch of coast guard, fire department, police and navy boats (well, actually only one navy boat) so they announced that all boats had to stay outside a certain distance from the parade. As we headed in we were herded over to the edge of the channel or beyond by a series of coast guard and police boats. After one coast guard boat hailed us via a megaphone (and we talked back to a fellow on the bow) he ended with "welcome to the United States and sorry to bother you" - I guess because of our Canadian flag. We had to laugh at that!
Eventually we got past the Statue of Liberty and headed up the Hudson behind the parade which had passed us, finally arriving at the 79th Street Boat Basin to pick up a mooring just after noon. It was the longest 20 miles ever! We were very glad when our friends on Flextime, who were ahead of us radioed back to say that there were moorings available, because plan B was to go back down the Hudson and up the East River to a marina north of the city.
Although we have heard lots of complaints about the moorings at 79th Street, our two visits there have been very good. Lots of times I think the problem is that the current is the overriding influence on how the boats point and if there is a contrary wind it can make for an uncomfortable and rolly time. The whole time we were there we had very little wind and the only roll we experienced was when boat traffic went by in the river, which wasn't really that often. The current is wickedly strong though - at times it took the two of us to move the dinghy from behind the boat to beside the boat so that we could board it! You would definitely not want to let go of the line and lose the dinghy here. I didn't recall having a shower when we were here 11 years ago, but when we checked in to the marina I asked about it and they told me they had one. When we went to have a look and Dave decided he wasn't interested because it was too 'gross', I figured maybe I would wash my hair in the sink on the boat and have a sponge bath instead. Despite the potential pitfalls, we love this location - it is only two blocks to the subway station which takes you to Times Square in 15 minutes or less - where else can you stay on the Upper West Side of Manhattan for $30 a day?
We were pretty tired out after our marathon getting up the harbour, so we had a short nap before we got the dinghy down and headed to shore. We went to the subway station to get a map and then sat in a park poring over it trying to decide what kind of metropass to buy. In the end we opted for the 7 day unlimited pass and we went back to the subway and went downtown. Our first stop was Highline Park, where we took the stairs up to this park that has been built on an old elevated train line, and walked the mile length of the park. It was pretty interesting to walk between the buildings at this elevated level and look down over the streets, and the park is very nice, with lots of plants and well designed seating areas, despite the fact that it is only about 30 feet wide. We had pad Thai for supper and then took the subway up to Times Square where we went for a walk around and picked up some information at the visitor's centre before heading back to the boat for the night.
Thursday morning after perusing our tourist information and maps and doing some research on the internet we made a rough plan of what we wanted to see and do. We met Bob and Jane on shore and we all took the subway down to Times Square. After a good walk around and corned beef sandwiches at a deli for lunch, we headed for Discovery Times Square. I went to see The Art of The Brick Exhibit, which was an exhibit of art made out of Lego, and Dave, Bob and Jane went to see the Body Worlds Pulse exhibit, which was an exhibit of human bodies. Much as I would have liked to see that exhibit, I had my heart set on the Lego, and you can't do everything, so I picked that. I was really glad that I did, as the lego exhibit was amazing and I really enjoyed it. It included 'copies' of famous works of art made out of lego, as well as original works of art and then a collaboration project with a photographer where lego objects were included in some 'Americana' type photos. Dave, Bob and Jane said the Body Worlds Pulse exhibit was excellent too, so it was a good visit.
By this time it was after 3 p.m. so Dave and I went and got in line for discount tickets to Broadway shows. We ranked the shows we wanted to see and ended up getting into Pippin for 50% off. It was our 3rd choice, but our first two choices didn't have discount tickets available ever, so I was pretty happy. The show was at 8 p.m. so we hustled back to the subway so we could have a quick supper and a bit of a rest on the boat before going back downtown. Pippin was excellent. It had great singing, dancing and even some 'Cirque du Soleil' style acrobatics and we both really enjoyed it. It was two and a half hours long but by 11:15 we were back at the boat getting ready for bed after a very full day.
Friday we set off mid morning and walked across Central Park to 'Museum Mile' on 5th Avenue. We went to the Guggenheim Museum which ended up being the only disappointment of our whole time in New York. The building (designed by Frank Lloyd Wright) was impressive, with its gallery on a continuous spiral up, but glaringly impractical in some areas (at least to a couple of engineers). There was barely enough room in front of the toilet in the bathroom and once we walked the entire spiral up to the top of the gallery we found ourselves at an elevator, which we took down to the basement to look at an exhibit, only to find that to get out of the building we had to go back up to the 5th floor on the elevator and then walk down the stairs! Unfortunately neither one of us really liked the art on display. They had a small collection of impressionists and Picasso pieces which was not bad, and an interesting exhibit of art by kids (which was striking in how amazingly colourful it was) but the photography exhibit I had been looking forward to had already closed (I didn't read the dates) and the majority of the gallery space was taken up by an exhibit of Italian Futurism - eek. I tried hard, but only found three or four pieces in the entire 6 floors that I even liked a bit, and Dave hated it all. He vowed never to go to an art museum with me again and when we finally got out of the building he was fed up, so our plan to visit the Intrepid Museum that afternoon got revised.
Instead we took the subway down to Little Italy to have lunch. Well, kind of. We got out of the subway and thought we were heading in the right direction but in fact the captain didn't have his bearings and we walked away from Little Italy for a while until I looked at the map and got us turned around. It ended up being an interesting walk regardless, as we walked through a bunch of Chinatown and got to see some people playing handball at outdoor courts, as well as the vegetable and fruit stands full of exotic things, next to the fish markets with boxes of fish heads among other things while hundreds of little Asian women shopped pulling their little rolly carts behind them. We finally found Mulberry Street and had a wonderful pasta lunch sitting outside.
After we finished lunch we took the subway down to City Hall because we wanted to look for a nautical book store in that area. We found ourselves right at the Brooklyn Bridge, so we decided to walk part way across the bridge to have a look at Manhattan from the bridge. I couldn't believe the number of people walking on the bridge - and it wasn't even a weekend! We were getting a bit tired, so we didn't even walk halfway across but when we got back we went to look for the book store (which we found had gone out of business) and then walked past the new World Trade Center (which is apparently the tallest building in the western hemisphere). We were pretty much walked out, so we headed back to the boat around 5 p.m.
That evening we went over to Flextime for snacks, drinks and games. We learned a couple of new games and hung around chatting as rain poured down and thunder and lightning boomed and crackled around us. We had to wait for a lull in the rain to go back to our boat later on that night. Although it was cloudy and overcast for almost our entire visit to New York City, and we had sporadic rain, it didn't really affect us too much at all, so we didn't mind. New York city is a great place to be a pedestrian - in fact as far as I am concerned that is the way to go. We visited by car once and it was an experience I would not want to repeat, but it is a city designed for walking, which suits us very well.
Saturday was our last day in the city. We spent much of it at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum. Most of the museum is on the Intrepid aircraft carrier and it was very well done and interesting. We toured an old nuclear submarine and got to see the Discovery space shuttle as well as a ton of aircraft and the Intrepid itself. It was late afternoon when we left the museum and I was starving as we had only eaten a few snacks during the day and hadn't had lunch, so we stopped to get a hot dog from a street vendor. We were a bit taken aback when he told us the price was $5 per hot dog after we had them in our hands, but we figure the price would have been lower if we had asked before we got them - we will know for next time! We have pretty much blown our 'dining out' budget in the past few weeks anyway, but I think it will balance out in the next few weeks when we don't have a lot of stops planned where we will go to shore and eat.
After the museum we took the subway down near an outdoor store called Dave's New York, where Dave bought a pair of pants and a t-shirt and I got a shirt. Next stop was Macy's where I had always wanted to go but never been. When we got out of the subway it was pouring, but luckily the entrance to Macy's is only about 50 feet from the subway exit. I guess I should have known better than to take Dave there on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend but I didn't really think about it. It was packed! And it was even bigger than I expected it to be. We took a very quick tour and I bought a pair of shoes to replace my favourite ones that I had finally completely worn out (all the walking in New York was the last straw). I thought the wooden escalators were really neat and I could have wandered around for a lot longer, but Dave was being a pretty good sport about it so I thought we should get out sooner rather than later.
We decided to go out for supper and took the subway further downtown to Chelsea near where we had eaten the first day. We ended up wandering around for a while and finally found a Mediterranean cafe in the West Village where we both had wonderful supper and I had the best bread pudding I have ever eaten for dessert. We got back to the marina around 8 p.m. and stopped in for one last visit with Flextime as they were heading up the Hudson to go back to Ontario, while we were going around and up the East River to Long Island Sound.
That trip is one where you really want to get the currents right. Going up the East River the currents are very strong especially at one narrow section called Hell's Gate. In order to have favourable currents we had to get up and leave at 3 a.m. on Sunday morning. As it turned out that was a really good time to travel around Manhattan by boat. There was enough light from the city that we could see pretty well and there was no other boat traffic (quite a contrast to the daytime when it is a total frenzy of ferries, pleasure boats, tugs, freighters etc.). After we got past the three patrol boats around the navy ship just south of our marina We only saw one other boat until we got into Long Island Sound. Dave got the currents exactly right and in just over an hour we were hurtling under the Brooklyn Bridge and up the East River at 10 knots. We were in Long Island Sound before 6 a.m.!
Once we got into the sound the current was against us a bit, but only a knot or so and by 10 a.m. we were in Huntington Harbor, where we planned to stay a couple of nights and visit our friend Vida. After emptying our holding tank and filling up with diesel and water, we picked up a mooring, had an early lunch and then took a nap before Vida came to pick us up.
We had a really nice visit with Vida, meeting her new dog Taco (a long haired chihuahua), helping her take care of a few small jobs around the house and going out for a very good dinner the next day with a couple of her friends. I had excellent bread pudding again, so I guess New York state is the place to go for bread pudding. We spent Sunday night at her house and we were able to get showers, groceries (with a car, so we could stock up on some heavy things) and do laundry so that was a real bonus. She dropped us off on Monday evening, so we could get an early start this morning.
So here we are, under way in Long Island Sound. We are planning to push for the next few days to get to Maine and then slow down a bit to spend a bit of time there before crossing to Nova Scotia for the last leg of our journey home. Hopefully the weather will co-operate as it has been so far on our trip north. Although it is cool enough that we are wearing fleece in the mornings and some days we have even had our toques on when we get an early start, it usually warms up during the days and the last couple of days we have even been wearing shorts. One of the biggest adjustments to the cooler weather is having to wear socks and shoes, and they are the first things to come off as the day warms up.
With any luck by the time we head for Nova Scotia it will be warming up there too!