Although we are in Brielle, NJ. now, I thought I'd share a few more shots of Cape May
First of all...they have lots of beautiful women
Lots of people in the main square
And...lots of cool shops and restaurants
As we left Cape May early on Saturday morning, the people were already out on the beach, and on the water
This is Wildwood, NJ...and a very crowded beach
You can see it was a beautiful day, and the Atlantic was very calm for our 40 mile run from Cape May to Atlantic City
We could see Atlantic City almost 20 miles out, but here is our first picture
Another shot of Atlantic City as we get close to the inlet
If you have ever seen the movie Jaws, and the caos in the channel when they were trying to catch the shark...that is what it was like getting to our harbor
This is a shot of Farley State Marina...where we were on Saturday night. The tall building in the backround is a hotel/casino behind the marina
The whole area was buzzing. Lots of people; lots of boats; 2 bands playing
But instead of going to the casino; or having dinner at the bar; or listening to the bands; we went back to the boat, with some friends we met in Key West (Andy and Susan on Maggie May). It was great catching up with them. They just spent 3 days and 2 nights on the ocean, coming straight from Charleston, SC. to Atlantic City.
This boat was parked right behind us in Atlantic City
The weather looked very "iffy" as we left Atlantic City on Sunday morning
The closer we got to the ocean, the heavier the fog
It was not foggy all the way, but it was hazy, and the sun really never came out
I ran hard the last few miles to make it to the Manasquan Inlet
Pictures never do justice to the sea conditions, but it was getting rough as we entered the inlet
Another shot of the rough water in the inlet...can you imagine hitting these rocks?
Just before the rains came we made it to Brielle, NJ
Another day...another storm. It poured for an hour right after I took this shot.
Log 159Day 439
Monday, August 03, 2009
5:50 AM EDT
Location: Brielle Yacht Club; Brielle, NJ
Weather: 69 degrees with calm winds and foggy
This morning we are sitting on the Manasquan River, at the Brielle Yacht Club, in Brielle, NJ. If you are reading this on the web page you can click (here) to see the location on Google Maps. It’s a perfectly calm morning, but it is foggy out. It has got to be 100% humidity, because everything is clammy (is that a real word?) in the helm area. As I write this, there are lots of fishing boats headed out to the ocean, and the “no wake” signs that are everywhere, do not seem too mean much. The boat is rockin’ pretty good, and I’m wondering if it will wake Debbie. Probably not. For some reason, when she knows I’m up, rocking, or boat noises do not seem to bother her. I guess she assumes if there is an issue, I’ll deal with it, and she rolls over and goes back to sleep. She’s right you know.
Getting here...has been 1 great day, and 1 ok day of cruising on the Atlantic. We left Cape May on Saturday morning, with calm winds and sunny skies, and that is the way it stayed almost all the way. But, there is a big difference between cruising most anywhere, and cruising the ocean. If you cruise lakes, or big open bays of water, the waves are mostly dependent on the wind. As soon as the wind stops...so do the waves. The ocean is different. Even if there is no wind, there are still (generally) waves. Actually, they are more “swells”, than waves, but they can be 2 to 4 feet high, on the calmest of days. And, that is what they were like on Saturday. As you can see from the pictures, the water was almost calm, but what you can’t see is about every 7 seconds there was a 2 to 4 foot swell coming from the SE that would pick us up...and then gently rolls us. It takes a little getting used to, and certainly the direction you are traveling makes all the difference in the world, but on Saturday they were hitting us on our starboard, stern, so they were not bad. After 40 miles in the ocean, we came to the inlet at Atlantic City. Being this was a Saturday, the inlet was VERY busy, with boats going every direction. As we pulled into our slip at Farley State Marina, I noticed a boat called “Maggie May” was tied up not far from us. We had not seen Andy and Susan, since we met them in Key West, last January. When we went to check in, I knocked on the boat, but no one was there, but later, we saw them walking the dock. After some quick “what are you doing here?” comments, we decided to go back to Headquarters and have a cocktail. We spent the next 3 hours telling stories, and catching up on where both of have been for the last 7 months. I won’t bore anyone with the stories, but there is one interesting fact. We (Deb and I) were in Charleston, SC on May 6th, day 350 of our trip. When we got to Atlantic City it was day 437 of our trip. So it took us 87 days to make that portion of the trip. Andy and Susan did it in 3 days. They went out of the harbor at Charleston...turned left...set a point for the inlet at Atlantic City...and two nights, and 3 days later, they were there. That is the way they travel. Their next stop was Buzzards Bay, just south of Boston. They were leaving Atlantic City on Sunday morning, and they would be in Boston some 30 hours later. Certainly a different style of cruising than we do. One other side note about Atlantic City. We stayed in a big fancy marina/resort. With several restaurants, bars, bands playing, and a casino. We did not spend 1 dime there (other than the $4 @ foot they charged us for the slip). We chose to spend the time on the boat with Andy and Susan, and after they left, we had dinner on the boat, and went to bed early. What’s that saying...”to each his own”?
Sunday we left Atlantic City at about 6:15 am, and it was a very different day than Saturday. There was almost no sun, and it was hazy and foggy on the ocean. I wanted to get an early start for two reasons. 1...there was a lot of weather to the west of us, and we wanted to head out (Atlantic City is nice, but the prices are crazy) and beat the weather. 2...I thought if the weather held out long enough, with an early start we might be able to skip Manasquan and make it (about 85 miles) all the way to Staten Island...our next stop. Well, the ocean was not bad, but also not nice. It was in no way uncomfortable (wave wise) but along with the 2 to 4 feet swells, it has a small chop, and the fact that the sun was not out, made it dreary, so just not fun. Also, the further north we went, the closer the weather front got, and I actually had to go fast the last 15 miles (of the 60 mile trip) in order to make sure we would be tied up before the storms hit. By the time we got to Manasquan Inlet, the waves were building, and, although it was not dangerous, it was not a piece of cake to come through the inlet. The Manasquan River is known for it’s swift current, and getting to a slip here can be interesting when the tide is really flowing, but we ended up with a slip on the T-head of a dock, so I just faced my bow into the current, and docking was no issue at all. It only took us a few minutes to get tied up, and by the time Deb went and checked in, and I rinsed the salt off the boat, the storms came. The good news was, there was no big winds with this storm, but it rained hard for a while, then continued to rain for quite a while longer. So we enjoyed a lazy and relaxing afternoon on the boat, and had a frozen pizza for dinner, while watching the movie Antwone Fisher (very good true story, with Denzel Washington).
Today...we have about 30 miles to run to our next stop, which is Great Kills Yacht Club. I’ll write more about this later, but the price at Great Kills is $1 @ foot verses $4 @ foot in NYC, so we will be staying there this week, before heading to NYC on Saturday to meet Jeanine (Deb’s sister) and Terry. It should be a nice run up there this morning...as soon as the fog lifts.
I’ll keep you posted.
Bob
No comments:
Post a Comment