T&T: Cape May to Manasquan, Jersey Shore

[Bob McLeran]

Ahah - therein lies the difficulty - getting a good forecast.

We just completed another trip down the New Jersey coast this morning. 
We've we can count on about three fingers the number of times we'd call 
the trip "good;" the remaining two fistfuls of times we'd call them just 
"OK" to "lousy." Today from Absecon Inlet (Atlantic City) to Cape May 
was one of the lousy trips; same with yesterday's from Staten Island to 
Absecon. The forecasts for both days predicted winds 10-15 and waves 2-3 
feet. The winds were about as predicted, but the wind direction was off 
by as much as 45 degrees and the wave height was underestimated. That 
seems to be the case most of the time in our experience - it's really 
difficult to get a weather forecast that will really give an accurate 
picture of what the ocean is going to be like.

On at least three occasions we have waited in Atlantic City or Atlantic 
Highlands for coast-wise storms to pass, and the predictions for those 
storms were quite accurate. It's the non-storm forecast which seems to 
be inaccurate and can easily lead to a very rough ride.

Regarding Manasquan, we'll do anything to avoid it. In our opinion, 
based on several experiences, the marinas there leave a lot to be 
desired, are expensive, and are subject to ripping currents that make 
docking very difficult and uncomfortable. Additionally, there are no 
good anchorages in the area - you really have to go into the NJ inland 
waterway away from the river to find a protected place.

Cape May is decent, but the anchorage area is relatively small and gets 
waked frequently by passing boats. Atlantic City is also decent with a 
nice, protected anchorage off to the north side just south of the bridge.

The New Jersey coast is always the part of an east coast trip that can 
cause problems.


On 9/12/2008 9:37 AM, Lawrence Zeitlin wrote:
> Going offshore along the coast of New Jersey seems to bother a lot of  
> boaters. It is an easy trip if you chose your weather window  
> properly. 
-- 
<><><><><><><><><><><><><><>Mozilla Thunderbird<><><><><><><><><><><><>
Bob McLeran and Judy Young                                             
Cruising the Atlantic Coast
MV 
Sanderling                                                                    
Defever 41 Trawler
Blog: http://sanderlingcruise2008.blogspot.com/
Photos: http://public.fotki.com/rmcleran/
Currently:Cape May, New Jersey