Newark Bay, Hidden Harbor Tour

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It is with a real sense of déjà vu that I write this today, because it is almost exactly a year ago that I took part in one of the New York Working Harbor Committee’s ‘Hidden Harbor’ tours along the Brooklyn waterfront. I wrote about this trip in a previous post so I won’t repeat myself too much here.

With regard to New York City’s harbor, the Working Harbor Committee (WHC) exists to “…strengthen awareness of the working harbor's history and vitality today, and its opportunities for the future, by:
· Involving people in learning how the harbor works and what it does;
· Educating people in the rich and challenging history of the harbor;
· Making people aware of the need to build and sustain the working harbor.”
(Source: Working Harbor Committee…)

To this end, the WHC arranges a series of tours, dubbed ‘Hidden Harbor Tours’ throughout the warmer months of the year – typically from May to October. Tours always have guest speakers and commentary from knowledgeable experts who have worked extensively on New York harbor, all of whom are able to shed extra insights into the history and hidden secrets of the areas you cruise through.

As I am on the WHC’s mailing list, I get regular monthly updates and reminders about upcoming tours and events. Reminders that only serve to make me miss New York City and its magnificent harbor even more, now that I am ten thousand miles away in Australia. Even more so, as I shiver through a freezing Adelaide winter, and think about the heat and humidity of a New York summer.

Although the next Hidden Harbor Tour is tomorrow (July 12), and therefore almost certainly too late for anyone reading this to take advantage of, there are several more tours scheduled for the remainder of the year, and I thought they were worth bringing to your attention if you were going to be in New York City between now and the end of October.

Tuesday, 12 July - Newark Bay Tour
Special Guest Speaker: Lucy Ambrosino-Marchak, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Lucy Ambrosino is the Manager of Outreach for the Port Commerce Department of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, where she has been since 1990.

Departs from Pier 16 at 6:15pm (at the end of Fulton Street, South Street Seaport).

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 Robbin's Reef Lighthouse and another container port, ending up at sunset at the Statue of Liberty for a moment before returning to Pier 16.

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Tuesday, 26 July - Brooklyn Tour
Special Guest Speaker: Dan Wiley. Dan is a Community Coordinator to Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez in southwest Brooklyn. Working in the Congressional office since 2000, he has coordinated planning projects and initiatives spanning waterfront communities from the Brooklyn Navy Yard and downtown Brooklyn southwest to Red Hook, Gowanus and Sunset Park, Brooklyn.

Departs from Pier 16 at 6:15pm (at the end of Fulton Street, South Street Seaport).

This tours goes north (actually east) on the East River to the former Brooklyn Navy Yard, passing under the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges. The Navy Yard has three large graving docks and an active shipyard, as well as the home port of FDNY's fireboat division. We then travel south along the Brooklyn waterfront, passing the new Brooklyn Bridge Park and the Red Hook Container Terminal, Atlantic Basin, and Erie Basin, home of Hughes Brothers Barges and Reinauer Tugs. We continue into Gowanus Bay and along the Sunset Park waterfront, home of the former large Bush Terminals. We then cross over to the Statue of Liberty at sunset for a moment before returning to Pier 16.

Click Here to book for both tours… 

Price for both tours:
Adult; $29.00
Child: $15.00
Senior: $22.00
WHC Member: $22.00 (Working Harbor Committee members)
Intrepid Member: $22.00 (Intrepid Sea*Air*Space Museum members)

There are many more tours in August, September and October, so make sure you check the full list at the Working Harbor Committee (WHC) website.

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Manhattanhenge, New York City

Manhattanhenge – sometimes referred to as the Manhattan Solstice – is a semi-annual occurrence in which the setting sun aligns with the east–west streets of the main street grid in Manhattan, New York City.

The term, as you might have already worked out, is derived from Stonehenge, the prehistoric monument located in the English county of Wiltshire.

Manhattanhenge was popularized in 2002 by Neil deGrasse Tyson, an astrophysicist at the American Museum of Natural History. During Manhattanhenge, an observer on one of the gridded east-west streets will see the sun setting over New Jersey directly opposite from the street, along its centerline.

The dates of Manhattanhenge are usually around May 28 and July 12 or July 13 – spaced evenly around Summer Solstice. In 2011, Manhattanhenge occurred on May 31 at 8:17 p.m., and will occur again on July 11 at 8:25 p.m. The two corresponding mornings of sunrise right on the center lines of the Manhattan grid are approximately December 5 and January 8 – spaced evenly around Winter Solstice. As with the solstices and equinoxes, the dates vary somewhat from year to year.

Manhattanhenge in Popular Culture
Not surprisingly, the Manhattanhenge phenomenon has made it into popular culture, with the event appearing in an episode of CSI: NY that aired on November 25, 2009. Also, the closing scene from the 2010 film Morning Glory features Mike Pomeroy (Harrison Ford), and Becky Fuller (Rachel McAdams), walking off into the Manhattanhenge sunset.

Here’s a very brief 16 second time-lapse YouTube video of the Manhattanhenge event from 2008.

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The same phenomenon occurs in other cities with a uniform street grid. In Chicago, Illinois, for instance, the setting sun lines up with the grid system on September 25, a phenomenon known similarly as Chicagohenge. In Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the setting sun lines up with the east–west streets on October 25 and February 16, a phenomenon known locally as Torontohenge.

If any reader knows of similar phenomena happening around the world, please let us know via the Comments section below.

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Web of The Week: Planning Fun Road Trips

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Depending on where you are accessing this blog from, you are either half way through summer or half way through winter, with varying shades of the seasons in between. Wherever you are though, you can still hit the road for an extended road trip in pursuit of better weather or the long awaited break you have been looking forward to for many months. With that in mind, this week’s Web of The Week could be just what you need.

Tara Waechter started Planning Fun Road Trips back in 2009, to share her love of the open road. As Tara writes on her site: “What I love most about road trips is how accessible they are... There's nothing like the freedom of being able to just jump in your car and drive off down the road in search of adventure!”

In addition to her love of travel, Tara is a great believer in the power of planning – and she has incorporated lots of great planning aids and tips in her website, where you will find a Road Trip Calculator that helps you work out how much to budget for your road trip. You will also find suggestions for North American road trip routes, and tips on healthy eating, keeping the kids occupied and happy, and much more.

Planning Fun Road Trips is a good place to start your research if you are going to hit the highway before the end of the northern summer, or in preparation for summer in the southern hemisphere. There is much to be gained from a thorough look through Tara’s site, and I am more than happy to recommend it as my Web of The Week.

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