It is hard to know what a sunrise is going to look like as the amount of clouds and humidity can change the characteristics of what it is going to look like. I was lucky as there were just the right amount of clouds to reflect to the sun but not too many to obscure it as the photo at the top shows. I took the pictures of the sunrise from Barnegat light so got a few pictures of the lighthouse while I was there.
After the sunrise I rode the entire length of LBI. As the name implies this is a long island, 18 miles from top to bottom. There aren't a lot of road since the island is so thin but I tried to see as much of the bay and beaches as I could. Almost all the roads have wide shoulders so there is no problem sharing them with the traffic. Although at this time of year there aren't a lot of cars around. This is probably the flattest ride you can do in NJ as my GPS had me below sea level for most of the ride. There are no hills or even high spots on the island and a strong storm and a couple of big waves could turn this island from a thriving vacation resort to a sandbar very quickly.
At the south end of LBI is top end of the Edwin Forsythe wildlife refuge. There is a parking lot where I stopped to enjoy the view and some surfers riding the waves. If I didn't have my cleats on I could have hiked down the beach to see some of the many different birds. Maybe I will come back and do that another time.
On the way back to the lighthouse I got a good views of some of the bay.
This ride is a little boring at times as you spend miles just riding through the houses along the beaches and bays so it is not a ride I would do often but the views of the ocean and bays make this a good change of pace. When I got back to the start I had 39 miles which was a good long ride.
Since it was an early start I was back by 11am and headed home to rest. My day wasn't over because the local camera shop was running a workshop on sunsets in Belmar that I wanted to attend. So a little after 5pm I headed to the marina in Belmar. There were about 25 people there for the workshop including a couple of people that I know from my community. I got there about a half hour before sunset and stayed to just after the sunset.
The Belmar marina is not the most scenic place to take a sunset picture but it was fun to talk to the other photographers and get their take on how they frame a photograph of a sunset. I did manage to get a few good pictures. There was a couple on paddle boards that crossed just before sunset.
My favorite picture of the day was a photograph of one of the other photographers talking to a guy that was fishing there. The reflection of the sunset was on the water between then and I thought it would make a good silhouette shot.
The silhouette came out good and I got lucky as the I caught the sun flare in the glasses of the guy on the right. If you click on the picture you will see the sunburst in the glasses.
There are a lot of other cool places in NJ to take sunrise and sunset photos and it is something I enjoy doing. Although I have gotten some decent pictures of the sunrise and sunsets I know there are better pictures out there so will keep trying until I get the perfect shot.
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