Our successful Whale Watching with American Princess Cruises

Here's what we did on 7/28/2018 for a 1:00 pm departure

1. At 10:00 leave for a walk to the ferry
2. Take New York Waterways ferry to Manhattan
3. To get to the 2 train from the ferry, walk vesey to church. Head down follow signs to the 2 train until just past the Mosaic then make a left through the turnstile. 
4. Take the 2 train to Flatbush Ave. in Brooklyn (could alternatively take the 5 from Fulton Center.)
5. Walk one block to the Q35 bus. Got lost looking for the bus. We finally found it. It's Ave h near the corner of Ave H and Flatbush across from the side of modells
6. Take the bus to Rockaway Point, which is the very first stop after the bridge
7. Walk five minutes to Riis Landing, which is next to the bridge
8. Arrived at around 12:15, boarded immediately, and took a seat on the upper deck. Mike got an edge seat by the cabin, which allowed him to see all around him without undue twisting.
9.  We saw several sightings of two whales total
10. They start heading home at 4 pm. During the trip home, we stopped to see 24 bottlenose dolphins jumping. The crew said it was unusual to see this many. 

Notes

1. We didn't get hot dogs on the boat and didn't even find out what else they had. Going below deck to get something to eat could have caused us to miss something. Best to bring sandwiches next time.
2. The boat is called "The Atlantic Pearl." 
3. We learned that on weekends, they use The Atlantic Pearl. On weekdays they use a bigger ship.
4. Next time, extra hat mike in case his blows off. 
5. Get a seat early but that will happen if we take The Atlantic Pearl all the way from Pier 11 and stay on.
6. Slather on the sunscreen and maybe bring some
7. Bring bird guides and binoculars
8. Bring wipes






Our surprise return trip

11. As we were disembarking back at Riis Landing at 5:05, the captain announced a 5:30 departure of same boat headed for Pier 11 Wall Street
12. So we stayed on the boat and paid an extra ten dollars each to get an hour long boat ride back to Manhattan instead of the Q35 plus subway. Worth it! We learned that for any weekend whale watching, we can depart at 11:00 am from Pier 11/Wall Street, arrive at noon at Riis Landing, stay on the boat all day and then of course go home by the same means. It will cost each of us ten dollars each way for a total of forty dollars exta. So worth it.
13. This boat ride from and to Pier 11/Wall Street is only on weekends, only 11 am and 5:30 pm, and normally costs $30 round trip, but that's for people going to the beach. Us whale watchers who will stay on the boat all day get a discount. So for us, it's $20 each.
14. So for future trips, we'll leave our house a little before 10 am, and get to Pier 11/Wall Street before 11 am and just take the boat!
15. Upon our return to South Street Seaport area, we found a restaurant we've been to once before and have come to love it. It's called Barbalu, and I've written about it in a separate post.  

Our first attempt at Whale watching cruise out of Riis Landing on Princess Crusies

Here's what we did on 7/15/2018 for a 1:00 pm departure 

1. At 10:00 leave for a walk to the ferry
2. Take ferry to Manhattan
3. Walk to the subway station at Chambers or Park Place
4. Take the 2 train to Flatbush Ave. in Brooklyn (could alternatively take the 5 from Fulton Center.)
5. Walk one block to the Q35 bus
6. Take the bus to Rockaway Point.
7. Walk five minutes to Riis Landing, which is next to the bridge
8. Arrived at noon. Stand in rain. 
9. Turn around and go home before the boat ever arrived because we were drenches.
10. On Tuesday (they're closed on Monday) called Princess Cruises to tell them we had no shelter. The actual boat rides are rain or shine, but they understood about waiting in the rain. They rescheduled us and so we haven't lost any money.

Notes

1. We learned that they sell hot dogs on the boat

From Jersey City to Rockaway Beach

We went to Rockaway Beach on a Saturday. Here's how we traveled

1. Harborside Ferry to Brookfield Place/Battery Park Ferry Terminal
2. Walk Liberty to Broadway to Wall to Wall Street/Pier 11 Ferry Terminal
3. Take the NYC Ferry Rockaway line. The waiting line was very long, but we got on. Those ferries fit a lot of people.
4. It took about an hour and a half. This one had no stops.
5. We pass Riis Landing
6. We arrive at the ferry terminal which is at Beach 108th Street
7. We walked directly toward the beach, then took Rockaway Beach Boardwalk east, looking for lunch
8. We stopped at Caracas Areba Bar and while on line, overheard a group of people saying they were leaving the line and headed to the Community House a few blocks away
9. Community House was a terrific find. It's a gastropub. There was no line, plenty of seating, and nice atmosphere including outdoor seating
   101-19 Rockaway Beach Blvd, Rockaway Park, NY 11694 communityhouserb.com (347) 619-9417
10. Then we walked east some more, and eventually turned around and headed to 98th street to take the A train all the way to Chambers. 
11. Walked down Murray to return to the Brookfield Place/Battery Park Ferry Terminal