Hey Dave,

Beautiful shot...

A couple of weeks ago, the NEWARK STAR-LEDGER did an excellent piece on my community, in particular the issues that a group of residents at the end of my lagoon on the bayfront have been struggling with... The article leads with the example of my dear friends Bob & Betty France, longtime residents of Shore Acres... Betty was one of my sailing instructors at our little yacht club when I was a kid, and Bob has helped me out with a number of deliveries over the years... Absolutely wonderful people, huge contributors to our community for decades, and instrumental in making the junior sailing program at Shore Acres YC one of the most highly regarded on Barnegat Bay...

Their beautiful home was one of the first to be demolished a couple of months ago, and it looks as if they'll never be able to afford to live here again...

http://www.nj.com/ocean/index.ssf/2013/06/shore_acres_brick_paul_jones_drive.html

There's an excellent photo gallery, as well:

http://photos.nj.com/4504/gallery/paul_jones_drive_in_brick_suffered_catastrophic_damage_when_hurricane_sandy_hit_the_jersey_shore/index.html#/0

...gives a nice sense of my neighborhood, and how incredibly lucky I was compared to many around here... At the height of the storm, when all of the land in the pic below was about 4 feet underwater, those houses on Paul Jones Drive were the only buffer between my boat, and the open water and large waves running the length of the bay...

My lagoon is the one just to the right of center, you can see my boat on the right side about 1/3 of the way up from the bottom...

I love living here, and always will, if I can continue to afford the taxes... Flood insurance is out of the question for me, and will be the deal-breaker for many, I'm afraid - but I'll gladly take the chance a storm like Sandy will never occur here in my lifetime... But 2 more houses were demolished this week, and the character of this wonderful neighborhood will never be the same again, and folks like Bob and Betty Jane will be sorely missed...

best regards,

Jon