Nor'Easter

The forecast was for temperatures in the lower 40's, gale force winds, violent surf, and the development of a Nor'Easter. It seemed like a great time to go to the beach. We survived our weekend away at the Jersey Shore where not only one Nor'Easter formed, but two. The time away was wonderful since we had an oceanfront room overlooking a rabid sea and the hotel was one of the spots of the island that didn't flood. I was attempting to describe our vacation to a co-worker who was beside himself with laughter. Despite my best attempts, I had little success convincing him that it was a great weekend away.



As we drove onto the island we knew that things were not going to be "normal" as most of the main avenue was underwater and almost all of the shops and restaurants were in survival mode. That really isn't accurate. Most of the shops where in "business as usual mode" but us land-lubbers felt like it was survival mode. The islanders acted as if Barnegat bay, flooding over Long Beach Island was an everyday occurrence. Apparently it is common enough not to generate much excitement. We were not sure if we were going to make it to our hotel, but finally arrived in the torrential rains and hurried our things into our room. Unfortunately we arrived after dark and couldn't really see the surf, but we could feel it. We went to sleep the first night with the wind screeching and the thundering surf seeming to be chewing its way through the dunes toward our hotel.



The next morning we were able to explore a bit between the squalls and discovered that the feeling of the sea eating the dunes was not far from the truth. The entire length of the beach looked like a miniature of the White Cliffs of Dover.



It was difficult even getting down to the beach since the access paths were washed into shear drops. The beach was very small and that which was left was covered in debris - mostly dune fence parts.

I won't go into too long of details, but we hunkered down for a long storm and simply lounged in our hotel room, watched the sea, read, wrote, watched the weather channel, a few movies and relaxed.



We did a surprising amount of exploring even in the middle of the gale. Getting around wasn't easy since everything on the bay side of the island was in some state of flood. We had to find food for one thing since the hotel restaurant had prices that made the gale seem calm. At one point I waded the van through the 1-2 foot flooding around the grocery store and up onto the sidewalk trying to find a place to land Diane the girls. They still had to resort to pulling off shoes and socks, rolling up pants and wading into the frigid water simply to make it to the front door. After that stunt, the manager opened up the back loading dock for getting customers in and out.




On Monday morning the storm finally abated enough to get the the beach. The cold wind had dropped and it was simply cold. We drive up to Barneget Light to get out and about and got a stunning view of the entire island, with the cold Canadian air allowing remarkable visibility.



The sea calmed down and we were finally able to take long walks on the beach. Here are some random pictures from our various walks.





We were greeted with a glorious sunrise this morning, but couldn't linger to enjoy the balmy day. As might have been predicted from anyone who is familiar with our travel adventures, the flawless weather returned just about the time we drove off the island heading back home. That being said, it was a delicious time away and we are planning another one sometime in the dead of winter. Maybe we'll manage to get ourselves a blizzard for that one!