Manhattan, New York
Port Washington - Manhasset Bay, New York, at anchor. Saturday 19 August – New York City A very exciting day for me as I’d never been to New York! We picked Ian and Ann up from Tourterelle in the rib, moored at the town dock and walked to Port Washington train station. 40 minutes later we were at Penn Station, New York City. We walked along Fifth Avenue to the Empire State Building, Chrysler Tower, Grand Central Station, back to Time Square and The Theatre District where we saw the Broadway Show – Ground Hog Day. It was absolutely brilliant! A ride on the Metro took us down to China Town for a superb meal, then back to Port Washington on the train.
Grand Central Time Square The following day the wind had picked up and we debated whether we should give NYC a miss and stay on the boat in case the anchor dragged. The forecast indicated the wind would drop later in the day so we let out more anchor chain and went into Manhattan once again. Our first visit was by metro down to The World Trade Centre. We paid $37/each to go to the top – 102 floors, the tallest building in New York. The views were immense. Whilst we were at the top, Tourterelle were navigating the East River running through the city, of which we had a clear view. We saw them at anchor by The Statue of Liberty! We would be doing the same trip later in the week.
A quick visit to see the architecture of the West Field Shopping Centre, then a walk across Brooklyn Bridge.
To rest our legs we took the ferry back up to East 34 Street, passing under Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan Bridge and Williamsburg Bridge, giving us a clear view of the Empire State Building amongst others. We noted how strong the tide was so would plan our trip through the river on Lady Rebel when the tide would be with us.
We walked to the Chrysler Building, NYC Public Library, Bryant Park, Hells Kitchen market, then after lunch we walked to Central Park – we’d earned a beer by the lake.
We wandered down Park Avenue and Madison Avenue to New York Yacht Club, which unfortunately we couldn’t blag our way into. Strictly members only, or a member of a yacht club that had a reciprocal arrangement. Unfortunately for us The Royal Cornwall Yacht Club doesn’t! At least we saw the foyer!
We then walked past Trump Tower to 230 Fifth Avenue roof top bar, for a Tom Collins cocktail – my new favourite drink – gin, sour mix / Triple Sec, soda, ice and a slice, to finish the day. My fitbit watch told me we’d walked 16 miles, 32000 steps. We didn’t visit any of the museums or other towers but I was happy I’d seen enough of the landmarks to give me a good feel of Manhattan, New York. Back to reality over the next few days doing boat chores, laundry, food shopping etc. Ken fitted the new battery charger and liaised with our insurance company regarding our incident with the bridge and damage to the toe rail and rubbing strip. They gave us the go-head to get it sorted so we arranged for a guy to come and fix it. He could do some of the preparation work from the dinghy whilst we were at anchor and the remainder from a marina dock. We assisted where possible to reduce labour costs. We weren’t keen on going into the marina at $200/per night, even though the insurance would cover it, we still have a large excess to pay!
Whilst at anchor we arranged for a diver to check our rudder, propeller and keel. As we suspected, there is slight keel damage where we hit the uncharted rock in Phinney’s Harbour. Luckily this can wait to be sorted when we next get lifted. The propeller has a tiny little chip, nothing major and the rudder is fine. Aura departed the anchorage soon after Tourterelle and a few days later La Mischief and White Ibis arrived anchoring near by. We didn’t see much of La Mischief as they ventured into Manhattan several days in a row, seeing as much as they possibly could!
On Friday 25 August we moved the boat into Brewers Capri East Marina for Robert to continue with the repairs. We were only supposed to stay one day at $2/per foot but ended up staying two nights at $4/per foot (over $400 – gulp) as true to form, the repairs took longer than anticipated. Ken used the time to finish fitting/wiring the solar panels (we still have to work on a method to raise them to catch the sun) and I took advantage of being able to walk ashore i.e the laundry and showers, went for a run and caught up on the blog. Ken assisted Robert wherever possible!
We met up with Bill and Jade to watch a Sousa Band playing in the park. They were excellent and we knew all the tracks – some were from the musical Oliver and some were traditionally American songs. It was a great atmosphere and definitely something different. Sunday 27 August – Port Washington to Liberty Island, 20 miles, 4.9 engine hrs, 4.08 knots average speed Total Miles: 7609.9 Following a walk to the hardware store to buy primer paint (Ken and I would paint the wood repairs), we fuelled up and set off for East River that passes along the East side of Manhattan. We were in convoy with White Ibis so we could take photographs of each other! We passed under Throngs Neck Bridge and Bronx White Stone Bridge. Between Rikers Island and North Brother Island we were boarded by US Coastguards. Being foreigners, they wanted to check our boat registration document, cruising permit and passports, plus our bilges and holding tank, oh and if we had any weapons or dangerous substances on board. I don’t think they meant alcohol so I kept my mouth shut and let Ken deal with them while I drove! All was in order so we were allowed to continue on our merry way.
We passed under Hell’s Gate Bridge and Triborough Bridge into Hells Gate, an area of water that can be tricky to navigate if timed wrongly i.e at full strength tide. Rivers meet there and the water can become choppy, swirly and hard to steer through. We’d timed it to arrive there at slack tide so there were no issues.
We passed NW or Roosevelt Island past Rockefeller, under Plaza Bridge past the Chrysler Building and Empire State Building. Passing under Williamsburg, Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges, we came to the United Nations building and 1 The World Trace Centre. We went North of Governors Island and South of Liberty Island and The Statue of Liberty herself!
We tried to anchor West of Liberty Island but the water was choppy and the currents all over the place and we weren’t comfortable. A local boat passed us and advised we moved a little further on to Liberty State Park anchorage. The entry channel was very narrow and the anchoring area very tight, but we and White Ibis both fitted in ok. It was beautifully sheltered and we could see The Statue of Liberty lit up at night. Bill and Jade came for a celebratory meal; it was pretty special taking our boats through Manhattan!
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