Tag Archives: Container Port

Angles

By Vladimir Brezina

Acute angles, right angles, obtuse angles—angles as far as the eye can see:

Angles 1Angles 2Angles 3Angles 4Angles 5Photos taken on a Hidden Harbor Tour, September 2013.

A contribution to Ailsa’s travel-themed photo challenge, Angles.

Industry

By Vladimir Brezina

Seen on our travels through New York Harbor—

New York Harbor 1
New York Harbor 2
New York Harbor 3
New York Harbor 4
New York Harbor 5
New York Harbor 6

Spot Johna in the last photo!

A contribution to Ailsa’s travel-themed photo challenge, Industry.

A Late-Summer Staten Island Circumnavigation

By Vladimir Brezina

Staten Island circumnavigation 83

High on our list of paddling priorities for this summer has been the Staten Island circumnavigation.

It’s a trip that has everything—the busy New York Harbor and the open water of the Lower Bay, islands and lighthouses, surf on sandy beaches, grassy creeks and salt marshes, wildlife, heavy industry, decayed piers, shipwrecks, huge container ports, container ships, barges, and tugs of all shapes and sizes, imposing bridges, and finally the Statue of Liberty and the Manhattan skyline glowing in the sunset or, after it, sparkling with a myriad lights…

And all this in just twelve hours of paddling!

We used to do a Staten Island circumnavigation often, but suddenly we realized we hadn’t done one for two years—since Hurricane Sandy, in fact. We wondered how Sandy might have changed the familiar landmarks…

And the long days of summer were drawing to an end.

So on Saturday we went. Here are some photos.

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Hidden Harbor Tour

By Vladimir Brezina

DSC_0729 cropped smallOnce in a while it occurs to us that there might be other ways to see New York Harbor than by kayak.

And so, on Tuesday evening, we traveled down to the South Street Seaport and boarded the yacht Zephyr, for one of the Hidden Harbor Tours organized by the  Working Harbor Committee. Our appetites had been whetted by the recent Tugboat Races, also organized by the Committee. And reading the description of this tour, it promised to be another highlight:

This tour passes by the Red Hook Container Terminal and visits Erie Basin, home of Hughes Brothers Barges and Reinauer Tugs before crossing the harbor toward Staten Island. It then enters Kill Van Kull, the area’s busiest waterway dividing Staten Island and Bayonne, passing tug yards, oil docks and marine repair facilities. It then passes under the Bayonne Bridge and visits the giant container ports of Newark Bay, Port Newark and Port Elizabeth where the world’s largest container ships tie up. On the way back, we pass by Military Ocean Terminal, the 9/11 Teardrop Memorial, the Robbins Reef Lighthouse and another container port, ending up at the Statue of Liberty for a moment before returning to Pier 16.

We got all of that and more.

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