Today was spent at the 9/11 memorial and museum. It is easy to spend an entire day there and relive what you saw that day in 2001, and literally go behind the scenes and see so much that you never knew. There is so much there - so much information. It is amazing and so well done.

On the train ride in Staten Island, one stop sounded familiar. I looked up my old address and it turned out the first place I lived after college was in that area and it was only a few miles from where I am staying on the boat now. And then my brother tells me his son works at the World Trade Center in building 4. We were at the WTC both yesterday and today, but that was over the weekend, not a work day.

The girls had a City pass, so they stayed in Manhattan and did some more sightseeing. Roger and I had had enough and it was after 4, so we went back to the boat. Instead of taking Uber from the train station back to the boat, we walked. It was about 3 miles over city streets and bike paths. A pleasant walk, but a long walk.

Ashley goes back home tomorrow. I'm not sure what tomorrow will bring, but soon we will venture out from this place and stick our nose out in the ocean and see what the Atlantic brings. After we first check that all the hurricanes have gone. Irma has greatly changed what my trip will look like and what I imagined it to be. Many of the first places I planned to visit have been destroyed. We will see what the future has in store for me.

This morning I worked in my bilge. First testing the manual pump, then sponging it dry. Always fun, but good to make sure all your bilge pumps are working before you might really need them.

Ashley arrived and after lunch we went by train and ferry to Manhattan. Then another ferry to Ellis Island. Watching the scene on the water unfold with numerous sailboats, ferries, anchored ships and helicopters flying overhead, it was hard to believe that just 24 hours earlier we had been part of that same crazy scene. It just didn't seem real.

Afterward we ate at an Irish Pub near the site of the old World Trade Center, continuing our Erie Canal tradition.

It was a long day - it was an exciting day - it was a very cool day. And it ended with my usual "How do I get past the shallow entrance." I followed another sailboat and finally made it in, after being partially stuck several times. It was low tide and I think I know why the other boat kept his main up, to be heeled over and reduce his draft.

Coming down the Hudson and going by Manhattan was awesome. Followed by the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. But the harbor is an extremely busy place and one had to be watching from all directions at all times. Including watching out for stand up paddle boarders. There were three that we saw. The water is not calm and I guess they wanted a challenge. The VHF radio goes non stop, mostly on channel 13 as ships talk to each other negotiating who is going which way to avoid a collision.

So here we are in Staten Island at Nichols Great Kills Marina for a few days to see the city. Roger and Tari's daughter comes tomorrow. And we don't have to travel ... at least not by boat. Well, maybe by ferry boat.

Today on Roger's boat we got the in-boom furling mainsail installed. First time he has tried to install it. Of course, the wind came up at exactly the wrong time to make it difficult and try to push him off the boat. Then later when we were done - no wind. We also got his heavy dinghy out of the water and on deck so he wouldn't have to tow it anymore.

I worked on tuning my rig, which means tightening the wires (shrouds) that hold up the mast and making sure the mast was straight up and down - not bent to one side or the other.

Laundry was also done today. Somehow, on a boat it is always much more fun than doing it at home. Sometimes you meet folks that are fun to talk to. Sometimes you encounter someone you would have rather not run into. Today we had both. The interesting guy lives on an old wooden boat, or looks like a wooden boat. A true gypsy. I hesitate to call him a solo sailor since he has two beautiful golden retrievers. He wanted to visit friends on Lake Erie, but the canal is closing early this year on October 11 and he didn't want to not make it back and spend the winter on Lake Erie. Imagine that!

Tomorrow we fuel up and are off to the Big Apple, New York City. This is one of my highlights, sailing down the Hudson River along Manhatten and then by the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor. We will spend several days there docked in Staten Island at the Nichols Great Kills Marina.

We continued down the Hudson today. And it started to rain and the wind blew for the first few hours. Then the wind and rain stopped - until we docked. Oh well.

I used to work in downtown Manhatten in a previous life, so now we are coming to places I have been to before. West Point was interesting. On the roof of the building in the blog photo, it says "Beat Air Force". Roger looked at a Google Earth photo of the building. The other side of the roof says "Beat Navy". They have a nice sailboat moored in the river with "ARMY" emblazoned on the mainsail cover. Seems odd, but there it was.

There are railroad tracks on both sides of the river, since that is the only flat ground around. There are tree covered hills lining both sides of the river. It is beautiful now and must be breathtaking in the fall. What a scenic train ride. The east side carries passenger trains. The west side carries the mile long freight trains. It is amazing to see most of the entire train, instead of watching it pass in front of you, one car at a time.

We plan to spend tomorrow here for another fun day of laundry and chores. We are debating where to stay in New York City for three nights. The choices are a quicker commute to Manhatten, but a more costly commute and $200 a night or more to sleep on your own boat. Or option two: longer, cheaper commute and less than half the price to dock overnight. A savings of $300-400. It is on Staten Island and involves taking the Staten Island ferry. I used to live on Staten Island and commuted to work on the ferry, so that will be very nostalgic. Going back to my very first job out of college.

Tonight is pizza and movie night.

Thunderstorms were predicted for today, so we stayed put. They didn't come until the night. I spent part of the day reading a blog about how to study hurricane weather and resources available to know as much as possible about the path of a hurricane. So I downloaded yet another app to get even more data about weather and played with my apps since I had a real hurricane to use as a test case. To see what a hurricane looked like on my weather apps was pretty cool. Of course, the actual impact is terrible and we plan on visiting these places months after the fact. So to do the rallies that run starting November 1. We will see what happens to our plans.

Tari gave Roger and I haircuts. We put on the headsail for Paradise Hunter. I spent some time cleaning my hull and we went to the grocery store. Uber is a great thing for us. I only needed bread, but $30 later ... and it was buy one loaf get one free!

Tonight it will storm. Rain is predicted for tomorrow, but not storms, so we will leave and try to cut our distance to New York City in half. And watch the path of Irma.