New York City

Shannon and I did our first paddle in the dark on Friday the thirteenth. We had a very long day ahead of us so we got on the river around 4am to leave Yonkers and head down to the mouth of the Hudson. The sun started coming up just after passing under the George Washington Bridge. Watching New York change from night to day one the river was quite the experience. We made very good time as we rode the tide down the river. The time for low tide came and went and we still had an amazingly strong current just ripping us past Manhattan. We only had to make one pit stop and it was almost Shannon's last. The dilemma was that Shannon had to pee and we had nowhere to stop. We found what appeared to be a decent place on the Jersey side of the river. Shannon paddled towards the shore and got out in the shallows to pull her boat up to take care of business. As she stepped out she sank up to her thighs in thick tidal mud that smelled like sewage. I was patiently waiting further out until I heard her yelling. As I came closer it became clear that she was having trouble getting back in her boat. By the time I got there she had one of her legs out but couldn't get the other one to budge. We finally used one of our spare paddles for her to step on and pull her leg out without sinking back in with the other leg. This stuff smelled so bad and Shannon was covered in it and had to paddle the rest of the day but she took it well and pictures will be coming soon!

We did not start feeling the tide coming towards us until after we passed the Statue of Liberty. The only problem was at that point there was nowhere to stop until we passed the shipyards on Staten Island. It was a long haul through the harbor. We did our best navigating the channels and dodging all the barges and tankers. A harsh wind whipped up as we were closing in on the Verrazano Bridge and we finally found an old dock to hang onto for a few hours while the tide surged into the harbor through the narrows. A little further up the island there was a little beach that we pulled onto to stretch our legs. We met a very friendly boy named Mike who gave us advice on our trip and even offered to tow our kayaks behind his boat! We declined but were very appreciative of his offer.

The wind continued all afternoon as we rounded Staten Island. Great Kills National Park turned out to be our final destination and yet again there was someone there who really toook care of us. Jimmy is the head life guard at the park and when I first met him I knew things were going to work out. When I asked about camping or hotels he said there weren't any accomidations near by. He kept going over the options and trying to figure out the best thing for us to do but he was never satisfied until he finally decided that we should just sleep in the life guard hut! Jimmy was excited to hear about our adventures so he drove us to a chinese resturant and even bought us ice cream. We grabbed some beer on the way back to the park and before saying goodbye, Jimmy gave us some crunchy Snyder's pretzels to go with our beer. It was a truly fantastic evening!

People are amazing.

-Jay