TERI ANN: Manasquan

6/5/15

Our next stop was Manasquan, NJ. We stayed in Atlantic City for three days waiting on the weather. We would much rather wait in Atlantic City than Manasquan. We went to the casino, walked the boardwalk and enjoyed several different restuarants. We got to see two very cool Navy boats driven by Navy Seals come into the marina.

We met the owners of three other boats. One was a newish Grand Banks named Dollinger. They arrived in Atlantic City the same day as us, but they traveled in the ocean. They were pretty shaken up that day as they faced 10ft. waves in the ocean and had a pretty scary day. The other boat was an older Grand Banks named Bella. They also arrived the same day as us, but they traveled on the inside and were one of the boats we heard on the VHF calling for SeaTow because they hit bottom and were stuck. The other boat was a 68ft. Searay. We were all getting tired of being here and wanted to leave. We decided we would travel on the inside up to Manasquan. The two Grand Banks owners decided to follow us, because the ocean was still too rough. We would be the lead boat because we had the shallowest draft and would tell them the depths that we were seeing. The Searay owner had a 6ft. draft and didn't think he could make it through the shallow waters. He was determined to go out in the ocean. He left at first light, headed out the inlet, almost flipped over in the big waves, and came right back in to his slip. He then decided to follow us on the inside to Manasquan.

We left the dock at 8AM so that we could travel through the shallowest spots at high tide. It was just about the worst weather possible. It was extremely windy, rainy, foggy and cold. It was critical that we see every bouy to stay in the channel, and the weather made it difficult to see anything. It was a long slow day in shallow waters staring at the depth finder, but we all made it to Manasquan without hitting bottom.

We were so happy to be in Manasquan and the weather forecast was looking like we could travel in the ocean and make it home tomorrow.

The 3 boats that followed us