[Journal entry for July 26, 2014; Barnegat Bay]. Bob, John, Ron, Richard, and I joined Lee Reiser on a kayaking trip that he organized to Barnegat Bay, a lagoon located between the barrier islands and mainland of coastal New Jersey. We met at Betty and Nick’s Diner in Seaside Park NJ. Bob and I arrived early and ate breakfast together at the counter. I had blueberry pancakes, which I though excellent, and Bob had an eggs dish, which he thought poorly spiced. We then loaded our boats onto Lee’s and Ron’s cars, for we didn’t want to save on the twenty dollar per car parking fee charged at Island Beach State Park. We drove to the A15 boat launch, unpacked out gear, and by 9:30 AM were on the water. The launch is on the bay side the long and narrow spit of sand that included both the town of Seaside Park and park, at the end of a short, unpaved access road on Johnny Allens Cove. I paddled Lahar, my West Side Boat Sop Extra Fast Tourer.

We paddled south among the Sedge Islands, which are mostly Spartina grass with occasional patches of bushes and trees. This area is known for its birds; we spotted many during the course of the day. Ospreys, nesting on platforms atop wooden poles, were very plentiful. We watched them fly about, fish, play and sit on their nests. Some nests had two juveniles, now fledged and nearly as large as their parents. We also saw Gulls and Terns, Snowy Egrets, Great Blue Herons (both blue and white morphs), Oystercatches and a variety of smaller long-necked wading birds that I couldn’t identify. We passed many people wading in the shallows and raking for clams. We explored several channels and bays. The water, at 70 degrees Fahrenheit, was very pleasant. The day was overcast and humid but moderately cool.

We then crossed the channel to the town of Barnegat Light. This is the channel that connects the bay to the sea, so we crossed well away from it mouth in order to avoid the strong currents of the ebb tide. The boat traffic was fierce, with fast power boats going every which way, so the crossing was difficult. We paused for a while on a shallow shoal across which small waves were breaking, waiting for a lull in the traffic.

We visited a boatyard full of large and rather rusty steel-hulled fishing vessels. Twenty or more were tied up, with names such as Sea Dog and Olympic Javelin. We had to dodge out of the way of one that suddenly left its berth. We then pulled ashore at a public kayak launch, stowed most of our gear in our boats, and walked into town.

We ate lunch at Kelley’s Old Barney Restaurant on Broadway in the town of Barnegat Light, sitting beneath a large umbrella on one of their backyard tables. Kelley’s was crowded, this being a Saturday in July, and we had to wait a half hour for seating. We judged the wait worthwhile, for the seafood was excellent. I had flounder; most of the other, tuna. We then visited the grounds of the lighthouse. I had climbed up to the top on a previous occasion, so today I walked along the path on the sea wall. The ebb was raising sizable standing waves in the channel, through which boats were crashing. We then toured the little nature preserve next to the lighthouse. It has a wooden boardwalk that leads through groves of Holly and Black Cherry trees, growing between tall sand dunes. We passed a wedding party posing for photographs. The bride, groom and attendants were all decked out in fine garments and being led about by a couple of professional photographers. Both they and we had to scurry for shelter when rain began to fall. Bob and I huddled beneath the roof of a kiosk as a strong shower passed through. The rest of our party sheltered at Kelley’s. The rain stopped in a half hour or so, leaving the sky to the west quite a bit brighter than it had been earlier in the day. We returned to our kayaks and got underway.

The channel was much easier to cross on the return trip, for the rain had reduced the intensity of the motor boat traffic considerably. We tried to head straight back to the launch at Johnny Allens Cove. However, owing to the tide being lower, we had to detour around a wide sand bar. Richard dragged his boat across the sand, but the rest of us padded the long way around. I found paddling in the foot-deep water rather tiring, for I could feel the drag of the bottom on Lahar’s hull. Lee deployed his spinnaker and let the afternoon breeze to the work.

The sun was beginning to shine as we packed up our boats. We stopped by Lee’s cousin Dan, who lives in Seaside Heights, to say hello and to use his hose to rinse our boats. The trip had taken about eight hours overall, including about five hours of paddling.