Barnegat Bay, NJ

The weather forecast continued to be favorable for us to travel up the New Jersey Coast on the Atlantic side on Friday June 8, but it meant that we should leave very early as the seas pick up throughout the day.  So we left our Cape May anchorage at 6 a.m. to take advantage of the calm seas.  

Jonny wanted to see if we could make it all the way to Manasquan which would mean at least an 11 hour day.  Our other options were to go to Atlantic City (too close) or go in at Barnegat Bay, but that inlet as it is not an easy one to maneuver.  We always have to have a plan B especially when we’re cruising on big waters like the Atlantic.  

We ended up having a great day with calm winds and following seas and the current was in our favor for most of the day.  It was sunny and warmer than the day before.  We cruised past the Atlantic City skyline and continued heading north.

But as is often the case, the seas started to pick up later in the afternoon with enough white caps forming that we started to seriously consider pulling in at Barnegat Bay.  Of course, we passed the the Barnegat Lighthouse, an important beacon in this difficult inlet.

Jonny continued to be a bit hesitant until he decided to call SeaTow to get local input on entering the channel there.  He discovered that the channel had been recently dredged and we had an incoming tide.  This was enough to persuade him to go for it.  It was quite choppy heading into the channel but once we got inside everything calmed down considerably. 

We wound our way into the bay through a circuitous route and in extremely skinny waters.  Jonny had to be hyper-vigilant as he navigated our way through very confusing markers. But once inside, we found a perfect anchorage at Berkeley Island near Tom’s River.  The town had created a lovely park that nearly surrounds a protected little bay.  The park had a long pier, a launch ramp and a sandy beach. And we were one only two boats that anchored there for the night.