Beach Haven, NJ to Staten Island, NY

It was probably for the best, that I didn’t know that we were going out into the Atlantic Ocean today: less time to worry about the ride!!

We departed Beach Haven, NJ at 7:10am and traveled for several hours across Barnegat Bay.

We passed these bridges from Tom’s River, NJ to Island Beach, another barrier island.

We saw this interesting cloud formation above the Jersey shoreline.

The Point Pleasant Canal connects Barnegat Bay to the Manasquan River. The fast moving current in the canal is due to the Manasquan River tide of 4’ versus the Barnegat Bay tide of only 1’. TOM-KAT, luckily, was going with the two knot current. This picture shows some of the turbulence in the canal.

Notice anything strange about the sportfishing boats out of the water?

After reviewing the weather forecast for tomorrow, we decided that we’d best head straight for Staten Island today. We were going to stay at the Brielle Yacht Club for the night, but the winds were picking up to 10 to 20 knots and the seas would be 2-4 feet tomorrow. Better to arrive a day early, than to miss the whole weekend in NYC.

Pulling out of Manasquan Inlet into the Atlantic Ocean. More turbulence and high waves in the Inlet.

This is the Atlantic Ocean. You are looking toward the Mediterranean Sea. We had 2-3’ swells and only 5 to 10 knots of wind today. The ride wasn’t too bad and we were glad we’d made the decision to travel with the good weather.

This picture is of Sandy Hook, NJ. Many boaters coming up from Manasquan will tuck behind Sandy Hook in an anchorage called Horseshoe Cove.

Most of the Jersey shoreline is beaches until you reach the Atlantic Highlands. The large green mound is a terrific landmark for boaters out on the Atlantic.

We were headed for Great Kills Yacht Club on Staten Island, NY. One of the yacht club members had completed the Loop in 2003-2004 and wanted to extend the invitation to all Loopers to visit their club for a very reasonable rate for this area.

We pulled into our slip at 5pm after a long 10 hour day and were met by John, our fellow Looper and yacht club member. He told us about all the facilities of the club and also where the grocery store, hardware store and restaurants were located, plus how to get into the CITY.

We’ll spend the July 4^th weekend here and we’ll only post a blog if we visit any interesting sights.

Happy July 4^th to Everyone!