An action-packed yesterday means an action-packed blog post today. We started pretty sedately, however, with a chance to sleep in. Until 6. Dana spotted a Black-Crowned Night Heron on the dock beside us and Doug spotted a regular old deer in the Great Kills Yacht Club garden. Despite the fence we swear it wasn’t in a zoo.
Then off to the north. The plan to leave at 11 looked sketchy as we bucked current through the Verrazano Narrows and into the main channel. Back when Don Vito Corleone unsuccessfully tried to bring the Five Families together for the common good of organized crime, New York City was a different place. At least it looks different from the water. For one thing, there are a lot more boats. Everywhere. Huge boats.
The purple areas that make the approach look like the Arizona state flag are Traffic Separation Schemes—superhighways for commercial vessels—each wider than Manhattan.
And the unofficial but practical Rule of Gross Tonnage says we need to stay away from those commercial vessels no matter what. They go faster than we do, and as sluggish as Misty Pearl may be those 200-meter behemoths are much worse. Becoming a cargo ship hood ornament would be an embarrassing end to our Loop.
Knowing that photo documentation would be critical to the mission, our team photographer got the bow assignment.
As we approached the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, Coney Island passed off to the right.
Coney Island is famous for hot dogs and as the home turf of the Warriors, who Luther falsely accused of killing Cyrus and who then bravely fought their way back to their beach until the Gramarcy Riffs finally realized it was Luther all along.
We were lucky enough to be going past Manhattan on the day of a jet ski parade, which frankly seems like a really dumb idea for a parade. There indeed were lots of jet skis but not many more than a busy day on Lake Pleasant. The bigger issues were ferries, and tour boats, and tugs with barges, and sailboats, and power boats, and more tour boats. Sully was a hero for landing a US Airway jet on the river and saving all the passengers, but what truly is amazing is that he didn’t wipe out 100,000 bug-eyed tourists.
We were traveling with Second Wave so that we both could get the obligatory photo in front of the Statue of Liberty.
Rumor has it that if a Looper boat fails in this regard, AGLCA repossesses the burgee and strikes your membership. Getting a clean shot, however, is not that easy given the traffic, currents, and every other stooge looking for a good view. The black line shows what we were supposed to do to get up the Hudson. The yellow line shows what we actually did in order to photograph Second Wave.
Second Wave did the same, which yielded the photo above for which Karen gets the credit. Cruising through Manhattan—even on a hazy crappy day—is something everyone should do at least once.
As cool as Manhattan was, however, we were glad to be moving on. Karen and Dana’s assurance that the afternoon current would be favorable proved spot-on as we started picking up speed at the George Washington Bridge.
The George Washington Bridge is famous for Bridgegate, but yesterday traffic seemed to be flowing nicely as we came up alongside Hoboken on our left. The north end of the Harlem River is just beyond the bridge.
The Harlem River is famous for making Manhattan an island. We were surprised at just how big the island is. The Natives who struck the deal to sell it must really have wanted those beads and trinkets.
Pretty quickly the scenery changed dramatically. Huge building gave way to huge cliffs and shorelines.
And trains. Lots of trains. We continued on north past Yonkers. Yonkers is famous for being a fun word to say.
Just north of the Tappan Zee bridge is the place where Ethel and Julius Rosenberg lived and died.
The name Sing Sing comes from Sinck Sinck, the tribe that sold the land. Hopefully the Sinck Sinck were a tad shrewder or less desperate for crap than the Manhattan sellers.
Second Wave led us into Half Moon Bay on the eastern shore of the Hudson, roughly 46 nm from Great Kills. Bucket List helped with our lines, and we all took off together for dinner. We plan to stay here for a few days to clean up Misty Pearl—this is the last time we wash salt off her until November—and explore Croton-On-Hudson and surrounding area.
Absolutely love following your adventures. Your blog is entertaining, informative and funny. I’d never have the nerve to do it myself (especially at my age), so I can live it vicariously through your stories. Keep it up and keep having fun!!
Kathi Weston
Hi Kathi! You are much younger than you think. We have met some folks who recall the Civil War and are still doing the Loop. Good luck with the slots!