Okay, it's 5:00 in the morning, and we are headed out to the Atlantic Ocean to go to Atlantic City. We can see the Brooklyn Bridge all lit up as we leave in the dark.
We are following Off Duty II, because they are the slower boat and we said we would stay together for this leg of our journey. It's really nice having a buddy boat. This has the potential to be the scariest part of our journey (besides the 10-day passage to Tortola, of course), because it's a long day and the first time in the ocean. We picked a good weather window, though, and it's going well so far.
The ocean was glassy and just a bit rolly to start, but by 12:30 it was definitely getting lumpy. The wind is starting to build to around 19 knots (on the nose, of course, so we are motoring). The only problem is the huge power boats. We've had several roar up behind us and suddenly veer off when they get close. What, are we invisible? Don't they notice our 67 foot mast sticking up out of the water? Kind of hard to miss. Sheesh. They leave a huge wake and really get us rolling. We just hang on.
By 1:00, we could see the Atlantic City skyline. We had a very lumpy ride for the second half of the day. The wind and waves were building, but still not unbearable or scary. We anchored at 5:09 in a tiny little hurricane hole at the Atlantic City inlet. We had to watch our depths going in, because there are shallow areas, but we both made it in without incident. Very nicely protected anchorage.
Ugh, we've been salted. The whole boat is gritty from the salt water. It's sticky, too. RC Wings does not like it!
Carey barbecued a delicious steak for supper and then he listened to the first part of the Blue Jays game before we went to bed. We were tired out!
Tuesday, September 27, 2016
We woke up at 6:30 to a gentle rain. Sounded nice. Just like camping. Hopefully, it will wash some of the salt off. I made French toast for breakfast.
We made plans with Dave and Nicki to leave around 11:00 for Cape May. The seas should have calmed down to 3' waves by then and the small craft advisory will have ended. We hoped it was going to be a calm ride today. Our only concern was that we were leaving just an hour before low tide. We had to be careful going in, so what did that mean for us leaving?
Off Duty II needed diesel, so they started out of the anchorage a little before us. Within minutes they had gone aground. Oh, no. We dropped our anchor again and watched them. Dave was able to use their bowthrusters to push them sideways and they got free. Phew! They decided to keep going and proceeded slooooooooowwwlyyyy out of the anchorage. It took about 20 minutes, but they got out. Now, it was our turn. Dave radioed back to give us some depths, and we started out. I was on the helm, and Carey was giving me navigational instructions--a little right, a little left, hold this line, closer to the marsh. We held our breath and motored veeerrrryyyy slowly, and we made it! Thank goodness! We hovered in the main channel until they had fuelled up and then we left on our way to
Cape May.
The ocean had big swells! Not the short, choppy waves we get in the Great Lakes, or that we had yesterday. These swells don't make us pound down, but we do get quite a roller coaster ride--both side-to-side and front to back. When we look back at Off Duty II, the boat almost disappears in a swell and we only see their mast and the top of their canvas. It's different on the ocean, but so far RC Wings is handling it beautifully.
We turned on our radar because we could see a dark cloud ahead of us. Sure enough, the radar showed a couple of red storm cells just ahead. They turned out to be just rain, so nothing to worry about. Nice to know that our radar is working well.
By 3:30, the ocean was glassy, but with big swells. We arrived at 4:40 and rode the current in the inlet. The swirlies (or eddies, to be technical) really grab the boat so we have to oversteer to get through. Dave and Nicki, behind us, said our boat went totally sideways toward the rock jetty. Yikes! We made it through, though, without hitting anything. We dropped anchor heading into the current, which is a little different from our usual anchorages, as the wind is usually the determining factor when we line up to drop the hook. I think we are adapting well to all of these new things--probably because we've been reading everything under the sun on ocean travel for the past few years. I guess all that studying is paying off!
We've invited Dave and Nicki over for a strategy party--perhaps with a beverage or two. Ahhh, I love arrivals when we can relax for a bit. While we were visiting, we saw dolphins!!! Lazily swimming across the bay. This is the first sign of ocean wildlife and they were in our anchorage here at Cape May, New Jersey, which is just around the bend from the Delaware Bay. So cool. The water is glassy and it's a beautiful sunset on the water. We see some pretty cool fishing vessels here that are so 'East Coast.'
Time for a quick supper, get caught up on the Jays, and go to bed. We're tired out. 6:00 a.m. comes early.
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