Finally made it to New York

     Well things continue to be interesting to say the least.  Keith and I had a good overnight in Hampton, VA on Friday June 21st.  Saturday morning June 22nd we left Hampton, VA and cruised all the way up the Chesapeake Bay and through the C&D Canal into the Delaware River.  Saturday night was spent in Delaware City Marina.  We did not get into the marina until 6;30 PM.  The boat got a quick wash down and we grabbed dinner at Crabby Dicks.  The crab cakes were really good.  So we were optimistic that things were looking up.

Wrong, wrong, wrong............We got up at 5;00 AM Sunday for a planned 5:30 AM departure to run from Delaware City to New York.  When we tried to start the engines, the both starting batteries were dead and the engines would not start.  We felt like the port batteries (there are two) were the underlying offending batteries.  The Starboard battery had been drained trying to help start the Port.  So there we were on a Sunday morning at 5:30 AM with no way to start the engines.  At this point Keith goes into full on "Melt Down Mode".  He absolutely loses it.  But there is nothing I can do.

Keith finally calmed down and collected himself.  He decided to call Towboat US since we are members (the AAA of the water).  They said they could be there to jump us at 7:00 AM.  The Towwboat US guy first had to stop and purchase the two biggest car batteries he could find along with some jumper cables.  It was a long shot, but the only shot we had to move today.  Otherwise, we were going to be sitting in a little marina with very little chance of getting any service help.

The Towboat US Captain was "Johnny on the spot" and arrived at 7:00 AM sharp.  He was able to get our engines started.  Thank goodness.  We were off the dock around 7:30 AM and heading down the Delaware River towards Cape May and then into the Atlantic Ocean for our run to New York.

The weather and current were certainly on our side at least.  The seas were calm and the tide was running out as we went down the Delaware River.  We were flying at 27 MPH coming down the river.  By around 3 PM we were at the north tip of Sandy Hook, NJ and could see downtown NYC in the distance as we cruised along at 22 MPH.  All of a sudden a whale (yes everyone, a WHALE) surfaced right in front of our bow.  When I say right in front, I mean "RIGHT" in front.  I yelled to Keith to turn as he saw the whale the same time I did.  He grabbed the throttles and pulled them back while turning way from the whale.  We just missed hitting it.  The whale was so close, had we been driving the boat from the lower helm station; we might not have been able to see it and would have run into it.  I think the whale, Keith and I all had poo-poo moment. 

We learned later that there are several species of whales in the waters along the north Atlantic Ocean.  The Minke whale, Finback, Pilot, Humpback and Right whale are all possible species we may have seen.  I am not sure which it was, but the New York City news reported Humpbacks being seen in the waters off Long Island that night on the TV.  Thank heavens we did not hit it.

The rest of the trip into New York and up the East River into Long Island Sound was uneventful.

Lower Manhattan as we begin to head into the East River

Passing under the Brooklyn Bridge

Construction on the bridge was started in 1869 but not completed until 1883.  It is 133 feet above mean high water and extends 1,595 long across the East River.  It connects the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn.  It is one of the oldest roadway bridges in the United States and the world's first steel-wire suspension bridge.  Originally carrying horse drawn carriages and elevated railways, it now is used by automobiles, bicycles, and pedestrians.  Commercial traffic is banned from the bridge.  It is a popular tourist attraction in New York City.

East River behind us

We arrived at Brewer's Capri Marina in Port Washington, NY about 6:00 PM.  It is a very nice marina with new floating docks and well kept facilities.  We still needed to deal with the battery problem, so Monday morning Keith started trouble shooting.  I investigated information about the area.

Port Washington, NY was a fishing and farming community back in the 1700-1800s.  Being close to New York City, much of what they produced was transported to the city for sale.  Soon after the Civil War, NYC began growing ever faster.  It was discovered that the sand in the Port Washington area was great for making concrete.  Some calculations estimate that 90% of the concrete used to build sidewalks, skyscrapers, subway tunnels, and the foundations of NYC came from Port Washington sand.  More than 100 million tons of sand were shipped by barge to NYC by hard working individuals.  They were mostly immigrants from places like Italy, Germany, Russia, Nova Scotia, Poland, Ireland, and the Netherlands.  A monument stands in Port Washington commemorating these hardy workers.

Long Island, the Hudson River Valley, and New England were also popular with the elite of NYC.  They had homes or mansions that they could come to and escape the city and relax.  In Port Washington there were several wealthy families with mansions.  Financier Howard Gould built two mansions and the Guggenheim family also had several estates here.  Sands Point Preserve has 4 of these mansions and 216 acres of gardens and park trails.  Sands Point was the "East Egg" of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel The Great Gatsby.