Along the Jersey coast to Cape May

We ended up spending a couple days in Manasquan due to a small craft wind warning.  The weather had been great up till then, hot and sunny until now.  It has been an unusual start to fall with a large high pressure along the eastern part of the continent, holding off any nasty weather.  Now though, its to break down and bits of different weather is sneaking in.  We are still in shorts and t-shirts but the wind has really picked up on the ocean.  When we finally left Manasquan, we anticipated an end to the small craft warning not long after we left port.   That didn't happen, in fact they extended it for another four hours there.  So to say the least it was quite bumpy at the end of the channel going back onto the ocean and heading south.  There were 3 to 5 foot rollers coming from one direction and waves coming from other directions.  There was no way we would be able to get back into Manasquan, so we just kept going.
 The further from shore we got, the more manageable the waves were, and the further south we went, the waves stopped showing their white tops.  We made good time in our little boat, we surfed down one wave at 8 knots...our hull speed is only 6 knots.  If I said it wasn't scary at the start, I'd be lying.  My stomach was in jumbles as we left Manasquan, but settled down as the day went along and we got used to dealing with the waves.
 The journey to Atlantic city was a long one and we managed to get in before the sun went down to a little bay where we anchored out for the first time.  It was well protected so there were no worries there of dragging the anchor.

 Across the bay you could see the casinos that the city is known for, with their billboards that lit up the entire side of the building, kind of made a mess of my sunset shots.

The next morning we headed out early in the hopes of getting to Cape May, New Jersey.  Again, it was lumpy, but not as bad as the day before.  The sun was shining, the wind was sort of in our favour so we still made good time to Cape May.   All along the coast is incredible sand beaches that stretch for miles at a time and as you pass by each town you may see a small amusement park right on the shore.
The wind was picking up again for the last hour into the Cape and made for a rolling ride in.  There is an anchorage right beside the Coast Guard station where we finally found a suitable spot to drop the hook.  We have to take tides, currents and wind into consideration now too, along with the depth of the anchorage.  This coast guard happens to be the only training centre for cadets of the coast guard.  They are in training all day and into the night, we know because we can hear them yelling as they are doing whatever cadets do.  Then there is 'taps' as the sun goes down and a loud rendition of their national anthem on queue every morning at 8.
That night was a bit hairy on the hook (anchor) as the wind picked up substantially, so we were on anchor alert.  We took shifts over night to make sure our little boat didn't drag the anchor or any other boat didn't either towards us. On my shift, I would check around me every now and then to make sure that all the landmarks were where they were supposed to be, which meant that we hadn't dragged. Just a little nerve wracking to say the least.  The anchor alarm did go off a couple times over the night, but we were really swinging around in a circle which made it come on. It was a relief to see in the morning that the anchor had stayed put.  We are very new at anchoring overnight, so every time is a new learning experience.  We have now put just chain on the anchor and have learned a bit more about anchor alarms, so should feel even better about our next time anchoring overnight.

South Jersey Marina - the stick is us

In the morning the wind hadn't settled, so we moved to a marina from which we could get supplies and re stock the boat better.  The marina has a shuttle that takes us to where we want to get said supplies and has been very helpful as what we needed was in two opposite directions and the weather wasn't the greatest for walking far.

Resort hotel from the 1800's

We did walk one way into the town proper to check it out.  It is considered one of the oldest vacation resort towns in north america, and it shows in the elegant beach front homes and the old hotels there.  In the older section of the city there are homes on the sycamore lined streets that date back to the mid 1800's that have been carefully looked after or renovated to retain their historic values.  Lots of the homes have their own names or the name of who used to own it and when or are summer vacation rentals properties. We also wandered out onto the beach, a couple people were wandering like us another seated in their lawn chair watching the surf.  The beach here is like the ones we had seen all down the coast, miles of sand with a small amusement park along the boardwalk. We could see the actual Cape where the Delaware river meets the Atlantic Ocean.

Terns resting

The beach

We headed back to the boat, ladened with groceries,  I phoned for a ride from the marina shuttle just as it was starting to rain a bit, good timing.  Just up the street from the marina is a seafood restaurant that also has a shop that sells fresh seafood and bakery items, so we got a few large shrimp a lovely loaf of bread and a slice of tiramisu for dessert.
We hoped that the weather would hold so got prepped to head out early in the morning, including getting to bed early as neither of us slept a lot the night before.
The alarm went the next morning at 5:30 so we could check all our weather reports to see if it was a go to head to the C & D canal (Chesapeake & Delaware Canal) at Delaware City.  The short of it, no, there was no way we could safely get the 50 miles to the canal from Cape May before the weather disintegrated.  Good call on our part because it disintegrated earlier than expected, in fact by 10 am the wind had risen quite a bit and we likely would have had to come back. So, with the wind and tide against us, we booked ourselves back into the marina to wait for another weather window.  Currently, that looks like a few days as the winds are averaging mid 20's with gusts to 48 mph.  We're not going anywhere in that.
A couple arrived in their sailboat after leaving NYC yesterday at 9 am and arrived here about then today.  They said it was an awful ride, the waves kept building on them;  they were very glad to be here.  We helped the dockmaster to get them into the berth beside us, between two poles and a finger dock.  In the wind it wasn't easy, but they finally got settled and likely slept the day away. They are heading the same way as us, and have done this trip before so we'll be picking their brains abit about our next passage which is to the C & D Canal.

Today before the expected rain we decided to head back into town and check it out some more.

Off Cape May

 We walked the beach to the cape where the Delaware river meets the ocean to see what it looked like out there, bumpy....  Along the way we saw a worn out Monarch butterfly trying to find a calm spot to rest on a small sand bank, some dolphins skimming the surface, birds of all sorts wandering the beach like us; though they were looking for food.

We had seem quite a few dolphins during our passage to Cape May, they had been rounding up fish to eat.  The seagulls were trying to get in on the act too when they forced the little fish to the surface.  They were all too busy eating to cruise along beside us.

Sisters of St Joseph

The Battery

We walked to the point in the far distance

The walk along the beach is beautiful, we walked to the actual Cape then into that part of town to the bird estuary behind the sand dunes.  Hurricanes over the years have taken away a lot of the beach in areas.  The cement battery was used during WW2 to try and spot German U-boats before they hit American ships.  It used to have about 900 feet of sand in front of it, during one hurricane, it was left in the water.  The US Army Corp of Engineers rebuilt the area all around it and the building housing the Sisters of St Joseph as well as rehabilitating the sand dunes and the estuary behind them.


We got back to the downtown
and the Washington Mall, a lovely outdoor area near the marina when it started to rain, so we stopped for lunch in a pub before walking back along yet another sycamore tree lined street of neat old houses to our little boat.

The Washington Mall

The wind has really picked up tonight as I type, and I'm very glad for the big boxy stinkpot (large motor yacht) that is berthed beside us as its bulk is definitely cutting down a good portion of the wind.  This marina has some huge yachts and huge fishing boats berthed here right now, more came in today, likely because of this weather.


So please send us some good vibes to get rid of this excess weather, so we can be on our way again. We have been fortunate in our travels until we hit the ocean proper, the last few days has bigger everything with this system that is taking its sweet time to go by.

Til next time...

The view today to the Delaware Bay

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