NYC 2025 – Manhattan, New York

We added 300 gallons of diesel in Port Washington and departed around 9:30 Monday morning.

About twenty minutes later we got our first good look at the Manhattan Skyline.

After the bartender at Louie’s spooked us about Hell’s Gate, we started researching the trip down the East River. The chart down the East River looked confusing, so Peter and I tweaked the autoroute-generated course on the Chartplotter.

Fortunately, two large cruisers were heading south just in front of me as I entered the East River, so I just followed their course.

The only place we deviated from the planned course was north of Rikers Island.

On the chart the it looked like we should have followed the coast to the north, but the boats I was following cut through the channel and it was fine.

Hells Gate was certainly churning when we went through.

But it was far less dramatic than Woods Hole or the Hog Island Channel.

We averaged 26 MPH all the way and reached the North Cove Marina about 10:45.

North Cove Marina

We had originally planned two nights at Liberty Landing on the other side of the Hudson. Last week we decided to spend Monday in Manhattan and visit the 911 Memorial so I booked the North Cove Marina at Brookfield Place.

It’s actually a very small marina with about ten slips. We missed it on the first pass because the entrance is only about 60’ wide.

Entering the tiny boat basin was tricky. Running a 20’ wide boat through a 60’ opening may sound easy, but that’s just 20’ on either side and I’m looking down from 20’ above the water. To make things more interesting, the Hudson has a 5-knot current pushing me into the side of the opening.

Once I punched through, I only had a 200’ circle to slow down and make a 90° turn and back into our slip.

It would be impossible to find a better-located marina in Manhattan, we’re practically in the lobby of Brookfield Place.

The problem is that the current on the Hudson and the shape of the boat basin creates steady two-foot rolling swells inside the marina.

This made the floating dock rather treacherous to stand on and may have made a landlubber on the boat seasick.

Would I return to the North Cove Marina?

Doubtful, the constant rolling in the marina and the cost ($1200 minimum per night) are deal killers.

Friedmans Manhattan

After about 20 minutes on Yelp, I found the perfect restaurant for the three amigos – a 4.0 Customer Rating, Sushi, homemade pastrami, and five minutes away.

We sat at the bar where we enjoyed great service and conversation with Ava,

Mrs. Horne was shocked by the reasonable prices of the sushi lunch specials.

The pastrami did not disappoint and the three amigos thoroughly enjoyed every bite!

THINGS TO DO IN NYC: The 911 Memorial

After lunch, we visited the 911 memorial pools before entering the museum.

In 2005 we visited the Oklahoma Bombing Memorial, but we were completely unprepared for the reaction the 911 Memorial invoked.

We entered at street level and descended 70’ on sloping ramps and ceilings. I studied architecture briefly in college and remember discussing using architecture to create emotion. The 911 Memorial Museum pulls it off.

It costs $36 to enter and we spent about 90 minutes walking through most of the exhibits. We actually rushed through the last exhibits because we’d become overwhelmed by the entire experience.

We stopped in Brookfield Place for some shopping and an iced coffee before returning to the boat for a few hours of reading on the Skydeck.

One40 Rooftop

I booked a high-end restaurant near the marina with views of the new World Trade Tower.

It is on the 20th floor of the World Center Hotel.

Peter ordered a classic gin and tonic.

Despite not offering blue cheese olives, I ordered a dry martini with the “dirt” (olive juice) on the side.

It took ten minutes to get it and it ended up being The World’s Smallest Martini, barely an ounce of vodka.

Once again I created a unique dinner mixing two appetizers.

The Prawns had great flavors, but there were only two in the dish much like the tiny martini, a little disappointing.

The potato dish was a hit. Everything was perfectly cooked and the caramelized onion flavor permeated the kale and potatoes.

One40 was a little disappointing due to the micro martini and prawns along with spotty service, but the food was perfectly prepared and delicious.

On the way back to the boat we noticed a very nice bike trail and talked to a fellow renting a CitiBike.

He said the trail runs all over NYC. The CitiBike is a great deal.

The only gotcha is the 30-minute ride on the day pass. While you can conceivably spend all day on the bike, if you stay on one particular bike for more than 30 minutes, you get charged an additional 38¢/minute or $22.80/hour.

We typically ride for an hour and a half, so the best deal would be to get three or four 30-minute rides and watch the clock!

We got back to the boat around sunset and the swells inside the marina had seriously subsided.

I’m glad we tried the North Cove Marina, but as I said, I doubt we’d return.

We head to Liberty Landing this morning and assuming that’s good, I would stay there ($545/night), take the water shuttle to Brookfield Place, and rent a CitiBike to explore more of the city.

Next Up: Jersey City

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