Day 10 Ship Bottom to Barnegat Light

I was hoping for a paddle that would be a walk in the park and although it didn’t look like it would be, it surely was.

We met at the put in on the south side of the Rte. 72 bridge in Ship Bottom. Driving over the bridge I noticed the flag was straight out and the whitecaps were rolling by underneath. Packing my boat, I was hopeful that my GPS, the window of which no longer enclosed a teaspoon of water but rather some dew drops, would be working again. No such luck. But unlike the last day’s paddle, not only did I remember my chart but also was able to have fully chaged my VHF radio, which shows my coordinates.

My boyfriend and his daughter came with me for a day at the beach while I paddled. This proved good luck in two ways. One, John and I didn’t have to shuttle as my boyfriend was going to take my car and meet us at the take-out. Two, his daughter found immediately found what we thought was a conch on the beach at the put-in! Turns out it was a Knobbled Whelk. It was hefty and alive. She put it back on the water along a part of the shore that had less foot traffic.

After shoving off into with a SW wind and an outgoing tide which moved us at 2.1 kn without paddling, we nearly ran into the Rte. 72 bridge as we floated together while John pulled down my skeg. And, not a huge fan of following seas, I felt not like an athlete after the 9 days of consecutive paddling but rather like a couch potato turned novice paddler. I felt wobbly!

At ICW mile 35 we caught first sight of the kite of a kiteboarder. He was zooming east and west across the water, kicking up a great spray and moving at nearly the speed of a passing motorboat. He was still kiteboarding as we paddled up to G55 but just as we got within video distance, he zoomed east to land on a peninsula of marsh. We decided to go meet him and as we paddled within shouting distance, he got up to zoom west again. I shouted for him to wait, he did and we beached our boats on the marsh, I jumped out and started rolling. Then it occurred to me that I should have asked his name first because he didn’t look as if he was going to come back. I walked up to a woman reading a book on the marsh to ask if she was with him and knew his name. She spoke Russian and little English but I got my question across and she cleverly wrote his name in the sand for me. What I did forget this trip was pen and paper and so I texted myself for later reference - Pavelec Chaploutskiy from Kearney.

While I was having this cultural exchange John was off wondering the marsh head down looking for creatures. He found some super bright green algae in one spot and in photographing it, I noticed several bioluminescent creatures float by. Video to follow.

Pavelec returned before we shoved off and we chatted for a few minutes. As we did, his kite was still flying and he was still attached to it. Several times during the conversation it tugged him up and forward. I wondered if he’d take off but he didn’t. After the three of us shoved off again, two other kiteboarders hit the water. One kept close to shore but tried to get as much height off a wave whenever possible.

Then I did something stupid. Floating along at 2 kn without a daymarker close by I wanted to check our position based on the coordinates on my VHF. That meant needing to see the edges of the chart where the latitude and longitude are marked. That meant needing to take my chart out of my chart bag as I had folded the chart with the edges underneath. That’s when my untethered chart bag flew away! To make matters worse, I didn’t notice for 2-3 minutes. What’s the math to calculate how far one floats at 2 kn for 2-3 minutes? It’s far. John said he’d go back to find it. I wrote it off and yet he found it 100 yards back! That’s like finding a grain of sand on a beach. Moreover, I couldn’t believe it hadn’t sunk. Tether your chart bags!

After that, the remainder of the paddle happened quickly. And yet, I needed to take a break and eat an orange. I am still sick and was not well enough rested.

For the take-out we decided not to paddle around the north side of the dike to the municiple ramp but rather to stay south of the dike and take out at the public beach. In all, it was a quick paddle but on landing, I felt tired.

It took some work to get 2 paddler’s worth of stuff and 4 people in my Mazda 3 but we did it. And, after a short drive back to the put-in for John’s car, we had some breathing room again. John was off to work on his sailboat while there was still some daylight and the three of us went back to Barnegat Light for a celebratory dinner at Kubel’s. I had the cheesesteak. I highly recommend it.