We had wanted an early start this morning so the currents would favor us later on the Hudson River, but the fog put a damper on the plan. By the time it had cleared enough to travel safely, it was 9:30. Leaving Great Kills Harbor showed the fog had not deterred the die hard fishermen.
Love this mode of transportation!
We were a little concerned the fog might be worse outside the harbor, but although hazy we had no problem with our line of sight. We did turn on our navigation lights for the first time as a precaution for others to see us. We traveled with our friends David and Kim on Overtime. We led the way this time as we entered NYC from the water! How exciting! Not much boat traffic until we got close to the city and even then not bad.
Verrazano-Narrows Bridge - the entrance to New York. Traffic didn't start getting heavier until we crossed under. Still a bit hazy.
At the foot of the bridge is Fort Wadsworth - very similar to the old fort under the Golden Gate Bridge
Sadly the police must have a presence here too. The boat just sits in the middle of the waterway under the bridge. What a boring job sitting on the boat all day.
Some of the traffic we had to watch out for....
Sightseeing boats
Freighters - this one is anchored with a barge tied up next to it.
Container Ships and Ferries. The ferries concerned us the most as they travel back and forth at a pretty good speed. This is the last one we saw in our path. Being a weekday and later in the morning (thanks for the late start!) the ferry schedule was longer between departures. We kept an eye on the ferry dock the whole way to the Statue of Liberty and finally saw one pull out after we were out of the traffic lane :)
The city is still hazy but the Lady is coming out of the haze. She is surrounded by warning buoys that mark the "no go" security zone.
She was so beautiful! The sun came out as we approached her. The people waiting to go inside wrapped around the base. There were more people at the top of the base.
The torch is painted gold but appeared to be glowing with real light.
This was probably the most difficult maneuvering of the whole morning. Tour boats and private boats all jockeying for a good view. David and Kim pulled up to the statue first while I took several pictures of them as they cruised by, then we swapped places and they took our picture. Turned out great didn't it?
Just past the statue is Ellis Island. More than the statue I would have loved to stop here. What history lives on this island! I wasn't expecting the grandeur of this building.
Sadly our time in the harbor came to an end and moved on to new sights and adventures. Farewell Manhattan!
These jet skies reminded me of a swarm of bees buzzing around us!
These are some of the fun buildings/architecture on the second half of our day
I call this one the Jenga building
Loved this name. This is actually in New Jersey. On this stretch of the Hudson the west side is New Jersey and the east side is New York. This building was constructed in 1929 by the Delaware Lackawanna and Western Railroad Company. In 1930 Thomas Edison drove the first electric train from Hoboken to Montclair on rail lines surrounding the property. For decades the building was a thriving center for warehousing and distribution by the railroad companies.
The Empire State Building! It was completed in 1931 and held the record of the world's tallest building for 40 years until 1970 when the World Trade Center North Tower topped it! It is still the 5th tallest skyscraper in the USA.
Looks like you can walk up the stairway!
What a puzzle!
This gorgeous cathedral sits on top of a hill. It is an Episcopal Church - St. John the Divine and is the largest cathedral in the world. Check out the pictures on line for more beautiful pictures inside!
We parted ways from David and Kim on Overtime as they kept going to a marina. We stopped at Yonkers! There is a free town dock there. It was a little more basic than we expected. The dock was covered in seagulls and their "leavings". The cleats to tie up to were over 2 feet from the edge of the dock. It's a good thing I've been practicing my line throwing. It took me several tries but I did it! Bob and I are making a pretty good team docking now. After we docked we walked up the ramp with our shopping bags to replenish some of our larder and this is what we were met with! Locked up tight. After several phone calls, waiting and more phone calls the young man who should have been there, showed up and let us out!
We walked a few blocks into town and found the grocery store and headed back to the boat. We were so nervous he would lock us out! The town isn't what you remember from Hello Dolly as that movie was actually filmed a few miles up the Hudson River, in Garrison, NY. However, we couldn't find any easy access into Garrison from a boat. The town had a few pretty buildings and a few that were downright ugly!
When we got back to the boat (the gate was still unlocked!) another boat showed up that claimed they had reservations for our spot and could we please move. As they were obviously too big to take the other side of the dock we were happy to move for them.
This is us when we first docked.
This is the reconfiguration. We managed to move and re-dock quite well - still took me several tries to lasso the cleat but I did! Now you can see why we needed to move! You can just see us on the left. The "new" boat is a rebuilt Whaler. She was to take a load of school kids on an educational cruise in the morning.
It must have been prom night because there were many lovely young ladies and their proud escorts walking the waterfront. I call this one the mermaid.
Docked at Yonker's Free (thank goodness) town dock.
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