Barnegat Light is a resort town on the south side of Barnegat Inlet. The channel to the small-craft and fishing-boat facilities on the bay side of the town is marked by privately maintained seasonal buoys or markers; these aids are not charted.
Navigation:
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Barnegat Inlet forms a passage from the Atlantic Ocean through Oyster Creek Channel to the New Jersey Intracoastal Waterway and Barnegat Bay. The approach to the inlet is marked by a lighted whistle buoy about 1.7 miles SE of the N jetty. The inlet is protected by two jetties marked by lights. A sound signal is at the south jetty light. A white and orange danger buoy is just inside the channel NE of the south jetty. Barnegat Light (39°45’51″N., 74°06’22″W.), on the south side of the inlet, is the most prominent landmark in the area; it is a 163-foot-high brick tower, dark red on its upper half and white on its lower half. The lighted tower is maintained by the State of New Jersey as a historical monument. Also prominent from seaward is a 391-foot-high powerplant stack at the head of Oyster Creek, on the west side of Barnegat Bay.
Barnegat Inlet Channel and Oyster Creek Channel are subject to continual change due to severe shoaling. The buoys marking these channels are shifted frequently to mark the best water and therefore are not charted. Mariners are advised to use caution and local knowledge. It was reported that various aids marking Oyster Creek Channel may be submerged because of strong tidal currents. Breakers make across the inlet with an ebb tide and an easterly wind. Strangers should not attempt to transit the inlet under any but ideal conditions.
