New York, New York

No, I’m not about to start singing:

New York, New York
Start spreading the news
You’re leaving today (tell him friend)
I want to be a part of it, New York, New York
Your vagabond shoes, they are longing to stray
And steps around the heart of it, New York, New York

However, I will say we were energized having reached our most northely limit for this sailing season.

We scooted around Sandy Hook in the dark with a nice south west wind. Threading our way amongst all the major navigational buoys out in Lower Bay we headed up Ambrose Channel finally entering New York Harbour. Lower Bay isn’t exactly an exotic sounding or exciting name but that didn’t matter we had arrived.

Approaching the Verrazano Bridge in the ealy morning hours

The Verrazano Bridge was looking like gold as we crossed Lower Bay and into Ambrosse Channel, sailing past the lighted buoys that once marked the infamous Ambrose Lightship which is now located on the East River and used to attract tourists. From the bridge we could make out in the early dawn the Statue of Liberty beckoning us towards the anchorage.

We struggled against the outgoing current for what seemed hours eventually entering the channel behind the Statue of Liberty and an unprotected anchorage. I say unprotected as it’s not the weather that’s a problem but rather the day time boat traffic the plys New York’s waterways setting up a wave pattern that discourages one from staying for more than 24 hours.

There we were , staring at the ass end of the Statue of Liberty for 24 hours

All joking aside this was an amazing anchorage. Although we weren’t looking at the front of the Statue of Liberty we did have an incredible view of both the statue and the skyline of lower Manhatten. It was spectacular at night with the Statue lit up and the view of Manhatten in all its glory.

Manhatten skyline at sunset

The motion in the anchorage wasn’t cooperating making it very difficult to get a good later afternoon or evening picture of the skyline. We sat out on deck drinking champagne like everyone on luxury yachts does every night. We toasted our success in making it this far and felt pretty happy with ourselves.

Early the next morning just before sunrise I had to get up early to the ‘call-of-the-bladder’. Staggering outside without my glasses (or clothes) made the landscape seem like an impressionist’s painting – all a blur of bright lighted dots. As I peed (which is illegal) over the side I tried to focus on what was in front of me. I finally realized that what was not that far away was a cruise ship sailing close in to the Statue of Liberty. I then saw all these popping lights and realized that all these people were on deck, pleased to be entering New York harbour at dawn, taking flash photos of the Statue of Liberty. Little did they know until they got home to look at their pictures that there was strange man on a luxury yacht hanging something over the side! Well, sorry people but some things just happen by accident and are not planned to ruin holidays or pictures!

After that we thought it best we leave as fast as we could and scoot out of the anchorage and take advantage of the flood tide up the east river.

Heading out of the anchorage and over towards Lower Manhatten and the East River

Just to prove we saw the front of the Statue of Liberty

If you ever go to New York, and you don’t have a luxury yacht like ours, make sure you take a tour up the East River. It was spectacular. All New York in its glory to see with helicopters circling overhead bringing tourists and businessmen into town, bridges with screeching railway cars crossing the Brooklyn Bridge, tourist and commecial boats and ferries stirring up the water and best of all the skyscrapers reaching up into the sky in all their glittering windows and steel.

This is definitely not the idyllic scenes people usually associate with sailing complete with tropical sandy beaches, swaying palm trees and pina coladas. This is raw power – the centre of finances running amok, the energy of millions of people on the move, art pushing the limits and a position in the world second to none.

We went up the east river to escape the unaffordable marina rates of NewYork. On a nightly basis costs at a dock start at $3/foot and rising to above $4/foot. We were looking for an anchorage and had been told about Port Washington which is at the south end of Long Island Sound. It’s the last stop on the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR)

which would be great for us as it would be a way in which we could access central New York. Having caught the flood tide for the East River we idled at 1,000rpm and were still doing 7.5-8knots along the river as we passed the east shore of Manhattan. It was an exhilirating ride and later, as we head south, be another chance to see Manhattan from the water.

For the time being we are in Port Washington. We’ve already made one foray into the Big Apple and next week will be house sitting for someone in Manhattan for a week. This will give us lots of time to explore the city and have a long awaited hit of theatre, movies, music, food etc.

In the meantime we sit in Port Washington taking shelter from the heat (up to 36C), hide from the thunderstorms, huddle below to hide from extreme lightening and try to stay dry under the deluge of excessive rains.

To keep me from going crazy by the lightening I took to reading David Sedaris’ new book called Calypso and I leave you now with an except from the book which is a story about his sister who is taking medicatication which has the side effect of making her sleepwalk.

“One morning a few weeks after Thanksgiving, she walked into her kitchen in North Carolia and found on the countertop an open jam jar with crumbs in it. At first she thought they were from a cookie. Then she saw the overturned box and realized she had eaten something intended for her painted turtles. It was a nutrition bar, maybe four inches long and made of dead flies, pressed together the way Duraflame logs are. “Not only that,” she said “but when I was through, I ate all the petals off my poinsetta.” She shook her head. ” I noticed it on the counter next to the turtle food box, and it was just a naked stalk.”