Tues, Sept 24, 2013-
We sailed down Long Island Sound and into the northern end of New York City. From there we were planning to motor down the East River, around the end of Manhattan, past the Statue of Liberty, and up the Hudson River to the 79th Street Boat Basin.
Sara’s sister, Ellen and Norman joined us at City Island. We both arrived there within 30 minutes of one another. They took the launch out from the Harlem Yacht Club, jumped aboard, and we never even put the anchor down. Worked beautifully.
As we were getting ready to start motoring down the East River, which would take us right in front of the United Nations, another sailboat came rushing toward us with the crew waiving their arms and yelling “stop”! They told us that the East River was closed to all boats because the police needed to keep the area secure while the world leaders, including President Obama, were meeting at the United Nations. Small boats could go a different direction around the top of Manhattan, but we could not because our mast is too tall for the bridges there that do not open. We had to wait. We moved the boat slowing in a circle for 3 hours. Finally we received a radio call from the Coast Guard saying that the section of the river on the east side of Roosevelt Island would be open and we could go that way. They have one bridge in that area that is not tall enough for our mast but does open. We used the radio to contact the bridge operator to request an opening of the bridge when we got there. He told us to hurry and he would let a group of boats through all at the same time. They waned to keep the bridge up as short a time as possible, as it is used for cars and people and it was becoming rush hour.
Our trip around Manhattan was fun with the three New Yorkers aboard pointing out both new sites and familiar places. Quintessa is too big for the mooring balls at the Yacht Basin, which we had used with Windscape II. We anchored a mile north, at about 100th St. The current flowing through the area is fierce. Ellen called the following morning to tell us (and text us a photo) of her view from her living room. We were perfectly situated between two buildings. She had a bird’s eye view of us and could watch us come and go from the boat. What was the chance we could do that?
Five days in NYC – Friends from NJ, Bob and Maureen came and spent a day with us. Met Debby for a mandatory trip to Trader Joe’s and used her WIFI at her apartment. Jamie and Ellen met us for dinner and we had a chance to take Jamie out to the boat. Loved the time with them.
We did a lot of walking around Manhattan, of course including a trip to West Marine. Bob fixed the autopilot so we would have it for the off-shore run down New Jersey.