Day 283 - Katz — Captain Father John

Miles cruised 0, fuel purchased $0, slip fee $100, daily high temperature 77°f. Friday was our day to visit Manhattan. Our harbor host John gave the four of us a ride to the Staten Island railroad Great Kills station. We took the train to the Staten Island Ferry. We took the ferry to lower Manhattan and the bus to the 911 Memorial. The outside has two infinity pools in the location of the former twin towers. The names of the victims from each tower are carved in the railing around the pools. Security officers continuously walk around the pools telling people to not lean over the railings even though that is the only way to see into the pool.Inside the 911 Memorial there are many pieces of memorabilia such as NYFD ladder truck #3 that responded to the attack and all 11 firemen perished. The attack came during the morning shift change and the night shift that should have gone off watch joined in on the attempted rescue. There are also several steel beams that were excavated from the 911 site.We walked next door to the newly built One World Trade Center and went to the observation deck. There is an amazing view of the the five boroughs as well as New Jersey. The real treat was looking north up the Hudson River where we will cruise on Saturday.We enjoyed my birthday (65) lunch at the One World Trade Center sky view restaurant and headed back to Staten Island.In the mean time Dale and Andy headed uptown to Times Square and had lunch at the famous Katz Deli.Times SquareBonus photo. Is that the flying nun?On Saturday we will cruise to the Statue of Liberty and meet Joe Pico. We will take pictures of each other's boats in front of the Statue of Liberty. Then we will cruise to Half Moon Bay Marina at Croton-on-Hudson, NY. That will be a total of a 50 mile cruise. We will stay at Half Moon Bay for 7 days. My daughter Alison and her husband Oscar and grandson Jackson will join us onboard for July 4th. On Friday a long time friend and Rust-Oleum co-worker John Jagielski and his wife Laura will join us for sundowners and dinner. After that we will continue our cruise "up the river" past Sing Sing prison.

Carl (Chef) Wooden - quote of the day"The cabin of a small yacht is truly a wonderful thing; not only will it shelter you from a tempest, but from the other troubles in life, it is a safe retreat."Francis HerreshoffL. (Lewis) Francis Herreshoff (November 11, 1890 - December 1, 1972), was a boat designer, naval architect, editor and author of books and magazine articles. Early in his career he worked for the Herreshoff Manufacturing and for naval architect Starling Burgess.