September 15, 2011

East River Jet Skis

I met Tyson back in August of 2010 and in less than a year of knowing him, he had me down to Florida not once, but twice! When I heard he was going to be in New York for a few days, I wanted return the favor and surprise him. But, the eternal question: what to get the man with everything? Hmmmm, how about a day of JETSKIING on the scenic East River?

Thursday, September 15th

meredith, tyson — We arrived in Sheepshead Bay a little after 1pm...

...and headed to the marina to meet up with the guys from Jetty Jumpers.

The weather when we started out was perfect.

meredith — Meredith getting suited up!

me, tyson — Ready to ride.

Choose your steed!

tyson — Flexdown!

Here we go! When we started out, there was no wind and the water was almost glass-smooth.

5mph until you're clear of the marina.

me, meredith — Hold on tight!

Once we were out of the No Wake Zone, we were free to open them up full-throttle!

tyson — Less than ten minutes later...

...we were right offshore of Coney Island!

tyson — I didn't know ahead of time that the jetskis that we were riding...

...went up to 55mph (which is INSANELY fast on the water)!

Before we knew it, we'd made it to the Verrazano Bridge!

It's one thing to drive over it...

me, meredith — ...a whole different thing entirely to ride around UNDER it!

tyson — We sat around underneath it for a while and rested our arms. Before moving on, our guides got momentarily serious and explained to us that as we got closer to Manhattan, a helicopter might fly up to give us a look and make sure we didn't pose a threat - so if that happened, we should wave and smile nice for the person would most likely be viewing us through a sniper's scope. GOOD TO KNOW, thanks.

And sure enough, as we were jumping back and forth across the wake left by the Staten Island Ferry, a helicopter swooped in out of nowhere for a close look at us. It was the only time in my life I've said the sentence "Holy shit, I feel like I'm in a Jerry Bruckheimer movie."

meredith — The camera doesn't do these pics justice. In person, it felt like we were right on top of the Statue of Liberty.

tyson — There is something totally surreal and freeing about being on the water in a little personal boat where you can just drive right up to the Statue of Liberty. It just didn't seem real.

Our wonderful...

...Jetty Jumpers tour guides (who complimented us on our ability to go full-throttle the entire time). Awwww, shucks.

me, meredith — A quick picture of Mer and I in front of the statue...

...and then I just into the water for a pee break! Shhhh!

When I got back on, Mer moved up into the driver's seat!

meredith, tyson — Next stop...

tyson — ...Manhattan!

me, meredith — Here we go!

I am a much better jetski driver than I am jetski rider. Every time there was a wave, I kept making little girly screams and yelling "Look out!"

tyson — It's a pretty crazy feeling to just roll on up...

...to this!

Time out for the high speed ferry!

After cruising around the southern tip of Manhattan...

...we headed up the East River!

Full throttle means...

tyson — ...that you're coming up out of the water!

Coming up on the Brooklyn Bridge!

We spend the next half an hour...

...doing all sorts of high-speed maneuvers around and underneath the bridges in the East River.

Totally crazy.

A little after 3pm, a bunch of dark clouds rolled in, the temperature dropped significantly and we had to high-tail it back to not get caught in a torrential rainstorm!

Here's a map of the route we took!

Calm before the storm!

Afterwards, our arms were like noodles and we were SO COLD! We headed back to our place to watch the sunset and drink hot chocolates!