Around The World In 80 Waves

Manhattan island is the central borough of the five that make up New York City. (The others being The Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island.) After a short boat tour of the harbour area, I was armed with my tourist map and some comfy trainers and thought the easiest way to see everything on the island was start with Battery Park at the southern end, where you catch the free ferry to Staten Island, and then zig-zag my way north checking out places of interest along the way until I got back to my Jazz on the Park Hostel on 103rd St. Those of you who know New York will have already realised that is far easier said than done. As the crow flies it is 7.5 miles but I reckon I must have done nearer to 20, with backtracking, wandering round inside places and generally getting lost! Today in order I saw:

• Battery Park
• Ellis Island
• Statue of Liberty
• Brooklyn Bridge
• Manhattan Bridge
• Williamsburg Bridge
• Seaport Historic District
• Heliport
• Wall Street
• New York Stock Exchange
• Ground Zero of 9/11
• The building site of the new memorial plaza
• City Hall
• Court Buildings
• Chinatown
• Little Italy
• New York University
• Broadway
• Greenwich Village
• 5th Avenue
• West Village
• Meatpacking District – not a euphemism before anyone asks!
• Elevated Walkway
• Empire State Building (the picture is looking back from here at the new Freedom Towers currently under construction on the site of the old twin towers)
• Madison Square Gardens
• Grand Central Station
• Chrysler Building
• United Nations
• Time Square
• Theatre District
• Diamond Disrict
• Rockefeller Centre
• St Patrick’s Cathedral
• Marilyn Monroe’s Subway Grating
• Metropolitan Museum of Art
• Guggenheim Museum
• Central Park

I have to say that despite crossing the whole of the island I have to say I am disappointed not to have seen any of Tony Soprano, Carrie Bradshaw, Robert De Niro, King Kong, Jay-Z, Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen or any of the cast from Friends. Not even Spiderman! I do however have a much greater appreciation of how hard The Warriors’  task was in getting back to Coney Island which is going the other way. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MV4cgs-bPic)

My feet are killing me.

🙁

My spiritual surfing home. It is where just about every wave I have ever surfed has been generated. (Barring one session on the Indian Ocean side in South Africa which was not great because I was put off the whole time by being more than a bit concerned about the Great Whites known to be under my board!) It is often considered the little brother to the larger Pacific, but waves surfed recently off the coast of Ireland, Portugal and France have shown to the world how heavy it can be.

New York itself was reminded of this shortly before my trip when Hurricane Sandy trashed just about everything in its path along the Eastern Seaboard. There is no real evidence of it left in the city that I have seen, but my plans to visit Liberty Island to see the statue there, and Ellis island where millions of immigrants got their first taste of the US have been curtailed because they are still cleaning up the mess left behind by the storm there. Took a boat trip around the islands though and got a few snaps of them both, and have at least managed to get on the water, even if the only wave I have seen is the bow wave off the front of the boat. Am a little concerned that my plans to hire some gear locally will have been hampered by Sandy destroying all the surf shacks where I might have hired some gear. I will know more once I get closer to the beaches.

Checked into hostel yesterday. Think the Costa Rican bloke who nabbed the lower bunk thought he had done well until he realised my great lump was going to be above him all night. You could see the fear in his eyes!

Hostel is about 100m from central park so think I will go fo a run there at some stage. However head out into the city straight away even though it is technically 1am London time when I do so. Take my first yellow taxi and go down to Time Square which is mobbed. Find a decent bar for a few beers but dont stay out late because I am so tired.

Wake up several hours before sunrise due to the time difference and am releaved to see the Costa Rican has not been killed through the night. There are four ladies also in the room but I havent met them yet. I knew there was a reason I came on this trip though.

Off to see the sights and get a US phone. Unsurprisingly my Vodafone number is not working properly. ##**£*%$#!!!!!!

Got past customs, with a few confused looks from the bloke who couldn’t understand how I was going on a surf trip without a board.

The Big Apple beckons, but you know you are in the land of opportunity when there are two buskers, one Michael Jackson impersonator and one lady selling cookies, all asking for donations for their efforts before I have even got half way across Manhattan