What’s Your Happy Place? Reflections on the joys of the NYC Ferry

by August Cosentino

Everybody’s got happy places. So what are yours, exactly? Do they include lying on a Caribbean beach being handed a Negroni sbagliato? Or curling up in a chair and feeling pleased that you’ve finished the Sunday NYT crossword puzzle without looking up half the clues?

One of mine is priceless— and at the same time ridiculously inexpensive. It’s sitting on the deck of a large NYC Ferry boat on a picture-perfect summer day. 

Now the NYC Ferry, mind you, is not just one boat. It’s a whole fleet of ferry boats that follow multiple routes up and down the East River of Manhattan—and move on from there. Some head north to the Bronx, others to various points in Queens. Still others sail under the Williamsburg, Manhattan, and Brooklyn Bridges, cross into Brooklyn, hug the coast of Coney Island, and transport you to the picturesque shore towns of Rockaway.

Okay. So how much is inexpensive? A single ride will set you back a staggering $2.75–or $3.75 if you bring a bike. 

The NYC Ferry seems to be one of those dirty little secrets people have known about for a while. “Oh yeah, I’ve taken that to Wegmans in the Navy Yard.” Or, “Are you kidding? It’s the fastest way to get to Governor’s Island.” And so on.

However, I discovered the NYC Ferry only recently when I found myself with some extra time on my hands (or when recovering from a 100-mile bike ride.) This also came from a deep-seated desire to stop doing the same old, same old, as if that were even possible in the most exciting city in the world.

Once you download the NYC Ferry app, your world opens up. You can visit Brooklyn’s own Chinatown in Sunset Park, a place you’ve only read about in the Real Estate section of the New York Times. If you’ve got a bike, you can load it on the ferry, stay on till Bay Ridge, where you can get off and ride on a paved (and flat) path that will lead you directly under the Verrazano Bridge. As you pass under the stanchions, pause for a moment and stare up. Ask yourself how it supports 50,000 New York Marathoners every first Sunday in November. (Um, keep moving, please. There’s a lycra-clad cyclist coming up fast behind you.)

Or if you’d prefer, park yourself on the upper deck of a Rockaway-bound boat some steamy summer day, turn off your phone, whip out the SPF 30, talk to a fellow passenger (everyone’s very friendly) or just stare out at the coastline as the boat makes its way to Rockaway Beach. RB is a lovely beach with a boardwalk that stretches for miles, and waves that draw surfers from the five boroughs and beyond. 

If you get tired of the beach, stress not: Rockaway is also a bona fide outer-borough nabe where you can scarf down fish tacos while listening to Spanish rap on the sound system, gulp down a fruit smoothie, and be home in time for drinks at Pier 17.

So before the summer gets away from you, make getting somewhere on the NYC Ferry a priority.

PS: nobody is paying me to say all these nice things about the NYC Ferry, least of all the people who operate it. They don’t have to. Isn’t that what a happy place is all about?