New York's East River

We had a brilliant journey down the East River. All nerves aside, it went very smoothly. There is something magical about arriving by boat in big cities.

Sunday afternoon we departed Manhasset Bay on schedule and motored toward the Throgs Neck bridge which marks the entrance to the East river. The weather was overcast and grey but generally dry. Everyone had put on wet weather gear as it was a bit cold out. The East River makes its way through the northern suburbs of New York past areas like Rikers Island and La Guardia Airport before meeting the Harlem River at Hell Gate - hence the nasty currents. Thereafter it flows down the east side of Manhattan Island until it meets the Hudson at the South end of the Island. The trip therefore takes you from Long Island through all sorts of residential and industrial areas into the downtown high rise areas of Manhattan.

Throgs Neck Bridge

View of Manhattan from Throgs Neck

The river is a busy waterway but maybe because it was a Sunday we did not see too much other traffic. There were a couple large tug and barge combinations which you have to move aside for but that was all. We are so glad we installed a system called AIS as part of our navigation equipment. On the river especially it has the ability to see around the river bends and inform us if a vessel is approaching, its speed and course. In addition it will tell us its name so that we can contact it by name on the radio if need be.

Have included some photos of the trip which I guess are not really typical New York tourist photos. The shore line of the river was such an interesting mix of old and new, commercial and industrial, wasteland and parks. I guess the thing about New York as with many cities this size is that its in a constant state of revitalisation. We love New York as its such a vibrant place and it was great to see this part of it. 

East River Shoreline

East River Shoreline

East River Shoreline

In total we went under seven bridges including the famous Brooklyn Bridge just prior to entering the Hudson. Even though you have checked and rechecked the charts for the clearances, your heart is still in your mouth every time you pass beneath one of the bridges. Our clearance is about 90ft with all the instruments on the top. The trip took around 2.5hrs and we were on deck the whole time looking at different landmarks or points of interest. The kids came up on deck when we got to Hell Gate and had fun watching the cars on the expressway of upper Manhattan and trying to spot some of the famous buildings. 

The Kids Landmark Spotting

As we got closer to the the south end of Manhattan the river traffic started to increase - ferries taking people to and from one side of the river to the other at many different locations or out to other islands, ferries with tourists off to see the Statue of Liberty or Ellis Island, schooners with tourists out for a day run around the harbour, pleasure craft out on the water for the day. This is a busy place. We crossed from Chelsea Peirs to a place in New Jersey called Liberty Landing where the marina was. The marina confirmed we had a berth and gave us rough directions. Sam and Nic prepared the boat to come alongside with mooring lines and fenders. We turned into the marina and managed to safely tuck the boat into a fairly tight slip.

After checking into the Marina office we sat in the cockpit, gazed at the skyline of Manhattan and opened a beer with big smiles on our faces....New York at our doorstep.

Nic Helming Around Manhattan

Lady Liberty under the Brooklyn Bridge

We will stay here for a week and then keep heading South. Plan is to take the kids into the city and show them some of the sights and to catch up with family.