August 04, 2008

Day at Sea

The Captain of My Ship. :-)

Before we bought the house this winter, we used to spend our summer weekends on a small boat the mister has owned for years (and years), docked near our apartment in Jersey City, NJ. Those of you familiar with Jersey City may not find this to be a particularly romantic vision of a day on the water, but we were docked in the shadow of the Statue of Liberty, overlooking the skyline of downtown Manhattan. It was our summer house at sea; a 10 minute drive from our urban apartment but a world away.

The past two summers, we’ve rented Jersey Shore houses and found ourselves using the “floating summer house” less and less. The mister attempted to sell it, but since gas was slowly creeping up to a billion dollars a gallon, no one even nibbled. This year, we got ourselves our own house (a slightly larger expense :-) and still no bites on the boat.

To make a long story even longer, M. still has the boat but got two of his friends to partner on the expenses. And when a day is as beautiful as yesterday was, it’s good to have a boat on the Jersey Shore.

Here’s the good ship Anonymous. (That really is her name. I’m not protecting her privacy.)



When shot at an artsy angle on a nice sunny day, she certainly looks younger than her 20 years.
We cruised up the Manasquan River and there are SOME houses along those riverbanks, let me tell you! And, naturally, most of them have docks. I suggested we upgrade to one of them so we have quicker access to the boat, since we’re stuck with it and all. Har har.

Here’s a couple of super sized houses along the way:



These new condos are a little too hotel-looking…




…but if I woke to this view, I’d learn to deal.



Here was the "find of the day" -- and for once it wasn't something I bought at an antique store, yard sale, etc. We dock and dined in Brielle and while we were eating, I noticed these scuba divers posing with their bounty:


I went over have a look-see, and they
were super nice folks. It almost made we want to (pun alert) dive right in!

The pieces they found were mostly flotsam and jetsam, but the captain quickly retreated to the boat’s cabin, and returned to place this in my hand:

This brass knob was found in the wreckage of the Brunette, a “ hull steam freighter sank 1870, three miles off Manasquan Inlet. The Brunette is a great artifact wreck. Sometimes called the door knob wreck.”

They told me to look on their web site for a picture of the 1890s china they found last month on the Mohawk, a vessel, “built in 1902, 205' long and 32' wide. On April 6th 1917, she was temporally loaned to the Navy for coastal convoy duty. Sank October 1st 1917, after colliding with the SS Vennacher.”


How cool is that? Right here in New Jersey. In fact, one of the divers told me it's one of the best states to dive in -- there are apparently around 1500 wrecks from Long Island to Cape May (southern most tip of NJ).

On the way back home the sky looked amazing. I had gone to the Met Saturday and while checking out the J.M.W. Turner exhibit my friend mentioned her husband likes to point out a “Turner Sky” (and if you knew her hubby that would make you chuckle. Who knew he was such a Renaissance man!). I heart art and Turner’s work (and his sky) was new to me. In any event, this art history 101 lesson has led me to coin Sunday’s sky a “Simpsons Sky.” ;-)


I hope your weekend was as lovely as mine. Come back tomorrow...Hooked on Houses is hosting a
Hooked on House Tours day, and I’m joining in on the par-tay. I’ll give you a peek at the most unique “houses” Ocean Grove, NJ, has to offer. They’re not made of brick, or stone, or wood, and there are 114 of them. (Look at me…a blog cliffhanger!)

16 comments:

heidi said...

LOVE the salvage/treasures! I have box of stuff I found on beaches & boatyards over the years, that I just can't part with.

Courtney said...

aahhh...this all looks dreamy, Laura! and what treasures! hey you have a little award at Nesting Instincts :-)

Laura @ the shorehouse. said...

Heidi, that's awesome! I would love a little display of beach objects. But I guess first I have to *find* some! :-)

Courtney, I am beyond words! And *that* certainly never happens. ;-) A million thank yous...coming from you that is really, really an honor.

please sir said...

Looks like a great time - I can't believe all those things they found - so neat!

Rhoda @ Southern Hospitality said...

Laura, I enjoy coming by your blog. Thanks for such a nice comment! My hubby would love this salvaged treasure thing, we enjoy movies about that sort of thing. Remember The Deep?? That was a good one!

Glad you still have the boat, it looks like a dreamy place to hang out on the water.

Rhoda

Anonymous said...

What a DAY! How fun, girlfriend! Beautiful day, on the water, salvaged treasures...can't get any better!

Jean Martha said...

I want to dive and find treasure!!!

Re: selling the boat, if you'd like you can email me the specs and I can forward them to my brother-in-law. He owns a small marina on the Hudson.

--Jean

Linda Lou said...

Laura, we spent Sat and Sun. on my hubby's little 21 foot boat-it was his birthday weekend. Gorgeous weather, some good snacks, wine and music along with a sunny San Diego day, that is what I'M talking about. He already has thought about selling the boat-GAS is at $5.00 per gallon.

Melissa @ The Inspired Room said...

Dreamy!!! I love the water. I spent a lot of time on boats back when I was younger so it all takes me back. Hubby says he'd like to get a boat someday so maybe, just maybe, we'll do that.

Happy day,
Melissa

Laura @ the shorehouse. said...

Thanks, everyone! I wish I could have taken you along. But capacity is 7. So we would have sunk. ;-)

jean -- we may take you up on that!

linda lou -- yay! boaters! (and a happy belated to the mister) As a result of gas prices, let's just say there was more floating than driving.

melissa -- wanna buy a boat? ;-)

muralimanohar said...

No, no, I think the idea of a house on the water needs to be reconsidered...you would be sure to have an extra room in a house that size, that lil ol' me could squeeze into! :p

And the salvage..LOVE it. How fascinating to actually meet the guys, too! (When I was younger, my stepdad financed some salvagers...they gave him a piece of eight as a souvenir, or something. He kept it in his TOOLBOX! The horror!!! lol

Thanks for visiting my blog! I am loving yours, too! (Added you to my bloglines!)

Jenni said...

Hi Laura~
How fun that you got to see what the divers brought up! I always thought it would be exciting to learn to dive, but I am so afraid of deep water, so I don't think that would work very well!

Just think~ those things they found haven't been seen or touched for nearly a century! :)

Richie D. said...

The thing about clouds is that without them you would have no appreciation for a blue sky - how boring.

Laura @ the shorehouse. said...

Well, look who it is. The Renaissance man himself. I learned everything I know about Turner Skies from you, Richie D. ;-)

Pat @ Mille Fiori Favoriti said...

I loved the Turner exhibit at The Met too, Laura.

I never knew there were so many shipwrecks along the Jersey shore! So fascinating!

Your boat is beautiful. I know what a b---h gas costs are now though for a boat.:-(

Mary said...

I must say...I really enjoy checking out your blog. I've added you to my blogroll so I make sure I come back often.

Mary