Let’s Get Wet: Broke-Ass Water Activities
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If you’re a fellow cube dweller by day, you’re lucky enough to enjoy free air conditioning for approximately eight hours Monday through Friday while the rest of the city – namely tourists who don’t believe in deodorant – slog around the streets, coated in their own sweat, and clog the subway trains with their body odor.
To keep from joining those smelly ranks on the weekends, when you’re (hopefully) not in the office, try staying cool with one of these broke-ass water activities.
This Saturday, the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance is hosting a day full of free waterfont activities, ferry rides, live music, boat tours, and other keep-you-cool fun.
From 10 to 4 on Governors Island or Liberty State Park in New Jersey, you can do everything from cruise along the Hudson River during the History of the Hudson boat tour to compete against other broke asses in a cardboard kayak race … all for FREE.
Downtown Boathouse, located at Pier 40 (West end of Houston Street) and Pier 96 (West end of 56th Street) offers free kayaking for anyone over 18 with an ID and a verbal confirmation that they know how to swim.
Pier 96 kayaking is from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays through October. It’s a good idea to get there before 9 for no wait – otherwise, you may be stuck on the dock until a kayak frees up. And definitely use the restroom before so as to avoid the single porta potty on the bike path that was full to the brim last I checked. Barf. And if you’d rather stay lower in the city, you can kayak from 10 to 6 at Pier 40.
Free kayaking with Downtown Boathouse at Pier 96
Water Gun Fight
If you were in Central Park on June 29, you may have noticed a massive squirt-gun battle on the Great Lawn. Although the official Water Fight NYC event has passed, why not start your own? I know for a fact you can get some pretty legit sprayers at the dollar store.
Less creative reprieves include pools, beaches, and those Russian ice bars I keep hearing about in the Lower East Side, but if all else fails, just hop in the shower. At least that’ll leave you smelling better than the Hudson River will.
Photo credits: Me
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