New York, NY

We departed Manasquan Inlet in New Jersey and headed around Sandy Hook into New York harbor. We didn't time this entry quite right and ended up heading against the current of the Hudson river. After passing Coney Island we saw the Statue of Liberty in the distance and then the skyline of Manhattan.

We spent a little while circling in front of Liberty while dodging the numerous tour boats and then passed by Ellis Island. This is where G'Dad passed through when he was 3 years old immigrating to the U.S. from Wales.

All six of us headed into the city and, of course, went to Times Square. Two blocks from here is a restaurant called Carmine's that is a family style Italian restaurant where Bill and Gail had been before. One dish is more than enough for four and we had salad and two entree dishes. Needless to say we brought enough back to the boat that 4 of us had it again the next night.

Stacy and I roamed the city on Friday starting at the South Street Seaport and then walked up to the World Trade Center site. There is still a great deal of clearing and deconstruction taking place and it is a popular spot for people to watch all of the activity.

On our way back toward the boat we stopped in at Nat Shermans cigar shop and I looked at all of the personal lockers in the walk-in humidor. I just had to know what Joe Torre and Rudolph Guliani kept in their lockers.

Stacy stopped at the New Amsterdam Theater to see if there were any tickets available for that nights performance of Mary Poppins. There were only two seats together available so she bought them for she and Gail to attend the performance.

Today Bill, Gail, Stacy and I went into Central Park. The times I have been to New York City in the past I have never been into Central Park. This is a great park and it is used by many people as their back yard. Even with as many people that live in close proximity to the park, many sections of it did not really seem that crowded. There are many trails, lakes, fountains, statues, and green spaces for everyone to have a place to visit.

One of the small ponds has a building where people keep model sail boats that they race in the pond.

We also went into the Tavern On The Green restaurant in the park to look at all of the Tiffany glass light fixtures and windows. They are all through the restaurant.

Chuck and Chris were visiting with their daughter and son-in-law in the city and after we had returned to our boat they came by to say hello.

We will spend a couple more days here and probably leave on Tuesday after the Memorial Day crowd has left the river. We will need to check weather for the next few days and decide the best timing for heading on up the Hudson river.