New York

We left New York this morning headed South and are anchored up at a place called Sandy Hook which is right at the outskirts of New York.  We are staying here for the night and then off tomorrow to Cape May on an overnight trip.

New York was terrific although you never seem to get the time to do as much as you wanted.  The first few days we had by ourselves and so we took the kids first to the Liberty Science Park and then to the American Museum of Natural History which Sam especially found fascinating.  The museum is huge and spread over four levels.  The main highlight I guess is the dinosaur fossil exhibits.  They must have one of the most extensive collections in the world and it is extremely well displayed.  The kids were in awe.  You walk through galleries full of huge skeletons all poised to attack you.  There are also collections of present day animals in huge display cases portraying its natural habitat.  It was kind of like a zoo where nothing was moving and there was no smell.  After the museum we made a stop at FAO Schwartz - anyone who does not have kids will not know what that is.  Its a huge toy store on 5th Avenue.  I think the kids were in there for an hour and eventually reluctantly agreed to leave with some lego.  The day was finished off with dinner in Little Italy - nothing like New York Italian restaurants! - and then a ferry ride on the Hudson to get back to the marina.

A Day at the Museum

Mid week we left the boat for a couple of days and went to stay with Scott’s brother Lars and his wife Diana who live about an hour outside of New York.  It was nice to get into a real house again for a couple of nights after being on the boat for so long.  The kids especially had a great time playing with their cousins.  In addition Calley had a pre-birthday party and got some presents which made her week.  We all had a really pleasant two days at the house doing school work in the morning and relaxing afterwards then it was back to the boat.

Calley's early "8"

For the weekend we took the boat out on the Hudson with Diana and kids and her father Pete who we picked up at Pier 25 in Manhattan.  It was a great day just sailing on the Hudson and all went well apart from the loss of a fender just prior to berthing.  Sam got the blame but I think it is actually Scott’s knot tying which is questionable as we had already lost another fender earlier in Manhasset Bay after one of Scott’s knots failed.

Diana on the helm

Diana, Pier 25

For our last day we all went back into the city to walk around Central Park.  That has got to be one of the most interesting places in the world.  There are so many people especially at the weekend, there are joggers galore, cyclists, rollerbladers, musicians, kids playing, couples dressed to the nines walking around hand in hand, dogs of every description most wearing some piece of clothing or footwear, cats in backpacks, dudes hanging out listening to music from ghetto blasters - its a sensory overload.  If you keep your ears open you hear all manner of different languages being spoken by people who probably would represent every ethnic group on the planet.  And the size of the park being in the middle of the city is hard to comprehend - it goes for 25 blocks one way and 3 blocks the other way and these are NY blocks. 

Sam & Skye on the subway

Calley, Ross & Sam, Central Park

We left the park and headed onto 5th Avenue to try and find Zara for Nic.  A latin american parade was in full swing which had the whole street gridlocked.  One thing about the American’s they love a good parade.  More noise, people costumes etc.  Finally, having exhausted the kids we grabbed a subway back to the ferry terminal.

For anyone reading this who has not visited New York it should go on your bucket list.  There is so much to do that even with a few months here you would still leave wishing you had more time.  I will say however that while it is great to visit with the kids its like any city and best seen childless. 

Tomorrow we set off down the Atlantic Coast again to Cape May.  We are waiting for a predicted wind shift to the Northeast so that we can have an easier sail.  It is due to come in tonight and then we will leave around lunchtime tomorrow.  After Cape May we will transit up Delaware Bay, through the Chesapeake to Delaware canal into the upper reaches of Chesapeake Bay.  There is not much in Delaware Bay but in the Chesapeake we hope to visit Baltimore and Annapolis.