New York City

Friday night we anchored at Sandy Hook at the south part of New York Harbour for some much-needed rest! The passage from Cape May had been long (110 miles total), though thankfully with great conditions.
We woke up Saturday morning, full of excitement to get to a marina in New Jersey, across the Hudson from Manhattan, looked out the windows and saw this:

Thick fog!

We put our faith in our chart plotter and radar, and off we went.
We passed a lot of day marks and buoys without actually seeing them, and one very large ship, who we exchanged fog signals with a few times before hearing him fade into the distance behind us. We knew he was big because of his radar image, and the 'big ship' sound of his fog horn. This was all confirmed by the size of his wake which we encountered a few minutes later.
We joked that NY Harbour wasn't so bad when you could only see a tiny part of it at a time.
By the time we reached the mouth of the Hudson, the fog was beginning to lift slightly, and we were passed by a few quick ferry's, including the Statten Island Ferry, and passed several big ships at anchor. All in all it wasn't as terrifying as we had imagined, and as we approached the marina, The Statue of Liberty came into view.

Checking in, breakfast, warm showers all took place before we considered our next move.
Shortly after noon, with a beautiful day emerging from the fog, we decided to take the ferry across and check out the city.

We took the subway downtown and went to Chinatown for a late lunch. Then we checked out Central Park, Broadway, and ended up at Times Square as the lights were coming on. A spectacular sight!
The favourites were definitely the Hershey store and the Toys'RUs with the indoor ferris wheel.

The weary crew then headed back for a nights rest.


Sunday morning we were on the first ferry across the river and started walking...
We began with a stop at a great bagel place for breakfast. Back to Times Square for more of the crowds and excitement. Then off to Lombardi's for lunch at the place where pizza began. More walking to check out Grand Central Station.

A hot dog is a New York must, so we stopped at Grey's Papaya, a local favourite to have a taste.
Finally, to Battery Park on the waterfront where the crowds were taking in a beautiful spring day. A quick stop at a produce stand at the corner and we were all ready to head back to the Jersey side once more. All in all we walked from downtown to midtown, across town and back, we figure covering about 10 miles. What a great way to see the city!

This morning we departed at 7:30, taking advantage of the flood tide up the Hudson. This is especially important at the southern end of the river where the ebb tide adds to the flow of the river to make a total current of up to 6 knots.
We watched New York City fade into the distance.

Going...

Going....

Gone.