"You know, within a few tens of miles of Carnegie Hall and the Metropolitan Opera of NYC, there are the largest animals on this planet, crooning and singing arias and magnificent songs, just offshore. And if you went to the very top of the Stature of Liberty, looking out onto the ocean south of NY Harbor … you’d be looking onto the stage on which the animals are singing. They’re right there. " – Christopher Clark, Director of the Bioacoustic Research Program at Cornell University’s Lab of Ornithology
" We owe it to our children to be better stewards of the environment. The alternative? - a world without whales. It's too terrible to imagine. " - Pierce Brosnan
“The whales do not sing because they have an answer, they sing because they have a song.”
― Gregory Colbert
Last night I didn't sleep too well. This is not uncommon to me. I thought I sit on the terrace and meditate. I usually meditate in the morning, but I started a 21 day Deepok Chopra meditation , so I thought I do Meditation 1 again. Before I began I looked out over the east river. To my left is the tram and the Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge ( one of the 10 bridges that cross the East River) To my right is the north of the city. I can see the Cornell Weil Medical Center spanning East 67 - to East 71st.
As I was gazing to the left towards the bridge I saw commotion in the water. Something was popping up and down. I ran inside to tell Rick I think I see a whale. He was sleeping, but I asked him "where are the binoculars " He mumbled " The other bedroom." I ran to the other bedroom , grabbed the binoculars.
From the binoculars ( which has a camera on it - I never used or know how to use) I saw the large back of a whale. I was hoping to see him/her spout or a tail fin which I didn't. I followed the whale for 10 minutes in utter amazement and joy, till I saw it no longer. The appearance of the whale for me was symbolic as well as provoking a memory of our son, Gregory. Gregory must have been 7 or 8 years old when he and I went whale watching in Providence Town, MA. It was magical to see whales jump from the sea. To hear their back fin slap against the water is beyond reproach. We even saw a mother and child whale. I will never forget the look on Gregory's face when the whale jumped . From that memory I bought a painting years later of a father and son looking at the water from the beach. Alyssa didn't go whale watching that day in PTown, but she went shopping. She will have to go whale watching with me one day.
Rick asked me this morning, did I ask him about a whale last night. I said 'Yes' and that I saw a whale.
There are whales right here in New York Harbor. And seals and dolphins and a wealth of marine life. Wildlife is returning not just to the skies and parks of the city, but to its waters. Tom Paladino of American Princess Cruises in Queens has been leading wildlife-watching boat tours into the waters of New York Harbor and beyond. In a recent article in the NY Daily News, Paladino reports a tenfold increase in whale sightings in recent years, and says he saw dolphins virtually every day from June to September. Six different species of whale have been identified in New York waters: Humpback, Minke, Fin, Sei, Blue and the endangered North Atlantic Right whale, of which fewer than 400 still exist. If you walk by the rivers ( east or west- The Hudson) keep your eyes open for sea creatures. On Fire Island about two years ago, a baby seal was seen on shore.
The East River is a tidal strait in New York City. It connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates Long Island (including the boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn) from the island of Manhattan and the Bronx on the North American mainland. It is 16 miles.
The East River is dangerous to people who fall in or attempt to swim in it, although as of mid-2007 the water was cleaner than it had been in decades. Anyone in the channel would find there are few places from which to climb out. According to the marine sciences section of the city Department of Environmental Protection, the channel is swift, with water moving as fast as four knots (just as it does in the Hudson River on the other side of Manhattan). That speed can push casual swimmers out to sea. A few people drown in the waters around New York City each year.
The Brooklyn Bridge, opened in 1883, was the first bridge to span the strait, replacing frequent ferry service. Some passenger ferry service remains between Queens and Manhattan.
The river is spanned by ten bridges, which from north to south are:
1. Throgs Neck Bridge
2. Bronx-Whitestone Bridge
3. Rikers Island Bridge (From Queens to Rikers Island only)
4. Hell Gate Bridge
5. RFK-Triborough Bridge (East River Suspension Span)
6. Roosevelt Island Bridge (east channel only)
7. Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge
8. Williamsburg Bridge (Vehicular traffic & Trains of the J M Z subway services)
9. Manhattan Bridge (Vehicular traffic & Trains of the B D N Q subway services)
10. Brooklyn Bridge
The river is spanned by thirteen tunnels. From north to south,
1. 63rd Street Tunnel (Trains of the F subway service – upper level; lower level – under construction for LIRR East Side Access project)
2. 60th Street Tunnel (Trains of the N Q R subway services)
3. 53rd Street Tunnel (Trains of the E M subway services)
4. Steinway Tunnel (Trains of the 7 <7> subway services)
5. Queens-Midtown Tunnel (Vehicular traffic of Interstate 495)
6. East River Tunnels (Long Island Rail Road and Amtrak trains from Penn Station to points north and east)
7. 14th Street Tunnel (Trains of the L subway service)
8. Rutgers Street Tunnel (Trains of the F subway service)
9. Cranberry Street Tunnel (Trains of the A C subway services)
10. Clark Street Tunnel (Trains of the 2 3 subway services)
11. Montague Street Tunnel (Trains of the N R subway services)
12. Joralemon Street Tunnel (Trains of the 4 5 subway services)
13. Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel (Vehicular traffic of Interstate 478)
Until tomorrow...
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