Go to the Movies by Kayak in NYC

LIC Boathouse in New York City offers free kayaking programs, sometimes to the movies. Photo: Erik R. Trinidad

Ever think of going to the movies — via kayak?  That was one adventurous idea from Erik Baard, founder of the Long Island City Community Boathouse in Queens (one of a few community boathouses throughout the five boroughs of New York), a non-profit organization whose mission is not only to provide neighborhood New Yorkers with recreational kayaking programs, but also to educate and raise awareness about the local estuary ecology.  I was invited to a small, informal excursion with this group, led by Baard, to paddle four miles up and down the East River in sea kayaks to Socrates Sculpture Park for one of their nighttime outdoor film screenings.

Kayaking in New York's East River is a lovely alternative to sitting in traffic. Photo: Erik R. Trinidad

With snacks and popcorn packed into dry bags, we launched from Anable Basin near the LIC Boathouse one evening, just as the tides of the East River changed in our favor.  Despite a short-lived squall that drenched us immediately after launch, we shook ourselves off and paddled our way up the East River — under the traffic of the Queensboro Bridge — until we arrived in the sheltered waters of Hallets Cove.  It was there the movie screen was set up in the park; however, the screen was not visible from the water and there was no choice but land to watch it — which sort of defeated the novelty of kayaking to the cinema. And so, we opted to paddle back to the boathouse under the illumination of nighttime lights coming from the skyscrapers of Manhattan, and the bridges above our heads.

Like the others in this experimental kayak-to-the-movies excursion, I realized that the best part of kayaking to the movies is the actual kayaking — especially since you can’t watch the movie from the river. Watching a movie may be a nice escape to the routine of city life, but sometimes getting there by kayak is a nice escape too.