Sea Level Rise in Sea Bright Simulated

A new online mapping tool published by Rutgers University to help local officials plan for coastal flooding in coming decades.

  In Sea Bright, the ocean crashes over the sea wall and onto Ocean Avenue more often than ever with the hint of any storm. It met the Shrewsbury River and sopped low-lying Rumson with flooding, too, during Superstorm Sandy. When the tide rises, residents have to move their cars to higher ground. Flooding is status quo. At Point Pleasant Coast Guard Station, the rising ocean laps just below the quayside where cars are parked. At Avalon Dunes, it’s shown advancing along a bayside street lined with expensive homes. And at Double Creek Bridge south of Toms River, the waters of the Atlantic creep toward a beachfront house that’s already just yards from the regular high-tide line. All three scenarios are depicted in photographs simulating the …

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Hurricane Sandy

UPDATE: Nearly 247,000 Without Power in Ocean and Monmouth

Outages to increase as Sandy barrels towards the Shore

Update, 6 p.m.: Outages have reached 126,739 in Ocean County and 120,000 in Monmouth County. --- There are nearly 24,000 reported power outages in Monmouth and Ocean counties as of early Monday afternoon, according to a Jersey Central Power & Light map. As of early Monday afternoon, there were 23,559 outages reported in Monmouth and Ocean. However, there was no way to immediately learn if some without power have not reported it yet because they may have no means of communication without electricity. But according to the information available, the highest number of outages in one town in the two counties was Middletown, with 6,869. Another town with a high number of reported outages was Berkeley in southern Ocean County with 1,848. …

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Hurricane Sandy

Point Pleasant Beach: Stay Out of Town!

Police ask that people stay away from beach and boardwalk

Point Pleasant Beach police are strongly urging that people not come to town to look at the ocean or Manasquan Inlet. "We seem to be having an influx of people coming into town in order to look at the ocean and inlet," said Detective Pat Petruzziello early Sunday afternoon. He said police are strongly urging people "to not come into town for this purpose as we are in the midst of a mandatory evacuation." The police are currently working on getting residents and visitors east of the NJ Transit train tracks, on Arnold Avenue and Route 35 north, out of town as quickly as possible and by a 4 p.m. deadline at the latest. For the residents east of the tracks who are still in their homes, police are issuing the following reminder: "The Point …

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Clean Ocean Action Fall Fundraiser Set

The 14th Annual Seaside Sunset Event is slated for Oct. 5

Environmentalists, music, food and drink will set the stage for the 14th Annual Seaside Sunset event to benefit for Clean Ocean Action (COA). This year's fall event, set for Friday, Oct. 5, will take place at a new location — McLoone’s Pier House in Long Branch, from 6 to 10 p.m.  The founders and volunteers of Clean Ocean Action, a 28-year non-profit grassroots environmental organization, have been hailed as effective protectors the Atlantic coast from pollution, sea-borne trash, medical waste, and the risk of proposed liquid natural gas (LNG) terminals. The Sunset event is predicted to attract hundreds of supporters of Clean Ocean Action, including ocean enthusiasts, corporate partners and elected officials.  The event is considered a …

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Stormy Skies, Seas at Sea Bright Beach

The beach, now unguarded, still attracted swimmers, surfers. Check out the tide tables and weather forecast for the weekend.

While Hurricane Leslie is not expected to touch down in the Sea Bright area, signs of her distant presence were evident on the beach Thursday afternoon. Across the ocean, a band of haze wrapped itself on the horizon with the NY skyline still in view. The tide was high, with some evident erosion along the shore, but the waves were low. A sign posted at the entrance of the public beach warned beachgoers that the ocean is now unguarded. Yet, several people waded and a few surfed as seagulls scavenged crabs and remnants of fish that had washed in with the tide. Below is a tide tables for Sea Bright from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) Web site: 0.95 L For the Sea Bright shores, the National Weather Service predicts…

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Shore Sea Glass Hunt: Glass Galore

Recapping some of collectors' favorite shades of shards

The following column was written by Graelyn Brashear ... In exploring various sea glass colors, their relative rarity and the history behind their "previous lives" as actual glass products, we have found details on a small section of the rainbow that can be found on our beaches. A piece of seafoam green sea glass is a lovely if not uncommon find. A batch of glass will naturally have a pale bluish green hue because of the widespread presence of iron impurities in glass’ main ingredient — sand. Unless glassmakers were looking for their product to have a special color, they’d leave it in its natural seafoam state. As a result, there’s a huge amount of glass out there in this color — old and new, and mostly mass-produced — from old windshields…

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Sea Glass Hunt: The Good Kind of Blues

The story behind one of many beachcombers' favorite shades of sea glass

The following column was written by Graelyn Brashear: Sea glass might have man-made origins, but it’s the ocean — the ceaseless beat of waves and corrosive and erosive natures of salt and sand — that renders shards lovely. That’s my justification, anyway, for tackling the subject in what’s primarily a nature column. The lovely litter can be found in all kinds of colors. We’ll just focus on one popular color today, cobalt blue, and leave the rest of the rainbow for another day.  What it looks like: Cobalt blue glass is that deep, intense, royal blue shade that stands out strikingly among pieces of other, gentler hues. The color comes from cobalt oxide, an additive glassmakers love because its high melting point means it’s hard to disrupt …

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Laura Madsen

3:13 pm on Sunday, June 10, 2012

Blue sea glass is so pretty! If you want some additional information on seaglunking, here's another Patch post about it! :) http://hillsborough.patch.com/blog_posts/its-the-most-wonderful-time-of-the-yearfor-seaglunking   more ›

How to Identify an Ocean Rip Current

Federal government marks Rip Current Awareness Week

It's national Rip Current Awareness Week, and with ocean water temperatures already in the mid-60s at the Jersey Shore and air temperatures forecast to reach the 80s this weekend, rip currents could prove problematic at area beaches, many of which remain unguarded. "Each year, America’s beach lifeguards rescue more than 50,000 swimmers from rip currents,” said B. Chris Brewster, president of the United States Lifesaving Association, in a statement this week. "Swimming at a guarded beach can reduce your chances of drowning to 1 in 18 million." But at many New Jersey beaches, lifeguards aren't posted on duty for another couple of weeks, effectively placing the safety burden on bathers who choose to enter unguarded waters. Already this season…

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Body Recovered From Ocean in Long Branch

Police cannot confirm if body is that of missing 17-year-old swimmer

A body was recovered from the ocean in Long Branch, near Pier Village, on Saturday afternoon. Long Branch Police Captain Jason Roebuck said he cannot confirm if the body is that of the missing 17-year-old Patterson boy Rudy Mena who has been missing since last Sunday. The body was reportedly pulled from the ocean by lifeguards shortly after 3 p.m. on Saturday. Local authorities ended their search for the boy on Tuesday, May 29 after searching for him for three days. Roebuck said one of the boy's friends said he was swimming and was "sucked out" by the riptide on May 27 around 5:45 p.m.

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Woody's Ocean Hut Open for Snacks

The old beach snack bar has been converted

If you're in Sea Bright and in the mood for a little surf and snack, check out Woody's Ocean Hut. Chris Wood, owner of Woody's Ocean Grille, has opened a deluxe snack hut — more like a snack deck — overlooking the ocean at Sea Bright Public Beach right in back of his restaurant on Ocean Avenue. The bi-level hut is serving up some quality snacks specifically catering to the casual beach crowd, Wood told Patch. So, suit up, hit the beach, then the hut — or vice versa. The snacks are "quality" and the view is "prime." Then menu is standard snack bar fare — burgers, hot dogs, fries, sandwiches — with a Woody's twist, featuring some of the more casual features from the restaurant, such as quesadillas, pulled pork, fish tacos, maui chicken …

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