As we neared New York City, the waves picked up a bit, but it was still easy cruising. By the time we entered Raritan Bay to navigate to our marina at the Great Kills Yacht Club, the water was stirred up due to lots of ferry and boat traffic. We also were cruising at low tide. When you start at 5:30 a.m. there are a couple of tide cycles to deal with! But, we made it to Great Kills Yacht Club on Staten Island, a very Looper friendly marina, in just under 12 hours (98 statute miles). We had help securing our lines and plenty of advice of how to commute into New York City. We even had the offer of a car if we wanted to re-provision supplies. After our long day on the water, we ate dinner at Coles Restaurant along the water. They have a price-fix dinner that includes a much needed bottle of wine. As we started walking towards the restaurant, someone stopped, asked if we were Loopers, and offered us a ride to the restaurant. The boaters go out of their way to be friendly.
The next morning, Tuesday, June 27, we accepted a ride from a Great Kills Yacht Club boater to the Staten Island Railroad Station where we traveled to the Staten Island Ferry. Interestingly, it costs money to ride the train, but the Staten Island Ferry is free. And there are thousands of people who use the ferry every day. Talk about a missed opportunity to make money. We had a great view of the Statue of Liberty. Seeing it for the first time was an awesome experience! We spent the day in lower Manhattan seeing the sights.
Of course, the best without question was a visit to the 9/11 Memorial & Museum. A very emotional and moving experience. It was very crowded but we were glad we had the opportunity to see it.
After visiting the 9/11 Museum, we had lunch at a nearby pub as we began Carey's quest to find a good New York pastrami sandwich. He didn't find it at the pub, so the quest continued. When lunch was done, we walked on to Battery Park where we took ferry to the Ellis Island. It's a very interesting historical landmark, loaded with history. It was late in the afternoon before we made it back to the Staten Island Ferry and on to the Staten Island Railway to get back to our boat at Great Kills Yacht Club. It was our first day in New York City and we were tired from all the walking and the crowded streets!
The next day, Wednesday, June 28, we took the Express Bus into the city. It was a good way to get in to the city (about an hour). Once we got to Manhattan, most of the riders exited the bus so we had the chance to talk to the bus driver. He gave us lots of of good advice about where to go once we were off the bus and also where to get back on the bus at the end of the afternoon. Our goal was to visit Midtown and possibly see a Broadway musical! It was an awesome day because we saw so many places that we have only seen in pictures and movies! Rockefeller Center, Times Square, Radio City Music Hall, The Plaza Hotel, the theater building where the Tonight Show is filmed, you name it, we saw it! We also saw a 2 p.m. matinee of "On Your Feet" a Broadway musical that told the story of Emilio and Gloria Estefan (Miami Sound Machine). It was everything that a Broadway musical should be! And we had great seats in the mezzanine!
After the matinee, we made it back to our bus stop and waited and waited for our bus. But, it finally came and we hopped on. Once we were on the bus, it took a full 2 hours to get back to the marina. We were very glad we didn't have to drive in all the New York City traffic!
Great Kills Yacht Club only had room for us for a couple of nights, so on Thursday, June 29 we left to cruise further north to Half Moon Bay Marina in Croton-on-Hudson, NY, about 30 miles up the Hudson River from the city. That meant we had to cruise through New York Harbor with all the ferries, barges, and other boat traffic. Our cruise was ok and we saw a lot of beautiful New York City skyline, a final look at the Statue of Liberty, and many other landmarks. As we cruised north on the Hudson River, the water settled down and we had mostly following seas which meant the waves were pushing us. The Hudson River is simply beautiful with lush green rolling hills on shore. We pulled in to Half Moon Bay Marina after a successful cruise.
Friday, June 30 - Our son Brian and 4-year-old grandson Peter from Las Vegas came for a visit! Their flight was delayed 2 hours so they didn't get to our boat until 2:30 a.m. We had spent the day cleaning the boat inside and out and walking to the Croton Harmon Train Station to figure out how to get into New York City the following day. Saturday morning, the four of us rode the train into Grand Central Station. Peter was very excited to ride the train. From there we walked to Central Park Zoo and met up with our sister-in-law Anne who lives in Manhattan. The visit to the zoo was fun even though the day was very hot and humid. Central Park is truly an oasis in a huge city! There is so much to see, but we saw only a small part of it. After a mid-afternoon rain, the temperature cooled a bit but the humidity was still there!
The next day Brian drove us into the city and we walked along the Highline Park, an elevated park made from an old railroad track in the Chelsea neighborhood. It was very interesting and the view along New York Harbor was beautiful. We were downtown until late afternoon and saw many more New York City landmarks - Greenwich Village, Carnagie Hall, the Empire State Building, Washington Park - just to name a few. It was a wonderful day!
There was a fireworks display on the Hudson River on Saturday night and we all went up to the upper deck and watched them. Peter loved them! He had a lot of questions about the fireworks and Grandpa "Grumbump" Carey was happy to explain it! Brian and Peter flew home on Monday, July 3. We so enjoyed their visit!
We rented a car and were able to drive to West Point to take a tour. The drive there was absolutely beautiful!! The Hudson River area is full of rolling hills and lush forests. The tour of West Point was completely different than the Naval Academy in Annapolis. It was a more controlled tour since we drove through the grounds on a school bus. We did get off in a couple of places to tour the chapel and then the grounds overlooking the Hudson River. We were allowed to wander the Naval Academy grounds by ourselves unescorted.
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