New Jersey Coast

The next two days were decision days.  Do we follow the Intercoastal Water Way of New Jersey or do we go out into the Atlantic Ocean and back into our destinations? 

Based upon the weather we decided to head out into the Ocean and that way we did not have to worry about running aground and we could travel faster. As we motored out the channel we saw the Coast Guard post and also some shrimp boats coming in. The waves and wind were against us but not strong we only bumped around a little bit.  We saw a number of amusement parks on the beaches. Including one on the Atlantic City Boardwalk.

Our first stop was Atlantic City and Farley State Park Marina which is right in front of the Golden Nugget Casino!  It was amazing that we could begin to see the tall buildings of Atlantic City about two hours into our cruise. We kept 1.5 to 2 miles offshore and arrived at lunch time.  The casino was not good to us, but they had a deck where they had live music, beer ($25.00 for 5-16oz) and food.   

We cruised back outside in the Ocean again and this time we had to travel 67 miles to our targeted destination.  We had the wind and waves behind us (following seas) and that gave us a push and a much smoother ride than the day before.  When we reached Manasquan Inlet the tide was going out and this created a strong current near the docks where we were going to.  The wind had also picked up so we could not back into the slip as we normally do.  We pulled in bow first. Hoffman Marina was very nice.  The deck hand was great and helped us get our ropes in place, so we were held in the current.  We needed an extension cord for our electric and he came up with one for us to use overnight.  We found a Tiki Bar and had tacos and beer and watched other boats fight the current while they tried to dock.  Some turned tail and ran, We were glad to see we were not the only ones who had difficulty.

 When we returned to the boat the tide was coming in.  Because of the way we had to dock we only had one access point to get on and off the boat from.  We had to step up to get on the boat and by the time high tide was reached we were not able to get on and off the boat with out a ladder.  So, we sat and watched the activities at the marina.  Two groups of peopled who were fishing wanted their fish weighed so we watched them.  One fish came in at 142 pounds! One little boy caught his first tuna.  It was fun to watch.  We were hoping to have someone offer some fish to us but no luck.

We were concerned (no sleep) about the currents in the morning, so we got up at 5AM to take advantage of “Slack” tide waters – where the current stops and goes the other way.  We wanted to get an early start anyway because there was weather coming in about 2PM and the waves on the ocean would be greater than 3 feet. And for this leg of the journey we had to travel in the ocean to get into New York Harbor.  It was cloudy so we did not fight any sun in our eyes, and very humid. We again had the wind and waves behind us, so we took it slow, so we did not get into the next marina too early.  At 8:30 AM we entered New York Harbor.  We were a bit disappointed that you could not see the city very clearly due to the smog and heavy haze over the city.

We passed about 6 fishing boats where they take out 100 people on one boat to catch fish (We call this herd fishing). There was a large cargo tanker coming in behind us and we had to speed up to stay ahead of him until we departed the shipping channel and headed to the marina. 

We arrived at 9:45 AM at Mansion Marina, so we checked in then had breakfast. We picked this marina since it was in a protected cove and we hoped to meet up with a looper friend we first met back in 2015 when we started.   We were able to meet up with John Scarcella and his sister, Christy, for lunch.  We had a great time reminiscing and talking about boats.  Johns’s family is doing well and he is now surveying boats so we may use him for advise if we decide to sell our boat and downsize.