Friday in New York City was overcast in the morning and rainy in the afternoon. We rode the water taxi from the Marina to take our scheduled tour of the 911 Museum. It was so moving that we actually talked about doing a separate blog entry on it. As we talked about what we wanted to say, we decided it didn't fit in this trip blog. Let's just say that if you haven't seen the 911 Memorial and Museum, you need to. It's beautifully done and it will awaken some emotions that we need to feel about the most significant attack on American soil in our nation's history.
After we walked around the Memorial site, we walked a couple of miles north into Greenwich Village for an Asian lunch. It was New York weird and we enjoyed it. We walked back and rode the ferry to the Marina to check on the CMO, who had been locked in the boat all day. After walking her, we rode the ferry back to Manhattan to travel way north to meet my McCallie senior roommate for dinner. He has lived in "The City" since graduate school. It was good to catch up with him.
Saturday was a beautiful sunny day, which we have learned to savor. The forecast for Sunday and Monday was tough -- high winds and small craft advisories. We wanted to get somewhere protected and it needed to be interesting so that we could spend three days and ride out the front. We made reservations at a boat yard in the little village of Mamaroneck, NY on the western end of Long Island Sound. We needed to go around the southern tip of Manhattan and then turn north up the East River which then opens into Long Island Sound. The entire trip was only about 35 miles.
The current in the rivers around NYC are significant, so we timed our departure so that the current would be pushing us up the East River. We left at 11:30 after a leisurely morning in the beautiful Liberty Landing Marina. We motored slowly intentionally for several hours to savor the views of the east side of Manhattan and the opening of the Sound. We passed under lots of famous bridges (Brooklyn, Triborough) and by several well known islands (Roosevelt, Rikers) and through well known waters (Hell's Gate and Throng's Neck). Since it was a weekend, there were lots of sailboats out and we enjoyed the show.
By mid-afternoon we pulled into the eastern of the two basins that make up the harbor of Mamaroneck. We liked it instantly. It looked like an authentic working harbor that was nestled against a quaint little town. Our slip was in a boat yard, not a Marina. That means there was lots of activity with locals getting their boats ready to launch for the summer. A very nice man, Henry, was cleaning his boat, docked next to us. He couldn't believe his eyes when he saw "Chattanooga, TN" written on our stern. We told him we were going to walk to the liquor store (since it would be closed on Sunday) and he said, "That's a long walk, why don't you take my car?" We told him we needed the exercise but we shook our heads the whole way to the store about how generous that was. He had no idea who we were or how we drove. (Drive it like you stole it!)
We holed up and enjoyed being forced to stop our trip for a while. We deep cleaned the boat and fixed a couple of small maintenance items (caulked the bathroom sink). We walked into town and did several loads of laundry at the the coin operated laundry. We ate pizza and shopped at an authentic Italian grocery. Linda was in heaven. The wind howled and we knew we were doing the right thing not to be out in the sound. Between the laundry and provisioning, we walked many miles each day -- and it felt good.
We have some boat friends in Chattanooga who contacted us and told us that they have relatives who live 300 yards from our spot in the Marina. They invited us to dinner at their home on Monday night. We were blown away by their hospitality. They took us to see their beach club and explained life in a commuter village to NYC with long winters. They are so accomplished and so gracious that we saw a new side of the small commuter village of Mamaroneck. What a great way to ride out a front.
On Tuesday morning, the wind died down as predicted. We pulled in our lines and fenders and headed for Connecticut, 80 miles away. We loved Mamaroneck but it was time to move on.
No comments:
Post a Comment