Hey everybody,

In a nutshell, I was incredibly fortunate… My boat came thru without a scratch, and I only wound up getting about 4 inches of water inside my house… Compared to most in my neighborhood, that’s nothing… Most homes on the bayfront are completely destroyed, and many people had several feet of water inside… And, compared to what I’ve seen on the news, even these lagoon communities on Barnegat Bay fared reasonably well, the barrier beaches look like war zones, I can’t believe what I’m seeing…

When Sandy began to accelerate as it approached the coast, being in the NE quadrant as I was, I thought we were well and truly screwed. I was expecting to see winds of 115 or so, but the front side of the storm didn’t seem all that bad, and I began to hope I might have dodged a bullet…

But, then the circulation moved directly out of the south, that’s when it really began to get intense… And, it was relentless, blew hard out of the south well thru Tuesday… But at around midnight Monday, at precisely the time of high tide in my part of the bay, the water rose with incredible speed. The only thing I’ve ever seen close to it, was being caught in a flood on the Erie Canal many years ago. It was literally akin watching a bathtub fill with water…

My lagoon is a great little hurricane hole, but once the bay waters overran the surrounding land, only the 8 houses to the south of me offered any protection. The wave action was incredible, my boat was pitching as if it had been anchored in the open bay. My floating dock eventually tore itself free of my bulkhead, but having the boat spider-webbed across my lagoon was critical, and fortunately everything stayed put…

My internet access, and of course my time at the moment, will be minimal… Just wanted to check in, let you all know the gasbag still lives… Hope everyone else affected made it thru OK, I’ll try to check in and post some pics when I can…

The pic was taken Tuesday morning, the water had probably receded about 18 inches from the top of the surge 8 hours before. I have an outside guest room a few feet lower than the main house, so that is pretty trashed, but I managed to stow a lot of stuff in there high enough that it stayed dry… But, no structural damage that I can see, basically what I’m facing is just a lot of messy cleanup… The pic is deceptively placid, just looks like high water – but trust me, much of my neighborhood is utterly devastated, it will never be the same…Again, small change compared to what tens of thousands of others along the shore and elsewhere have suffered…

Thanks everyone for their concern expressed below… And, I’ve got to put in a plug for my home state, I’ve never been more proud to be a Jersey Boy, the reaction of my neighbors and everyone I’ve seen to this has been exemplary, I’m fortunate indeed to find myself in the midst of such an extraordinary community of people…

Best regards to all,

Jon