What a neat day! Even the things that weren't so good turned out ok in the long run.
The generator wouldn't run, probably because of the cold, so we walked uptown a few blocks to a little restaurant for breakfast. The food was cooked just right, and the prices were reasonable.
When we got back to the Jofian, a middle-aged man was admiring her. He was very knowledgeable, and asked a lot of cogent questions. It was obvious he really envied us.
We timed our departure so we'd go through Hell Gate with a favorable tidal current. It would have been well-nigh impossible to go through there against the current. With it, we zoomed along at 8 or 9 knots. There were a lot of eddies and cross-currents, but nothing we couldn't handle. However, shortly before we reached Hell Gate, we got off course. It was a very twisty part of the river. We were carefully watching the buoys, but a large barge pulled out from the shore, so we had to swing way over to the left to dodge it. That cost us our perspective. Suddenly, we were in fourteen feet of water instead of fifty. Roy swung the boat around and carefully went back the way we had come until we were once again in the main channel. We studied the chart until we were sure we knew where we were, and then continued down the East River, around the Battery, and up the Hudson. We enjoyed a lovely, scenic trip. It was starting to get dark, but we wanted to go under the George Washington Bridge, so we pressed on. The current was against us, so we were only making 2 1/2 knots. The sun was setting as we went under the bridge, so we immediately turned around and headed back down the river.
From the other side of the river on our way up, we had seen a marina on the Jersey side that looked as if it might be a good place to spend the night, but when we got there, it looked too small and shallow, so we continued on. Roy had noticed a sailboat anchored in a little cove, so he thought that would be a good place to anchor for the night, but as we entered the cove, the depth suddenly dropped from 14 feet to 9 feet to 4 feet, and we were aground. We dropped the anchor and checked the tide tables to see when the tide would start coming in, but the current kept pulling us south, so Roy started the engine again, and I pulled up the anchor. Soon we were afloat and headed down-river again.
By then, it was pitch dark, and Roy was steering by radar. We knew there were more marinas along the Jersey shore, but we didn't know exactly where. Finally, we saw some lights and masts ahead of us. Roy headed into the marina, while I shone the searchlight on the breakwater. We pulled up to the first dock we came to and sighed with relief.
The office was closed, so we couldn't get the card for going through the gate. I wanted to eat supper on the boat and relax, but Roy wanted to go to Manhattan for supper. It was his birthday, so I agreed, but I was worried about getting back in. The gate was low enough for him to climb over, but I hated to think what might happen if a security guard saw him climbing over the gate.
There was a ferry dock right next to the marina, so we took the ferry across to Manhattan. To our surprise, there were a bunch of free shuttle buses waiting to take ferry passengers to midtown Manhattan. We rode one to Fifth Avenue and 34th Street, where the Empire State Building is. We walked a couple of blocks up Fifth Avenue to a salad bar and ate supper there. Then we returned to the Empire State Building and went up to the viewing deck on the 86th floor. What a spectacular view! Visibility was excellent; we could see 25 miles in every direction. There were lights everywhere. It was also freezing cold. I was very glad I was wearing my winter coat. We walked around the outside deck and then went inside and walked around again. The view was really fabulous!
After we left the Empire State Building, we walked over to Times Square and watched the news going around the corner building in lights. Then we walked back to 34th Street and walked around in Macy's for a while.
Got back to the boat around 10:30. I surprised Roy with a carrot cake and some presents. He really enjoyed his birthday.
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