The Big Apple

We stayed in Great Kills Harbor on Staten Island for 4 days and used it as our base for visiting New York City. Our first two nights were on a mooring ball and our second two were at the Great Kills Yacht Club courtesy of a gold looper who makes special arrangements for loopers to use their facitlities. (A gold looper is someone who has completed the great loop... complete it twice and you are a platinum looper... Karen and I display a white flag, meaning we are still in progress on our first loop) While in New York, we had a list of 6 things to accomplish.

1 - Meet with Karen's (and my) friend Paul. Paul and Karen were college buddies at Syracuse. They have remained friends and Paul was the architect that drew up the plans for the remodel of our home. More accostomed to designing multimiullion dollar homes and apartments in places like the Dakota in NYC, we were his first mobile home design and we think he did a phenomenal job. Getting to NYC from Staten Island is not an easy feat. Our first morning there we rode the bus in which dropped us off in lower Manhattan where Paul was waiting for us. He showed us around and we got our first look at the 9/11 memorial. If you have not yet been there, it is a very somber experience. The main memorial consists of two large, square, black continuously draining pools. The memorial is very effective at representing the great loss the people of New York and the country felt following the attacks of 9/11. It is not possible to walk away without a heavy heart. We also got a glimpse of the new One World Trade Tower. It was overcast that day and the top of the tower was hidden by the clouds. As an architect and a long time resident of NYC, Paul makes a great tour guide for the city. He treated us to a wonderful lunch that day. We headed back to Staten Island on the ferry that afternoon. It is an amazing way to get a good view of the city.

2 - Have a good New York Pizza. The next morning we hopped a bus into the city again and continued our walking tour of NYC with Paul. This time we started in West Village near where he lives. We had no specific agenda of anything to see. We just enjoyed walking around the city. Paul again found us a wonderful local place to eat that served incredible pizza. I wish I remembered the name but was not thinking about that as I waddled away from lunch. 3 - Meet with my cousins, Jane and Howard. Knowing we would be taking the ferry back to Staten Island Jane suggested meeting for dinner at Gigino at Wagner Park. We left Paul mid town and walked downtown to Battery Park along the walking trail that encircles Manhattan. It was a great way to see the hustle and bustle of the city as we passed kids playing sports on the fenced in fields, parents with strollers, joggers, businesse people, street urchins and other tourists. Jane and Howard were waiting for us at a table overlooking New York Harbor and the Statue Of Liberty. We have not had many opportunities to spend time with Jane and Howie and this was the first time the four of us ever sat down together. We had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed our meal and the view. We again headed back to our boat on the Staten Island Ferry, this time at night. As magnificent as the skyline is during the day, it is truly spectacular at night.

4 - Find a good corned beef sandwich. No place does corned beef sandwiches like New York and I had a hankerin' for one from the moment I first plotted our course to New York. Our initial plan was to find a deli with Paul but the one he anticipated taking us to was closed. Thats ok... we got the pizza. Fortunately, our host at the Great Kills Yacht Club was able to recommend a great diner within walking distance from the harbor. He was not wrong. I found myself sitting in front of a sandwich piled sky high with great corned beef. I was in heaven. There was no way I was finishing that sandwich at one sitting. The leftovers made for a good dinner as well. Karen was also enjoyed a delicious bowl of matzoh ball soup! 5 - See Top Gun. We had been hearing rave reviews about the movie so we had to see it and figured New York was the place. We had not been to see a movie for over 6 months. It was a great movie and a good break from the looping life. With our list of things to do in NYC "almost" complete, after 4 days at Staten Island it was time to move on. It was time to venture out into New York Harbor and on up the Hudson River. New York Harbor can be a daunting place for pleasure boats. It is a busy harbor to say the least. The main entry into the harbor squeezes down to pass under the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, the same bridge we had "bussed" over on our forays into NYC from Staten Island. We had two large container ships lining up to pass under the bridge at the same time we were there and it was "fun" trying to adjust our speed and course to avoid any mishaps. I'm not to sure Karen would use the term "fun" to describe this section of our journey. With much caution, we made our way safely through the ships and ferrys to find ourself in position to accomplish number 6 on our list.... See the Statue of Liberty from our boat and get a picture of us as we passed her. At Great Kills, we had met Jen, Elliot and their dog Ollie. They are a young couple doing the loop on their boat, "Pivot", and they are documenting their journey on YouTube. You can check out their YouTube videos under Scho and Jo. We had arranged to head out into New York Harbor together so we could photograph each other at the statue. They travel a bit slower than we do and they were running a bit late getting started that morning. As we were traveling further than them that day we decided we couldnt wait and we set off without them hoping we would find another looper along the way to take our picture. Alas, there were no other loopers out that day. So the dilemna, head on north without the classic photo or kill time dodging ferry traffic to wait for Pivot. The crew was split on that one. Killing time dodging traffic in New York Harbor is not anyone's idea of a good time so the admiral, Karen, was inclined to move on. I, on the other hand, figured we would never have an opportunity like this again. Fortunately, the weather and sea conditions were not too bad so, at least this time, the captain won out over the admiral and we decided to wait. We contacted Pivot on the radio and knew they were on the way and it wasn't too long before we saw Pivot winding her way through the harbor towards us and we soon got pictures of each other in front of Lady Liberty.

With our list for NYC now complete, we passed Ellis Island and started our journey north up the Hudson river.