I have a soft goal of exploring all the New York harbor navigable creeks and water ways. This weekend I decided to try the Raritan River. The Raritan, Passaic and Hackensack are sort of the poster rivers for industrial pollution and decay, and somehow it seemed like a daunting, but challenging expedition.
This weekend the weather forecast was excellent and with a crew of Anne, Hannah and I we left the Molly Pitcher in Red Bank with a favorable tide on Saturday at 0745.
We ran the Navesink River on batteries and in the Raritan Bay started the standby generator knowing that we would have a run that was longer than the battery/solar supported range alone.
We ran west on a glassy bay seeing many cownosed rays and the typical collection of summer water birds.
About two miles out from the Raritan Bay Railroad Bridge (the entrance to the Raritan River), I received a call from Tomer who asked if I could cover a sunk barge survey in Port Reading, up the Arthur Kill. I told him I would cover it. Tomer had no idea I was on Aberration and only an hour run away and getting to a survey by personal boat was a historic first for Aberration and for Martin & Ottaway.
The job was not terribly challenging, but it was even more fun to tie up to the Sea Scout Ship Sea Dart II for transfer by hustler tug to the wreck.
The survey was quickly taken care of, and we resumed course for the Raritan River.
Passing through the Raritan River Railroad Bridge was a weird experience. The bridge keeper was vague and unresponsive on the radio and at one stage even tried to convince me that I could make it under the bridge even though the air draft board was damaged and it was unlikely that there had been a 6.5 foot tide drop from the listed 8 foot air draft.
Fortunately, a Cornucopia brunch boat was also coming through and the bridge finally opened.
We then entered the River that we had viewed thousands of times from the Route 35, Route 9 and Driscoll Parkway bridges and passed under those bridges with massive overhead clearances.
The Raritan River is actually two rivers. The main river runs to Brunswick after which it becomes unnavigable and actually is the start of the historic, but now closed, Delaware and Raritan Canal. About midway to New Brunswick there is a branch called the South River which runs through Sayreville, NJ.
There are still a very few industrial sites along the lower reaches of the Raritan River, which further upstream change to decommissioned powerplants and garbage dumps. The garbage dumps are now at least grass covered and, even better, many are solar panel covered. Someday these dumps will have trees and will even add to the landscape. For the most part the lower reach is a massive wetland, and while one can still sense the industrial debris, the level of wild birdlife is impressive. We counted over 15 osprey nests and saw an eagle perched on an electrical power mast. At one stage, there was a combination of five different bird species flocks that was probably as impressive as I have ever seen in New York Harbor. There was some floating non organic debris (bottles, cans, some plastic) in the water, but certainly not to a level that was disturbing or detracting.
We were surprised at the amount of small craft traffic, consisting of small fishing boats and jet skis. It was never crowded, but also not unpopulated.
Sayreville borders the junction of the Raritan River and the South River, where there is a very nice boat launch and about ½ mile of nice homes bordering the river. At this stage, the charted channel buoys are no longer present, but the channel is easy to find. Meanwhile, just about every remaining range marker is topped with an active osprey nest.
Moving up the Raritan we went under the Turnpike bridge and then passed the Raritan River Boat Club which is just downriver of the Route 1 Goodkind Bridges. The older one of the two is a very attractive classic concrete arch bridge which in many other locations would be a revered landmark. This bridge featured in one the Sopranos episodes where Detective Vin Makazian jumped to this death.
Right here, the banks rise out of the wetlands and take on the typical Central Jersey red river bank appearance as also can be seen on the Navesink River. (Yes, this is Central Jersey Governor Murphy)
At this stage the river is approaching New Brunswick and the navigable part ends at a park, the Rutgers University boathouse, and the entrance to the remains of the historic Delaware and Raritan Canal. From the Bay to this point is only about 13 miles.
There was no place to tie up, so we turned around and decided to anchor a short distance upstream from the entrance to the South River. We were anchored in a wider section of the river outside the channel in 8 feet of water, between a solar panel covered garbage dump and a decommissioned power station. But most of what we saw and felt was wetlands and very few bugs. While we were anchoring, a ski boat was towing some skiers and a few jet skis came by. Nothing unpleasant though and all was quiet before sunset.
We had a good night sleep at anchor and the next morning decided to explore the South River.
The South River is extremely curvy and most of the last oxbows are bypassed by the short 1824 built Washington Canal, which allows much more direct navigation to the more historical section of Sayreville around the Washington Street bridge.
A small distance upstream from the Washington Street bridge is the old Raritan River Rail Road (RRRR) swing bridge, which is permanently open, and immediately upstream is a modest boat club.
The South River is quite pretty and almost bucolic, and in many stretches has the lush appearance of the Swimming River. We were in the river at high tide and there was a lot of loose floating debris in the form of logs and other organic material. Again, manmade debris was limited and not distracting.
By all appearances the navigable portion of the South River is longer than the Raritan, although narrower. Before it becomes unnavigable, we decided to turn around right were the Starland Ballroom is located along the River. In backing the boat during the turn, the port prop ingested something, and we lost all blades on the composite propeller. (Composite props are much weaker than metal props, but since they break when hitting heavy debris, the gears are less likely to be damaged.)
Aberration is designed to deal with this kind of stuff, and on one engine we maneuvered to a steep beach along the bank, grounded the boat stern first and swapped out the prop for the spare.
We were back underway in less than an hour from the time we lost the prop, and ran downstream back to the Raritan where we started the generator for our run home. The railroad bridge opening was just as discourteous on the way out. After a number of failed attempts at radio contact, the bridge tender told us to wait for the next passing Jersey Shore train (which was kind of fun to watch), and after the bridge swung open we were back in the Bay. We sighted two seals and a lot of cownose rays, and with modestly increasing wind and a meeting with the AJ Meerwald, we bucked the tide at the Navesink to return home at 1430 on Sunday.
Like so many things in New Jersey, hearsay, first impressions, and closer examination always fall on the same line. Hearsay is always negative, and closer examination always is much more positive. We all agreed that, while probably not the most lovely river in the world, undoubtedly the Raritan River is a river that deserves respect for its return to a more natural state. Quite frankly, it is a river one can love as an example of rewilding. The South River was the biggest surprise, it is a very nice river and worthy of kayak and canoe exploration similar to the Swimming River in Red Bank. It is surrounded by development, but very little intrudes on the river, and on the River it feels more like the Mekong delta than stereotypical New Jersey. I would be more than happy to repeat the trip simply for the peace and pleasure of it.
