My, What a Contrast

Liberty Park, NJ
40 41.77 N 074 03.87 W

This morning we woke to the most idyllic nature scene one could imagine. We were anchored just outside Bear Mountain Park, just south of the Bear Mountain Bridge. It was silent, no wind, a gentle mist rose from the water and a dense fog rolled out of the hollow just south of us. A flock (the right word?) of swans paddled around idly. A couple of early rising people fished from the nearby dock. It was beautiful.

We set out, despite the fog, and used the radar to navigate. Right away I saw something strange in the fog. It turned out to be a tug and barge coming right at us. No problem, we changed course to avoid him.

By lunch time we were topping off the fuel tanks in Tarrytown. In the sunny afternoon we cruised down river, under sail, admiring the beauty of the New Jersey Palisades.

At 15:30 we arrived at out destination, the 79th Street Boat Basin. Bad news. All the moorings were full. Numerous big boats were anchored out in the river. We could have done the same but we felt very uneasy about it. We would have to drop the hook in 48 feet of water in a place where a fierce knot current moves past. No thank you; not without leaving a crew member standing anchor watch 24 hours a day.

We decided to move on here to Liberty Park. We are behind the Statue of Liberty. This place is what I call the Tony Soprano view. If you've seen the opening film of the Sopranos TV program, you'll remember a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty seen from the NY Turnpike. That's right here.

Now the only problem is how to get Roger to his train tomorrow and to pick up Miles. We thought we could use a water taxi, but most of those don't run on Saturday. That's a problem remaining to be solved. Right now, Roger is ashore seeking information on that problem. Libby thinks that they can use a two-hop ride from the NY Battery to Ellis Island, and Ellis Island to the NJ shore. We could also swing Tarwathie past the boat basin in front of the World Trace Center, but I'm not sure we're allowed to do that and I don't know what address to tell Miles to go to.

Logistics aside, it was a very very nice day. I think Roger had a ball.