October 2006
New York, USA
The first part of October was spent at Great Kills Harbour on Staten Island New York visiting the city.
After a few days we sailed and motored back north past Manhattan and up the East River through Hell's Gate and into Long Island Sound to an anchorage east of City Island.
The following day we sailed up the Sound to have lunch near the Calf Islands and then back in the afternoon.
A day or so later we moved round to a mooring at City Island Yacht Club where we sourced and are currently having a new auto helm fitted.
The delay also gave me the chance to explore more of New York (an hour away from City Island by bus and subway).
I particularly enjoyed the Edward Hopper exhibition at the Whitney and the small photographic exhibition at the International Photography Centre which featured both moving and still photography.
Another interesting exhibition was the Chihuly glass sculptures in the New York Botanic Gardens. In general the plants look much more interesting and appealing than the rather garish sculptures, but occasionally one of the installations 'works' in context.
At long last on 27th with the new auto-helm fitted we were ready to move southwards. A day took us back down the East River, through NY Harbour (where I managed to grab a large drifting fender to add to our collection) to Great Kills Harbour where we stayed until 1st November sitting out 50 knot winds that put one boat ashore. But it felt good to be moving south for real.