Boating with Sunset Delight: NJ: Sandy Hook

Day 365
July 23, 2016
NM Today: 31
NM To Date: 6124

Today completed our Great Loop trip culminating in the lowering of the White, "in progress", flag and raising of the Gold, "completed" flag. Some loopers view completing the Great Loop as a milestone to be achieved. We saw it as yet another boating vacation albeit a rather long one. One that neither of us truly wanted to end. The moment was bittersweet when we crossed our wake and saw the conclusion of this chapter in our lives.

The entire trip took thirteen months plus one week to complete. During that thirteen plus months, we enjoyed 365 days of boating fun and adventure. Every day was a surprise. We never knew what we would see, and many days we did not know in the morning precisely where we would spend the night.

Towards the end of our trip, in a store in Rock Hall, Maryland, I saw a plaque with a saying that I could relate to.

"Life's journey is not to arrive safely at the grave in a well-preserved body,
but rather to skid in sideways, totally worn out, shouting 'Holy Cow! What a ride!"

Clark and I are both adventurous in nature and have greatly enjoyed our time on this wonderful voyage. I cannot imagine making this trip with any other captain. Clark carefully researched our destination options, poured over Active Captain comments, sought local knowledge everywhere we visited, studied the weather to make safe travel decisions, kept the boat well-maintained and had the knowledge and skills necessary to fix those items that needed repair along the way.

Having total belief in my captain's abilities to keep us as safe as possible on the boat and make the trip as enjoyable as could be, I relaxed and enjoyed the ride to the fullest. Sometimes I found it difficult to keep up with his energy level. We must have covered hundreds of miles on foot or by bicycle as I chased him from point-to-point in the numerous towns we visited along the way.

My captain surprised me with an email he sent me today with his thoughts on our time spent on this trip. He may be the captain, but he refers to me as the Admiral.

"This has been an amazing trip and adventure. It would not have been the same or possible without the capable Admiral. Many know the Admiral as the author of this blog. The Admiral has had an adventurous spirit and held on for those passages that could be done safely but less then comfortably. This has allowed us to go places and do side trips that would not have otherwise been possible if we had to wait for the ideal weather windows every time. In addition, the Admiral developed systems such as for potable water handling and towel drying that were used through the trip and has worn many other hats. These hats have included navigator, first mate, second mechanic, second engineer, chef, quartermaster and chief dishwasher in addition to capturing the whole adventure in a blog almost every night. Thanks for making this a great adventure.

The Captain"
His note brought tears to my eyes.

With those thoughts in mind, here is the blog entry for our final day of travel on our Great Loop adventure.

Clark seemed in no hurry to leave the last marina of our Great Loop adventure this morning. He introduced himself to Don's friend, and the two of them talked for quite a long time. We finally managed to pull in our lines and leave the marina at 10:00 a.m.

Leaving the last marina of our Great Loop trip -
Brielle Yacht Club

We had calm seas today for our entire trip up the coast to Sandy Hook. The following pictures of the towns along the coast show the gentle wave action.

Manasquan, NJ

After passing by Sea Girt, Spring Lake, and Belmar, we came to Shark River Inlet with Belmar Beach on the south and Avon-by-the-Sea on the north side.

Shark River Inlet
Call Bridge before entering inlet

Later we passed Ocean Grove and Asbury Park. Asbury Park is the home of The Stone Pony where Bruce Springsteen started his musical climb to fame.

Ocean Grove Auditorium

Asbury Park Convention Center

Long Branch
Hospital in background is where Clark and both our sons were born

Long Branch, NJ

White Building is Channel Towers in Monmouth Beach
near where Clark's father kept his boat when Clark was a child

Passing Navigation Aid - 1SR (Shrewsbury Rocks)
Lots of boats out enjoying the water today

Highlands Bridge with
Twin Lights Lighthouse high on the hill

The picture below shows Sea Bright, NJ. In the background, and unfortunately not very visible, is Rumson, NJ where Clark and I have our house and keep our boat. Truly we are almost home now!

Passing Sea Bright with Rumson in Background

It is too bad there are no inlets in the vicinity of Sea Bright. Even though we can almost see home, we still have hours of travel to get there.

Sandy Hook Beach with Sandy Hook Lighthouse in background

Sandy Hook Lighthouse and North Beach

As we passed Sandy Hook, to our Starboard Side,
we could see the Verrazano Bridge
joining Staten Island to Brooklyn, NY

And a Hazy New York City

We rapidly approached the point on our trip where we would "cross our wake". In other words, we would complete the circle of our Great Loop adventure. Clark went up to the bow to swap the flags in preparation for the big moment while I piloted Sea Moss.

Down with the White - in progress flag
Up with the Gold - voyage completed flag

Sandy Hook Green 17 is the point Clark designated as the official completion of our loop trip.

Sandy Hook Green 17

We crossed our wake and now proudly display the Gold Looper flag of America's Great Loop Cruising Association.

AGLCA Gold Flag

The picture below shows the gold flag, Sandy Hook Green 17, and in the distance the New York skyline. Perfect combination!

Of course we had to take selfies with the flag as no one else was out there with us. With high hopes that we would not collide with Green 17, we let the boat drift in Sandy Hook channel as we posed for our shots.

Selfie with the Gold Flag

Selfie with SH Green 17
(small green dot in background)

Given we were at the entrance to Sandy Hook Bay, our adventure did not stop just because we crossed our wake. We still had a ways to go to get home. We decided to stop in for a visit at our favorite boating hang out to enjoy the sea breeze for the rest of the day instead of suffering with the 105 degree heat index inland.

Sandy Hook Coast Guard Station

View of Sandy Hook Lighthouse from the bay side with
Fort Hancock Officer's Quarters

Earle Naval Pier
(something big in port today)

We were anxious to see our poor little Spermaceti Cove Island. Over the years the sands have shifted and more and more of our favorite hangout has disappeared. The first thing Clark noticed was that the "rocks" of the old channel marker used to be much closer to the beach.

Serious Changes in the Lay of the Land
since our last time here a year ago

We only saw small-sized boats at the island and wondered where all the larger vessels now spent their time. As we tried to approach the island, the depth finder showed less and less water until it only registered 2.3 feet. I yelled out depths as Clark maneuvered the boat to find deeper waters.

Drastically Changed Island

Since it was a Saturday, plenty of folks were out enjoying the waters and the breeze. We saw folks parasailing - a favorite past time at Sandy Hook, and we saw lots of jet skis.

Personal Watercraft "Gang" of Seven

We stayed at the island for the afternoon and ate our last dinner on board for this voyage. All I had left in the refrigerator was hot dogs, beans, and salad, so that was our menu for the night. We pulled up anchor just before 6:00 p.m. to head home. As we traveled, I started moving bags and bags of items into the salon to carry off the boat when we reached our dock.

Passing the Highlands - Eastpointe Towers and
Sea Streak - Fast Ferry to NYC

Twin Lights Lighthouse on the hill in the Highlands

Highlands Bridge

We got a surprise as we passed through Sea Bright on the Shrewsbury River. When we left a year ago, one of the nicest restaurants in the area was closed due to severe damage from super-storm Sandy. Wow! A brand new restaurant has appeared in its place. The owner said he would be back "bigger and better than ever". I guess he told the truth because here it is.

New McCloone's Restaurant in Sea Bright

Our last bridge of this trip was the Sea Bright - Rumson Bridge. Fortunately we can always get under this bridge by dropping our antennas and folding our mast if the tide dictates that we need to.