Tall Ships

I'm not a big fan of birthday parties either mine or someone elses. I don't see the big deal about marking surviving another year. This July 4th is the 250th birthday of America. It's a nice milestone but it's just a number. There will be of course a big celebration around the country with the normal parades and fireworks. As part of the celebration in New York there will be a parade of tall ships (i.e. large ships powered by sails) along the Hudson and East river. The ships were expected to anchor in Sandy Hook bay a day or two before the parade so I decided to take a drive to Sandy Hook on Thursday. Friday morning might have been a better day but I didn't want to deal with the expected crowds. 

I did a little research and found a few good places to try and see the ships. We stopped at a marina in the bay by the Earle ammunition depot. There was one tall ship there but is was on the other side of the dock so could only see it mast's.

Next stop was at the Mount Mitchill  Scenic overlook which gave us a good view Sandy Hook and then entire bay. From there we spotted a tall ship entering the bay.

 

It had taken it's sails down and was motoring in to the anchoring spot. It was close to 100 degrees at this point and it was hot and hazy so not the conditions for clear pictures. 

We then moved on and drove out to the end of Sandy Hook to see if we could spot any more. There was a line to get into Sandy Hook as it is summer and a lot of people hang out at the beach there. There is a fee to get in in the summer but I have a free senior pass so we got in for free. 

We drove up to officers row and parked there. Across the bay there were three tall ships at anchor.

 

There was the two masted schooner pictured up top and a couple of three masted schooners next to each other. I had hoped to get a few pictures of them in full sail but had to settle for them at anchor. It wasn't really a good day for pictures as the heat rising off the water caused a lot of distortion in the air. We didn't spend a lot of time outside looking at the ships as it dangerously hot out even down near the water. It was the kind of heat that can cause spontaneous combustion so after a few minutes taking pictures we headed home. 

This 100 degree heat is going to last through the fourth. Anytime it is over 90 by 10am in the morning I'm staying off the bike so for this holiday I will be enjoying the air condition comfort of my home until it cools off a little.