Way to go Dan! You are making progress getting south.
You found the bottom and got off of it with some help. Definitely worth 100 bucks for the tow.
I have sailed a lot of smaller centerboard model boats where those buoy markers were just suggestions of where the channel is. In my 27' Tartan (with centerboard) we always stick to the 'big boat' routes as a sailing
dinghy with a centerboard is easy to get off any shoal but a bigger boat is not. Even though you're in a Bristol 24' (?) you are in a bigger boat as the weight and hence momentum are not that of a 'smaller boat'. I forget if your boat has a centerboard or not?
BoatUS/West Marine has a membership that gives you some credit for towing which is not that expensive. It's like the AAA of the liquid world though.
Glad to hear you made it to Barnegat.
Go Dan, go!