East River and Hells Gate - Riding the Rapids

To reach Long Island sound from New York we had return south along the Hudson River which was great at 6am as there is little river traffic so you get to have another great view of Manhattan.

Daybreak as we leave the mooring buoys

Rounding Manhattan island

We then round the end of Manhattan island and head north up East River which run up the other side of Manhattan under the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges with some cool views through to the Empire State Building and Chrysler Building. 

Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan Bridge in the distance

Passing under the Brooklyn Bridge

Looking back at at the Manhattan Bridge

Skyline from East River including the Empire State Building 

Empire State from East River

Chrysler Building glinting in the sunshine

We passed close to Governors Island and then on past Roosevelt Island where the channel starts to narrow, we were saw a crazy guy in a rowing boat! It was one of the boats that they use to cross the oceans but the tide rips through this area so he was pretty brave.

Roosevelt island had apartments and what look like some offices, there is both a bridge and/cable car which connect it to Manhattan.

Bridge from Manhattan to Roosevelt Island

We then pass through "Hells Gate" this is where the tide runs the strongest and it is critical to get the tides right, so you are running with the tide but not at full flood. We could instantly see why, the water was bubbling up in front of us and once we hit it, we were riding the rapids, Mark fought we the tide to keep us central in the channel and avoid getting swept into the shallower water. We have passed through some challenging tidal gates but this was quite spectacular.

Tide ripping past the buoy

There goes the tide behind us!

We were glass to make it out into the Long Island Sound and it wasn't many miles before we arrived at Manhasset Bay. The shore to the Bay is lined with magnificent houses, it was the location which inspired the Bay in the Great Gatsby.

If you look closely you can see some of the amazing properties lining the shore

Port Washington is the major town in the/Bay and would be our home for the next few weeks. Although there are 100's of mooring buoys in the Bay there was also plenty of space for us to anchor.

Lots of moored boats in Port Washington

The sun starting to set in Port Washington