City of Water Day

“Sometimes, if you stand on the bottom rail of a bridge and lean over to watch the river slipping slowly away beneath you, you will suddenly know everything there is to be known.”
~ A. A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh

Saturday, July 24, 2010, is New York's third annual City of Water Day, when local boaters converge on Governors Island, Liberty Island, Brooklyn Bridge Park and Atlantic Basin to celebrate our island city and the waters that surround it.

I discovered this while walking by the LIC Community Boathouse. The joint was a-jumpin'; kayakers were double-checking their gear and readying their boats before entering Anable Basin and beginning their journey.

This is Paul, a contractor from Sacramento who's here for the summer. He told me their destination was Governors Island, where he and many others would be camping out overnight.

When I arrived at the dock around 9 a.m., a rowboat was loading up and getting ready to leave.

Ten minutes later, the crew was merrily rowing along the East River.

Although the local geese seemed oblivious to the City of Water Day boaters on the East River...

...the cormorants were lined up for a ring-side view.

By the time I finished my walk, the LIC Community Boathouse was empty and the last few kayakers were getting ready to begin their day on the water. One boater told me the trip to Governors Island could take as little as an hour, but added that he would be stretching it to at least two hours — the point is to be out on the water. Another kayaker, who seemed to be in charge, invited me to join them for a mid-week trip. I may just have to do that.

“Time is the substance from which I am made. Time is a river which carries me along, but I am the river; it is a tiger that devours me, but I am the tiger; it is a fire that consumes me, but I am the fire.”
~ Jorge Luis Borges