First the silly. Have you ever heard of a slow news day? How about a day where there was NO NEWS WHATSOEVER. What to do? Head down to the dock and poke around. The guy approached with a camera around his neck and a notebook in his hand – the quintessential hack reporter. Him – “I just thought I’d come down and see if anything interesting was happening” Me – “I think you’re in the wrong place.” The next thing you know…….check out the attachment.
The cool. Now 1/3 of you are going to say “why is that cool?” 1/3 of you are going to say – “that’s kind of cool” and the other 1/3 are going to say – “That’s as cool as the other side of the pillow.” To those who care less, my apologies for taking up this space.
When I booked the marina in Belmar NJ, I thought it was KIND OF cool that we would be so close to Asbury Park, a few miles away. AP is the home to the Stone Pony, the bar in which Bruce Springsteen became BRUCE – and the inspiration for the title of his first album – Greetings From Asbury Park New Jersey. But don’t forget the name of his second album, The Wild, The Innocent, and the E Street Shuffle. It turns out that E Street was/is in Belmar NJ – and that the band that would come to be known as the E Street Band rehearsed on E Street.
But wait….there’s more. 10th Avenue Freezeout . I always assumed 10th Ave. was in New York City – the 10th Ave. that’s known as Hell’s Gate. But it turns out that the 10th Ave. referred to in the song is 10th Avenue in Belmar NJ. And the band rehearsing on E Street was rehearsing near the intersection of E Street and 10th Ave.
But wait, there’s more – the intersection of 10th Ave. and E Street, the very epicenter of all things Bruce, is about 4 blocks from our marina. And if that was not enough – the last song I rehearsed with 10 Degrees Off before leaving in May for the boat was………….10th Avenue Freeze Out. Is that cool or what?
OK – back to the boat’s travels. We really enjoyed Cape May - beautiful beach town, an incredible density
of Victorian homes. John McVeigh (who
was vacationing about 30 minutes up the shore) joined us there for a wonderful
dinner and late night (yes, it ended with Bananagrams). We were also joined by Cape May residents Ken
and Sharon, who have been B&B guests of ours every January for the last
seven years. We turned the tables by
visiting their house, a geodesic dome near the Delaware Bay.
Since then we have traveled most of the south-north distance
of the Jersey shore – with a nice stop in Beach Haven about half way up. We did most of the travels on the outside
(the ocean) but made the mistake of doing 30 LONG miles on the inside (the
ICW). The channel was very shallow and
very narrow, making travel stressful and slow.
We would not have done it if not for the false “local knowledge” of a
dock hand in Beach Haven. Anyway, the
ocean travel was largely smooth and easy, past the skyline of Atlantic City and
many many beaches.
Your
next installment of Boat’s Notes will come from New York City – I expect there
will be a story or two.
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