Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Raritan Bay Report

It was the first full week of November before we could check out the damage in Keyport.  I decided to take a ride and drop a check off for the past seasons mooring.  As I drove down to Keyport, there was little to tell you we had recently been hit by a Mega Storm. However, once I made it to the route 35 draw bridge it was a totally different picture.  Viking Marina was in shambles and as you looked out into the bay it was littered with the half sunken boats all over the place.  The railroad had come in with a crane to pick boats up and move them from the train tracks.  I continued down 35 until I got to my turnoff for Keyport.   As soon as I got on Amboy Road I didn't even travel a half mile before seeing boats littering the sides of the road.  The closer one got to Keyport the more pronounced the boat damage was.  They were stuck on the bridge, laying in the weeds, swamped out in the channel, lying along the road where they had been pushed to clear the road, stuck on or in buildings, and upside down in parking lots. 

The closer you got to the marinas, the worse the the damage was.  By now many of the boats which were close to the marinas were gathered up and placed on blocks or racks.   Many will require a crane to pick them up and place them on trailers to return to the marinas.  As you peer down the roadway you see more damage and more boats.

The Blue Rock Cafe took a betting from boats piled up in front and behind.  I know this catamaran and it is usually park next door in the back, but it made it all the way around front to land on the steps of the Blue Rock.  The sides of the roadway were nothing but mud and puddles of water.  

 Here is another boat that had been pushed from the roadway and the stern drive does not look too good.  

This was another view of the Blue Rock Cafe.  This boat seems to have brought it's dock with it.

Now the picture that gets me the most is the following picture with boats still stuck on the bridge framework.  This would mean that the water was high enough to float these to the point they are and when the water reseeded, it left them stock on the framework.
As we went through the downtown all seemed fine, but as soon as you made the left to head down to the boat ramp you realized you were back in a war zone again. We worked our way to Olsen's Boat Yard which is next door to Keyport Yacht Club.  As we pulled in it looked somewhat normal, but once we drove in to the ramp area we noticed the pile of boats that had been piled up from the storm. This is where my boat would have been stored if I had not taken her home.  This pile of boats stopped the wave action from getting to the other boats sitting in their cradles or on blocks.  
These were boats that have not been in the water for some time and took the blunt of the waves and wind. There will be more room at the yard once these damaged boats are broken up and placed in a dumpster.

When you look around there were small pockets  of boats piled here and there.  Some damaged, some just off their cradle or trailer.
 It will take time to get this area back to normal.  There will be lots of boats headed for the dumps.  The biggest point of this storm is the number of people killed was held to a minimum.  May have no homes along our shoreline and many are in the process of rebuilding, but they are here to talk about it.

In closing of this blog entry I leave you with the following picture.m Be sure to note the name on the back.
Until next entry, be safe.

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