Low Tide On The Gowanus Canal

While we discovered some birdhouses along the banks of the Gowanus Canal, the tide was low, uncovering more secrets, including a Victorian birdcage, a few tires, bottles, an air conditioner and some other stuff that was beyond recognition. The interesting thing was that everything was some sort of shade, even the silty bottom of the Canal.

And while we're glad to see birds, ducks, fish and even Sludgie surviving in the Gowanus Canal, its sad to see this much crap in this historic waterway. We assume most of the big stuff was dumped in there, but most of the smaller stuff enters the canal via the storm drains. When it rains really hard, all of the junk that my neighbors toss into the street, including those McDonalds meals, soda bottles, cigarette butts, lottery tickets and candy wrappers end up in a storm drain and that stuff -- at least the trash in my neighborhood -- ends up overflowing into the Canal and then out to sea.

Gowanus Canal Nest Colony ... seriously

You never know what you will see along the Gowanus Canal. Along both sides of Degraw Street is a small group of canary yellow birdhouses -- an installation called the Canal Nest Colony. The birdhouses, or "nests" are crafted from recycled materials and hope to attract the Eastern Bluebird and and Purple Martin Additionally, two trees were planted along a drainage area to filter pollutants.

We really like it for a number of reasons, but mostly because it highlights the unique beauty of the canal.

Gowanus Canal Boat Yard?

Along the Gowanus Canal, on the hard behind the Tom Ottterness studio, lies a 20-something foot sloop. While not the first sailboat we've seen along the Gowanus, this is much more peculiar because a crane was needed to pull her out of the water. From our vantage point, we could see that the boat is fully rigged with a mainsail and a relatively new outboard. She appeared to have decent bottom paint. We know the boat has been out of the water for at least six months.

In the water is what appears to be a Boston Whaler. It is conceivable that this Whaler is used to commute and for pleasure or even a run to Fairway.

Perhaps Otterness knows the story of the boats.