Njideka Akunyili and Justin Crosby met me for a ride through some of the creeks that divide the south Bronx.
Kane’s Park is a pretty peninsula at the tip of Clason Point,
and it sports a little boat launch.
perfect for exploring the area.
The water was glassy and calm,
and the silence of the early morning was punctuated by jets landing at Laguardia Airport.
We passed the wreck of a huge metal boat,
and floated quietly right through the middle of her hull.
“I feel like I am on a Safari,” said Njideka.
Justin and I jokingly pointed out the local habitat.
The houses backed up to the water lie perfectly still,
under the path of roaring jets.
We found a place in Pugsley Creek, where you couldn’t see a single mark of human beings,
just birds and verdant bank,
but that didn’t last long.
The roof of an SUV parked in the river.
“How did it get here?” We wondered.
Back out in the bay we discovered an Osprey nest high up on a sunken crane;
the perfect house.
But the Osprey was out hunting for sticks when we came by.
We headed up the Westchester Creek,
I kept wanting to see what was around the next bend.
Under the Bruckner expressway,
we could see cars through the bridge overhead.
A man standing on a construction barge asked what we were doing and listed the diseases that we could get from the water in the Westchester Creek.
We did notice that the water had a peculiar reddish color this far up,
but we were careful not to touch it (in case any of our mothers are reading this).
We watched herons and egrets hunting along the bank. “I guess they can’t get hepatitis.” I said.
On the way back, we stopped a while to watch the Osprey nest.
There were two above the nest and they danced and circled, dropping sticks into their home.
The tide and gone out considerably and more of the bank and wrecks had emerged above the water.
A dense fog had settled over Manhattan, which was barely visible to the south.
I thought we should get off the water before it got too hot,
Njideka and Justin live just a few stops from here on the 2 train into Manhattan.
Thanks for a great trip guys!
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