We are sailing

They say that in New York the days where you have nothing planned sometimes turn out to be the best days, well this was certainly true for us at the weekend.

Although September, the heat was still turned up high and we really fancied a refreshing boat ride after quite a long walk around the city.  However the thought of standing with the hoards of tourists to see the Statue of Liberty or something similar did not really appeal.

We have walked past the Clipper City Tall Ship at Battery Park several times, but usually the next sail is fully booked or the timings don’t work for us.

But as we strolled past on Sunday, there was a cruise about to leave in half an hours time with lots of space available – perfect!

The City Clipper was originally built as a cargo ship, but has been refurbished with a sweeping deck, a full bar and number of seating options. It can now hold up to 130 passengers and sails around Manhattan harbour daily.

We were some of the first to board and headed to the front of the boat to grab a seat, further from the bar, but a fun place to be with lots of space.

The staff were all relaxed and friendly – even when our little guy tried to go places he probably wasn’t supposed to (see photo evidence below)!

The bar on board was great and very reasonably priced. I don’t have the best sea legs so I stuck to wine, but the cocktails did look very good and I’m told were very strong! They also do a mean kids cocktail so the little ones can join in the fun too.

Once we had our drinks, we sat back, enjoyed the sea breeze and soaked in all the amazing delights of the harbour, like I said sometimes the best days are unplanned.

They have various cruises throughout the day. We did the daytime statue sail, but you can also do this at twighlight or in the evening which would also be pretty amazing.

If you are after something more interesting they do some speciality cruises such as a lobster and beer lovers sail, a jazz sail and even a burlesque sail.

You can find out more on the Manhattan by Sail website.  

Spectacular city views from the boat.

A'hoy there!

Statue of Liberty in the background.

This guy really enjoyed his sail on the tall ship.

Erm, not sure you are supposed to do that!

Daddy and me.

And a rare mummy and me shot!

The deck and bar. 

The mast and sails. 

You get to see some interesting things on the water, a cruise ship and a head!