Why did the Drinks Fridge try to cross the Fly Deck??

Because Waz didn't put feet on the front of it to stop it moving across the deck when the washing machine ocean swell made it take a nose dive!! I'm blaming him, at this stage. He has broad shoulders, he says:) 'Im just glad my toes weren't under it when it decided to make it's move!!!

More on that later...the ocean swells, etc!

I think I need to make some food, as we only got breakfast and a small 2oz bag of nuts to eat today, and it is now 5.35pm...
More later!!

I'm back!

Amazing what you can do with ground hamburger,...I don't think it was Grass Fed beef, but never mind...it was one of my 'everything in the one pot' meals. It was a bit yummy, finished off with fresh fruit salad and a cup of coffee...Community Coffee, of course (they aren't paying me to advertise for them yet...yet!)

The old man is fast asleep beside me...there is a theme here, isn't there? It is only 9.30pm, but I will give him this one, today. It was a stressful day, made more stressful by almost zero visibility....and yes, I will give you the WHOLE story of that in a minute.

First...

After yesterday's aborted take-off for northern regions, in the Washing Machine of the Atlantic, we decided to cool our heels in Cape May, and enjoy the location. Having no camera was a handicap, on Wednesday, when we sent the little Canon off to the Service Center, and we haven't been able to locate a camera shop of any kind to purchase another one. That one cost me $100! It wont break the bank at that price!
We ate a late breakfast and prepared for the rest of the day in Cape May Historic District with our SLR cameras. They are heavy, so we tend not to take them with us.

The fog was still about when we set off with our cameras in waterproof bags and rain jackets on. We anticipated that we might catch the odd shower, which was forecast. We didn't! The fog lifted almost as soon as we parked the dinghy in the same marina as last time, and we walked down Washington Street in the heat and humidity.


Condos built over the water at the Marina

Across the road from the marina...Antiques store

There is a restaurant as part of the Marina complex, on the street side.

 Everywhere you look, you see Sport Fisher boats, in the marina.

The old 'lift' bridge doesn't look like it works, now.

 I took this photo from the middle of the bridge, walking towards the old town.

I was very taken with the plantings in the Traffic Islands.

New/Old builds...

Lovely 'Cape' homes.

  and the gardens kept me busy....the smell of roses was in the air..divine!!

 We passed this house on Wednesday, and these lilies weren't in bloom then!:)

 Many of the homes have the names of the original occupants, over the door, and the year they were built.

 This one was a new build, but very nice!

 These roses smelled divine!

 Cute Bird houses...

 and even cuter ones:)

 Hmm..do you think I was enjoying the roses???

 and the gardens in general??

 This was fun!

 These red roses were glorious too!

 The Plain Trees were lovely.

Ok..Enough houses....

Well, there was one more...We were about to go into the grounds of this old home when Waz's Cell phone rang. We had stopped by our neighbor boat, Magic, on the way out, and exchanged boat cards..

..so here was Howard calling us to say that he had been in communication with one of the yachts that had left earlier in the morning, and they said that the visibility was good and the sea pretty flat.

 

We made the instant decision to Buddy with Howard and Jackie, who have done this trip before, and we got a cardio workout all the way back to the Marina and the dinghy. 10 mins later, we were pulling up at the boat. 30 mins later, we were ready to pull anchor and follow Magic out into the briny.

 

It was bright sunshine when we left, and though there was a steady roll of swell coming through the channel to open water, it was nothing like yesterday, thank goodness.

 

Magic turned inside us to take the lead out through the breakwater at Cape May. Sunshine!! Those are the other yachts that are waiting, in the background. Weather windows are to be taken when you can get them!

It was a little foggy as we made our way out through the breakwater to open ocean. Well, this isn't OPEN ocean, per se...we paralleled the shoreline all the way up the coast, no more than 2 miles out. However....

 

This was the view through the Sea Fog. Lots of people out enjoying the ocean beach, despite the fog.

 

 

 

The water was reasonably calm for the first 2 hrs, but the fog rolled in and out, and we put the radar on for safety, pretty much from the get-go. There are markers out there to help with navigation, and except for the fish long-lines or whatever they are, with their fluro buoys, which were not visible in the fog until you were practically on top of them, in 45 feet of water!!! aieee!! the way was pretty clear.

 

As we progressed up the coast, the sea waxed and waned, as did the fog for a while, then the white caps appeared, the swell increased, and so on for the next 2 hrs. Setting course for the final leg from Egg Harbor to the entry to Atlantic City Harbor, was when it got really interesting!!

 

The swells, which we were almost abeam of (side on) rolled us, but unevenly. The swells grew, the fog stayed close, with almost zero visibility. We almost didn't see the green and red buoys that guided us into the channel for Atlantic City. We also came across another trawler that had only been on Radar before, and now appeared like a ghost ship, out of the fog, to port.

 

The washing machine that the ocean now was, made it challenging, with the current leading into the harbor. We had instructions from Howard, who miraculously had gone ahead of us, to stay starb'd of the rock wall at the entry...well, you would, wouldn't you?? if you could, with the way the sea conditions were!!!

 

 

The fog parted and we were able to see what we were coming into ...

The rock wall is at bottom far left...the casino were on our port side (left) as we came in the channel.

 High rise along the channel and no doubt the beach, which we couldn't see.

 

Waiting at the bridge for us was Howard and Jackie on Magic, left, and two yachts we had been in contact with throughout the journey. They were the ones Howard had talked to about the conditions at sea.  They were waiting for our arrival to move forward into the anchorage.

 Just to the right of our boat, on the chart, is a little  basin, which opens out into a larger one. Getting into the first basin is a little challenging, but Howard and Jackie had been here before and knew how to get in. We went in single file, of course...

 Howard and Magic go first....not much room, and initially, not much water. The trick came in getting the current, wind and depth right, by staying to port of the red signs...good reason to? with the sand bar coming out into the water!
This whole area was inundated during Hurricane Sandy, and altered at the same time, of course. We are headed towards that anchored yacht, at right.

  We were almost on top of Howard, and he was asked to speed up, by the Montreal boat following us, as they were fighting wind and current and trying to stay off the grass.

 He took the corner a little close, and warned the dark hulled yacht to take care on that corner...

 oops...getting into trouble with the current pushing him aside...

 All sorted... and putting down the anchor~! phew!

A big thanks to Howard and Jackie on Magic for their guidance and company on the journey today...their encouragement meant a lot to us!.


And to finish this post off, I had some fun with the lights on the Harrah's Casino building:)

Not sure which casino this one is, but the band of light at the bottom is the parking garage!:)

The lights on the Harrah's building change messages all the time...

Here is the same building just before sunset, through the plastic, upstairs on the fly deck.

 

 

Well folks...Waz has gone to bed and left me to finish this. We are happy campers tonight...we have had our shower off the back deck :) and look forward to getting together with other boaters tomorrow, whom we met in Delaware City...Linda and Bryan. They were waiting for a part for their engine when we left there, on Tuesday, but they made the trip up to Atlantic City, early this morning. We waved to them in Cape May, as they motored past us. Bryan called us when we were still on the way up. They have checked into a marina, so we will have to find them tomorrow. We also look forward to spending some time with our anchor mates, Howard and Jackie, when they surface in the morning. I know Howard was looking forward to a sleep in:) We will too.

Night Night...

 

Oh, I forgot to tell you about the fridge....well...

The swells tipped us from side to side, and the little fridge isn't wedged into its hole, on the fly deck, so it is free to walk forward when the boat swings that way...and it did! I sat with my back to the pilot seat on the fly deck and my feet against the fridge, keeping it from sliding, yesterday, and today I wedged a paperback book under the front in the perhaps vain hope that the book would stop the forward progress of the fridge...it kind of did...a bit! but I still had to keep a foot there at the worst of the rocking. No toes were lost in the execution of this duty! I think we need a more permanent solution to this challenge, especially with more ocean swells in our future!!

 

Ciao!