What was supposed to transpire during the nearly hour-long voyage into the Hudson River was a trip through the bracing wind and a view of the sun setting behind Lady Liberty.
When the reporter got seasick, Falcon exhorted him to overcome it by looking at the horizon.
For those who actually enjoy the water, Jersey City could almost be seen as an island considering how much of the city's coastline is surrounded by the Hudson River and the Lower New York Bay to the east, and Hackensack River and the Newark Bay to the west.
And local residents are split on the best places to go boating, fish, or enjoy the view.Hailing the Hudson
Joe Arnold grew up on Jersey City's west side, with memories of swimming in the Hackensack River as a child and spending time on his father's boats navigating the waters off Jersey City.
Now, Arnold, 60, a longtime construction worker, spends much of his time on the Hudson River on his 34-foot sport fisherman boat. He also serves as the commodore of the Jersey City-based Liberty Yacht Club.
"What is unique about the Hudson River is that it is very deep, where the average depth is 90 feet approximately," Arnold said. "That makes it good for recreation boaters since they don't have to worry about running aground if they were in shallower waters."
Greg Remaud is the conservation director for NY/NJ Baykeeper, a non-profit organization responsible for the preservation of the Hudson-Raritan Estuary (an area where fresh water from the Hudson, Hackensack, Passaic and Raritan Rivers mixes with the salt water of the sea). He has taken many a trip in local waters.
"If you're in the Hudson, you are in the reeds one minute and then when you turn the corner, you are amongst the skyscrapers," Remaud said. Factoring in the Hackensack
Remaud also has been boating down the Hackensack River. This waterway has similarities to the Hudson River, where the human-built and natural environments that co-exist. But Remaud says it's different.
"There is not a lot of rocking on the Hackensack River," Remaud said. "It is a really like being on a floating platform since it is not as exposed to wind conditions, and it is a smaller volume of water than the Hudson."
Some of the trips that Remaud has taken on the Hackensack have been courtesy of Captain Bill Sheehan, a Secaucus resident who founded the Hackensack Riverkeeper environmental advocacy group in 1997 to help preserve the Hackensack River.
Sheehan, who constantly visited the river while growing up in Secaucus in the 1960s and 1970s, now leads "eco-cruises" on the river for the public to see the effects of the water's staying clean and serving as home of 265 different species of birds and more than 65 species of fish.
"Going up and down the Hackensack River, you will notice that you go from some very distressed areas of Jersey City to the preserved wetlands around the Meadowlands," Sheehan said last week. "It's a totally different world."
If you are interested in an eco-cruise, call (201) 968-0808 or e-mail hugh@hackensackriverkeeper.org Kids' opinions
Trevor Rubingh is the head pastor of the New City Kids Church on Fairmount Avenue in Jersey City. Through its subsidiary, New City Kids Organization, the church is in its fourth year of running their "City Sail" program that teaches Jersey City kids ages 11-18 about sailing and other valuable life skills each summer.
The sailing classes are done on the Hudson River in a sailboat docked in the Liberty Landing Marina near Liberty State Park in Jersey City.
Rubingh has gone sailing in the Hudson River a number of times with the kids in the church.
"There is nothing like the Hudson River, because you can't get more of a glorious view of The Statue of Liberty," Rubingh said. "The negative side is the water taxis, because they love to come barreling down the river. Yet the kids love it because of the all the waves the taxis make." Comments on this story can be sent to rkaulessar@hudsonreporter.com
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