HAVEN Sailing Adventure: New York City

Al and I remember years ago talking about how fabulous it might be sailing into NY City someday. So today feels very surreal as the Manhattan skyline becomes clearer and clearer.

Our first glimpse of Lady Liberty

tallest building is on the site of the twin towers

"Haven" tucked in to the left (with the bit of orange on the back)

We also are on high alert as we progress down through heavier and heavier traffic. The NY Waterway Ferries are very intimidating, as they move very fast and look like thy are coming right at you only to blow by and leave you to deal with their thundering wake. We made a decision earlier to pay the extra money and head to a marina for our stay in NYC. We chose Liberty Landing Marina for many reasons but ultimately we were looking that spectacular Manhattan view which is exactly what we got, amazing!

New building at the site of the Twin Towers

water taxi from Jersey City to World Trade Center

We pulled in early and spent the day doing laundry and odd jobs Al wanted to do on the boat. The one disappointment with our choice was their pathetic internet service. You would think for the money they charged they would have had the best of the best service but instead we had to wait 15 minutes for one photo to download and continually get kicked off. When we question them about it all they said was that they are “currently working on upgrades”. Besides that the facility was lovely, very safe and secure, with great staff and very accessible to get into the city. Both ferry and train options at our finger tips. Oh and the view, what a view!!!

Manhattan skyline from the bow of "Haven"

We spent the next week exploring both NYC and some areas in New Jersey like Jersey City and Hoboken. Statue of Liberty was a short walk away from the boat, along Liberty State Park pathways. It didn’t take too long to figure out the transit systems but we still don’t think we could have done it without the assistance of so many wonderful people. No matter where we were-street, subway etc.- all kinds of people would just offer their help if we looked dazed and confused. We were both surprised and thrilled with how very friendly New Yorkers are.

Julie and Al, couldn't have made it to Manhattan without them, Thanks!

Between eating our way through every Pizza joint in the City (the best being in Jersey City) we managed to see lots and put on a ton of millage on our shoes!! As I have been to NYC before we were able to get to a few places I hadn’t been before like China Town and Little Italy, Biking through Central Park and Hells Kitchen. We decided to do the Hop-on-off bus tour which was a mistake in hind sight or maybe it was just a bad experience with the tour group we used. It was not easy to get on and off with timings and locations etc. Nothing really flowed and we actually spent more time waiting for a bus then on one, except the loop that we ended up doing 3 times!! Anyway I will stop complaining because we did manage to catch the night tour that wasn’t a hop-on-off (but included in our bus tickets) and it was fabulous. Had lots of fun with the guide and saw the city from a very cool perspective. Amazing architecture, live music and cool beers were also enjoyed by all. Thursday we spent the day doing laundry and I did a huge clean inside the boat while Al worked on the outside. Late showers then wine on the bow of “Haven” to watch the city skyline as the sun went down, spectacular.