N.J. Shore inlet to be surveyed after large sandbar forms
By Nicolas Fernandes NJ Advance Media for NJ.com Aug. 17, 2022
Sand piling up in Manasquan Inlet
Linda Anne, a 38-foot sportfishing boat based in Manasquan, heads outbound from Manasquan Inlet on Thursday, Aug. 11, 2022, in Manasquan. Sand has piled up along the south jetty, which some say has created hazardous navigational conditions as well as a new beach inside the inlet. Andrew Mills | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
The Army Corps of Engineers will visit the Manasquan Inlet next week to survey a large sandbar that has formed in the waterway, U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, R-4th Dist., said Wednesday.
Sands at the inlet have shifted before, but the low-tide sandbar is larger than anything seen there before, the congressman said.
"We are gravely concerned that it will pose a serious hazard to navigation," Smith said.
Aerial shot of the entire Manasquan River estuary, looking southeast. The Railroad Bridge dive site is at the upper-right.
The Manasquan River is overall not as nice a place to dive as the Shark River. The currents are stronger, the water never seems as clean, and the bottom is silty wherever it is not covered with mussels. The inlet jetties can be downright dangerous, and the boat traffic in the channel there is often very heavy. Off the north jetty is the so-called "Manasquan Wreck", but this is a long swim from shore and probably best approached with a boat.
The packet ship Manhattan sank with eight of her nine crew. In the same storm, the 200 ft schooner Powhattan was also lost nearby, with over 350 immigrants on board and no survivors. Neither wreck has been positively identified, although there are several candidates, including one old wooden hull buried up to the gunwales in the sand.
