I am officially stating that my opinion for shifting back from Daylight Savings Time is for the birds!
Originally I had planned to do a full day circumnavigating Staten Island but the clock seemed to be against me. Getting a late start on the day I shifted gears to a different course for the day to complete another piece of the Hudson River Puzzle, which was to launch at the Statue of Liberty State Park in New Jersey and paddle south through the Veranzanno Narrows to South Beach on Staten Island.
It has been quite a few years since I’ve paddled the Upper Harbor and I had forgotten the sights and sounds. The day was promising to be a pretty fair weather day with high temps in the mid-50s and winds out of the West-Northwest. Temperature got a little warmer than that but the winds never shifted from Southwest to West by Southwest.
Arriving at the cartop boat launch at Liberty Island State Park I wasn’t alone as shortly after a Kerry from JSSKA pulled in with her Impex Mystic atop her car. After chatting a bit I got geared up and ready for the day.
Liberty State Park Launch
First destination was to go play tourista, of course, and circle around the Statue of Liberty. Know where the Statue of Liberty Ferry channels are! They’re working, kayakers are sightseeing.
Statue of Liberty from the South
Statue of Liberty from the East
Statue of Liberty from the North
All of these pictures are staying outside of the Security Zone bouys. At this point the wind was being a bit chilly with just a Stohlquist baselayer on so I pulled into a cove at Liberty State Park to don a paddle jacket to cut the breeze a bit before heading south.
1′-1.5′ chop out of the southwest with breeze but tide running in my favor made for good headway towards Robbins Reef Light.
Robbins Reef Light
Now what the pictures don’t convey is the continuous sense and reminder that I was the smallest and possibly the slowest craft on the water with the constant movement of ferries, tugs and other working boats plying the channels, or mostly in the channels. The other aspect that was a constant grating was the incessant droning of sightseeing helicoptors. One every 2-5 minutes. I definitely don’t remember that traffic from years ago.
Past Robbins Reef I passed across the main channel for the Staten Island Ferry as quickly as I could and started getting closer to the Veranzanno Narrows.
Veranzanno Narrows Bridge from the North
Closer to the Veranzanno Narrows Bridge
Approaching the bridge and the Fort Wadsworth Light on Staten Island the current was much more distinct and powerful all of which helped propel me into the Lower Harbor.
Fort Wadsworth Light
Lower Harbor
You might be able to pick out the face of the Lower Harbor Greeter in this picture. If not, look below.
Lower Harbor Greeter
A harbor seal was lazing around the eddy line on the south side of the Staten Island Tower of the bridge. Can’t close in on the picture too much before it pixelates but after scoping me out at about 20 yards off I must’ve passed muster and wasn’t worth investigating further as a pair of flippers was the last I saw of the Greeter diving down.
The atmosphere of the Lower Harbor along South Beach on Staten Island is the polar opposite of the behavior of the upper harbor. A few large ships transiting through way out in the channel but otherwise placid and quite was the scene. Much more of an environment to kayaking for enjoyment rather than playing aquatic Frogger.
South Beach looking to the North
Sands of South Beach
Breaktime was on the beach near Grant City, Staten Island. While I wasn’t overly uncomfortable in my Kokatat Surfskins, I was supremely happy I had packed my Tempest Drypants and some fleece. Just made lunch all that much better to be toasty and comfy. After some victuals and a bit of Starbucks I fugured it’s close enough to low tide, the ebb current should be lessening at the Narrows. Hopping back in the kayak I got to use the winds to my advantage and popped the sail up to go zipping back up to the bridge at about 10mph. Now that’s making time!
Tide prediction tables are absolutes right? At 2pm the tide is supposed to turn off and everthing is then supposed to work to your advantage right? Ah, I forgot prediction means educated guestimate. That current which helped zip me south through the Narrows was still going strong to the point where I thought I was setting up for attaining on a whitewater course in the eddy of the south tower and hopping from eddy to eddy on the way up. Even with the sail helping on abeam winds progress was slow until about the Staten Island Ferry Terminal where I gave up on the hip flexor workout countering the sail’s pull on the boat, dropped the sail and beelined it for Robbins Reef. Finally the tide had started to flood and the boost was welcome as the sun was definitely lower in the sky at this point. A few park goers observed me pull into the launch and after pack up I got to watch the sun drop below the horizon at 4:50pm as I was driving out I78.
Did I mention these shorter days are for the birds?
Next week looks to be a bit of Indian Summer so perhaps Sandy Hook South will be the next installment.
If you would like to follow along on the GPS course click the link below;
See you on the water,
Marshall
The River Connection, Inc.
Nice report. I’d love to try this trip someday.
Darn, I missed you by a day, I paddled around Lady Liberty today… would have liked to have caught up with you (of course that’s if I could have kept up).
Have Fun!
Hi Matt,
As I mentioined, this was a bit of a last minute change in plans and didn’t think anyone was about. I’ll shoot you an email in regards to the next leg.
See you on the water,
Marshall