Barnegat Bay (North) To Atlantic City – Midway Stop Recommendations

[Alex F]

I’m planning to do another Atlantic City trip and was hopping to get some recommendations on midways stop for sightseeing, dining and anchoring/mooring. The starting point is North part of the bay, around Toms River Bridge. From what I see, Beach Haven is about midway. Anything interesting things we can do in the area?

From what I’ve observed there aren’t many mooring spots in the area, does anyone have experience with mooring spots in that region or a good spot to drop the hook?

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Alex.

 

[rondds]

alex
BH is great. we've been going every year since 2002. you'd have to get a slip cuz there's nowhere to anchor - little to no water outside the ICW. plenty of eateries, shopping, etc along the strip, though. were you staying the night or just as a lunch stopover?

 

[osd9]

Just south of Morrisons, right after the No Wake buoys, there is a nice cove east of the channel with plenty of water to drop a hook.....

 

[Alex F]

alex
BH is great. we've been going every year since 2002. you'd have to get a slip cuz there's nowhere to anchor - little to no water outside the ICW. plenty of eateries, shopping, etc along the strip, though. were you staying the night or just as a lunch stopover?

So far the plan is to stay over night. Any advice on the good spot in the BH area to watch fireworks on July 4th?

 

[Alex F]

Just south of Morrisons, right after the No Wake buoys, there is a nice cove east of the channel with plenty of water to drop a hook.....

Dominic,
Looking at the map I see the Mordecai Island with a nice cove. Is this the spot you're decsribing?

Thx,
Alex.

 

[osd9]

Alex....Yes...that is the area....actually just south...I believe it's ICW 110....but don't hold me to that

 

[osd9]

Oh...and if you have a dink, there are a few nice restaurants right there on the shore...

 

[Alex F]

Oh...and if you have a dink, there are a few nice restaurants right there on the shore...

Anything comes to mind for recommendations?

BTW, do you think we'll get killed by the "green heads" being on the hook? I remember taking a slow ride in no wake zones around Brigantine area and it was really packed with "green heads".

 

[osd9]

Tuckers restaurant is nice....outside porch on the second floor to watch the sun go down over the bay....

Green Heads????...it's Jersey....of course they'll be there....but you have that nice camper canvas with screens...you should be fine...

 

[rondds]

dominic
is that a cove or is it a cut to get to the other side of the bay? if it's south of 110 you are now out of the nowake zone and that is a pretty bouncy area.

tuckers is pretty good. zagats rated (if you're into that sort of thing). if you overnight you can stay at shelter harbor, morrisons or beach haven yacht club marina (north to south). shelter harbor is the nicest place: pool, very short walk to everything, $125/night regardless of size. morrisons is second nicest: no pool, slightly shorter walk to things (negligible difference), $2.75/ft w/cable tv. we are booked there for three nights in august. BHYC marina: roughing it. no pool, fairly long walk to things, absolutely the cheapest fuel up spot on barnegat bay bar none, they give you beach passes, bicycles to borrow, tuckers is about 200' from the dock, $2.75/night with cable. gets a bit rough sometimes as the main dock protrudes out into the bay (no shelter unless wind from the east). fixed docks and a 4' tide drop (pain in the a$$). we've stayed here a bunch of times but got battered around a lot last year so we're trying morrisons. others at our marina have been very happy with shelter harbor and morrisons.

check em out at marinas.com

i dont know who does fireworks in that area. maybe AC?? from the dock at BHYC you can see AC so you can probably see fireworks (it's probably 10 miles as the crow flies.

 

[osd9]

Ron:

EAST of the channel just south of the no wake zone....its farely open, but tucked in some....

Morrisons has thier own website...and a nifty webcam too...

http://home.att.net/~morrisonslbi/

 

[Alex F]

dominic
is that a cove or is it a cut to get to the other side of the bay? if it's south of 110 you are now out of the nowake zone and that is a pretty bouncy area.

Ron,
Here's the google maps link I found and it looks like a very protected cove: http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&q...TF-8&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&resnum=1&ct=title

I'm looking at the chart and it's just south of G107, it's between G107 and R108. But looks like you have to go out of the ICW channel and go east folowing the local channel next to the shore.

Alex.

 

[Alex F]

Looks like there's no place to dine and dock. I called up few (Tuckers, Morissons, BHYC). Tuckers has no slips, juts restaurant and others offer transient slips only no restaurant. I was trying to avoid carrying dinghy and just dock by one of restaurants. But, this doesn't look like easier approach.

BTW, Morisons restaurant burned 3 years ago and there's no new one.

Do you guys know any dock and dine places?

Thx,
Alex.

 

[Alex F]

We arrived to Beach Haven yesterday and looked for the planned spot to drop the hook. Dom and Ron, the spot we've descussed is a joke. While following the local channel in 15' of depth I slowly started approaching the cove only to find out that it has 1' of water. This was the time to learn what's it like to push 320 by hand. I turned of the engines as soon as I started stir the mud, to preven all the stuff being sucked by the engines. I tell you that it's a LOT heavier boat than 240DA. Twice the weight is not a joke. Anyway, due to tough times we got lucky and were able to get a slip at Morisons. BTW, very nice marina, but boy 2.3'....I thought my slip was shallow. But, in the end I'm glad we ended up in the marina, b/c it rained all night and I could run my a/c with a peace of mind, not worry about running it of genny.

While fueling up, I talked to the locals and they told me that there only two spots to drop the hook, one was just south of the BHYC fuel dock, may be 500' where the smaller sailboats were on the mooring balls. But the problem is that it's too shallow. I saw one ~30' sailboat anchorred closer to the channel and fuel dock, I guess where depth had allowed, but I didn't find this being a comfortable spot. It didn't look very protected and you'll be rocking all night. The other spot was kind of to the west of the channel, kind of in wide open area where only locals would know how to get to. There were few boats anchored during the day, but later in the afternoon they were all gone, so when we went to look for it, just to find a good spot to swim, the surface didn't match the chart. I have updated charts (Navionics and C-Map) and both were showing 13-16' of water while my depth finder dropped to 2' as soon as I approached the area a bit away from the local channel. We've driffted in the channel to go for a swim. While hanging out there we see the new SR about 26-27' sundeck flying out of that local channel. If he had a chartplotter he might be looking at the same 13-16' expected, but only in few moments his boat came to a complete stop. Since he has outdrives he was able to get out by the time we came closer to offer help. But, I thing his approach was stupid. He didn't bother to get out and push, instead he used the drive trimmed up. I can only imagine the amount of sand that got sucked in the engine.

So, for now I don't think we have knowledge of a good spot to anchor for the night in the BH area. I hope we'll find it some day.

 

[osd9]

Alex:

Wave to the webcam....

http://70.91.52.49/


Just south of Morrison's is a cove....On my way to AC ( I'm in AC now) I saw a few sailboats anchored in the cove.....they must know the secret channel....

 

[rondds]

i still say barnegat bay south of the lighthouse is way too shallow to for an inboard boat to anchor. you cant stray anywhere out of the pipes without bouncing bottom. and even if you find something, you've got to watch the 3+' tide drop in the area. the other factor to consider is that anything south of BHYCM is outside the no-wake and you will get battered. everyone and their mother uses the inlet down there (coast guard, parasailers, party boats, sportfishers, center consoles, etc.) and as soon as they pass that last no wake buoy they throttle up. you're much better off staying at a marina again if you make a return trip down there.