We planned to leave the Great Kills Yacht Club dock at 8:00 and were definitely ready to get moving along. Our swan buddies swam by to say goodbye as we were undoing bow lines. We exited uneventfully and were off, tracing the track we made coming in. We rounded the corner of Staten Island and the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge shone in the distance, marking the entrance to Upper Bay and New York Harbor.
We dodged a fair amount of ferry traffic on the way under the bridge. The Civil War era Battery Weed at Fort Wadsworth sat just on the other side of the bridge span. We quickly identified the bright orange Staten Island Ferry boats and adjusted our speed and course to easily cross their route to the base of the Statue of Liberty, like a high-stakes game of Frogger.
The sunlight shone perfectly on Lady Liberty as we went by. Tour boats were starting to converge on the docks and hundreds of people were already standing in line for entrance. Barry and I agreed that our view from Crossroads was just as good as any tour boat. We continued to the tip of Manhattan and the skyline glistened in the sun. Moving along, we picked out other familiar buildings, including the Empire State Building.
For our whole trip through New York Harbor, I was on the bow taking pictures and Barry was in the pilothouse navigating. We did, however, have our headsets on and were able to talk with each other the entire time and identify various points of interest. Barry ventured out for several quick looks. As we moved north toward the George Washington Bridge, traffic disappeared and we had the Hudson River to ourselves.
Barry kept asking me if I could see the little red lighthouse. It was a bit weird that he was pointing out this one structure after we had passed so many others. I asked him what was up with this particular lighthouse. He gave up the fact that as a kid his family used to travel over the George Washington Bridge when visiting his grandparents in Yonkers. On the trip they had always looked for the little red lighthouse at the base of the bridge. He informed me that there was The Little Red Lighthouse children's book that he used to read (still available at amazon.com). All pretty cool.
Also at this time the terrain began to change as cliffs rose from the banks of the river. We reached the spot where the Tappan Zee Bridge once crossed the Hudson. It is currently being deconstructed now that the modern twin-span Cuomo Bridge is open. The Tarrytown Lighthouse sat just upriver of this massive bridge.
Almost on cue as we began to prepare our lines and fenders for docking, the winds kicked up as a small storm cell moved through. With white caps on the river, we bypassed the pumpout dock and headed into the marina, well-protected by a sea wall. We did a few chores and then set out for a stroll on the RiverWalk. The dockmaster organized a pizza reception for our group of four Loop boats at the marina. That sure hit the spot. We enjoyed another beautiful sunset and came aboard to call it a day.
Our journey for Day 16 is shown below. Entering New York Harbor via water has been on my bucket list for a while. I got to check that one off today and add many other great memories as well.
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