Yoga in X Square

Did yoga in Times Square. Nuff said!

Summer Solstice

Boatel

What is a boatel? It's not a hotel, but it's a boat that you can reserve to stay in for a night or two far in near the Rockaways, at Marina 59. I first heard about it through a passed on link. Having stayed before on a boat in Boston for a weekend, I closed my eyes, picked a day, and kept my fingers crossed it would be a sunny day when we went. The project originally started when Constance Hockaday gathered up broken boats that were going to be destroyed, "adopted" them, and had various artists give each boat a themed makeover. For a donation stipend of $50 a night, I jumped on it and took a chance that gave me back lots of memories and photo ops.

Let me introduce Crumb, our boat. It's the best one out of the bunch, with a two seater viewing deck on the top. We were able to view the airplanes passing by from JFK airport when the sun set.

 Cute personality and character inside the boat – my favorite trait was the crazy Shocker sign painted on the ceiling, and this hook set underneath:

 In this experience, there are no bathrooms on board, but there are shared public restrooms (surprisingly very clean and new) with showers ready for use. We stuck it out and didn't bother with those since we were going to beach it out the next morning anyway. There is no electricity on board for you to charge your phones and iPads and gadgets – after all, what would be the point?? This is supposed to be boat camping at its best!

For dinner, there is a common area with a shared grill – in total there were probably around 10 boats guzzied up together, each taking in 2-4 people. There is a grocery store right outside of the Marina within easy reach. We made sure we were prepared for the one night stay though – coolers, chili cheese corn, pork chops, strawberries, vino, and even fresh guac made on the spot. Yeah, we went all out. There were a couple of people who jumped off the docks and did a night swim before passing out in their own cubbies and calling it a night.

They're in the works to create some new boat designs, can't wait to see them.

 One VERY funny but stupid moment which could've cost me my life: Boatel sometimes does movie screenings on certain nights and projects it on the white screen below. We saw a floating chair and wanted to get a pic on it. Once I stepped on board and leaned back for a pic, the WHOLE CHAIR TIPPED BACK. Someone caught our priceless freak out expressions. Both of us are non-swimmers with no life jackets on -__-. Time to sign up for some lessons!

 All in all, in the end, we got the calm photo we wanted. With stained evidence that we survived the imbalance haha. For the water loving people, I did see some kayaks that were avail for renting and paddling around. There was also goats and cats along the dock, one goat came over to sniff what I had in my grocery bag, and completely sneezed on me.

Booking is a lot easier than it used to be, I'd definitely sign up to go back. For those interested, check their website sched.