A Commentary (Rant) on New York's Municipal Marina

Everyone was asking us what marina we were going to stay in when we reached NYC. Our first inclination was to stay at Liberty Landing or Liberty Harbor marinas on the Jersey side. These marinas were pricey ($6/foot at Liberty Landing = $240/night for Bavarian Cream, or $3/foot = $120 at Liberty Harbor). Additionally there's usually a $5-10 charge per night for electricity. Now we're not the most traveled couple, and for NYC that probably sounds like deal, but remember, we're sleeping on the boat, do not get a fresh change of linens each day, we don't have room service, and if something goes wrong with the accommodations, it's up to us to get it fixed. Someone once said that boating is the most expensive way of traveling third class.......

We we met a couple of boaters in Cape May, NJ and were advised to stay at the 79th Street Boat Basin, NYC's municipal marina. This recommendation was based on previous experience as an ideal location which was near a lot of attractions and with easy access to public transportation. So, after we left Cape May, we called the marina to make reservations. Oooops! No can do as space is available only on a first come, first serve basis. But their rates were only $2.75/foot. However, not wanting to get to NYC and not have a marina to go into, we called and made reservations at Liberty Harbor. Here we were told that there was a deposit of 10% of our total bill. Since we planned to stay four nights that worked out to around $50 for the deposit. As we talked about it on our way to Barnegat Inlet, we convinced ourselves that we should try to get into the municipal marina. The difference in dockage rates between the two would just about cover the deposit at Liberty Landing, and besides, we would find it so much more convenient.

Our slip- piling's wearin' a little thing!

Dock is tilted to remove debris!

The dinghy dock

They made it look easy on "Survivor"

Almost on "terra firma"

Well, as you know, we made it to NYC and to the 79th Street Boat Basin. However, getting into our assigned slip was another matter. The slips were angled and we had to enter the basin perpendicular to the Hudson River, turn hard to port followed by a hard starboard turn to get to the "alley" our slip was on and then swing to port and angle into the slip. All of this maneuvering had to occur over about 30 yards and we had a 4-5 kt. tidal current on the port side and winds of around 15 kts. on the bow. Plus we had two dockhands that were more interested in marveling at how close we were coming to the other boats and pilings than handling the lines. Had one of them thought to grab a portside bowline so Capt. Larry could spring off of it, it would have helped immensely. We banged our way into the slip and got tied up. The only silver lining was that they could not accept tips, which we offered only because they seemed to know how to belay a cleat! We got our electric hooked up and hooked up the water. Capt. Larry noticed that there were two sets of water outlets, one which worked and one which didn't. When he asked a sail boater a couple of slips down if the water was "potable," he got a blank look and a "what do you mean?" After explaining to this Einstein if the water was "drinkable," the response sharpened to a "I wouldn't drink one schmidgen of this water, ever!" We knew that we would be needing to take on water after an extended stay, so Jane went and asked the marina staff who said the water was perfectly safe to drink.

We went to cancel our reservations at Liberty Harbor, and after a few minutes of fumbling around were told that there was no record of our reservation. We panicked, because Jane said that the receptionist that took her information had an Indian accent. We checked credit card transactions, though, and didn't find any charges we would have to dispute. It just saved us our $50 deposit.

Waddaya mean, safety code violation?

Latest trend in NY designer boats!

A mite scruffy

Only heat, no A/C

Rusted railing, no problem!

The restroom sans soap x 3 days

We got checked in and went to clean up. Folks, the shower, which there was only one was one of the filthiest that we had seen. The toilet wasn't much better but it did flush well. Capt. Larry braved the shower conditions, but Jane decided to take a spit bath back on the boat. While most visitors are enamored with the sites and attractions NYC has to offer, this marina is an example of how broken some things in NYC can get. We picked up a brochure about the marina which touted it as Mayor Bloomberg's clean and green marina. We found this concept to be an oxymoron, because this part of the Hudson river is filled with trash. We had to clean our A/C water strainer twice a day, every day, just to keep the water flowing. There is a significant tidal current, so all sorts of flotsam rolls by. There are tremendous wakes that roll from the water taxis and river traffic through the marina constantly. This does die down some at night, but during the day the boat would roll so hard that a couple of times we started to get nauseated. There are floating docks, but most of the docks are in need of repair. Capt. Larry started pulling nails that were sticking 3-4" out of the wood, because he was certain that Jane would not see them and trip. On the docks there are no railings or safety lines and trying to get to another part of the marina to visit friends was almost impossible. And the staff was something else. When Jane checked in she was served by an African-American employee that was so stupid he didn't know how to multiply the daily rate times four nights on a calculator. After a couple of pregnant minutes, Jane told him it would be $440 which he accepted and charged her for, then forgetting to add the electric charge. So we got a $40 break.

Outside of these shortcomings though, the marina was conveniently located to a lot of things that we wanted to do. If you do decide to come here, however, we would probably recommend a mooring ball. You'll still have a lot of the aggravation that we had, but at least for $30 a night you will probably be more accepting and complain a little less........

Urban geese and their gosling- the future's so bright he has to shield his eyes!