Winter Gale: Down on the Jersey Shore.

This past weekend was one of the so called "three day weekends" observed by the U.S. government and generally, but not universally, followed by most schools and other employers as well.  These long weekends are much loved by folks like your diarist who look forward to a small break from work.  Actually this coming week will be unusual in that I'll only go to the lab two out of five work days.  This coming Thursday and Friday I'll be traveling down I-95 to Gulfport, Florida for the Moth Boat Mid-Winter Regatta.  But back to this past weekend; we went to check our cottage on the island of Brigantine.  Saturday was quite windy as a winter gale blew through along the coast.  The Atlantic City airport recorded wind gusts up to 52 mph and other near-by locations had gusts higher than that.  This gale was not the usual Nor'easter but one associated with a front moving across the island from the west.  West winds tend to accentuate full moon low tides (i.e. a "blow out" low tide).  Such tides sometimes uncover interesting bits of sea glass, shells and other odds and ends.  Your diarist found no sea glass but did manage to snap a few pix.

Although the deep snows of early winter have melted, another 4 to 8 inches of snow is forecast for Monday night.  This is a rude awakening from the two days of balmy 70 degree weather we've just experienced.  Day time temps dropped like a rock as Saturday progressed.  So much for the groundhog's prediction of an early spring.

The strong west wind blew the tops off the waves.  The waves were breaking fairly close to shore.  This is about a half hour after the ebb.

Although not visible in the photos, the wind was also picking up a fair amount of dry sand making any prolonged attempt of a walk an exercise in sand  blasting.  Your diarist returned the camera to the safety of the case and retreated to the warmth of the house.  Portugal is the next land fall due east from this picture.

Sunday we will wander down the coast to Cape May.  Stay tuned.

Downtown Annapolis on a rainy winter day.

Annapolis is the state Capital of Maryland. We live roughly twenty miles west of town. Sunday afternoon's weather forecast mentioned the likelihood of showers but we decided to chance it and go walk around the old part of town as a way to wind down our holidays.

Yes, we got caught in a shower first thing, but with the temps near 50 degrees F it didn't seem too bad.  The City of Annapolis is already in the process of taking down the evergreen roping and lights from the street lamps.

The Indian Chief was in his usual location, holding up the wall of the cigar store.

The Historic Foundation's Museum Store was having a post-Christmas sale.  The steeple of St. Mary's church can be seen in the background.

The Middleton Tavern looked quiet.  A far cry from the summer crowd typically waiting for an open table on the porch.

This sailboat, tied up in Ego Alley, is still sporting the Christmas decorations from the annual Parade of Lights which takes place on the 2nd Saturday of December each year.

The Motor Yacht Susannah was up from Norfolk.  She's tied up by the Fleet Reserve Club.

Looking across the empty harbor from the end of City Dock.  The Chart House Restaurant occupies the old Trumpy Boat Works building.

The building with the green copper roof is the Severn Sailing Association's clubhouse.  SSA hosts many world class regattas each year.

Looking through the fog at the Naval Academy's remaining pair of communication towers.  Until a few years ago there were several more of these towers grouped together in this area.  After they became redundant the Academy tore all of them down except this pair.

Walking back from the end of City Dock we passed Steven's Hardware store.  There's always something interesting in the window display.

The curious devise with the numbered copper arm is a "Jeffersonian" rain gauge.

The owl is a semi-successful gull deterrent used by boat owners.

Walking up Pinkney Street we pass the Shiplap house (house with the red siding). This is one of the oldest remaining buildings in Annapolis.

At the top of the hill are State Circle and the Maryland State House.  This building is the oldest State House in continuous use in the U.S.  George Washington resigned his commission as Commander in Chief of the Continental Army in this building.  The Maryland State House also briefly served as the National Capital.

Opening post: winter at Brigantine, NJ

This is the first post for random wanderings up and down the eastern seaboard of the U.S. My inspiration is Charles Winpenny's excellent "Cornwall Cam" which, as its title suggests is a photo documentary of Charles' walks around Cornish in the UK.  If you don't know about Charles' site, I highly recommend a visit: http://www.cornwallcam.co.uk/  Charles posts new photos on an almost daily basis.  I will not be quite so prolific but hope to have something of interest at least weekly.  I live near Annapolis, Maryland and travel up and down the east coast to race Classic Moth Boats.  Today's pix are from yesterday's visit to check our summer house on the island of Brigantine in the state of New Jersey.  An unusually strong winter storm had dumped snow on the island the previous Sunday and Wednesday when I checked the house, the ploughs were still very busy.

The city had managed to plough a single file track down our street.  The fence in the foreground is 4 feet high.  A bit of shoveling allowed me to move a load of tools that I'd brought along from Maryland into the garage for storage.

The drifts lay deep upon the dune.  Yesterday was sunny and relatively mild with winds in the sub 10 knot range and afternoon high temps around mid-30 degrees F.

At one point the snow had covered the beach but the subsequent high tides had eroded much of it away to the dune line.  The large building in the distance is the old Brigantine Hotel.  This is one of the few buildings remaining from the land development boom of 1927.

Zooming in closer on the Hotel.


A life guard shack, nestled in the dunes, takes it's winters nap.


Atlantic City is on the next barrier island just south of Brigantine.  The city's infamous Casinos loom in the near distance.

Fortunately Absecon inlet separates "us" from "them"!  But sadly, Brigantine is not as quiet an island (at least during summer) as it was when I was growing up back in the 1950s.

Many of the smaller houses on Brigantine, like mine, are being bought as "tear downs".  Large "MacMansions" are replacing these modest homes.  This is a pity in my opinion, but at least until the next hurricane comes along we're stuck with the new high buildings which block the summer's breeze.  I've resisted installing air conditioning in our house but this spring will finally yield to the reality that our house does get uncomfortably hot during the hottest months of summer.


A curious bare patch of grass courtesy of the 50 knot winds that blew during Sunday's storm.

On the bay side of the island, the Brigantine Yacht Club looked very forlorn.  Our family joined this small dinghy sailing club in 1951.  I've been a member ever since.

Ice almost completely covered the bay.  Bay ice is rarely trustworthy enough for ice boating and largely is a nuisance since it forms large blocks around the pilings of piers.  These blocks of ice are buoyant enough to lift pilings out of the mud on subsequent high tides which leads to lots of spring time work for dock builders and pile drivers.


This small sloop won't be moving any time soon.

           

Looking towards the southwest.  Another casino, this one the Borgata, seen across the bay ice.  Atlantic City's small wind farm is also visible.

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Zooming in on the wind farm.  Have you every wondered were the electricity generated by wind energy goes?  These mills provide enough power to running AC's sewage treatment plant.

One final look at the bay.  Zooming towards the north, one can see open water about a mile away from where I'm standing at the yacht club.