It was finally a nice day, light wind air temp in the high 40s!!!
I went out from Pier 96 down to Swinburne Island. Left Manhattan around 10:30, had lunch on South Beach around 13:00, and started back at 15:30, arriving at Pier 96 just as it was getting dark at 17:50.
We saw a commercial boat trawling for some kind of fish in the anchorage off of Brooklyn. I paddled over and waved to the guy, but couldn't get close enough to talk to him since he was swirling around with his nets in tow, and I didn't want to get in his way.
There was a strong ebb, and the wind was from the South on the way down. The wind totally died by 13:00 when we stopped for lunch. Outside of the Verazano the water was glassy smooth, I have never seen it like that down there. If it wasn't so cold it would have been a good day for water skiing.
There were a lot of seals on Swinburne Island both in the water, and a few stayed up on the rocks basking in the sun. Some of them were very curious, and got pretty close to the boat, but none of them climbed aboard like last year.
Truth: The beach is great!
