On
Monday morning we headed up the New York bay towards Manhattan – very excited
about the trip ahead. We were aware that we may encounter strong currents and
lots of commercial vessel traffic – and knowing that New York City is a highly
sensitive security area we were also expecting to be boarded by the coastguard.
... but in the end, we had no hiccups at all!
New York City with
over 8mill inhabitants is made up
of five boroughs, The Bronx (red), Brooklyn (yellow), Queens (orange),
Staten Island (purple), and of
course Manhattan (blue). It
runs South West to North East
and is bound by two rivers, the Hudson on the left and the East River on the
right.
As
we motored past Staten island we had to avoid a few anchored
tankers, before crossing under the bridge at “The Narrows”. This 65m high bridge is the gateway to
New York City as you sail in.
We could now see
the skyscrapers of Manhattan in the background – what an amazing sight. The bright orange ferries from Staten
Island were passing on our left, a tug or two on our right, and soon we could
see the Statue of Liberty ahead.
What an great way to see her!
This 46m high, iconic symbol of liberty was designed by
Frédéric Bartholdi, and given as a
gift by the French to the American people in 1886. The reason she is green is
that the steel structure is clad in copper, which has
oxidised.
Next
we passed Ellis Island – the building where all the immigrants into New York
were “processed” between 1892 and 1954. The busiest year was apparently 1907,
when over one million people moved through here!
And
then we were going up the Hudson River, with New Jersey on our left and the
giant skyscrapers of the south end of Manhattan on our right. Sadly, we noticed the ‘hole’ in the
city, where the Twin Towers used to be.
Our destination was 10kms up the Hudson to the
79th Street Boat Basin on the upper west side where we are spending
two nights.
What an incredible morning this was!
