Other than in a kayak, the closest most New Yorkers will ever get to the East River figures to be a two-block patch of land officially opened yesterday by Mayor Bloomberg as the first phase of a two-mile esplanade.

The $165 million project — stretching from the Battery Maritime Building to the Manhattan Bridge — is expected to be completed in 2013.

The preview was offered at Wall Street, where a notch of waterfront retaining wall was carved out to provide seating within inches of the East River.

Said Bloomberg, “You can put your toes right up to the water’s edge.”