Beach Walk to the south end jetty.

Today I'm alternating between watching the Tour de France on tv and sanding down the decks on a Moth boat.  Neither activity is all that photogenic.  So instead of speculating on whether or not Thor Hushovd will retain the yellow jersey until the first big mountain stage this coming Thursday, or whether or not my impending varnish job will turn out OK we'll take a little walk to the rock jetty at the very south end of the island of Brigantine.

From my house in the middle of the island to the south end is a walk of about two and half miles, so our walk down and back will be around five miles.  A nice distance that calls for a beer as a reward.

The tide was coming in and the life guards were busy moving their surf boats to higher ground.

 I encountered this American Oystercatcher (Haemaptopus palliatus).  These birds range from New England to north Florida but this is the first one I've spotted in several years of walking this beach.  Click on the photo to enlarge the image.

The Atlantic City skyline from 2.5 miles away.  AC is across Absecon inlet from Brigantine.  Atlantic City shares Absecon Island with the cities of Ventnor, Margate and Longport.  Brigantine on the other hand is the only town on our barrier island.  It's a little hazy today, but that's OK--it keeps the heat down.

I'm a fast walker.  We're here at the jetty.  People like to fish off this pile of rocks.  There must be thousands of hooks and bits of fishing tackle  snagged on the submerged rocks which are just off the jetty and hidden from view.  Looking out to sea, the next bit of land is Portugal.

This dredge is one of two currently working to remove sandbars that were created by storms last winter.  The bridge in the background is the causeway bridge that spans Absecon Inlet which separates AC and Brigantine.  When I was growing up, the bridge was a low, draw bridge.  The high, fixed bridge seen here replaced the old one in the mid-1970s.  The bay just to the west of the bridge is called Man Killer Bay.  Why "Man Killer Bay"?  The current that sweeps into this inlet moves at over six knots during full flood.  Many have tried to swim against the tide and many have failed.

Here's the dredge working the ocean side of the inlet.

This tug was busy taking workers to and from the dredges.

Looking back at Brigantine.  If you click on this pix you can just about see the Brigantine Hotel way up beach.  The Hotel is one of the surviving buildings from the Island Development Company's 1927 attempt to make a killing selling lots on the island.  They spent a ton of money building the hotel, a country club, and cluster of fancy houses and laid out the main roads and streets, just two years before the great depression, in an attempt to lurk people from Philadelphia and New York City to invest in island property.  I've been told that during the depression, which started in 1929, one could have purchased just about any lot on the island for the back taxes--which in those days were only $7.00 per year, but people still defaulted.  How things have changed...

Zooming in a bit.  There were a fair number of surfers this day.

Zooming across the inlet we can see the old lighthouse at the north end of AC, now dwarfed by high rise apartments and casinos.  Believe it or not, Absecon lighthouse is the tallest lighthouse in New Jersey and third tallest in the nation.  It was built in 1857.

The Water Club is a new hotel that is located next to the Borgata Casino.  The houses in the foreground are part of the "Bungalow Park" area of Atlantic City.  The camera's zoom makes both the Water Club and the windmills seem closer than they actually are.

As I turned to walk back for that refreshing beer, the excursion boat "Cruisin' 1" departed for a cruise along the ocean front of Brigantine and AC.  This is a popular activity for day trippers who have tired of the casinos.

Walking back I encountered this lady with three fish poles deployed.  Nothing was biting.

This guy had better luck--he apparently found this truck!