By:Doug Miller
Known as a J-1 buoy Ñ for Jones Inlet marker buoy Ñ the navigational aid bobbed 1.5 nautical miles off the coast of Point Lookout in its previous life, pointing ships toward Jones Inlet. SundayÕs storm and its accompanying nine-foot waves pulled the buoy off its mooring, a Coast Guard official said Tuesday. The buoy washed ashore at Grand Boulevard almost unannounced, although at least one neighbor recalled thinking that a UFO had landed.
Members of the Coast GuardÕs Aids and Navigations Team met with city officials Tuesday to decide the buoyÕs fate, although several people said they hoped there would be no rush to find a solution. One elected official called the city managerÕs office and asked that the buoy not be removed until his children could be photographed with it. Another official jokingly suggested auctioning the buoy on EBay to help alleviate the cityÕs budget problems.
Since the buoy presented no danger to the public, Long Beach police said they were going to leave it alone for the time being and not waste manpower shooing people away from it. A police spokesman said the buoy would remain on the beach until the Coast Guard came and collected it. ÒWe have not given it any special attention,Ó said Lt. John Radin, the Long Beach Police DepartmentÕs executive officer. ÒWeÕve passed it off to the Coast Guard. ItÕs theirs to handle.Ó
When the buoy is removed, it should be one of the more interesting beach spectacles of the year, but time is becoming a factor. ÒItÕs a pretty big buoy,Ó said Seaman John Babbini of the Coast GuardÕs Jones Beach station. ÒWhen I saw it Monday, it was sticking into the sand a bit more, and with the tides putting more sand around it, itÕs going to be tough to pull off.Ó
Adding a sense of mystery to the episode, no one seems to know what the militaryÕs plans are for the buoy. Calls to the Aids and Navigations Headquarters at the Shinnecock Coast Guard Station were not returned. Babbini said that members of that unit were talking with Long Beach officials, but on Tuesday no Long Beach official said they had spoken to the Coast Guard.
Finally, on Wednesday morning, there was a communications breakthrough. After city workers tried and failed to move the buoy with a truck Tuesday night, the Town of Hempstead agreed to loan the city some heavy equipment and some workers on Thursday, after the Herald went to press. The plan was to move the buoy down to New York Avenue until the Coast Guard could come and collect it next week.
Early plans by the Coast Guard to remove the buoy by helicopter were scratched as unworkable, to the relief of West End homeowners.
Meanwhile, the buoy has become something of an inanimate celebrity. A Long Beach family Ñ Vincent, Anthony and Gabrielle Cerullo Ñ hung a wreath on it and posed for their annual Christmas card in front of it. Workers came by on their lunch hours Tuesday to pose for pictures in front of it.
Long Beach denizens are certainly accustomed to oddities washing up on shore, from medical waste to the occasional dead body or live sea mammal. On Thanksgiving Day 2003, two blue whales cruised past the beach, receiving happy holiday wishes from boardwalk strollers.
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