“With the United Nations on one side, Long Island City high-rises on the other and Lower Manhattan’s bridges directly ahead, there is no vista quite like the one of the skyline from the East River at sunset. But this view of the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges isn’t from the deck of a Circle Line cruise. Instead, it can be seen from a kayak gliding down the waterway.

Throughout summer and until the middle of October, kayakers, from the experienced to novices, can enjoy those views during free paddling trips organized by the Long Island City Community Boathouse. The boathouse is among more than a dozen similar groups in the city, including the North Brooklyn Boathouse in Greenpoint and Williamsburg, the Sebago Canoe Club which takes participants to Jamaica Bay, the Gowanus Dredgers which runs programs on the shorelines of Gowanus Canal, Red Hook and DUMBO, and the Downtown Boathouse with three locations in Manhattan.”

DNAinfo – Kayak Tours Put New Yorkers on the East River (July 6, 2012)