Sandy Hook, where we spent the night on the hook, is a beautiful natural harbor. In the pic, you can barely see some houses on shore that looked somewhat Dutch. They are part of the fort from before the revolution, so the Dutch influence was probably present. They are in terrible condition but they looked great from a distance. Lucy is doing what we do all too frequently in modern boating, relying on our electronic devices for comm, doing blogs, emailing, texting, looking at charts, checking weather – it’s an invaluable tool but it does put our head down verses looking where we are (I added 13 USB charging ports as part of the renovation and it doesn't seem enough at times).
Had I just crossed the Atlantic Ocean in the 1600 hundreds and entered NY harbor, I would have thought I arrived in Heaven. It is a really a remarkable place comprised of an outer and inner harbor. The inner harbor is the one you see from Manhattan and is home to the Statue of Liberty. From Sandy Hook you see the Staten Island mountain of trash, Coney Island condos, and the Verrazano Bridge but not the inner harbor. The separation sets the stage for an exciting entrance of anticipation. The fact that it was a bright and sunny day made it all the better. From the water the city looks small and manageable. It’s not as noisy either and has a peace about it. When the sun set, the glass towers took on a futuristic look from scifi movies as the glistening towers transitioned from being illuminated to illuminating themselves. It was almost mystical or surreal watching the night fall. But I’m ahead of myself, we had to get there first.
As we sailed under the Verrazano Bridge, we observed that every inch of water front was modified by someone with dreams. Many were prosperous, industrious, and successful. But as Sears and IBM can tell you, adaptation is the key to success. What works today probably won’t work tomorrow and much of the waterfront doesn’t appear to be working today. Its success was long ago which captures the imagination even more than were it working today. If it were working we’d be in awe of the facts and figures, but in disrepair and decay, we can imagine commerce transpiring, wealth being generated, dreams being lived and lovers being united.
Call me a romantic, but I loved our slow journey up the
Hudson and then the East River under the Brooklyn Bridge.
It’s a romantic bridge, the stuff of legends. It was an awesome feat of big dreamers to think they could build such a structure across a ragging torrent like the East River. We were fighting almost 4kts of current at the time we went under. Helicopters were flying overhead, ferries were darting to and from, jet skies were riding the wakes, horns were blowing from cars ashore, the lighting and view changing constantly as we inched our way up the river and into the shadows of this marvelous bridge. I would have loved to take it all but we were a target, as our chart plotter shows of all those other boats and numerous obstacles. Reality has a way of squashing the romantic but it sure was fun while it lasted.
All the blue lines are headings from boats equipped with AIS. As you can see, we were on a collision course with about 5 high speed ferries that were using AIS (some don’t).
nice commentary!
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