The USA, New York and Florida

USA: New York, St Augustine, Jacksonville, Crystal River 08.09.2012 - 22.09.2012

It's travel time again and we are off to New York (Manhattan) and later to St.Augustine in Florida to visit with my brother BJ and his wife Theresa. We arrive in New York on a rainy night and after 40 minutes of circling and an hour and a half in passport control we finally head off to Hotel 31 on 31st Street. In the morning we found out why we had to circle for so long, there were really bad thunder showers and even two small tornados in the area that caused a fair bit of damage. Jorunn was so hungry she had to get out at 6.15 AM the first day to get breakfast at a corner deli, and it was great to seee the area so early on a Sunday morning, way before the crowds started to fill the area around Empire State Building.

After breakfast it was time to explore the city so we packed for the day and headed to the Empire State building which was a few blocks up the street. The Empire State building is a beautiful classical building. After entering through the brass lined revolving door to step onto polished marble floors that lead us to the elevator to the 82nd floor where we walked up to the 86th floor as the elevators were full and we did not want to wait. It was very crowded when we arrived but soon found our way to the wall to see the beautiful view of Manhattan and the surrounding area.

It really was an amazing view, Manhattan is an island at the mouth of the Hudson river and is known for it's high risers, from our vantage point we saw in the distance Central park, on either side the river, on one side the Brooklyn Bridge and the Manhattan Bridge and in the other direction forests of tall buildings and in the distance the Statue of Liberty , what a view. We also went to the top, the 102 ND floor where we could see a bit more out in the distance with less people but we were inside.

On this trip we decided once again to use the hop on hop off bus which drove around to all the areas we wanted to go, from the Empire State Building we drove past the Flatiron Building, a famous New York building that looks like a piece of cake. We passed Greenwich Village, Soho, Little Italy and then to China town where we stopped for dumplings.

After lunch we contniued the drive by Wall street where we saw the famous Wall street bull where there were many people taking pictures but the strange thing was that just as many people were taking pictures of the the front as the back where they would put there heads in his butt hole and then grab on to his balls and for the camera (they were some very shiny balls). We passed Battery Park , the gateway to the statue of Liberty , as we moved on we passed the old fish markets at South Street Seaport before driving under the Manhattan Bridge, through the East villlage and on to the U.N. Building.

After passing Rockefeller Center we were soon at Central Park where we got off the bus to walk around a bit and enjoy the warm day. Central park is very large so we only could see a bit of the park. The part we saw was filled with joggers, walkers, strollers and horse drawn carriages. After a sunny walk in the park we once again hopped on the bus passing Carnegie Hall and on to the lights and crowds of Time Square (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Times_Square). This was a amazing place filled will lights that flashed all around us and people everywhere, in the centre of this was a setting area where people could watch a short segment of a Broadway Musical, in the centre of it all was the naked cowboy (not really totally naked) where he stands every day year round. After an exciting day we rewarded ouselves with some New York cheese cake before heading back to the hotel, and our third room change, as we were going out for some real New York pizza. (I will not say a lot about the pizza but it was great and very filling so go try pizza at Lombardi's when in New York.

The next day we were still a little jet lagged, but ready for a new round of sightseeing, we hopped on the bus heading towards Harlem. On the way we passed the Lincoln centre before heading back towards Central Park to see where the rich and famous live also, and also where in Central Park the nannies take there children (how exciting! - not). We passed the natural history museum, St John's Cathedral and then the Washington Bridge before getting off in Harlem to walk around and have some lunch. At lunch we had a chat with a young soldier and got to hear his story about where he'd been stationed before heading off again. Harlem was an interesting place during the day, full of life with wide streets, musicians singing on the sidewalk and classical New York style buildings with metal fire escapes on the outside the buildings. Feeling a bit tired we took the subway back to the hotel to rest up before dinner. (A bit about the subways: they're noisy, old, hot while you wait, cold while you are riding, and confusing at first. After you figure out the system it's great but still noisy, hot, and cold at times.)

In the evening we headed out to the old meatpacking district and to eat dinner at the Spice Market, a really nice place with an Asian touch. The meatpacking district has become a very area trendy area with lot's of bars and restaurants and is changing every day as designer cloths stores move into the area.

We now had spent a fair time walking around Soho, Greenwich Village, Little Italy, Chinatown and doing some shopping so I thought it might be a good time to visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coney_Island, after hearing so much about it. We took the subway over the Manhattan Bridge and through Brooklyn (which was a pleasant area with small houses and lot's of charm) to the end stop of Coney Island. We had only a short walk before reaching the boardwalk but sadly things looked pretty closed but what can you expect when it's the end of season. As it was sunny and warm we decided to spend some time on the beach even if it was too cold to swim. We did take time to walk around a bit but there really was not a lot to see plus that rides and games were closed, but now we've been to Coney Island. On the way back to Manhattan on the subway we met a very smart pigeon that got on with us and ate his fill with food scrapes and three stops later flew out through the open doors (I think it was one of the cleanup crew).

It's a new day and time to head to Florida to visit with my brother and his wife. As we were getting used to the subway we lugged our big suitcases down the stairs for a fast ride to the airport (Jorunn somehow managed to get her suitcase caught in the turn still but eventually got it loose HA HA HA very funny, at least for me). As we landed the rains started (we were hoping they would stop as we had so much rain in Oslo this summer). We stepped outside and then it really started raining and it wasn't until we were halfway to St. Augustine that it stopped and the sun came out. It was dinner time so we stopped at a locally famous hickory smoked ribs place, with a big pig on the outside, and drove off to the beach where we sat on the soft, pearly, white sand, watched the waves and ate our food before heading back to the house.

We had a night of catching up and enjoying the warm evening and also taking time to get to know the dogs Max, Peaches and Jack. The next day we were off to the beach. On the short drive to the beach we passed over the inland waterway, this is a large body of water coming mostly from the Tolomato river that is separated from the ocean by long sand islands that continue down the coast for many kilometers, every once in a while inland waters run off into the ocean, and as it's mostly fresh water the surrounding area has lush green grass, trees and lot's of animal life.

We made it to the beach after a short drive but we still had a short walk ahead of us as there are beautiful sand dunes with patches of grass and shrubs where a number of different animal live (snakes, turtles, mice and birds). As we walked we saw a turtle and a snake before we reached the beach. The sand dunes are a protected area, and what a beach; white pearly sand that stretched for kilometers in both direction. With this long beach area there were no crowds at all but you have to be a little careful as cars are allowed to drive on the beach, some other fun things were that turtles lay eggs on these beaches so if you're lucky you can see that. The other thing is that while you're out swimming in the warm water (body surfing of course) you can see 5 to 10 Pelicans skimming the waves for looking for fish (plus other birds). One day we saw what we first thought was a dolphin in the waves, but after a while we realized that it was some sort of bigger shark, possibly a mako shark.

After some time on the beach (also I got burned, not bad, but enough) it was time to see something different so we drove a little farther down the coast to Washington Oaks National park , this was a very pretty area with large oak trees covered in Spanish Moss that hung from the tree limbs. As this area was originally a retirement home the house stood facing the inland waterway and was surrounded by gardens and ponds. The other part of the estate was on the beach side which had deposits of Coquina (used for building houses in the early days) and where we drove past land turtles eating the grass by the road side (a cheap lawnmower).

Next stop was St. Augustine city, the oldest continually occupied city in America, it has a large and a small stone fort. We took a walk on the bridge over the inland waterway where we were met by two large stone lions, on the right the fort itself to the left was a small park with a church and Flagler College in the background. We soon found ourselves walking int the centre of the old town which had original old buildings and some new but very tasteful buildings with lot's of shops and restaurants but my favorite was the fudge shop with lot's of mouthwatering fudge. After lunch by the old water wheel we did some shopping and saw some more of the old town and drove a little farther to a street with large trees on both sides and with lot's of Spanish moss hanging everywhere, very pretty but a little bit spooky. We drove for a while longer to see a bit more of the town as there were very pretty houses scattered around the area.

After a full day of sightseeing, shopping and looking around it was time for rest before dinner as we were off to Aunt Kate's , this is a nice family restaurant next to the inland waterway where food is good and the view over the water with all the birds and the beautiful sunset is gorgeous.

We also drove to Jacksonville for the day, checking out the Naval Air Staion Jacksonville, and we were happy to see a pod of dolphins in the waters outside the base. They were not scared off by the military. We also had a great lunch with fresh sea food that came in from fishing boats directly to the restaurant, a real treat !!!

It was time for a little road trip as we had heard that there are Manatees that you can go snorkelling with in Florida. We set off in the morning zig zaging our way across Florida, at first the roads were lined with tall pine trees so we did not see a lot but as we reached the halfway mark the trees gave way to rolling grassy hills with large horse ranches on either side but in the end we reached our destination Crystal River.

Since we arrived in the early afternoon we decided to rent a couple of kayaks so that we could see a bit more of the area and hopefully get to see some Manatees. We paddled out into the canal, there were houses in small canals on the left but forest and brush on the right. A little farther on we came to a small inlet that lead to a small waterway of crystal clear water as we paddle farther we arrived in a pool with crystal clear water that was truly amazing. We would later find out that this is one of the places the Manatees sleep and huddle together to keep warm during the winter months as this is where spring water comes out and it holds a pretty constant temperature.

As we paddled on we saw our first sign of manatees very briefly, this got our adrenalin going so we waited for a bit and with no results we decided to paddle out to one of the Buzzard island to see if we had some better luck. Sadly the water was not very clear but we kept on looking, then it happened, a nose appears out of the water with a loud exhale before it once again disappearing under the water. We saw many noses, backs and tails while in this area but not a whole Manatee.

There were a couple of fun things that happened to my brother BJ, the first was when a Manatee came up right next to his kayak and exhaled very loudly so that my brother almost fell out of his kayak and the second was when he was backpaddling and almost ran into a Manatee. After hanging around for a while seeing many noses and other body parts we paddled on around Buzzard island and with no more sightings we paddled back to where we rented our kayaks as it was time to find our hotel. After getting a little lost we found our hotel which was not far, the hotel was a bit run down but it had good food and a great view, it was also very pretty here and very quiet. After dinner we watched some of the local birds and the sunset and talked to some of the other tourists before heading back to the room to rest as the next day we were hoping to swim with a Manatee.

05:00 in the morning and it's time for breakfast as we had to get to the tour office by 06:00 for our briefing. The weather is not looking too good at the moment as there are large, heavy clouds outside and lighting which could mean no tour today. At the shop things were positive and we quickly received our briefing and dawned wet suits, got our cameras ready and we were off to the marina, upon arriving we meet our captain who had been studying Manatees for many years and was a wealth of information. 10 minutes later we saw our first Manatee but sadly one of them was tagged and when they are tagged they are either injured or being used for research meaning you have stay away from them. Another boat came so we moved a bit away to check some other areas but as the captain knew the Manatee habits we soon circled back and found that the two Manatees had separated so that we could get into the water.

Just our luck, we found our Manatee eating away at the surrounding sea grass that they love, we got very lucky and spent a fair bit of time with this Manatee and took a lot of pictures and videos. The water was very clear here. After a while the tagged Manatee came to join the crowd so it was time to get out of water and see if we could find some more Manatees, as we traveled on we found out that the water was not as clear so it was much harder to find the Manatees but the captain knew where to look and we soon sighted Manatees again. After a few false starts we came to where there were several Manatees. The first one was very large and to our surprise and delight we soon swam across a mother and a calf that swam right under me close enough to touch but sadly the water was too murky to take pictures but we will always have the picture in our minds.

After 3 hours of excitement on the water it was time to head back to the shop to get dried off and compare pictures and talk about what we had seen before we headed back to our hotel for a hot shower before we head back to St Augustine. Bad luck no shower when we got back they were repairing the pipes but lucky for us a half hour later a hot shower and then it was off to lunch. We just got to the restaurant the weather that had been threatening all morning moved in and the sky open up as we sat and watch the rain. We considered ourselves lucky with the weather as it rained almost the whole way back to St.Augustine.

The last days in St. Augustine were spent looking around the area and as much time on the beach as possible. We enjoyed evenings eating out and some at home eating, drinking and sometime plays games. So much great food in Florida: crab cakes, grouper, mahi mahi, alligator tail, key lime pie. One night we were invited to Theresa's Aunt and Uncle for dessert where we had a great time. Our time in Florida was over and it was time to pack up as it was time to head back to New York for a couple of day before we head home to Norway and like a sign of sadness as we entered the plane the rain began to fall.

The last days in New York were spent shopping and just walking around as we had done a lot of sightseeing earlier. We also had time to walk more than halfway over the Manhattan Bridge, a great place to see New York from. It was a great feeling to enjoy such a pulsating city with beautiful architecture and the places we have seen so many times in movies and on TV. We loved just sitting and talking in Central Park and stopping for an organic lunch in a great cafe on the Upper East Side on our last day in New York.

Videos from snorkelling with manatees