Hop In, Barnegat Bay Seems Fine

Barnegat Bay seems, well, okay. And yes, I have the video to your right to prove it.

Dire predictions of floating debris, extreme shoaling and death traps lurking behind every channel marker didn't seem to pan out on my first boat ride of the 2013 season, which took place last weekend between Manahawkin and Long Beach Island.

As we reported here on Patch, a few weeks ago, a group of folks from the Marine Trades Association of New Jersey hopped on board their vessels and took a ride through the bay to prove the waterway was safe following Superstorm Sandy. Things went well for them, as it did for my dad and I as we took the maiden voyage of 2013 together.

"Lots of people are hearing rumors, we thought the best way to go is show them," Brick marina owner Ed "Skip" Harrison said a couple weeks back.

Skip's voyage ended safely, as have those of other locals who are among the first to venture out this season, daring to defy the doomsday crowd. In his Star-Ledger column Monday, Paul Mulshine described a likewise enjoyable sailing trip he and a friend took to Seaside Heights, complete with a successful docking near Money Island and a few brews on the boardwalk.

With a fresh coat of bottom paint, some rewired electronics and a new, more robust depth sounder (hey, some caution has to be taken) we motored out of the marina and into the channel, cruised under the Route 72 bridge and headed to the island.

It felt great opening up the engine, turning up the stereo and feeling great after a winter that's been more depressing than any other.

But in some ways, the feeling of being back on the bay was just... odd. My boat came out of the water Oct. 27, the Saturday before Sandy struck, as many of my fellow boat owners at Causeway were wondering if it was even worth the trouble to haul their vessels out – after all, Hurricane Irene a year earlier was a breeze, at least in the Shore area.

How many of those folks, nearly six months later, even have homes to go back to, much less boats to put back in the water? My family's own home is just barely getting back into shape – the walls were just put back up last week and there's still no furniture downstairs – and a few of our neighbors haven't even taken that step yet.

Sandy produced many a rumor – among them: bodies being stored in the Ortley Beach A&P, the Mantoloking Bridge collapsing and water being turned off to all of Brick Township. They were false and so, it appears, are the rumors about the condition of the bay.

At the end of the day, a ride on the water might be just what the doctor ordered to take our minds off the destruction and anxiety that rolled ashore Oct. 29.

We owe ourselves some good times this summer enjoying the area we love and the area we call home, perhaps more so than any other time in our lives. So hop in. The water's fine.