July 4 weekend is our time to reward the volunteers who’ve contributed so many hours of hard work to providing free educational programs on our waters and in classrooms. We found it fitting to honor the national holiday with a paddle looping around the Statue of Liberty from our launch in LIC on the Newtown Creek. What a blast!

Our theme for the day was set by this Union of Concerned Scientists report about how rising sea levels as a result of anthropogenic (human caused) climate change will threaten our national monuments. A United Nations report agreed that the damage to the Statue of Liberty and other World Heritage Sites will be “incalculable.”

The day shared by volunteers, however, was gorgeous. We’re grateful for each day of peace and plenty before CO2 emissions’ mounting toll is gravely felt, and hope we can work to prevent the worst.

The East River was glassy as we glided on the ebb past Brooklyn, easily rounding The Battery and crossing to New Jersey and drifting down to the Statue. We were well ahead of schedule. We paused at the “Wunder Bar,” a secret little submerged island of sorts where one can stand in the center of New York Harbor. We landed in the Jersey City canal community of Port Liberté.

Our return was both fun and challenging. We stopped for a dip at a beach sardonically nicknamed “Chromium Beach” for Jersey City’s industrial legacies. Instead of retracing our morning course through much busier afternoon ferry traffic, we crossed the choppy harbor to Governors Island and scooted under its south point to ride the flood up Buttermilk Channel and then onward to Brooklyn and home to Queens.