New York and New Jersey - September 2007
Heading south down the Hudson, we got to spend some time with our friends Roger and Sally in Hyde Park, NY and got to go to dinner with them to the CIA - the Culinary Institute of America - not the spy place. We had dinner at the French restaurant there, very nice! We forgot our regular camera, but never fear - camera phones are here! The pics aren't as good as from the regular camera, but at least we have some. The picture to the right is of the waiters preparing our desert of Bananas Foster. Quite a show - and a wonderful end to a wonderful evening.
Heading farther south down the Hudson, we saw the replica ship of Henry Hudson's 'Half Moon.'
The
Hudson River is named after Henry Hudson, an English explorer sailing under
the Dutch flag, who entered and explored the river in 1609. He was not the first
explorerer to come into New York - Giovanni da Verrazono entered New York harbor in 1524. The narrow entry to the harbor
of New York City is named the Verrazono Narrows after him.
But Henry Hudson was the first European to explore the Hudson River throughout its navigable length and leave behind a detailed description of his voyage. In the fall of 1609, Henry Hudson and his ship, the Half Moon, with a crew of 20 Dutch and English sailors explored the Hudson River from New York harbor up to present day Albany, NY.
There is a huge Dutch influence in New York, especially upstate New York. Many of the towns in the area end in the sylable 'kill' which means creek in Dutch. For example, the town of Catskill would have been named for Cats creek.
Henry Hudson was already a famous explorer of Arctic waters when in 1608 he was hired by the Dutch East India Company to find a northeast, all-water route to Asia. The Dutch East India Company had a monopoly on trade with the Orient and wanted to shorten the lengthy and expensive voyage around the Cape of Good Hope to the Orient. They provided Hudson with the 85-foot Half Moon to sail eastward through the polar regions to reach the far east. The Half Moon sailed from Amsterdam in early April 1609, and headed northeast along the coast of Norway. After encountering ice and cold that blocked his passage, Hudson turned and headed west. Hudson sailed west across the North Atlantic and landed on the coast of Maine where the crew went ashore to cut timber to replace the Half Moon's mast, fished, and traded with the Native Americans. Hudson and the Half Moon then continued along the coast south to the Chesapeake Bay and Delaware Bay. Hudson decided these weren't entrances to the passage to the Orient he was seeking, and the Half Moon turned north towards the mouth of the Hudson River.
On September 12, 1609, Hudson began his exploration of the river now named after him. Although no passage was discovered to the Orient, the area turned out to be one of the best fur trading regions in North America. The Half Moon left the river on October 4, sailed across the Atlantic and reached England on Saturday, November 7. Hudson and the English crew members were not permitted to leave England, but eventually the Half Moon returned to Holland without them.
Hudson's voyage came 10 years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock and two years after the Jamestown colony was established 60 miles south of the entrance to Chesapeake Bay. 2009 will mark the 400th year since Hudson's exploration - and the Hudson Valley is set to celebrate in style. http://www.exploreny400.com/home.php
We stopped in New York City for a few days - mostly so that I could buy a new camera since my old one, that has been so faithful since we started this trip, has finally started to give me some problems. I have taken over 10,000 pictures with it - so I guess it doesn't owe me anything. We ended up buying another Sony Cybershot. It's much smaller and takes even better pictures than my last one.
We picked up a mooring ball at the 79th St. Marina and took out dink in to see the town. When we got to the dinghy dock, we noticed another dinghy tied up that was half full of water. Jeremy decided this would be an excellent opportunity to try out his special Canadian dinghy bailer. (Jeff and Dawn - you guys should recognize this!). It's actually a jug used to hold the plastic bags of milk that are sold in Canada instead of in gallon milk jugs as they are in the states. It does, however, make a wonderful dinghy bailer as well!!
We stopped off on Wall Street so that Jeremy could renew our good luck with our finances. It's said that rubbing the balls on the Wall Street bull will bring you good luck with money. We try to do this every time we go through New York, and so far, so good! We are still 'resting between jobs' and not eating cat food yet.
We found this unusual looking sculpture in a park in the city while we were out walking around. Sort of looks like either two trees fighting with each other or a very intense lightening storm.
We wandered down to the south end of Manhattan, where there was a memorial to the those that died on Sept 11, 2001. 'The Sphere' sculpture was designed by artist Fritz Koenig as a symbol of world peace and stood in the plaza of the World Trade Center for thirty years . It was badly damaged during the attack on the center on September 11, but endures as an icon of hope for the city and country. The Sphere was moved to its current location on March 11, 2002 as a memorial to those who lost their lives in the World Trade Center on that fateful day. An eternal flame was ignited on September 11, 2002 in honor of all those who were lost.
Leaving the city, we passed the Statue of Liberty again. I never get tired of looking at this beautiful lady!!
We were followed out of the harbor by a tug that was heading out to meet an incoming ship. He got a bit close behind us on his way out, methinks!!
Leaving New York, we headed around Sandy Hook and down into New Jersey where we saw this spectacular sunset. It almost looks like the entire sky is on fire.
How much would you pay for our stuff??? We sorted through all of the stuff on the boat and got rid of our 'Treasures from the Bilge' at the Utches Marine flea market in Cape May, New Jersey. We did well - it all went and we ended up making about $800. Not bad for a bunch of stuff we really didn't use or need anymore.
After the flea market, we spent an extra day in Cape May (it was way too windy to leave and fight out way up the Delaware Bay). We found this neat firehouse museum in town.
Cape May is a pretty little town with lots of interesting ginger-bread houses. It also has a wonderful beach.
On to the Chesapeake Bay....
Updated May 4, 2008