Our first visit to North Brother Island

When the island North Brother was abandoned in the 1950's, Mother Nature started to reclaim the island. Plants started to cover the buildings and strangle trees. Canopies started to form, and the island was left to stand shadowed by the city of New York. Some bird species moved in while others moved out. It became nesting grounds for Great Egrets, Snowy Egrets, Double Crested Cormorants, Killdeer, Laughing Gulls, and Black Crested Night Herons. Some bird species are disturbed by human activity that sometimes occur on the island, which poses as a problem to the population and nesting grounds utilization. Ivy started to claim the island floor as well. Ivy species such as: English Ivy, Poison Ivy, Kudzu, and Norway Maple. There are many decrypted buildings that still stand on the island, such as : a hospital, houses, incinerator factories, and asylum. There were fire hydrants, lamp posts, and wells. There were also insect species such as the Tent Caterpillar that are named that because it forms tent like nests between crevices of a tree. The boat ride back to the island was just as exciting as the island exploration itself. The wakes as you know move a boat because of waves created by oncoming boats. Well our boat just happened to be in the moving path of a wake, which we went into head-on, full speed. The boat at first just did a mini hill motion as in going up and down very slightly. Then it started to soar and crash very hard causing water to splash into the boat, soaking everyone and everything. Although some thought this was hilarious, others were deeply upset with the sudden conditions of the travel.