19 Years Ago Today; A trip down the Hudson for what became a last look at WTC1 and WTC2

[Dennis Donovan]

August 28, 2001 - Das Billig Boot II, my 1982 Sea Ray 270 at World's Fair Marina, Queens, NY

Two weeks before 9/11, I sailed my boat down the Hudson River from Albany to the World's Fair Marina in Flushing Bay, Queens, NY. Fortunate to have fair weather throughout. I pointed my camera at the World Trade Center more than any other landmark on that trip (for whatever reason; it's escaped me since then):


Leaving Albany on 8/27/01


A blimp overhead, north of the George Washington Bridge, 8/28/01


My friend, Don, likely baked , with the George Washington Bridge behind


Passing the World Ship Terminal in midtown, aka the site where the SS Normandie burned and capsized 59 years previously


Close-up of the fantail of the USS Intrepid


I stopped the boat at this spot, packed a bowl and took a big hit. I said to my friend, "Dude! That's the fucking World Trade Center!" I passed the bowl to him, he took a hit, and grinned.


We headed south to the Narrows, snapping another pic of lower Manhattan.


After a quick trip into the Atlantic Ocean (just to say we did), we headed back towards the Verrazano Narrows Bridge.


Back into the harbor, the skyline in the distance.


Slipping under the Brooklyn Bridge on our way to the World's Fair Marina (a fair that hadn't been open for 36 years )


Moored at the World's Fair Marina with late, great Shea Stadium in the background.


August 29, 2001 - going home. One last look at a skyline that will change dramatically 13 days later.

[Squinch]

1. Somewhere I have photos of the 1986 harbor celebration for the re-opening of the Statue

of Liberty after it was restored. There was a big ship parade and we were anchored right off Ellis Island. I'll see if I can dig those out.

The skyline now is unrecognizable and, I think, not as pretty.

Your photos are amazing, taken 2 weeks before. Thanks for sharing them.

[Dennis Donovan]

2. Please do!

Although I wasn't there, the 1986 celebration (under the auspices of Lee Iacocca, IIRC?) rivaled the events ten years before (the Bicentennial).

[chwaliszewski]

3. +1

[nattyice]

4. Thousands of lives to soon be lost under the watch of Dubya

A recurring theme, it seems

[mitch96]

5. I had dinner up there in the early '70s... Very impressive view.

What got me was how much it swayed at the top...
m

[Roy Rolling]

6. Thanks

Love the citizen journalism, it’s as good as any WTC story we’ve seen.

[StarryNite]

7. So many things have changed.

Thank you for sharing.

[rgbecker]

8. Thanks for posting these pics and the story.

I was hoping to do that trip in my sailboat (Catalina 22) some day...but alas time marches on. I was in Boston Harbor at the Rhodes 19 nationals on 9/11. They decided to continue with the event and not let the Terrorists win. As we practiced for the end of the week racing, looking up we watched fighter jets tailing passenger jets heading into Logan. Beautiful clear day with perfect winds.

How about a trip to Buffalo on the Erie Canal? Or up to Lake Champlain?

[Texin]

9. My husband and I traveled to New York in February 2001 for his nephew's wedding.

We stayed in midtown Manhattan and took the subway to Battery Park and, from there, walked to the WTC and rode the elevator to the observation level. I remember how much I had wanted to do this since the '70s when they were built, and I always wanted to dine in Windows on the World. Well, it was a Sunday so that was out, but the views were stunning at the top. I lingered there - probably much to my husband's consternation - but he indulged me and I'm grateful for that. When we left, we were sitting in the plane in a taxi queue and the jet made a turn that looked directly across the water from the WTC, and I had a very strange feeling that I would never look on them again except in a movie or on television or some such. It was a premonition so vivid that I told myself,, "whelp, the plane's probably going to crash." We always tend to personalize those types of things. Thankfully, we made it back on a totally pleasant and uneventful flight to the safety of our home. But it turns out that my premonition was right. I would never be able to view the buildings in person again, except as the images of them being targeted by the terrorist flights, and the buildings imploding into molten steel beams and dust, and people jumping to their doom on the sidewalks as the building burned around them. Both images have remained with me and always will as long as my brain can function as it should.

[MyMission]

10. Lovely images. Thank you.

I was born and raised in NYC. Left in 2003, was there on 9/11, less than a mile away, saw the 2nd plane hit, saw that tower fall before the first, heard sirens for hours.

The images you shared are in my head, but too often replaced by what I witnessed during and after the attack. Thanks for the pleasant memories.

[electric_blue68]

11. Thank you for these lovely photos. What a cool...

adventure boating all the way down to the lower Hudson Bay and a quick visit to the ocean.

A joy to see (as a life long NYC'r) some ones personal pics of The Twins.

A few days before 9-11 I took a bus from midtown early in the morning bc I was out all night avoiding a roommate who'd gone over the top and rode all the way down past the WTC. It was just me and the bus driver, so we chatted.

She made a turn westward on the first street north of the WTC complex. We passed right under the overpass to the next street, which was next to the small staircase that people used to escape after the The Towers we're hit .
This was near Tower 1, North Tower. I looked up and smiled.

Little did I know ...

Thanks again for happy memories

Oh, and yeah the old Shea Stadium! <3.
Saw The Mets there.

[babylonsister]

12. Nice memories; sounds like a heck of a trip!

We may have crossed paths. About that time, somewhere in August, 2001, I took a Circle Line cruise around the Statue of Liberty with my dad and his honey, both gone now. I wish I could find the pic of them with the towers behind them.

[Dennis Donovan]

13. It was a blast... the halcyon days before all hell broke loose