Manasquan, NJ

Trip Day:	88	Latitude:	40°06.40 ' N	Locks Today:	0
Miles Today:	53	Longitude:	074°02.94' W	Locks Total:	8
Total Miles:	1,750	Location:	Manasquan,  NJ

Today was an interesting and lo-o-o-ng day!  But first we must digress.  .  . Coming in the    Absecon Inlet late yesterday afternoon, Ron decided to switch fuel tanks since the tank we were running on was almost empty .  He switched tanks and about 30 seconds later the engine died,   not a comforting sound as one enters an inlet.  It restarted quickly, then shut itself down again.  Ron switched back to the old tank and it ran fine.  So, last night in the dark with his trusty flashlight Ron spent 2 hours, removed hoses to look for an obstruction, then bled the air out of the lines and managed to solve the problem.  He is handy to have around the house and the boat!

We awakened at 5:30 a.m. and had the motor running by 5:45—it purred like a kitten.  Our only problem was the FOG!  Our visibility was about 50 yards which had us questioning ourselves, but then one of the other sailboats at our anchorage  headed out, so we decided to go for it.  I know, the lemmings and the cliff, etc., but we do have a chart plotter and an  air horn.  We exited the inlet, headed up and ran about 2 miles offshore for about an hour before the fog lifted.  We motor sailed 6.5—7.00 kts and all was well until the wind began to shift and then we had choppy water on top of the swells.  After traveling 20 miles, our speed had slowed to 4.2 kts and we seriously considered turning around since we had over 30 miles to go—do the math.  Ron checked weather forecast and buoy data and we decided to continue and wait for the wind direction to change.  Long story short, conditions improved, although our wind was NE instead of NW as all sources forecasted.  As we approached Manasquan Inlet, we considered continuing to Sandy Hook, but decided against another 5 hours in the Atlantic today. 



 There was very heavy boat traffic in Manasquan Inlet, which is rock jetties with extremely strong currents adding a little excitement on top of the ocean swells. 

Needing fuel we approached a marina and the dockmaster indicated Ron should circle and come in on our starboard side.  We had a 3kt current and Ron  wasn’t about to come into a dock  with the current so he came in port side to—the dockmaster got the message, it’s my boat, my decision!  We are staying the night at Hoffman’s Marina simply because this place is CRAZY!