Author Archives: Vladimir Brezina

By Vladimir Brezina

Last Saturday: Air temperature in the twenties (Fahrenheit) in the morning, struggling up into the thirties during the afternoon. Colder on the water, of course. Water temperature around forty-five degrees Fahrenheit. Definitely drysuit weather, with gloves or pogies a requirement (and hot tea!). Partly sunny, with increasing clouds. Moderate northerly wind, becoming southeasterly in the afternoon. Current indicating a trip to points south. A perfect day to visit, once again, the seals of Swinburne Island, with maybe the Yellow Submarine of Brooklyn thrown in!

In the event, we saw only two, perhaps three, seals (which kept their distance, so no good photos) at Swinburne Island—a similar low number as on our last trip a month ago, and as reported by other kayakers so far this winter. In previous years, we’ve always seen ten or more seals at Swinburne by this time in the season. A little worrying…

And, bizarrely, the Yellow Submarine seems to have gotten a fresh coat of yellow paint (and some fresh graffiti) recently! Compare

Yellow Submarine, November 2010

with

Yellow Submarine, November 2013

Here are all the photos (click on any photo to start slideshow).

We leave the Pier 40 embayment

… and paddle down to Hudson

Across the river, Jersey City

Past North Cove

… and Battery Park City

Looking back at Manhattan

We paddle south through the harbor

Through the Bay Ridge anchorage

Manhattan is now small behind

Toward the Verrazano Narrows

A stray wake

Hazy sun sparkling on the water

Heavy container ship traffic today!

Under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge

We wait for the container ship to pass before crossing over

Here comes the wake!

An unusual view from the crest of the wake

Across the channel, Coney Island—our destination after we’ve seen the seals

Swinburne Island dead ahead

We creep up on the Island

Off Swinburne Island

… we sit and scan for seals

Pewter light

Sitting off Swinburne, we are getting cold—time to cross to Coney Island!

… just barely ahead of another container ship passing up Ambrose Channel

… in fact, two container ships that pass each other at the exact spot where we were just minutes ago

We see the yellow of the Yellow Submarine from far off

A fresh (well, sort of fresh) coat of yellow paint!

… with some fresh graffiti

Submarine silhouette against the declining sun

The submarine is only two kayak lengths long

Johna poses with the submarine

Later, hot tea in the lee of a seawall

This is pretty much all the sunset we get today

We paddle back to the Narrows

At the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge again

The gulls wheel about the sky

We pass under the bridge into the Upper Bay

… and see home ahead in the twilight…