Train bridge at Brielle,NJ
ALMOST HOME!!! One more travel day to cross our wake. We left Atlantic City early to get ahead of the rougher seas coming later in the day. We arrived at 2;15 pm and the dock master didn't have our reservation even after we ha called earlier in the day. We make it a habit to call the marinas while underway and try to give them a heads up that we are coming and get our slip assignment if possible. Well, we showed Ben, the dock hand our confirmation and he quickly adapted and found us a slip. We requested a T head since it is fixed docks with a 4 foot tidal swing. We ended up right behind La Vida on a T head. The currents were really strong and although we wanted to turn around we were unable to do it. Cashelmara and Jackpot came in after us and had a tricky time also getting in with the currents, but he dock hands were super helpful. Skafos did a great job and was right next to us.
There is nothing near the marina except the restaurant on the property. They actually deliver but we decided to dinner on the boat. There is a beautiful condominium complex right at the marina also. Running between the east and west sides of the marina is a train bridge. Since it is a NJ Transit train it is very busy and went up and down frequently. Unfortunately for us we were here on Monday, Memorial Day. The boat traffic was incredible and with the strong currents and train bridge down it was very interesting. In fact a boat hit us! Fortunately they only hit our swim ladder and not the swim platform. He did more damage to his boat than ours, as he had fiberglass gouges. The train bridge went down again (of course) and a center console started drifting toward our boat with it's keg up and the prop facing us. Another vessel quickly grabbed the boat and said "Don't worry,"! Suffice it to say, we will not be going back to this marina.
With the tidal swing and fixed dock it was a nightmare to get Izzy and me off the boat. High tide we got off from the stern and low tide we got off from the top deck right by the dinghy.
Traveling the Jersey Shore.
We all left very early the next morning so that we could leave at slack tide. It was supposed to have winds and tide opposing in the inlet which makes it very rough. In fact, while we were underway we heard to Coast Guard announce that a boat was overturned in the inlet with a female passenger trapped under it. Hopefully she was okay.