The Big Apple
- tonileebeaton
- Jun 13, 2022
- 9 min read
Norfolk to New York City:
Leaving Norfolk, VA, we had a distance to travel of about 36 nautical miles (nm) through the Hampton Roads Inlet until we actually reached open North Atlantic Ocean. There was a ‘funnelling’ effect through the inlet, making for great sailing conditions – lots of wind on perfectly protected, calm water. We enjoyed the weather until we reached the end of the inlet, when the wind totally died on us. Originally when checking the weather forecast, we should have enjoyed gusty downwind sailing all day Saturday… this was certainly not the case! It was a complete motorshow on
Saturday, and on Sunday as well. We knew the winds would die down on Sunday, but our forecast was terribly inaccurate for Saturday’s weather. Oh well, thankfully we had the ol’ reliable diesel engine to push us on! It was quite an uneventful sail – I’d even go so far to say it was monotonous at times. We only had a little bird come and visit us to break up the hours! There was hardly any swell at all, and near zero wind, making for very flat conditions. We stayed near the coastline so never saw anything deeper on our depth sounder than 35m. Since we were using the engine the whole time there wasn’t much of anything to attend to sail-wise. However, one could ask for much worse conditions on the open North Atlantic, so we will count our blessings! Both nights of our sail were also perfectly calm with clear, starry skies and no thunderstorms or rain. We saw multiple pods of bottlenose dolphins on our sail, and Paul even saw an Atlantic man o’ war jellyfish.
We arrived to the New York Harbor via the Ambrose Channel just before 1:00 in the afternoon on Monday, May 30th. We experienced that same ‘funnelling effect’ that we had encountered when leaving Norfolk; this time, downwind breezes pushed us towards our destination. It was lovely having both sails out full – but we still needed to use the engine, as we were entering on an ebb tide. There was about 1.5 knots of current pushing against us, but the building swells were on our stern so it wasn’t too terribly of a bumpy ride. We passed underneath the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge (215’ vertical clearance so no worries of touching there!) and had our first glimpse of the Statue of Liberty. As we gradually made our way towards the statue, the currents started to ease down to 1 knot, so we were able to pick up good speed. The amount of traffic we encountered was dizzying – not only water traffic, including cargo ships, tugboats, Sea-Doos, sailboats, super yachts, navy police, coast guard, dinghies, tourboats, ferries to/from Staten Island and the Statue of Liberty – but also commercial flights, floatplanes, and seemingly endless helicopters in the skies. Wowza, we’re in the big city now!! *Sidenote… we later came to realize that we entered the harbour on Memorial Day, so that probably accounted for the business as well!
Sailing up to and past the Statue of Liberty was absolutely a bucket list item. It was amazing to see her from the perspective of on the water, and interesting to think of how many others have seen her as a welcome sight after much longer passages than we completed. It’s something we never imagined we’d be lucky enough to see from the humble teak decks of Panta Rhei! We tucked into an anchorage off Ellis Island where we had – for the first and probably the last time – a multi-million dollar view completely free of charge. To starboard, a full unobstructed view of the Statue of Liberty, and to port, the sprawling city landscape of downtown Manhattan & the Chrysler building. The view was absolutely astounding, and it made the rocky and rolliness of the anchorage from passing vessels 1000% worth it! Feels great to add another 288.4 nautical miles of travel north under the keel.
NYC Highlights
Day 1: Tuesday, May 31st
In a fashion that seems true to us, we fit so much into this jam-packed day. Although our anchorage is fairly rocky and rolly during the day from passing water traffic, it’s pretty darn calm and flat overnight. We had a great sleep and were woken up around 7:00 AM when the first ferries started. After a hearty breakfast aboard, we took the bicycles into lower Manhattan. Crossing the Hudson River in the dinghy was an experience in itself! We didn’t get wet (which is uncommon on dinghy rides) but there were some pretty big rollers and an intimidating amount of boat traffic. We arrived to North Cove Marina, where for $30 we were able to lock up our dinghy in a secure area for 12 hours – not bad for NYC at all. Our first stop with the bicycles was heading into Chinatown in search for excellent cuisine. We were not disappointed by the delicious grilled pork summer rolls & BBQ pork pho we enjoyed at a Vietnamese restaurant. A/C was a treat as we enjoyed our hot (and spicy) meal! We also needed to try the highly recommended ‘Tasty Dumpling’ restaurant, kind of a hole-in-the-wall type deal; offering $2.00 for 5 handmade chive and pork dumplings, we couldn’t resist. Next, we biked ‘next door’ to Little Italy, where we visited Ferrara Bakery & Café, one of the oldest in the neighborhood. I enjoyed a traditional éclair and Paul had coffee gelato, even after insisting how full he was… but there’s always room in the dessert stomach. It was pretty cool to see the two neighborhoods literally side by side, and to enjoy such a wide variety of cuisine so near in proximity!
After exploring Little Italy we biked around East Village, then to Madison Square Garden and the Flat Iron Building, and next on the Avenue of the Americas… yay for wonderfully maintained bike lines! We made our way to Broadway where we were eager to find a show for the evening. It didn’t take long before a billboard struck us – HUGH JACKMAN in larger-than-life letters. Yes, Hugh Jackman! On stage! IN REAL LIFE! ON BROADWAY! The amount of capital letters and
exclamation points here cannot even come close to expressing my excitement. In the box office, we met a mother-son duo named Sandy & Josh who gave us some local advice on standing-room only tickets, a fraction of the cost of a regular seat. We become fast friends and went to an Irish pub for a meal of Guinness, chicken pot pie, and shepherd’s pie before the 7:00 show. Josh is a full-time magician (what?!) and even showed me a slick magic trick. Friggin cool, man! The musical, “The Music Man,” was absolutely incredible. It tells the story of a travelling salesman / con-artist who sells the concept of a musical band to small towns across America. He sells the instruments, music books, and uniforms, and teaches them the ‘think theory’ – to simply think of the notes and never touch their instruments. Then, he leaves town with his cash in tow before the jig is up. Hugh Jackman was an astounding performer, and the whole cast was so talented. Our standing room tickets gave us a killer view, which was also a plus! After the show, exiting the theatre into Times Square was an overwhelming flurry of lights, noises, and people. We stayed near the backstage door and watched as Hugh Jackman exited the theatre, signed autographs, and even took some photos with fans before departing for the evening. Saying goodbye to our new friends, we made our way back towards the waterfront and biked along the Hudson River for most of our journey back. We stopped at a place I can only describe as a type of futuristic-pod-garden-art-installation-type-thing (??)… called “Little Island” – definitely worth a Google search. It was breathtaking at night, and we will be going back during the day tomorrow. After a calmer dinghy trip across the Hudson at midnight, we were asleep before our heads hit the pillow… after appreciating that lit-up view of lower Manhattan first! What a day!
Day 2: Wednesday, June 1st
After a whirlwind of a day yesterday, we took the opportunity to sleep in a bit. Yesterday we were given a great deal at North Cove Marina for the dinghy dock - $30 for the entire day, when really, it should’ve been $8/hr. Since we were gone for 12 hours, we did end up getting a really great deal. We knew this wouldn’t happen
twice in a row, so were in search for another option to tie up the dinghy for the day. Setting our sights on the NJ shore, we found a restaurant with a dinghy / jet-ski dock very close by. The people setting up the restaurant for that evenings service didn’t mind at all if we left the dinghy there, so we scooped up the bicycles and were off in search of a way across the Hudson. We eventually came to the PATH (Port Authority Trans-Hudson) subway train that runs underneath the Hudson river. We bought two $2.75 tickets to cross over to 33rd street, and then made our way to Broadway and Times Square. Really eager to see another show
on Broadway, we decided this time on a play: an adaptation of JK Rowling’s “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” at the Lyric Theatre. With oodles of time to kill, we biked up to Central Park and enjoyed the greenery for a few hours. Before heading back to Broadway, we stopped at a hole-in-the-wall type restaurant aptly named “99 cent FRESH PIZZA” and absolutely gorged ourselves for about $12. The show began at 7:00 PM and the theatre was totally packed with hundreds of HP fans, some even in full costume. The Lyric Theatre itself was given a multi-million dollar renovation for
this show, and featured lots of neat ‘magical experiences’ inside, such as patronus paintings that moved and portraits that came to life when viewed through an app. The play itself was incredibly well done, and the visual and sound effects were amazing! After another full day and putting on lots of miles on the bicycles, we pretty much passed out back in Panta Rhei. Looking forward to one more day of Manhattan tomorrow before we move on to a quieter section of New York further along the East River.
Day 3: Thursday, June 2nd
For our last day in the Ellis Island anchorage, we took the dinghy into our new dinghy dock location on the New Jersey side of the Hudson. Before hopping on the PATH into downtown Manhattan, we decided to stop at ‘La Taqueria,’ a Mexican restaurant that did not disappoint! With tortas de bistec & enchiladas
rojas de pollo, it was like we were back in Guadalajara… except for the price tag! Once we arrived to NYC, we took our bicycles for a long circuit in Central Park. We stopped at the American Museum of Natural History for a short visit, and highlights included the Hall of Biodiversity, Gem & Mineral Exhibit, and the Dinosaur Exhibits.
The timing worked out pretty great, as the museum closed at 5:30 and we were eager to get back to Times Square for another Broadway show. This evening we purchased standing tickets to see ‘The Book of Mormon’! I had seen it with the original cast back in London with Natasha, and it was such a treat to be able to take Paul to see it in NYC. For supper we had delish street meat (lamb gyro for Paul and an Italian sausage for me) and then it was time to hit the show for 7:00. ‘The Book of Mormon’ is an absolutely hilarious (adult) show, and the audience was in hysterics half the time – loved it!
For the remainder of our time in New York, we took our boat about 20nm along the East River to Manhasset Bay in Port Washington. This was an exciting trip in itself; we passed under the Brooklynn Bridge & Manhattan Bridges, as well as several others that had vertical clearances of over 130’. We also needed to time our travel east along the aptly named East River; there is a huge tidal flow that contributes to a very significant current of up to 6 knots. The most hazardous part of the journey is through “Hell Gate,” a curved and narrow section of the East River where the current is the strongest. We saw about 3.1 knots of current pushing us through, and made our fastest time ever without sails using only the engine – 8.5 knots! Unheard of. We were absolutely flying. The eddying waters around us tried to steer our boat all piggledy-wiggledy, but she
did a pretty great job (along with Paul captaining on standby).
We arrived safely to Port Washington about four hours after departing Ellis Island, where we spent the remainder of our time (another four nights) in New York. In Port Washington, we took advantage of the suburban neighbourhood and did laundry, got groceries, and had some computer WiFi time.
As we make our way along the coast, our next stop will be Salem, Massachusetts! We’ll be visiting friends we met diving almost 10 years ago back in Cozumel, Mexico. It’ll be about a 220nm trip N/NE along the Eastern coast, and should be smooth sailing. We’ll pass through the Cape Cod Canal on our way to Salem and hopefully have some fishing opportunities!
As always, thanks for taking time out of your day to read up on our adventures. We’re pretty excited to be one step closer to Canada, and enjoying our stops along the way!
All our love,
Paul & Toni
So jealous of your NY trip. Going to see Hamilton in Edmonton tomorrow (June 26). I love following along with you both.