It was a good crossing but not very pleasant. There were a lot of lightnings around us when we crossed the gulf stream… lucky enough the kids were asleep, so they did not notice the tense atmosphere. On Amina’s birthday on the 16th of May we were still on passage, but had luckily passed the worst. We were not yet in the mood for celebrating with cake and candles but I managed to bake some quick cinnamon rolls and many dolphins were swimming with Mirabella as if they came to cheer Amina. We promised her a nice birthday lemon cake after our arrival in New York.
On the 17th of May afternoon we could see the Verrazzano Bridge and Manhattan Skyline in a distance. We were all very excited. The one and only time I had been in New York was a long time ago. I remember that we did a boat cruise around Manhattan on my 16th birthday. I took so many pictures of the skyline with the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center and now, more than three decades later, I was here again with my own family on our own boat. Tragically, as we all know the Twin Towers are not there anymore… but the skyline is still as breathtaking as I had it in my memory. By the time we had passed under the bridge and arrived in front of Manhattan Island it was already early evening. We anchored next to the Statue of Liberty and enjoyed the moment of the arrival in such a unique place. It is permitted to anchor there but of course it is not a very quiet anchorage because of all the traffic around there… ferrys, daysailors, sightseeing boats, commercial boats, helicopters and so on… a very busy area of course. But for one night I think it is a must if you sail to New York. Just to have the excitement of waking up with the skyline view to one side and the Statue of Liberty to the other. We thoroughly enjoyed this arrival. Another epic moment on our journey we will never forget.
We continued our way up the Hudson river the next morning. There is a small marina called 79th Street Boat Basin. They have buoys only for smaller boats, but after the buoy zone you can anchor. You pay a daily charge for using the dinghy dock of the marina but still this is the best and cheapest option you have when you want to explore the city. There are also showers, a washing machine and a dryer you can use. So perfect for cruisers like us. We arrived exactly on the right time in New York. It was middle of May, covid restrictions got lifted, businesses started to open again and the weather was just perfect to visit the city and thanks to covid-19 almost no tourists around.
Not many boat anchored in the Hudson river. At the beginning it was just us, then ARIA and one or two days later there was a blue boat called ASTA. I met Annika and Thomas, a nice Swedish couple, when I was doing laundry. Funny enough we found out that we had some friends in common. They had cruised together with VILJA in 2020, a Norwegian family boat we had met in New Zealand 2019. VILJA had inspired us to take the Northern route to Europe. They had returned this way back home to Norway in the previous year. The sailing world is really small…. After a nice chat we exchanged contacts to stay in touch. Their plan was to sail up the American East coast and wait for Canada’s borders to open.
We really enjoyed exploring the city. New York offers so much – impossible to get bored. Jaël and Amina loved strolling around in Central Park. We rented some bicycles one day and Jaël and André did the big loop in Central park while I walked with Amina doing a few of the shorter loops. She improved with every round and at the end I had to run to keep up with her. Together with Karsten, Lucia and Luca we explored the High Line, an elevated linear park, greenway and rail trail created on a former New York Central Railroad spur on the west side of Manhattan. It leads from the Meatpacking District through Chelsea to Hudson Yards with it’s extraordinary centerpiece “The vessel”. It had 154 interconnected staircases totaling around 2500 steps but it was not yet open to the public. We rounded off this beautiful day of with a delicious meal in a good Italian restaurant.
A few days later a catamaran with American flag arrived. A family from Park City, Utah with a 12 year old boy arrived. They had just started their sailing season and planned to cruise up to Maine. Andrew, the captain, grew up in Portland and Michelle was originally from Boston. They were planning to visit their families in Boston and Portland. Jaël and Amina hit it off with their son Cortland straight away. So with ARIA and LITTLE CLOUD we were already three boats heading towards Maine. ASTA had already left by that time.
We were not yet ready to leave this fascinating city. In addition we also wanted to get a second shot covid-19 vaccination. Jaël and Amina could stay with Cortland on their boat and André and me tried our luck in the vaccination center in the Museum of Natural history which was in easy walking distance. We had our vaccination cards from Antigua with us, proof of our Astra Zeneca first shot. But we were not lucky… they refused to mix the vaccine from different manufacturers. So they would neither give us a Pfizer 2nd shot nor a Johnson & Johnson single shot vaccine. We left the center and changed our plan… we walked to the vaccination center on Times Square and said we have no vaccine yet. We asked for the Johnson & Johnson single shot vaccine to be fully vaccinated afterwards and everything worked out perfectly fine. We were happy to be fully vaccinated now. This will make our ongoing travels much easier.
On a rainy day we explored the Vessel together with LITTLE CLOUD. It was open now and they gave away a certain amount of free tickets on the internet. We were very lucky to get some of them. It was a lot of fun to explore that unique building. We continued on the High Line towards the “Little Island” at Pier 55. This is an artificial island park in the Hudson river. We had passed it on our way to our anchorage and were wondering how it looked like from land. It has several stages for theater or music performances. I am sure it will be very popular in summer time.
On June 6th we left our anchorage towards the Statue of Liberty again. We stopped on the fuel dock of Liberty Landing Marina and anchored next to the Statue of Liberty again. The plan was to wait there for the current to turn in East River. Our plan was to anchor in Manhasset Bay for the night. It was a great sightseeing tour around Manhattan Island up the East river. We passed the iconic Brooklyn Bridge and felt very lucky to have our very own private Sightseeing Tour on Mirabella. Bye bye New York, city that never sleeps… we will come again one day!
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