By Vladimir Brezina
It’s our routine. Weekends, we paddle. And when the tidal currents say go south, we go south. And, unless we can think of something more ambitious, that means Sandy Hook.
But each trip is different. The sea and the sky have a different look and feel each time. We see different ships in the harbor. I can’t resist taking photos to capture it all. Here are a few from yesterday’s trip.
(click on any photo to start slideshow)
We inspect a new, a very useful, green buoy that the Coast Guard has placed in the harbor
We pass over the Bay Ridge Flats, among the anchored barges
A yellow buoy, for a change
Looking back at Manhattan
Who will win this one?
It wasn’t at all clear which ship was closer to us… now we have the answer
We follow the Maersk container ship out to sea
We pass under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge
We wait for traffic to pass in the Ambrose Channel
Even bigger traffic!
Time to start across
Lonely Romer Shoal Light
On Sandy Hook…
… we climb up to our favorite ruins for lunch
Ruins with a view
Prickly pear cactus now grows in the gun emplacements
View in the other direction, toward Atlantic Highlands
In the salt marsh below the ruins, crab holes
… and fiddler (?) crabs
With terns wheeling above, we paddle back
Cormorant apartment building
… with plenty of tenants
Sun on the sea
Water texture
Romer Shoal Light again
… all alone in the sea
Red buoy
It’s hard to capture the feel of the waves, but sometimes it’s something like this
Late afternoon seascape
We pass Coney Island
… and back under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge
The city is in sight
Sunset light on the water
Just at sunset, the red sun appears from behind the cloud on the horizon, next to the Statue of Liberty…
Vladimir Brezina (RIP) 
Johna Till Johnson
Wind Against Current 
Beautiful, what a gorgeous journey! Thank you for sharing, these photos are stunning.
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You are most welcome, and thank you!!
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Amazing and beautiful photos! Also the textes under them :D
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Thanks so much, Karen! :-)
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Your photographs put me right on the water with you. The motion and feel come through as well as the beauty. Thanks again Vlad.
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Thanks, George! It’s a very rewarding trip. You get it all—the city, ships, open water, some nature… :-)
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what an adventure.. those are some pretty big waves..
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And I didn’t even take a picture of the really big ones! ;-)
Down in the Lower Bay, there is usually turbulence where the current goes over shoals, often wind waves on top of that, and sometimes swells arriving from the open Atlantic. But it’s still pretty protected water. During this trip the waves were bigger than usual—perhaps three to four feet in places. But nothing out of the ordinary, and nothing unmanageable. It was a pretty relaxed trip.
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that is good to know.. looking forward to your next adventure.. :)
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The next adventure (even though it actually happened before this one) is already posted! :-)
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Looks like you were very close to the container ship. Love the shots of the waves! The last two shots are breathtaking!
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The container ship was in the channel, and we were out of it. So we could get close with impunity. The fishing boat (in the previous photo) was even closer to the container ship.
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Birds, crabs, ruins with a view, beautiful sunset. Who could ask for anything more! Great colors.
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Thanks!! :-)
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What a nice weekend adventure and thanks for sharing it with your pictures.
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You are most welcome! Thank you!!
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Fantastic photos and another great trip for the books . That’s gotta be close to a good 35 + or – round trip , well done . Are you two traveling in a Bee-line or is there a more strategic/safer course ? What time was the ebb current and how long was the paddle to Sandy Hook ? Thx
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Thanks, Stephen!
It’s about 30 nautical miles from Pier 40 to the tip of Sandy Hook and back, although we went a bit further down Sandy Hook.
To take maximal advantage of the currents, there is a preferred way down, and especially back. It can be a bit complicated, and changes depending on where in the tidal cycle you are. I’ll post a guide to paddling to Sandy Hook soon (I know, I’ve been saying this for a while).
This trip was on Saturday, August 3. At the Narrows, the ebb current started around 8 AM, but we didn’t get launched from Pier 40 until shortly before 10 AM. (Normally you want to launch earlier so as to have more time on Sandy Hook.) We got to the tip of Sandy Hook at about 1:15 PM, which is about par for the course with non-spring-tide currents.
It took longer coming back, as it always does.
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Thx Vlad , I would very much like to see you post such a guide , no rush of course :)
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I will say it again..you guys are some brave souls! LOL
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This is actually a pretty relaxed—as I said, routine—trip. You don’t have to be brave. Although something unexpected always does happen ;-)
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There’s no better way to spend a weekend! Looks like you two had a great trip. Love the primary colors of the first photos, and especially the late afternoon seascape.
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Yes, the Coast Guard loves primary colors for their buoys, and we try to match that with our boats and paddling outfits!
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Great photos, Vlad. Love the sunset pics.:)
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Thanks, Sylvia! :-)
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Gorgeous shots wonderful reason and see that ship with the containers I used to haul them behind my tractor! Beautiful post.
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Those container ships are very impressive, as is the whole container concept. Johna did a post about it a while ago. And here‘s what can go wrong…
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Beautiful gallery of photos!
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Thanks! :-)
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These photos are beautiful.My daughter lives in NYC and I have to admit I have to look very hard for beauty there, but maybe haven’t been looking at NY the right way.
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Every place is beautiful if you look at it right… you can see that illustrated in the blogosphere: every blogger says their home town is beautiful :-)
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