City of Water Day, Part 2 -- Fireboat John J. Harvey

The Audubon Cruise ended at Governors Island, where, as we disembarked, we spied the line for standby tickets for ships tours (sailing and dockside.) We decided to stand on line and see if we could score tickets, and we did! We were able to take a free ride up the East River on a historic FDNY fireboat, the John J. Harvey, and enjoy watching them shoot off the water cannons that they use to put out fires.

City of Water Part 1-- Circle Line Audubon Cruise

Last weekend, we took part in a wonderful NYC special event: City of Water Day, which encourages New Yorkers to appreciate their waterfront.

Our first activity was a free 2 hour Circle Line Cruise featuring birding commentary by the NYC Audubon Society. We traveled past Hoffman Island and Swindbourne Island, which are both havens for waterbirds. We saw egrets, great blue herons, double crested cormorants, herring gulls, laughing gulls, and terns.

And we got a close-up from-the-water view of NYC's landmarks, its working waterfront, and people engaged in receational activities on the Hudson River (including kayaking, riding jet skis, paddling an outrigger canoe, sailing, and a very odd new sport...)