Cape May, NJ

We had planned on taking the inside route to Cape May. We knew it would be a long stressful day because the Intracoastal here is so shallow, but we did it before and figured we could do it again.

When we got up this morning we were surprised to see it was so calm with no wind, so we decided to head off shore. The ocean was beautiful and calm. We needed four hours to get to Cape May, NJ, but the calm weather only lasted three hours. It got very windy and rough fast. We headed in at Townsends Inlet and began to deal with the shallow waters of Jersey's Intracoastal.

When we got to Stone Harbor Drawbridge, we requested an opening because the closed clearance is only 12 feet. The bridge tender told us that the bridge was not operational due to structural damage. He said it might be fixed by Monday, but no guarantees. This was a major problem! According to our calculations, if we completely took off our flybridge enclosure and lowered our mast, we needed 13 feet clearance. Since Al is naturally lucky, he was confident we could make it. Taking down the mast and entire fly bridge enclosure is normally a big job. Today Al had everything down within a few minutes. He headed for the bridge as slow as possible. Magically we fit under with about an inch to spare. We both had to duck so our heads wouldn't hit the bridge. We were both so happy that we were able to make it through. Then Al had to put everything back up again with gusts of wind blowing 25 knots, while I was driving the boat through shallow spots with only 4 feet of water. STRESSFUL!

But, once again, we can say we made it through the Jersey Intracoastal without hitting bottom. We were so relieved to pull into Utsch's Marina in Cape May, NJ.

Tomorrow we'll take on Delaware Bay, which has never been kind to us.

Leaving Atlantic City

It was so calm in the ocean when we left

We made it to Cape May, NJ

Atlantic City

We knew we had a short weather window to travel in the ocean to Atlantic City. It was supposed to stay calm until 2PM. We figured we would be in Atlantic City by 11AM, so no problem. Of course, you can't count on the forecast!

We left the Inlet and it was nice and calm. We saw several whales and dolphin. The whales put on quite a show by breaching up out of the water several times. Too bad I just couldn't get a picture of them.

The wind and waves started to increase by 9AM, and it was really pretty bad by 10AM. The waves were coming from the east, hitting us on the side, causing us to rock & roll pretty good. Poor Hooper was looking pretty sick. We were starting to get uncomfortable and didn't think it was safe to stay in the ocean. We went into Little Egg Inlet. We were then able to relax and enjoy the calm waters of the Intracoastal. What a relief to be out of a rough ocean!

Hooper and I were sitting on the beach at 6:30 AM waiting for the sun to come up.

Leaving Barnegat Light early

Finally the sun comes up

Trusty captain at the helm. Good thing for autopilot & hands free steering.

We made it to Atlantic City

We look like a little peanut next to the other bigger boats.

Enjoying the pool & hot tub at the Golden Nugget

Feels so good after rocking & rolling in the ocean today

View of the marina from the pool area.

Barnegat

Barnegat Light, NJ

We had a perfect day on the water today. It was sunny and calm all day. We stayed close to shore to avoid the big waves further out. We saw a whale off the Jersey Shore. We hope to go to Atlantic City tomorrow.

Leaving Massapequa 

Passing NYC out in the ocean

Large dredge boat off the Jersey shore

Working the sand pumped in from the dredge boat

Barnegat inlet. We never came in this Inlet before.

The sun making an interesting beam of light through the top of the lighthouse

The marina we stayed at

Docked right in front of a large scallop boat

Ready for the next adventure

We're ready to leave home. The boat is fueled up and ready to go. We're winterizing the house now. The weather hasn't been cooperating, but we're hoping to have a good enough weather window to leave tomorrow.