Margo Pellegrino is four days into her 500-mile journey from New Jersey to Washington, DC in support of Oceans 21, a Healthy Oceans Act to save our seas.  On Wednesday, she set out from Atlantic Highlands, NJ, and down the Raritan River.      
 

Margo's blog: July 3 

Every day brings a challenge, and I'm really glad that so far my body is holding up to it. Once I hit the Delaware I expect that there will be even more. So much depends on the weather. Right now I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the weather continues to hold. 

On Day 2 I had the wind at my back, although there were some initially rolly conditions, until the last four miles or so of the paddle. Wind kissed my face, and not very gently, almost the whole ride up the Raritan.  I was privileged to have Bill Schultz, the Raritan Riverkeeper, escorting me up the Raritan River. I had left Atlantic Highlands, NJ, where NRDC had invited various groups to come out for a very nice brunch with me, including John Weber of Surfrider and Benson Chiles of shore11.org, among others from the New Jersey Coastal and Ocean Coalition.  I paddled around the markers outside of the "naval playpen." Apparently munitions are loaded at this site and taken over sea. I certainly did not want to get in the way of that.

Anyway, Bill Schultz met me as I was coming up to Keansburg. He was on a new jetski, one that did not spew fumes, and he could ride next me and have a conversation without me choking and gagging. Every now and then he would hang about and then zip off to check on an osprey nest or some other thing. And then he would come back and provide me with some very interesting anecdotes and information. He told me about how Perth Amboy, which still has combined sewers (meaning that when it rains, you get run-off and poo in the water), just recently spent $10 million on new sand for its eroding beaches. Except you can't go in the water. There's no swimming, because there is no water monitoring. More than likely, there is no water monitoring because then the town of Perth Amboy would show high fecal counts and then have to take action to remedy the problem, and "close the beach."  So make it a "no swimming beach," no need to test, and no need to "close" it. Sound like a real fun beach. There is definitely something wrong with this picture.

Bill and I got to talk a lot during this paddle. It was pretty windy, and I certainly wasn't making very good time, so there was plenty of time to paddle and talk. I mentioned how I was at a race recently and someone, one woman's coach, had brought a picture of a "danger do not eat the crabs" sign. Apparently, these signs are all over the Newark Harbor because the crabs are carcinogenic. There are a lot of people in Newark who are "subsistence" fishermen, meaning they eat what they catch because that's all they have to eat. And so they are eating carcinogenic crabs.

Of course, as we paddled into the wetlands areas, the wetlands that had dumps in them, there was an ever increasing amount of noticeable trash. I almost forgot to mention that when I was paddling to the Naval station there was quite a bit of plastic bag pieces, stuff that was obviously torn apart. Much of it had algae on it, as if it had been out there for a very long time.  It was actually a depressing bit of river--so much potential, so much of it unrealized. Bill and Lorraine at Raritan Riverkeeper seriously have their work cut out for them. Sometimes the problems facing our ocean can be a bit overwhelming. For times like this, I like to read  Roz's blog at Rozsavage.com, check out what's happening at shore11.org, and read David Helvarg's 50 Ways. Actually, 50 Ways is the perfect book to keep in the bathroom because the chapters are short, sweet, and informative. Of course, it is also invigorating and refreshing to find your local Surfrider Chapter and get activated. And get out there and paddle!