Manasquan, NJ to Great Kills, NY...New York City!

Day #598; Loop Miles to Date = 6,892

Wow...what a day! We're now in New York, our 12th state.

The trip to Great Kills Yacht Club was about 40 miles...once again in the Atlantic for much of this, and then the New York Harbor. The winds were mild, the seas mostly calm, but plenty of folks out fishing on the holiday weekend, so plenty of residual wakes to contend with, even out in the ocean. We added about 8 miles to this trip to make a pit stop at the last spot in NJ where we could buy fuel...the price goes up about $0.50 a gallon as soon as you hit New York. We left early (6:30 am) to use the slack current at Manasquan (a great decision) which put us into Great Kills a little after noon. After almost 50 miles on the water, our day had just begun...

Our first glimpse of the NYC skyline...a bit hazy today.

We traveled today with our friends on Act III, and they also had 2 stowaways aboard...son Chris and his wife Christine had joined them in Cape May and were cruising with them for the weekend. Once we were all settled, a plan was devised for the remainder of the day...first up was to find our way to the Staten Island Ferry to snag a ride over to the City. Two of the members here were kind enough to give all 6 of us a ride to the closest train station. From there, we rode the train to the Ferry Terminal, and voila...about 1 1/2 hours after leaving the boat, we were in Manhattan.

The Act III family and us as we get ready to head for the City.

Our train ride...

Our ferry ride...lots of people.

Staten Island Ferry. If you'll note, the ferry lists to one side substantially. That's because everyone on it is looking out the window to see...

We'll get a better view tomorrow when we get up close and personal in our own boat.

These guys now escort each ferry trip...there are 2 ferries that run continually every half hour from each side.

Once we landed in Manhattan, the first order of business was to find a street vendor and get some lunch...of course we had hot dogs and chicken on a stick...we just had to. No picture of this, but we did get a picture of dessert...

Yep...Mister Softee for everyone!

Our second  order of business was to visit the World Trade Center Memorial...it was less than a mile walk, and we all really wanted to see it. It's quite sobering, and they have done a nice job with the Memorial. Our pictures don't do it justice...if you find yourselves in the City, it's a must see.

We next decided that we should take a run up to Times Square, which was going to require public transportation of some sort. So...Uber it was. The driver pulled up right beside the Memorial to pick us up, and the only drama was after we were in the car - 2 NYC policemen approached the car to find out what was going on. It seems the driver had pulled over in a "no-no" zone and they were not very happy with him. After a brief "conversation" between the cops and our broken-English speaking driver, we were sent on our way. The driver was all nervous, afraid that he was going to be ticketed. And the police officers were entertaining us with some mildly colorful New York City dialogue. It was actually quite amusing to be in the middle of it.

 

Times Square is just plain nuts. The mass of humanity is overwhelming, particularly after we've spent so much time alone on the boat...and visiting so many small towns in our travels. It is simply mind-numbing. But, we had a mission...a very important stop...

 

The M&M Store! It was huge, and just slammed with people. The crowd did not deter us though from collectively purchasing about 5 pounds of M&M's. They had all kinds of paraphernalia for sale, and had it not been so crowded, we might have dawdled enough to purchase some. But, alas, all we left with was candy!



Just a portion of the crowds and billboards...phone pictures just can't do it justice.

By this point in the day, we decided that we needed to get back to the pups. We were stretching our luck as it was, and knew that it was going to take us some time to find our boat again. So we parted company with the Act III family...they were off to Brooklyn to find some legendary pizza. Collectively, we figured out that we were about 3 blocks from a bus stop that should find us the right bus to get us back to Staten Island, and off we went. A short walk and about a 15 minute wait, and we found ourselves on the X1 bus back across the river. It took us about an hour and a half to make the trek with all of the traffic and stops, but we found that the pups forgave us for being gone so long...all ended just fine.

 

An interesting side story...we thought we knew our way from the bus stop back to the marina (well at least Rob thought he knew...oops). After walking down one dead-end street to find an impenetrable fence, we found ourselves walking another couple of blocks down yet another dead-end street. Drat! We could see the marina right over the wrought iron fence, but a locked gate prevented our passage. We were just about ready to start knocking on doors to ask for help when a couple exited the condo unit just adjacent to the fence. They kindly opened the gate for us to let us "free" to get to the boat. The interesting part is that they just bought a boat within the past few months and plan to do the loop on it someday...small world! We have found the local folks in this area, and at the marina to be absolutely wonderful. Very giving, and offering to help us in any way they can. (Sandy and Susan just got back from the grocery store...thanks to a free lift from John the Harbor Host here.)

 

This was one of the longest, busiest days of our trip. In one day, we traveled 48 miles in our own boat, got a lift from some locals, rode the train, the ferry, an Uber, and a bus! This in addition to about 3 miles of walking in New York City...a memorable day for sure!