Well, then suddenly we're on our own keel in New York. What a fantastic experience! Before we left, this was always a big milestone, but still so far away. And now we're really there, with the Brandaan, after having sailed over 9000 miles. Yes! We did it! New York is a fantastic city. Toine and I have both been there before, me for the first time when I was 15, but Eline and Marinthe never did. For a week, we're at a mooring on the Hudson River near Central Park; 79th Street. A beautiful place for only $30 per night ...'in our own little house' ... there's no better place here!

Usually we only go into town after lunch, three times until very late in the evening. We spend the mornings in peace on the boat. We do some schoolwork and arrange other practical matters such as preparation for crossing. We're also a bit busy with the work we're going to do after we get back (Mira gets an email from Jack with info about a first job, and for Toine, on Thursdays René Steenvoorden who happens to be in New York on business). A bit of help with the internet, because a good WIFI-net is strangely enough not to be found here, off all places. The girls started with a picture scrapbook of the whole trip and that gives them the necessary hours of entertainment.

We buy a weekly ticket for the subway and drive a lot 'under' Manhattan. Usually the girls sort out the route and that is a great success. It doesn't always lead to the shortest route but that is fun. During the day you see almost no children in the city (of course they are all at school). Once in the subway we even heard two people say to each other 'those kids should be at school, right?

Back to where the previous report ended... the two days in Cape May are fun. We are in a family marina and can rent bikes. The four of us are on a bike again ... very nice to explore the town and its surroundings. Cape May is an old town with beautiful old houses, many hotels and a long sandy beach that reminds us a bit of Belgium. Nice atmosphere and nice people. The last evening we go to a special restaurant, the 'Lobster House'. People come from miles away, reservations are not possible, with the result that there are often waiting times of more than an hour before you can sit at the table. We would like to experience that sometimes, but fortunately (with a pacer) we can wait on our own boat. The food is indeed very tasty. On Sunday (May 16) we leave at high tide just after breakfast for a 26 hour trip along the coast of New Yersey in the direction of New York. Little wind and flat sea, so a lot of engines. Just after sunrise we see the skyline of Manhattan. A few hours later we sail under the Verrazano Bridge to the Statue of Liberty. Toine gets into the dinghy and takes pictures of the Brandaan with the Statue of Liberty and the Manhattan skyline in the background. That first day we walk briefly into the city to get some atmosphere, and we visit the top of the Rockefeller Centre (the second tallest building in New York), with a nice view over the whole city. This way the girls immediately have a good idea how big (and high!) NY is.

Tuesday (18 May) is actually another rainy day! Already a long time ago! We put up the cockpit tent, and that way we have it nice and warm and dry in the boat. Just before lunch we leave for the city, with the subway to Chinatown for a nice lunch at a tl-bar (no atmosphere but delicious food!) Chinese. Afterwards, armed with umbrellas, we make some visits to big toy shops. Dinner is nice and cosy on the boat because it keeps raining. The day after it is still fresh, but fortunately dry again. The afternoon we spend in the American Museum of Natural History; a huge museum, beautifully decorated. The story of the origins of the earths, volcanoes and earthquakes are beautifully depicted, a lot of stuffed animals and as a highlight skellets of gigantic dinosaurs.

We happen to find a lovely restaurant with delicious shashimi and grilled fish. Then we take the subway towards the (new) Yankee Stadium for a baseball game of the Yankees against the Tampa Rays together with 54.000 other New Yorkers. What a huge experience! The Yankees don't bake much of it, but the Rays play a very nice game. The end collapses until the last inning (the whole stadium is already empty) when the Yankees almost come back. For the girls, they really enjoy it. Only late we are back on the boat, so we sleep it off the next day.

Luckily the weather is warm and sunny! Around lunch René Steenvoorden comes to our boat. Nice to meet him here and to philosophize a bit about Toine's new role from September. As entertainment we are visited twice by the coast guard! Once with the message that we have to report (...); we get three phone numbers that don't exist. The second time with a kind of war boat and 8 tough looking men who, after looking at our passports, cruising permit and boat papers, decide that we have everything neat and tidy. The joke is that we called this about ourselves; when we arrive in a new place we always have to report and accidentally dialed the number of the Coast Guard New York (instead of Coast Guard border protection). Of course they're a bit extra careful here, especially after the Times Square bomb, so then such a dangerous Dutch boat with family has to be vetted. For René it's also nice to see that a year of cruising really isn't just sun, beach and relaxing! Also sometimes just heavy bureaucracy, it seems like work ...
When they're finally gone we'll have dinner with René in a fine restaurant before he flies back to Amsterdam. Afterwards we go to the Empire State Building. Well that 'even' will be a couple of hours ... there is over an hour of waiting time to recover. But then the view is beautiful at night with all the lights around us. Also for the girls another (literally!) highlight.

Striking in this big city is that we don't feel unsafe for a moment, we don't see any crime around us! Can we still learn something in the Netherlands ... Really enjoy walking around here. So again on Friday (May 21st) ... at Times Square we buy tickets for Mary Poppins' musical for the evening and then visit Ground Zero, the 9-11 Memorial Museum and Battery Park. We've already explained to the girls what happened here in 2001, but now with images it's even more impressive. After that some lighter food at Mary Poppins is a good idea. This is another highlight for the girls ... in an old theatre, completely full, beautifully played with beautiful effects (like Mary who really flies into the air).

Tired of all the impressions we spend a day on the boat on Saturday. Reading a book, making a photo-poster and watching a movie. The Herring Gull (also a Dutch departure boat with Jeroen and Babette on board) also arrived in NY. On Sunday morning we go for a coffee with them. We will probably make the crossing to the Azores around the same time and have agreed to keep in touch with them on the way via sailmail and SSB. The rest of the day we spend together with many other NY'ers in Central Park. A huge park in the middle of Manhattan with nice hiking trails, lakes, sportive people, performances, in short ... lots to see and do and nice to stroll around in. In between we go to the Guggenheim Museum ... a very beautiful building, but we can only appreciate the art to a certain extent (...). Maybe too modern for us? The room with classic paintings of Rembrandt, Picasso and Monet is very beautiful. We end the NY-week with a delicious Japanese dinner at Benihana (the Japanese restaurant chain where we also had dinner with the Barbarossa in Trinidad). Satisfied we take the subway for the last time and walk back to the boat. We had a fantastic week in NY!

And now back to the next phase. Today around noon we leave for the Long Island Sound, around the Manhattan south point, over the Eastriver via Hells Gate (nice name isn't it? it flows very hard at high tide, so good travel planning necessary!) into the Sound. Depending on the weather we will stay there for another 1 or 2 weeks, and when a good 'weather-window' presents itself we will leave for the crossing of two weeks to the Azores. It's starting to tickle a bit to make that crossing. Some Dutch departing boats like the Waterman are already there. Also the Barbarossa and the Valentine will soon start the crossing, whether or not via Bermuda. Nice to see each other on the Azores again!