By Vladimir Brezina
Ailsa‘s Travel-Themed Photo Challenge for this week is Signs.
We travel around by kayak. So, you wouldn’t think we would run into too many signs. But we do!
Scylla and Charybdis
……..Some years ago, Erik Baard and I paddled down from Manhattan and landed on the beach near the northwestern tip of Sandy Hook. We had a leisurely lunch, took a stroll along the beach, lazed about, and after a couple of hours were ready to paddle back to Manhattan. But just before we launched, we thought that we might, just out of curiosity, find out what those two big signs that stood there, facing away from us, said…
In the meantime, on the opposite, eastern side of Sandy Hook, there is another set of signs…
Bitter Sweet Heaven
……..In January, an aborted kayak trip left us wandering through the streets of Red Hook, Brooklyn, aliens in our drysuits, observing the earthlings and their strange signs…
Read the full story here.
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Judgment Day
……..Last year, Johna and I were kayaking down the Hudson from Albany to New York City. Several days into the trip, we saw this sign promising, for the next day, devastating earthquakes that would usher in the Rapture… We hoped it wouldn’t disrupt our trip too much. But we were certainly glad to be out of New York City during this event. Traffic was bound to be terrible…
Vladimir Brezina (RIP) 
Johna Till Johnson
Wind Against Current 
This was a great post! Thanks, it made me smile! Z
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Excellent! :-)
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Love that Judgement Day sign, Vlad. I initially read the sign as Ediblefellowship.com which gave me pause for thought. :)
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That would be quite a different Day of Judgment ;-)
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You’d think they could put a sign out in the water too! Or is there some kind of star trekky forcefield that stops the bullets from going past the sand? :) Great post! Thanks.
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No forcefield that we’ve detected so far… :-)
Actually, I don’t think they really meant it. Maybe they had some kind of enclosed firing range in the interior of Sandy Hook, which at one time was a military base. (The signs have long since been removed.) But when there really is a chance of projectiles traveling a long way—and even ordinary stray bullets can travel for miles—whole sections of the ocean are made into security zones (which can be a sore point with the local inhabitants). There’s no way that could be done around Sandy Hook, a very popular destination which furthermore has a shipping lane just a hundred yards off that beach…
Most likely the signs were just a way of keeping people out, worded so that people would actually pay attention. Of course, it still failed with some ;-)
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I am subscription number 450. Do I win anything? LOL Enjoying your posts, and thanks for coming to my blog.
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Thanks so much for subscribing!! I hope you enjoy our future posts…
The number of subscriptions is very unclear, actually. I was surprised when you said you were the 450th subscriber, so I logged out and checked it from the point of view of an external visitor to the site. Now, just an hour after you subscribed, it says 460! But internally, it tells us there are only 371 subscribers. Part of that difference may be people who have unsubscribed or cancelled their WordPress accounts, but how all these numbers come about still remains pretty mysterious.
So it looks like you’ll have to wait a bit longer for your prize…
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LOL :-D I think the 460 are total subscribers and the 370 could be wordpress ones
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Actually, it looks like the 371 already include email subscribers… whatever! ;-)
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Fun stuff Valdimir. Isn’t it interesting the things we notice?
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Indeed! :-)
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Pingback: Travel Theme: Signs | rfljenksy – Practicing Simplicity
great post, great signs!
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Thank you, Marina!
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Great signs and what a hoot, MJ
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Thanks, MJ!
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What a great collection of signs!
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They certainly provided a bit of amusement in long days of paddling!
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Just when you are doing your best to get away from it all!
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Well, the Rapture will do that for you…
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I can’t pick a favourite but would love that firing sign for a piece of our coastline here.
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Although, as you can see, it isn’t all that effective at keeping out unwanted visitors…
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I also read Ediblefellowship and tried to interpret its meaning. Thanks to Ailsa’s comment, I read it again. These are all great signs that made me look twice.
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Thanks, Trish! What came to mind with “Ediblefellowship”, if I may ask?
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Something, or someone, being eaten while in good company.
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:-)
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Great selection! Aren’t the kayaks on the wrong side of the Keep Out signs?
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You can’t keep kayaks out with a mere sign!
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These are all interesting signs. The Judgment day sign is filled with foreboding while the nude sunbathers sign I’m sure is more of an invitation rather than a warning for most. :) Great post.
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Invitation? I never thought of it that way, but you may well be right! I see from the WordPress statistics page that many visitors to our blog find it by searching for “Nude beach Sandy Hook” ;-)
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Pingback: Travel Theme: SIGNS « Pictures in living color
That’s a great response Vlad – and a nice little peek into your recreational lives out of the kayaks – it gave me a few laughs, which is always nice – but I’m still holding my breath for Day 5 :)
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Day 5 is just published!
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Great signs. So judgement day came and went and nothing much happened hey
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Well, when the day came and went they rescheduled the Rapture—claimed they had misread the message—to October 21, 2011. But then that day too came and went… they should ask for their money back ;-)
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