Point Pleasant, NJ

You can rent a house right on the Boardwalk

My last stop before NYC is Point Pleasant, NJ.  Point Pleasant is on the Manasquan River.  In the 1500s it was the ceremonial meeting place of the Lenape Native Americans, who called it the "Land of Tall Timber".  Around 1665, the first European settlers arrived in the area, mainly fishermen, farmers and boat builders.  This is a very active fishing community.  There are fishing boats, both net trawling as well as tourist fishing charters offering 1/2 day (or night) trips.  The Manasquan inlet is very busy with these fishing boats going in and out.  My poor little sailboat was getting bounch around a lot form the wakes of these boats as they transited the inlet (at what seemed to be full power).

Point Pleasant is also as a summer place for many.  You can rent a house for the summer that is right on the Boardwalk.  The Boardwalk is a mile long has a multitude of the typical tourist attractions, mini golf, arcade games, movie theater, aquarium, and eateries.  And then there is the beach, a mile (or more) of nice sand with life guard stations every 100 yards or so.

Houses on the Boardwalk are just a few steps from the beach

But Point Pleasant is also home of the other mile 0 on the Atlantic ICW  This part of the ICW goes from Manaswuan inlet to Cape May, NJ.  Since there are some fixed bridges on this part of the ICW that are only 35', sailboats cannot travel this part of the ICW.  Many of the power boats go outside here as well, since there are many bascule bridges and the trip up the ICW takes longer.  But in the event of high waves in the ocean, it is a good option for those that can travel it.   From here north there is no ICW, everyone must go outside.

Boardwalk

I stayed at Captain Bill's Landing, which is primarily a fuel dock with a few slips he rents out.  Captain Bill's Landing is owned by an attorney (Captain Bill) who's soul belongs to the sea.  He bought the marina and restaurant (Red's Lobster Pot) as a way to get back closer to the sea and his passion of shipwreck hunting.  We had a long talk about how he uses side scanning sonar to search for wrecks.  In the many areas of the Bahamas and areas where sand and coral cover the shipwrecks, magnetometers are often used to detect large metal pieces under the sand or coral.  However, in the North Atlantic, with the sonar they can usually see something sticking up from the wreck.  The sonar can "see" further than the magnetometer so it is more efficient.  He is currently working a couple of wrecks off the coast of Cape May. He doesn't hold out hope that he will find a Mel Fisher type mother load.  His reward is in finding the wreck and putting the story together.  He has recovered some artifacts, but the fuel doc supports his shipwreck hunting habit right now.  He believes he is close to finding a ship that went down in the late 1800s that was carrying a load of money (mostly coins).  I am amazed at how many ships went down with a cargo of money

Lesson Plan tied up at Captain Bill's Landing

I had this whole idea that the lawyer, who's soul belongs to the sea named his restaurant as a poke at the corporate seafood giant with a similar name.  But, he told me that Red's Lobster Pot was the name on it when he purchased the place.  I am going to believe the previous owner, who's name was Red (or nickname), was giving a little poke to the the corporate seafood giant with a similar name.

Red's Lobster Pot

It rained most of the time I was in Point Pleasant, so I only got to walk down to the Boardwalk one morning when nothing was open. But I eat breakfast at a great local place, the first breakfast with eggs since I left Beaufort.

Next stop is NYC.  I hope to anchor behind the Statue of Liberty.  Stay tuned.




Lesson Learned;
Don't let the rain spoil your day.  I got out between rain and cleaned up the boat a little during the rainy times.

I learned a lot about shipwreck hunting talking to Captain Bill. I am not sure how much I retained, I may need remedial education on this later.