Day 3 - Saturday, September 28th, 2013 - Manasquan, NJ to Forked River, NJ

We had left Manasquan at about 9:00AM and arrived in Forked River, NJ at about 3:00PM. I was chatting with a fellow boater this morning and he said that NJ should be our worst experience as far as running aground goes. Although magazines and others say it will be in the Carolinas and Georgia. It is just devastating what Super storm Sandy did, especially down here.

The trip from Manasquan to Forked River was uneventful after the first two hours, and I'll explain why. 

We ran aground in Manasquan AGAIN. Buried in the soft sands of NJ, but this time, we got buried hard in the sand. We waited for the Towboat US like about 20 minutes and by the time he got ready to tow us a bit, the tide rose enough to free us and on our way we went.
Let me tell you, the best thing I ever did was sign up for Boat's US unlimited towing package, because I got my money back yesterday and on Friday 9 fold. You see, a soft-grounding cost just a tad under $500.00 each time, Friday's bill was $467.00 and the same for Saturdays bill.......so I definitely did the right thing.

The weather today was another hit....mid 70's and low 80's with 100% sunshine. In fact, they are calling for that same type of day tomorrow, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday ( although, the temps may rise to mid 80's) Thursday and Friday.

We are docked at the Captain's Inn and Marina in Forked River, NJ. The reason we picked Forked River was so my mother in law and Father in law who live about 5 minutes away in Bayville, could have dinner with us on Sunday, along with Dottie's cousin and her hubby Jeff.

I met a guy by the name of Peter James who owns company called The Big Pond Boatworks. www.bigpondboatworks.com and he is going to single hand it to Key West aboard his 52' sailboat, Viewfinder......what nice guy he was and we are supposed to meet up again in Norfolk, VA. Every boat he builds, he builds from the hull up, and his wood craftsmanship is second to none. Simply beautiful boats, with beautiful lines.

We will leave here on Monday and if it is calm enough, we are going to take the outside passage( in the Atlantic Ocean) south to Cape May, if not, we will remain inside (ICW) to Atlantic City. Both Dottie and I are looking forward to visiting Cape May, as either of us have been there before.

MORE PICS TOMORROW