Day 301 – 304
The weather cooled off a bit for our trip into New York City on Thursday, 07/08/21. One of our marina harbor masters was kind enough to drive us from the marina to the Metro train station in Great Kills. He also obtained a Metro pass card for us, so we could ride the train stress-free. This was a new experience for both of us, as even though we rode the NYC subway when we visited back in 2013, we never ventured outside the city to any Metro train stops. Our harbor-master made sure we knew to board the train going to St. George (at the eastern end of Staten Island), as that was where we would catch the Staten Island Ferry over to Manhattan. When the train arrived at our stop, we could not dawdle! It stopped and the doors opened for maybe 45 seconds before closing again. During this time, riders had to exit and boarders had to enter and get seated before the doors slid closed and the train took off again. Our train’s driver stated something over the loud-speaker, but the sound was so poor, we couldn’t understand what he/she was saying. We hoped the information they were sharing didn’t pertain to anything potentially life-threatening… 😐 We rode the railway through a small bit of countryside, but mostly, we zoomed through borough after borough, village after village. Many homes backed right up to the train-tracks. So close, we could look out our window right into the residents’ tiny backyards or up onto their back decks. I tried to imagine what it would be like to live right on the Metro train tracks, knowing that it runs constantly – 24/7. I supposed in the evenings after work, we could take a bottle of wine out onto our deck to sit and watch the trains run, waving at the passengers as they rumbled past our house. Wouldn’t that be a blast… Our train would ride along for several minutes, then begin to slow as it approached the next stop. We’d wait while more riders left or boarded the train at each stop, then the garbled loud-speaker message would play overhead, and we’d take off again. Each stop has a large sign posted along the tracks to tell us where we were. Inside each train car, a large map of the train’s route was posted near the ceiling for easy viewing. Between the Great Kills stop and St. George were stops with names like Oakwood, New Dorp, Grant City, Dongan Hills, Grasmere, Stapleton, and Tompkinsville, just some of many boroughs on Staten Island. In less than hour, we reached the end of the line – St. George, where we left the train and followed signs to the Staten Island Ferry terminal. Steve was walking his usual, break-neck pace, while I tried to keep up with him, simultaneously viewing the sights and snapping pictures.
When we reached the boarding gates for the Staten Island Ferry, we were surrounded by a sea of people of all different nationalities. Most of them were wearing masks so all we could see were their eyes. Which meant we were really part of a sea of eyes… We had purchased our tickets online, so we didn’t have to wait long to board, find some seats, and view the sights as we crossed New York Harbor on our way to Manhattan. The weather was not ideal, as there were storms in the area, but we saw Lady Liberty in all her glory, along with Ellis Island, for which we were bound that day. We’d not had time to see Ellis Island when we visited NYC back in 2013, so I definitely wanted to tour it this time. Once we reached Manhattan, we walked some more to catch a smaller ferry that would take us over to the Statue of Liberty and then to Ellis Island.
We walked around the grounds upon which the Statue of Liberty stands, but had not purchased tickets to climb up inside her, which had to be obtained in advance, and offsite. We then hopped back onto the ferry to cruise over to Ellis Island, where we did the full tour. Most of the immigrants who came through Ellis Island were from western and southern Europe. My ancestors are of English descent and have been traced back as far as the 1600s in America, while Steve’s ancestors are Irish and have also been on American soil for centuries, so it’s doubtful our families came through Ellis Island, but we still found the place riveting and almost vibrating with history.
Our ferry was about to leave Ellis Island to take us back to Manhattan, when the storms that had been looming nearby decided to let go. Of course, we had not brought our umbrellas, so we got soaked hoofing it back to the boat. Lovely… As we rode back across the water, I was able to get some great pictures of the area with a big, black storm in the background.
One of the not so great things about our tie-up at GKYC was the complete lack of Verizon cell service or wifi internet service. 🙁 To get any kind of connection to the outside world, we had to walk up the dock finger almost all the way to the yacht club, and even then adequate reception was iffy. As I’ve mentioned before, we are both so spoiled to the conveniences of modern technology, that being “off the grid” really cramps our styles and puts us in bad moods. (You know how, on social media, you see those posts asking, “Could you live in this remote cabin for a month with NO internet or cell service, for $100K?” Our answer is a resounding H*LL NO!)
Since GKYC has no courtesy vehicle, we had to find our own rides. One morning we miraculously secured enough wifi service to schedule an Uber to take us into town for errands. While Steve got a haircut at a very local barbershop there on Staten Island, I walked to a nearby CVS to pick-up some prescription refills. Everywhere we went felt like we were starring in an episode of Taxi, as we were engulfed by New York accents and mannerisms! Steve decided to live on the edge and asked his barber to shave the back and sides of his head this time, leaving only a little bit of length on the top. We then walked across the street to Frank and Sal’s, a bonafide NYC Italian market. Inside, we bought brands of pasta and sauce that just screamed “Old World Italy”, some ground beef and sausage, and some ready-made Tiramasu for dessert, all to prepare an authentic Italian dinner aboard the boat that evening, which turned out to be delicious, and wound up being our dinner for three nights, rather than just the one. (See – we DO cook onboard every once in awhile – LOL!
Position: N 40° 32.692, W 74° 08.177
Total marina nights: 280
Total nights at anchor: 23
Locks today: 0
Locks Total: 28