A busy day on the East River

Oh my, rockin and a rolling, dodging high speed ferries, go fast power boats, 200 foot long motor yachts, fishing boats, police boats, Coast Guard boats and barges along with one terribly broken Mexican tall ship on our trip down the East River into NYC. The tall ship after breaking its masts, did eventually make it under the Brooklyn bridge as it was on the non-Hudson River side of the bridge. We’ve never seen so much water traffic all in one place (if you do not include the Seattle Fourth of July Elliot Bay fireworks display). It was crazy. We were like a cork bobbing in the river. The good news is that we made it through downtown NYC in one piece.

On our way down the East River, we passed some notable landmarks. We went by Rikers Island, the large notable New York prison. What was surprising was a large ship with cameras and barbed wire surrounding the top. There were little windows fairly evenly spaced on each deck to the ship. We guessed this ship was an extension of the island prison and it was parked across the river from the prison.

A little further on the East River we went by the United Nations building. If the United Nations had been in session or the president visiting the United Nations the East River would have been closed to boat traffic. Luckily, that did not happen today.

We mentioned the Mexican tall ship training vessel that crashed into the Brooklyn bridge. We did find it tied up at a wharf above the Brooklyn Bridge guarded by a police boat. We guess they did not wat any anyone getting up closed and personal to the damaged ship.

The ferries were amazing. They were almost all high-speed catamarans. Smaller ones would just be crossing the East river and others would be connecting from points along the river,

Lady Liberty was shining her torch in the middle of New York Harbor, surrounded by tourists and their ferry boats coming and going two at a time. We did get up to near the edge of the security zone for an up close view. She is breathtaking.

After cruising around Lady liberty and checking out an anchorage right behind her, we started up the Hudson River to our Moorage for the night. On the way, we passed Ellis Island where many of our ancestors arrived into the United States. It looks like there is a lot of restoration going on to the facility.

We are now at Hudson Pointe Marina in Jersey City, NJ. If we took about a block walk we could see the Hudson River and the lights of NYC off in the distance. Kevin is complaining that I have banished him to the bilge where I have all our snack foods.