LBI Beach Specific Advice Needed (Manasquan, Belmar: home, bars, food)

[leenerbups]

Hi all,

We moved from central NJ to the Long Beach Island /Barnegat Light area. We LOVE the beach, but we don't bake like potato, we swim, swim, swim.

Last year, our first summer here, we had trouble swimming because the undertow was so rough. We also noticed a lot more garbage floating in the water and up on the beach. (I called the EPA and they said it was normal for LBI...that's sad. )

Our favorite beaches were Avon and Spring Lake, and they seem to have more of a sandbar and calmer waves.

Does anyone know of a specific beach we can go to here that is not as rough? Really appreciate it, thank you!

[lkb0714]

The natural geocoastalmorphology is for a sandbar to form then a barrier island or penninsula. Since LBI is the barrier island it will not have the large sandbars offshore that we have in Monmouth Co.

As for the garbage, Spring Lake rakes its beach every single morning which many of the southern NJ towns do not do.

You can check out wave heights and undertow conditions before you head out at The COOLroom.org - Home of the Underwater Weather for NJ

[GS37]

I smell a troll here. I haven't seen garbage on LBI beaches (or really, any Jersey beaches) since they stopped ocean dumping 15 years ago. And even then, I never remember any garbage washing up south of Barnegat Inlet as it was too far from the shipping lanes from NYC. Also, I find it hard to believe that the EPA would be discussing individual small-town beaches in New Jersey with you. Even the NJDEP would never say something like that to a citizen who calls. And coming from SPRING LAKE of all places? The absolute KING of all beach towns that have to shut down every summer at Brown Ave. thanks to the Wreck Pond outfall pipe?

LBI has some of the cleanest, most pristine beaches not only in New Jersey, but in America. It's laughable that you think otherwise, especially holding up the likes of Spring Lake and Avon as examples. Additionally, the riptides and undertoe in LBI are nothing compared to Monmouth County beaches. Manasquan, Belmar, SL and Avon have to close their beaches when there are storms offshore and LBI beaches remain open. There are far more rescue calls per capita for rips in Monmouth County and northern Ocean County than LBI. And LKB's explanation is right-on as far as why this is.

Now, on the outside fact that this WAS a genuine question, I would refer you to Surf City beaches. There are several blocks in Surf City where there are sandbars. However, the ocean is the ocean. You can't expect a sand bar to remain in one place season after season. If you want shallow water in which to swim, most towns have bay beaches.

[Gerania]

There's not usually trash on the LBI beaches so I wouldn't be too worried about that. Food packages and the like sometimes blow away from beachgoers and once in a while seagulls attack the trash barrel and drop bits. Since you're now local, do what the rest of us do and pick it up. I don't think that I've ever seen, or don't remember, trash in the water. It causes me to wonder if there was a boating accident.

There is an undertow and heavy wave action at times on the island. As you know, conditions change from day to day. Small sandbars form, then break up; the water is almost still one day, then raging the next. It is the ocean. If you don't want to go out past the waves, check out the bay beaches as GS suggested.