The most beautiful accessory of the fashion city New York is the water. The Big Apple visitor just didn’t know what to do with it until now. Well, he could ride a jet ski around Manhattan – for an ambitious $330. Or slurp up oysters at the Oyster Bar in Grand Central Terminal, the cheapest varieties cost about two dollars each.
Or he bought a “Pretzel” in Battery Park on the southern tip of Manhattan and looked across the water towards the Statue of Liberty. Chewing on the taste of the disappointing snack, he was able to come to the conclusion that the whole thing was unsatisfactory. New York as a city on the water? flooded.
A one-way fare is only $2.75 – the same as a subway ticket
But that should now be the end of it. The operator NYC Ferries has announced three new ferry routes for this year. They are intended to complement the existing East River connection, which runs from Midtown Manhattan to the popular Williamsburg and Dumbo neighborhoods in Brooklyn, among others. In the future there will also be a ferry line to Queens, another to downtown Brooklyn, and ferries to Rockaway – a peninsula in southeast Brooklyn – have been running since the beginning of May. The latter route in particular could change the holiday feeling in New York. After Coney Island, Rockaway is the closest way to combine a city trip with a day at the beach.
The offer sounds promising: A one-way ticket costs $2.75, the same as a ticket for the subway. The travel time of the rail route should even be undercut by at least ten minutes. Minus point: The ships, in contrast to the subway, only run once an hour.
It starts at Pier 11, at Wall Street level. Boarding with a cell phone ticket is uncomplicated. Alternatively, all ticket options can be bought in the small terminal at the pier. The ferry, which has 129 seats inside and offers another 28 seats on deck, is only sparsely occupied on this day. It’s not even 20 degrees, and the fog hangs low over the city – and that in June. Appropriately, the first sailboat to glide past the ferry bears the wonderfully ironic name “Knot Dreamin'”. One would like to call out a greeting to the unknown sailor with a sense for nautical puns. Only: It’s too cold to sit outside. And in any case, the Internet search for American sailor formulas has to be omitted, because the advertised free Wifi does not yet exist.
After 15 minutes the ferry stops for the first time, the station is marked as Sunset Park in the timetable. The nickname Brooklyn Army Terminal is more appropriate. Architecturally, the area is desolate, but it’s still worth getting off here. The nearby Greenwood Cemetery is one of the most beautiful parks in New York. And if you want to try out the latest avocado hype or fancy a Berlin-style doner kebab, Industry City is the place to be. The area is a magnet for artists and creative people.
Fine sand and the Atlantic Ocean as far as the eye can see
North of the Sunset Park dock, about an hour’s walk along the water, is the former industrial district of Red Hook. The dark eyes of an artfully painted beauty smile at you from the ugly warehouse walls. And the salesman in the small Widow Jane whiskey distillery, which you stumble upon by chance, proudly points out that all the machines came from Germany. In fact, Red Hook may not yet have status as the new Williamsburg or Bushwick just because of its remote location. The nearest subway station is a dozen blocks away. A ferry dock will be added in the near future.
Speaking of which: Anyone who simply stayed on the ferry will soon see the Ferris wheels and roller coasters of Coney Island pass by on the left. Apart from that, the offered panorama is rather unromantic: The high-rise settlements begin directly behind the beach line. The north side of Rockaway, on the other hand, is idyllic, with rows of white beach houses with front porches. Anyone hoping for the atmosphere of a picturesque harbor town at the landing stage will be disappointed. A four-lane road awaits the ferry tourist.
NYC Ferries offers free shuttle buses from the dock to the east peninsula and west to Jacob Riis Park. If you just want to go to the beach, you can cross the narrow peninsula in less than ten minutes — and on the south side you’ll be compensated for everything: from the lack of WiFi on board to the lack of sun, which would make Rockaway’s social reality appear friendlier. There is the longest city beach in the USA, fine sand and the Atlantic Ocean as far as the eye can see. About five meters wide on this June day. Then the fog begins.
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