Avon by the Sea

How to describe the feelings that come at the end of something that has engulfed one's life for five weeks? There is no bittersweetness about this end, for the joy that greeted us upon landing at the Avon by the Sea beach easily trumps any sad feelings about the finishing of our adventure.

After the day of getting to Staten Island, we paddled across Raritan Bay, a body of water which seemed to be trying its hardest to resemble a giant washing machine. We missed some of the buoys marking the restricted area around the Navy pier and had a bit of a scare when a small Navy boat came out and turned at us, its large, mounted gun pointed right at Jay. Thankfully they were understanding of our confusion, for their buoys were so far spaced apart that us, in our small craft low on the water, couldn't even see the buoys marking the far end of the security zone around the pier. Instead of landing on the northern shore of New Jersey as we had planned, we were forced to continue across the bay to Sandy Hook, where we landed and emptied out our boats of water. Afterwards we paddled onwards and met up with Aunt Bev and Dad who were scouting out campsites for us in the area. We never did make it up the Shrewsbury River as planned last night, for my back had tweaked out during the Raritan Bay crossing and the tide was rushing out far too strongly for us to paddle against it. So, we ended up camping on the beach just at the base of Sandy Hook.

Today was the day of finishing. We got up early and paddled up the river towards where we would cross into the ocean. We met up with Aunt Bev and Uncle Mike, Mom, Dad, Kate and Ryan, all of whom helped us portage across the road, up the stairs over the seawall, and to the beach. Jay and I left all of our gear with them in the car, so that we wouldn't have to worry about losing any of it as we came into the beach on the surf. Good thing we did that, or else we would have lost quite a bit of stuff.

It was definitely a yellow flag day today on the ocean. Big waves rolled beneath us as we paddled the home stretch. The hours went by slowly, not helped by the fact that the water was rough and we knew we were almost there. All told, we paddled about ten miles down the coast. We passed our first marker - the apartment tower in Asbury Park - and knew we were nearly there. Only tow and a half miles to go. Then we were seeing landmarks in Avon, and we couldn't paddle fast enough to get there. Tired though we were, we knew we were almost there. Then came the landing on the beach.

Jay went first, and I'll let him give more details about what was going through his head as he came in. Then came my turn. I saw my Dad waving me in from where he stood on the lifeguard stand. I looked behind me. Big waves. I hoped that they would pass me before I got in to where they were crashing. I missed the first one. It crashed right in front of me. I was being careful to stay away from the jeti on my left, but also aware that there was a pipe going out into the water somewhere on my right. The water was too high and rough for me to tell exactly where it was, but I knew its general location. Another wave came. This time I was going to get caught in it. I tried to paddle fast enough to keep up, but it was moving quickly. Then I got that feeling that I knew all too well from boogie boarding. I was far past the point of no return, but I wasn't in the sweet spot that is necessary to catch such a big wave. I was in the crapshoot and was about to get pummeled if I stayed with the boat. Because the boat was already tipping in the wave, I quickened the process and bailed, not thinking about much of anything but avoiding being smashed. I caught a brief glimpse of the boat turning over in the wave, but then it was gone and I was holding onto my paddle and swimming as hard I could into the shore. Trouble was, the rip tide wanted to pull me back out. Thankfully two lifeguards came out and helped pull against the rip, and the three of us together managed to get in to where we could touch and walk back in (after getting hit by quite a few big waves, of course).

There was a massive welcoming crew on the beach: family, friends, random interested bystanders. Poor Sea Steak is definitely the worse for wear from the waves, but hopefully the damage can be fixed. Not that something like that would ruin the joy of the moment. As so many of have said this evening, "Best that it happened now at the end of the trip." After the welcoming on the beach and the sheer awesomeness of being at our destination, it was time for pizza and beer. Federico's pizza has never tasted so good. Being with family and friends has never been so amazing. Through journeys and hardships we learn what the joys of life really are, and just how precious every moment of happiness can be.

~Shannon