By Vladimir Brezina

It’s interesting to look occasionally through the search terms that people have entered to reach your blog. And recently, quite a few people have been arriving at Wind Against Current with the query “how many bridges circumnavigating Manhattan”. They’ll have been disappointed in not finding an answer—until now!

Another popular query is “how many islands in New York City”. Unfortunately, that question does not have a definite answer—it depends on what you consider an island, and on the state of the tide.

But “how many bridges circumnavigating Manhattan” does have a very definite answer. And the answer is…

20½.

Here they all are, in photos taken on our many kayak circumnavigations of Manhattan, counterclockwise starting from the Battery.

1. Brooklyn Bridge

2. Manhattan Bridge

3. Williamsburg Bridge

4. Queensboro (Ed Koch) Bridge

5. Wards Island Bridge

6. Triborough (Robert F. Kennedy) Bridge

7. Willis Avenue Bridge

8. Third Avenue Bridge

9. Park Avenue Bridge

10. Madison Avenue Bridge

11. 145th Street Bridge

12. Macombs Dam Bridge

13. High Bridge

14. Alexander Hamilton Bridge

15. Washington Bridge

16. University Heights Bridge

17. Broadway Bridge

18. Henry Hudson Bridge

19. Spuyten Duyvil Bridge

and finally the biggest one of them all,

20. George Washington Bridge

That’s only twenty. What about that half?

20½. Roosevelt Island Bridge

which spans only the eastern half of the East River, the channel between Queens and Roosevelt Island. Here seen with a seal—