Jersey Shore

Coming out of Worton creek was a bit rocky at first. Although the winds had died out overnight, there were still the echoes of the big waves from the previous day. Luckily this only lasted about an hour before we made it behind an island and out of the fetch. Along the way we heard a couple of "pan-pans" on the radio, as some boaters did not listen to the small craft warnings yesterday and there were reports of unmanned boats and overdue boaters.

Once we made it into the C & D canal things were super calm, and we eventually arrived at Delaware City marina. The owner of this place was an over-the-top control freak. He told us to call when we were approaching the channel, then proceeded to give us step-by-step instructions on how to get to the marina. He actually gave us too much info, as we could easily navigate using our chartplotter, and some of his info was wrong (head towards the blue and white ferry - which had departed the docks 15 minutes earlier and was now across the channel).

We passed a group of five Navy patrol boats coming through the C & D canal. These guys kicked up a pretty good wake, and about 15 minutes later we heard a bridge operator telling them to slow down through the no-wake zone in Chesapeake City.

Coming in to dock, we had a huge amount of space, at least 100 feet of linear dock to land on, but he insisted on giving us instructions on precision docking, and got mad at us if we deviated even a little from his instructions. Once we were on the dock, he and his dock hand used our ropes to flip us around to face back the way we came. We have done this many times ourselves, so the procedure was not new to us. The owner was impressed when Louise knew to pass the bow line under the anchor. We got flipped around and set into the slip. Again, he would not let us touch our own lines, he insisted on doing everything, even plugging in our shore power. 

I gotta say this however, the guy knew what he was doing. This is only the second time we have seen dock hands who properly secured a boat (the first was at Hoppies), with correct knots and everything, but he was definitely rigid in his way of doing things.

We got set in and were getting ready to eat lunch when a couple of CBP officers stopped by the boat and asked us to come out. They had seen our Canadian flag, and stopped in to make sure we had reported our port of call.

When we entered the U.S., we got a cruising permit for the boat. This permit allows you to cruise a boat in the U.S., but it requires you to check in with CBP at each port of call (every time you stop). We do this using the CBP ROAM app, and had been checking in at each port of call when we came down the inland rivers. When we got to Florida, the officers told us we were checking in too often, and told us to only check in when we travel from one zone to another. Since Florida, we had been doing that. 

We talked with the officers for about 10 minutes. They were really nice and really helpful, and gave us a couple of tips about using the ROAM app. A bit freaky though to see law enforcement officers stop by your boat, in fact all the other loopers on the dock were asking us what happened because a few minutes later two police officers were also on the dock walking around and they thought the two groups were the same.

Mural on the fence beside the marina.

There was a harbour host - Foster Schucker - nearby who gave a weather briefing to all of the loopers there. The briefing was really well done and informative about picking a good weather window to travel in the ocean. After this marina we had to transit Delaware Bay and the Atlantic Ocean. The one thing I really remember from the talk was the term "unlimited fetch". Any kind of east wind in the area was dangerous, because the Atlantic created unlimited distance to build up waves, and the concept of "unlimited" together with "waves" was kind of scary.

This was a good piece of info we got from the briefing. The key take-away was that when going up the Jersey coast, NEVER go outside (on the ocean) when there is any eastern component to the wind, as there is unlimited fetch. Rather they told us to go with a west wind and stay within 2 nautical miles of the shore (minimum fetch) to get the best conditions.

After the briefing we had docktails with a bunch of other loopers, then went to dinner with Steve and Maria of Dolly and Trish and Roy of Madi Hati. They asked us to buddy boat with them up the coast. Cool. We chose a restaurant that was recommended by the marina owner, rather than the one suggested by the dock-hand. The dock-hand told us that if we were going to his suggestion, Crabby Dick's, that we not tell the owner as he has some kind of grudge against the place. The place we ended up at, the owner's suggestion, was a cheap diner. Food was OK, but cheap, what a surprise. We should have listened to the dock-hand. No matter, we swapped stories and had a good time visiting with Dolly and Madi Hati. 

Steve had a conch shell that he used to sound tribute at sunset.

Next morning we were off the dock at 6. We had wanted to leave earlier, but slack tide was at 6 which made for an easy start off the docks. The current here was off the chart, so best to go with the no-flow. The ride up Delaware bay was super smooth. The only rocking came from wakes, and those were not too bad. The container ships did not make huge wakes like we saw in the Chesapeake, but the sport-fishers made up for it. We made it to Cape May just after lunch.

Trish of Madi Hati is a professional drone operator. She got this photo of the marina at Cape May using her drone. Unfortunately we are not in the photo, iFloat was parked just below the green boat at the bottom-centre of the photo. If you look straight up from the green boat, you can see the narrow entrance to the marina.

Did I mention this was Memorial Day? The ride in through the Cape May canal was something else. We were pushed by a strong tidal current, which always messes with control. To add to the fun, this was a major wanker-zone. All kinds of idiots on fast mover boats coming and going. The channel was pretty narrow, so we passed pretty close, and we had to constantly watch for boats coming up behind us. At one point we had to pass under a narrow bridge. Was pretty nervous as there were lots of boats approaching us from the other direction. I slowed down to let them go through first, then we made our approach. As we were closing on the narrow zone, we saw a big sport fisher coming the other way. Uh-oh. Luckily for us, this was the one boater in the area who knew what they were doing. He stopped to let us pass first, as we were being pushed by the current (you have much more control when heading into the wind or current). Nice guy and smart. We continued on, and just before we made the turn to the marina, a big Sea Ray came up close behind us, only turning at the last second to go past. What a jerk. Louise thought for sure he was going to hit our dingy he was that close.

The approach to the marina was interesting. There was a lot of shoaling, so we had to pass the bulkhead very close, about 10 feet away. Coming to the marina entrance, we had to stop and pivot as the entrance was small. Louise got out on the bow of the boat to spot to see if anyone was coming out.

After getting tied up we snoozed for a bit, then met the other loopers on the dock for docktails. It was supposed to be a bit of a planning session, but it ended up being more social. We met the crew of Boot Up and Northern Attitude, who both mentioned that they were going to stay here an extra day. We were surprised because the weather window was so good the next day, but they said they wanted to visit the area and rest up.

Sunrise from our slip at Cape May.

Leaving the marina. It does not show well on this photo, but the bulkhead on the right was only about 10 feet off the port side of our boat. The entrance was really narrow here. Don't know what happens when you have 2-way traffic, especially given how the locals drive boats here. You can see the dredge just past the fake Lighthouse. The inner harbour needs serious dredging since it is mud at low tide.

Madi Hati exiting the marina. The entrance is narrow, and you have to stop and pivot when you come out to travel along beside the bulkhead. If you try to turn normally you will run aground.

We were underway just before 6 am the next morning, and had calm conditions all the way to Atlantic City. The ocean was smooth as glass. We were tempted to keep going all the way to New York, but decided we did not want to grind it out. If we had gone, we would have arrived at night and we did not want to try to dock or anchor at a strange place in the dark.

Our view towards the Atlantic in the morning. Spain is the first land, and is about 3500 nautical miles away. Unlimited Fetch.

Coming down the Jersey shore we saw lots of resorts and amusement parks. This is a major tourist area.

Lots of water parks, ferris wheels and roller coasters.

The only rough water we saw was at the Atlantic City inlet. Coastal inlets get rough because the tidal currents interact with the waves to decrease the wave period, basically stacking-up the waves. This only lasted for about a km or so, but it was bouncy bouncy all the way. Once out of the current, we got fueled up and into our slip at the marina.

Approaching Atlantic city we turned in and entered the wanker zone in the inlet. This was a weekday, so we did not encounter much traffic on the way in, but the boats we passed were all going at warp speed. Conditions were pretty light, but the swell picked up as we approached shallow water. The current was running out so the waves were stacked a bit, but this was an easy transit.

We both showered and cleaned up the boat. Then I had a conference call about a course I am working on. While I was doing that, Louise went with Trish and Roy of Madi Hati and Steve and Maria  of Dolly to the Hard Rock casino and walked around the boardwalk.

The beach at Atlantic City. It was a kind of grey day and a week day, so the beach was pretty empty.

View along the boardwalk. This area along the beach is nice, but most of Atlantic City is not. In fact we were warned not to walk around here, rather all trips should be by bus, taxi or uber.

Lots of big casinos here along the boardwalk. This place is a low-rent Vegas.

They planted beach grass just above the surf line to stabilize the beach. Must be lots of erosion issues here.

Someone lost a shoe on the beach.

Selfie on the boardwalk with the crew of Madi Hati in the background.

Selfie with Trish of Madi Hati.

Louise walked to the boardwalk and saw at least 4 different casinos in the short walk. The famous Steel Pier was there but was under construction and the other parts were closed off since it was a Tuesday. The ferris wheel was running but she decided not to go on it since it was $12 a person and we had just done one in November in Orange Beach, AL.

Church in downtown Atlantic City seemed a bit out of place among the gaudy casinos. Set for demolition.

At the boardwalk there were roped off areas with American Beach grass plantings. The grass was planted to help stabilize the shore line and the dunes. The grass grows both horizontally and vertically and will build up the sand dunes in time protecting the shore line.

Couple of super-yachts docked at the marina. This one had rat-guards on their lines. Supposed to prevent rats from climbing the lines onto the boat, but the placement of these I don't think would stop much.

The laundry at the marina cost $2.25 per load. To enter this in the machine, you had to double up coins in some of the slots. It took us a while to figure this out.

Boat name of the day: Rogue One