This morning consisted of boat chores again. Jorge was busy educating himself on the more sophisticated features of the electronics and I had neglected house (boat) keeping duties so I tackled some of them. As well, we were starting to plan for our departure from NYC to Sandy Hook and the Jersey coast in the next couple of days, looking at anchorages, wind, current, weather, etc.

After lunch we met Diana and Gilbert at the marina. We took the subway to Times Square and walked to Grand Central Terminal. It is celebrating its 100th birthday this year. Very impressive with some 117 tracks for trains!

Outside Grand Central Terminal.

100th birthday of Grand Central Terminal.

 

We then took the subway to Yankee Stadium in the Bronx. Unfortunately there was a game just ending so we were not able to tour it. Not only that, it was top of the 9th with the Yankees losing so people were beginning to leave the stadium and the subway was going to be a zoo very shortly so we decided to turn right around and go back to Manhattan. We were a little cocky thinking we knew the subway system having done the #1 train on the red line many times. Well, we certainly got twisted around in the station outside Yankee Stadium and ended up getting on an express train that stopped some 50 streets past where we wanted to get off! By this time we were downtown Manhattan and just hopped on the #1 train on the red line which we knew well to get to where we wanted to go. A lesson in humility.

Yankee Stadium.

Yankee Stadium (again).

After buying some take out we sat in Central Park and had a picnic supper. We then walked to the Metropolitan Museum and toured it for 2 hours. We probably could have spent 2 weeks in there and still not seen everything.

Metropolitan Museum (The Met).

 

Again it was a lovely day, warm with blue skies and a cool evening. This time we were prepared with jackets.







This morning and early afternoon were dedicated to boat chores, one of which was putting in reefing lines. It was another nice day, although the waters were a bit rough this morning.

We left for Central Park mid afternoon. Diana and Gilbert had left before us. While we were in contact via the phone, the park was so huge we never did find them. Jorge and I also walked a long stretch of 5th Avenue. Boy the money along that street was unbelievable. The street is also known as Museum Mile for obvious reasons, many museums are located there.

We did meet up with Gilbert and Diana as we were returning to the marina (from different directions) at the same time. While walking to the dinghy dock, who showed up? None other than Blair and Edith. (P.S. for those of you not in the know, Blair and Edith also hail frrom HYC.) It appears they arrived this afternoon. We had a short chat about our experiences and then headed to our boats.

The evening temperature certainly has a September feel to it, still warm during the day though. The waters have calmed, as a matter of fact more calm than all week, a pleasant change!

Taxi's everywhere.

Local boat traffic.

CS'ta Time at 79th Marina, New Jersey in the background.

It was a rough night last night and neither Jorge nor I slept well. The boat was really rocking from the waves. We did have another beautiful day though, again with mostly blue skies and warm temperatures.

We met Diana and Gilbert at the marina around 0900. It was laundry day for Diana and me. Jorge went to Home Depot in the middle of Manhattan and Gilbert had some chores of his own to do. I caught a ride back to the boat with Gilbert and Diana via their dinghy as Jorge was delayed at Home Depot.

We spent a relatively quiet afternoon on the boat then met Gilbert and Diana at the marina at 1630. The plan was to visit Greenwich Village and go out for supper. We did just that. Earlier in the afternoon, Jorge and I had googled Argentine restaurants and picked one to dine at. It was Jorge’s birthday.

After a wonderful supper, the four of us walked through Times Square. It was probably busier than it was during our daytime visit! And it was like daylight with so many lights.

The night had certainly cooled down and we were all wishing we had brought sweaters or jackets with us but at least it will be quite enjoyable for sleeping.

Greenwich Village, Cafe Wha ? where many successful musicians made their start.

Steel drum band in Washington Square.

The start of 5th Avenue.

Subway art.

Jorge and Kim celebrating Jorge's 64th birthday

at Chimichurri Grill.

 

(I have no idea why the pictures are huge. The internet quit on me while I was transferring the pictures and when I started it again, this is what I got!)

Check out this article in a local magazine.

There wasn't a cloud in the sky today when we got up. The temp was warm and there was no humidity. We were a bit lazy getting going this morning as it was a late night with moving the boat and all. Showers were almost at noon!

A boat had left one of the transient mooring balls (there are only about half a dozen of them, the rest are rented) so we moved again. The marina lets you stay at the rented ones but if the renters come back, then you have to move. So, we should be good here until we leave New York City!

CS'ta Time at 79th Street Marina.

Jorge and I walked forever to get to a ship museum you could see from our marina. The size of the ship gave a deceiving distance. When we got there, there was only an hour left before it closed so we decided it wasn't worth the money and moved on.

We walked to Times Square. What a zoo! People everywhere. Theaters, billboards, just like what you see on t.v.

Model posing for a magazine.

Jorge and me in Times Square.

Times Square billboard.

Police vehicle in the subway station at Times Square.

Unfortunately it was 1700 so we had to battle rush hour traffic on the subway back to the boat. There is a little bar and grill overlooking the marina so we stopped for some drinks and an appetizer.

Rob and Serena are headed off tomorrow. They have to be in the Chesapeake by mid September as Rob is heading off to the UK to help deliver a boat. I'm sure we will see them again in our travels.

Jorge at the dinghy dock.

 

The skies were again overcast this morning, after a night of heavy rain. There was quite a lot of wave action last night with the boat traffic in the area.

We met up with Diana and Gilbert at the marina around 1030. We had an extremely busy day. First we thought we would do a subway ride to West Marine because the weather was not the greatest. Actually we each bought a 7-day subway pass to coincide with our 7-day marina stay. We did some shopping and after lunch the skies had cleared so we decided to do the tourist thing.

Kim beside a replica of the Statue of Liberty.

The Empire State Building.

 

Jorge and Kim on ferry to Staten Island.

Manhattan skyline from ferry.

 

The Statue of Liberty.

The "bull" symbol of Wall Street.

NYSE.

The Single Tower replacing the Twin Towers.

911 Memorial .

Waterfalls with border of trees outlining the perimeter of one of the Twin Towers.

We arrived back at the boat around 2030, had a late supper and then moved the boat to another mooring ball as the one we were at was way too close to another one. With the currents and wind that mooring ball was sometimes under our boat! Not a good situation. Now settled for the night.

We left the mooring field of Nyack around 1000. It was a heavily overcast day. Rain did not start though until around 1130 and then just some sprinkles. We passed under the George Washington Bridge around 1200. What a huge bridge!

The George Washington Bridge, Serenada on the right.

The flag on the George Washington Bridge.

A really big sailboat anchored in the middle of the Hudson.

79th Street Marina was just about half an hour or so south. Mind you, the current was pushing us at about 8.4 knots SOG. I love the current when it is in our favour. We grabbed a mooring ball in about a 3 knot current, secured ourselves and then the rain started, complete with a bit of thunder and lightening. When we made contact with the marina, we were informed we had to leave that mooring ball and pick up another one for which they gave us the number but try and find it. We ended up mooring on the ball the marina told Gilbert and Diana they had to vacate! Not sure the staff know what they were doing.

79th Street Marina and mooring field.

The current on a mooring ball.

 



Anyhow, we were again secured on a mooring ball so we put the dinghy in the water and motored to the marina. We decided to stay the week, pay for six days and get the seventh free. We had showers and then took a walk to check out what was in the vicinity. We bought a bottle of wine, walked a bit of Central Park and scouted out laundromats. The dryer in the marina was not working and they only had one washer. We were not successful in finding one but got some leads. Lots of dry cleaners though. We had a quick bite to eat and then headed back to the marina.

It was after 2100 and quite dark (however lots of city lights) when we were pulling away from the dinghy dock. Gilbert and Diana's outboard started and then quit. Gilbert pulled a Captain Ron and realized they were out of gas. The boats were quite a distance from the marina with Gilbert and Diana's being the farthest. We gladly gave them a tow back to Serenada returning to CS'ta Time just before 2200.

We pulled anchor at 0930 after a relatively good night's sleep. Unfortunately the trains run all along the waterways in the US, some spots are worse than others for noise. We were so tired though I didn't hear any trains until close to dawn. This morning we were running against a small current and again what little wind there was, was on the nose!

One of the first points of interest we passed was West Point. Very impressive.

Serenada as we were approaching West Point.

Leaving West Point behind us.

Marina at Constitution Island across from West Point.



We were motoring in Haverstraw Bay when I looked around to see where Serenada was. She was stopped with a police boat beside her. We slowed CS'ta Time down and while waiting, we were approached by another local police boat with Custom and Border Protection officers aboard. Three officers boarded us, asked us for all our papers and gave us a warning for not calling in along the way. It was interesting when we arrived at Nyack to share our experiences with Diana and Gilbert and Rob and Serena (who also had been boarded earlier in the day.) All three of us got different information on calling in/reporting procedures!

The mooring field at Nyack Boat Club.

 

 A mooring ball was $20 per night (not the $5 advertised in Skipper Bob's book but it included shuttle service to and from your boat via a skiff, clean washrooms and showers and lucky us, unlimited free draft beer before 1700 (and we arrived at 1530.) We met a couple (originally from Montreal) and got some local info from them.

Jorge, Rob, Serena, Diana and Gilbert enjoying our free draft.





Because it was Sunday night of the long weekend, not too much was open however Jorge and I walked to a nearby convenience store and were able to purchase some fresh veggies and fresh bread.

Shortly after returning to the clubhouse, the heavens opened up and it poured for about 15 minutes. Unfortunately we did not batten down all the hatches and returned to a rather wet v-berth.

Our destination tomorrow is NYC.

P.S I was able to post the pictures on yesterday's blog.