We arrived at Sandy Hook on Tuesday July 2nd and set our anchor, then after
the fog lifted we started to see the damage from Hurricane Sandy. Many of the
houses along the water front had damage and only a few looked like they were
inhabited any longer, a lot of sea wall and shore line was missing as well. It
was just a short stop to rest as Sandy Hook is just that and although a National
Park is there, there is little else, so we went to refuel before going to find a
better anchorage.
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| Sandy Hook |
It was looking on active captain that gave us our first clue,
very few marinas had fuel here. We eventually found Twin Lights had fuel and
headed for their dock. A small oversight was reading the current before leaving
and boy was it ripping through at their dock. We managed to get tied off on the
second attempt but a good lesson in looking at tide tables around here with
large tidal changes.
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| Damage from Sandy |
We then moved on to Atlantic Highlands were there is a nice breakwater we
could anchor behind. The marina was under a lot of repair but getting close to
complete with new floating docks, but the the damage was obviously extensive by
how much was new or missing still. We walked around town and had lunch at the
waterfront grill “On the Deck” which was really delightful. The next day we
walked into town about a mile to get some groceries and stop at the farmers
market on our return.
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| Atlantic Highlands |
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| Atlantic Highlands 4th July |
We talked with several locals about the damage and happily
moved on to the upcoming 4th of July celebrations. Apparently Atlantic Highlands
celebrates on the 5th so we had to stay for a big firework display right over
our heads. We had a fantastic display with s/v Irish Ayes crew Cindy and Ernie
joining us for a wonderful evening.
Our good friends Harry & Melinda had written to us about options for
visiting New York City (NYC) and after mulling over options we decided to go to
Great Kills on Staten Island, NY and take the train/bus into NYC. Arriving at
Great Kills was a shock. The harbor was only 30% occupied due to so much damage
from Hurricane Sandy. Most of the marinas appeared to have lost much of their
docks and most had yet to be repaired. The mooring balls were also displaced and
over 8 boats were sunk or partially sunk around the basin. When we took the
dinghy over to RCYC to enquire about a dinghy dock for a day to visit NYC it was
obvious most marinas really got hit hard. We arranged to get a space for the
dingy and had a short walk around an obviously devastated club house and yacht
club. We walked the beach at Great Kills that day and did discover the locals
still enjoying the beach on this holiday weekend so it appears they are very
resilient here.
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| RCYC rebuilding |
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| Asking a RCYC member about the reconstruction |
The following day we travelled to NYC, firstly by bus then a free ferry
from Staten Island to the City and finally a bus to Harlem. Our first visit was
the General Ulysses S Grant memorial as Devin was named after him (middle name).
It is a spectacular tomb in a lovely setting by the Hudson river with a small
visitor center to tell you the history of his life. You can see more at Video: Grant
Memorial, he was the first 4 star general and a two time US president and
widely credited with the abolition of slavery. After all the time to get here
from Great Kills we decide lunch was in order. Now NYC had so many restaurant's
it is really difficult to decide. We happened upon a Thai restaurant whilst
investigating an Italian restaurant next door which was a little disappointing
menu wise. But Liz really liked the Thai menu, well she was right, it was a
fantastic lunch of excellently made Penang & Green curry which we shared. We
didn’t know eating out in New York could be so reasonable, but lunch certainly
was a bargain.
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| Ulysses S Grant Memorial |
Our next visit was to the High Line park, this is a recovered raised
railway track that wound through downtown NYC and was transformed by volunteers
and donations to a spectacular garden and walkway with very interesting
artifact's and rest/viewing areas along its course. It was a great find and a
very nice experience in downtown. You can read about it here High Line Park
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| Artwork in the Park |
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| Liz in the High line Park |
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| Viewing Area in the Park |
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| A cooling water path in the park (left) |
Our next stop was the 9/11 memorial, unfortunately due to all the ongoing
construction there is a booking system we didn’t know about so we couldn’t see
the actual memorial but did see the new tower up close. It still looks like this
area will be under construction for a long time, after over 10 years that really
hits home on how much was damaged. Which brings us back to Sandy, several places
we wanted to see in NYC were closed as a result of damage following Sandy. Devin
particularly wanted to see the Space shuttle museum but it was still
closed.
So our last stop was the American Indian Museum in the old Customs House at
Bowling Green. The building itself is historic and well worth a visit but the
exhibitions of Indian artifacts is very well done and covers North and South
American Indian tribes which was a very nice surprise. You can see a lot of what
we saw by visiting their site American Indian Museum
Well after all the walking and riding we were beat. So we took the ferry
and train back to Great Kills, if your thinking of doing this like we did from
Great Kills we would advise using the train across Staten island as it’s much
faster than the bus and then use the subway in NYC as these save a lot of time
in travel. So we were back on Moosetracks for a late dinner and very tired. So
much so we spent the next day at anchor to recover, oh and to get the tides
right for the East river.
We left on July 10th for a fantastic anchorage behind the Statue of
Liberty in NYC. It was easy in and out and had great views over the city as you
can see from the photos. We saw lots of traffic on the river but our AIS and
keen attention was more than capable of dealing with it and it was less
intimidating than we had imagined. The weather however didn’t co-operate that
much and it was overcast the whole way and even the next morning.
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| Verrazno Bridge to enter NY harbor |
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| First of many forts guarding NYC |
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| Our anchorage behind the Statue of Liberty - Statue side |
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| Our anchorage behind the Statue of Liberty - Verrazano bridge side |
As we
researched the tides we found that 6:45 am was low tide at the Battery and when
we should leave to get favorable current all the way through. Well when
unfavorable is 4.7 knots against you and your cruising speed is 6 knots you
really want to “go with the flow” so to speak. So we were up early and set off
from the Statue of Liberty across the harbor traffic (never fun) and over to the
Battery and up the East river, announcing our intentions on VHF radio for any
concerned traffic. But it was again uneventful and an easy transit with
beautiful skylines on both sides of us. It appears our research paid off and the
Hell Gate tide was fierce giving us nearly 4 knots more speed at peak but all in
our favor though still that very point in the middle has some wicked turbulence
and you have to be weary. So our wedding anniversary started with a great cruise
through NYC!
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| Statue of Liberty |
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| NYC skyline |
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| Pier 17 historic sailing ships |
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| Governors Island fort |
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| Empire State building |
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| 3-4 knots added speed due to current in East river |
We arrived early in Port Washington and settled on to a free mooring ball
for 2 nights. We watched two New Zealand boats that were at the Statue of
Liberty come in behind us and decided to stop over to see them. The first was
Balvenie (yes named after a Scottish Whisky) the Other was Bandit. Well what a
surprise to learn both boats knew friends of ours having cruised with both
Ventana and Innamorata II.
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| Stepping Stones Light on leaving the East river |
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| Nice Houses on Manhasset Bay |
As it was still our anniversary we decided on a meal out to celebrate and
looked up the local restaurants on the www. We found an upscale Indian
restaurant called “Diwan” that had a lunch time buffet and decided right then it
was just for us. We walked to the grocery store and stopped on our way back, it
was a very nice place and we decided to go in. It turned out the lunch was
$10.95 and it was “all you can eat” so we were sold. It was truly fantastic
Indian food and lived up to all the rave reviews we saw on Yelp and we think one
of the best Indians we have ever had including in England. We both had a little
too much so we walked around Main street to remove a few calories.
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| Sailors at Port Washington |
We returned to Moosetracks to watch the sunset with a few iced libations and a loving made chocolate brownies to round off the perfect day!
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| Sunset at Port Washington |
We truely hope you too are having a wonderful summer.
