Manasquan River
by Cory Wong

When: Sat, August 30, 2014 at 9:30 am

Where: Manasquan River within Wildlife Management Area, Allenwood, NJ 08720

Participants: Monica Orso, Peter Walker, and myself

Conditions: Morning 9:30am – 11:45am - bright clear sunny skies and calm waters
Noon 12pm - scattered clouds and with more exciting waters
Afternoon 1:30pm – 3:30pm - darken clouds with westerly winds creating wave fetch at our backs (a good thing)

Sightings: 3 young flying ospreys, multiple white egrets, several blue herons, 1 brown heron, numerous cormorants, 2 pirates, and 1 pirate ship

Synopsis: Trip launched before 10am under beautiful skies, with three young ospreys flying overhead and multiple egrets in the trees. Paddling through the peaceful marshes allow us to decompress and soak in the wild life refuge. As we entered the open river against the tide and the various mac mansions appeared among the more pedestrian homes, we considered our station in life, and we just kept paddling. Relatively easy paddle until approaching Rte 70 Bridge overhead, here we encountered more exciting waters with Jet Skis, motor boats and the Manasquan River funneling under the bridge. Osborne Island (Treasure Is) was within sight once we came out from under the bridge. More lively waters but landed safely at our destination before noon. Monica and Peter kicked back on the south eastern portion of the island while I explored the perimeter beaches. All was calm until we were invaded by youthful treasure hunters and part time pirates (see video/pics). We made our getaway around 1:45pm and even though paddling against the outgoing tide and threaten skies, we returned to our launch site by around 3pm due to the westerly winds at our backs. After loading our boats at the suggestion of Monica we celebrated our narrow escape from the privateers with a few blue Curacao margaritas and pizza at Bar Anticipation.

Cory