We arrived in Manhattan a week ago (by air, not boat) and were greeted by forecasts for hurricane Sandy. The subway ride across New York from JFK Is always an interesting experience....the big apple! Sandy has now proved to have been a record storm for this area, leaving a long term legacy for many. We'd booked a week in New York last spring as part of our fall plans to travel to our boat on the Potomac and preparation for winterization and in-water storage for TWINS this winter. We've relocated TWINS to the Chesapeake in July for a season or three and had selected the Corinthian Yacht Club as our latest base of operations. As of this writing, we do not yet know how we've weathered the storm there. We do know that there were 100 mph wind gusts nearby at Point Lookout at the mouth of the Potomac. We anticipate the need for a new Bimini and can just hope other damage is minimal! We will know tomorrow when we arrive at the boat. Hurricane Sandy has been incredible. We have been lucky. We arrived before the storm, had a room on the 12th floor nearby Central Park, and leave tomorrow after the worst of the storm has passed and the conditions in NYC slowly but steadily return to normal. Our inconvenience is minuscule compared to the loss experienced by many others. We happen to be right next door to the dangling construction crane and look up regularly at the 80 ton mangled boom 1000 feet above 57th street. This is our third hurricane of note. Our first was Gustaf in 2008 but we only felt the rainy remnants as we were on the Illinois River starting our loop a few years ago. Record rainfall in St Louis made our trip down the Mississippi an incredible experience with related flooding and debris fields. Moored at Hoppies, we watched huge trees, COE buoys and appliances all float by, only to pass them again the next day! Our second hurricane was Ida the following year as we reached the Gulf. Another experience as we hunkered down at Dog River and watched the marina flood over the fixed docks there. A direct hit, luckily downgrading to a tropical storm as it came ashore in Mobile, AL. We were under cover, but roof still had dangling timber with exposed nails from Katrina and many high up scars on the piling from the boats tied up during that behemoth. Sandy is described as the largest hurricane on record, in terms of size (area). Even though it was "only" a category 1, it broke the record for barometric pressure for the northeast. Waves on NY Harbor were 5 feet higher than the previous record. and as you now know, the storm surge was higher than predicted flooding subways, tunnels and whole neighborhoods. Incredible destruction along the Jersey Shore, houses relocated to freeways and boats blown everywhere.....natures fury! We have walked New York daily, .....before, during and after the storm. Every day brings different experiences. Small things speak volumes....the shutdown of all Starbucks! No power and traffic lights out in lower Manhattan. Traffic gridlock. Closed subway stations. Flooded airports. Trash and debris. Closed until further notice! And the stream of images from the storm, jaw dropping! Perspectives in life...... Stay warm, dry and safe! Enjoy every sandwich.......