Southbound ’17 – Travel Day 4: Atlantic City to Cape May

FROM: The Captain –

Travel day:  November 3rd 

Destination: South Jersey Marina, Cape May, NJ

Forecast:  Patchy fog early. Sunny. Winds SSE 10kt. Seas 3ft with dominant period of 7 seconds.

Distance traveled: 39 nautical miles

Time underway: 4 hours 8 minutes

Average Speed: 9.2kts

Max Speed: 16.5kts

Fuel used: 44 gallons

One more leg out in the ocean and it’s a relatively short one.  Because we only had around forty nautical miles ahead of us and because of our fog experience the prior morning we allowed ourselves the luxury of a “late” departure as we had no interest in moving until the clearly visible ocean fog had burned off.  It was a bit of a rollercoaster exiting the Absecon inlet with big rollers coming off the Atlantic but once clear of the jetty we pointed OLOH to a heading of 230 degrees and locked in the autopilot for the next three hours without the need for a single turn.  There were southeast swells coming at us once again but with a much longer period – meaning the waves were further apart – and it was a very comfortable ride down the coast.  

Cape May inlet is big and easy and upon hailing South Jersey Marina on the VHF once in the harbor we received expert instructions on making our approach as well as the very helpful advice to place our fenders about a foot above the waterline as the marina has unusually high floating docks.  We came in with ease, tied-up and plugged in and got right to some necessary boat projects and settling in that our constant pace since departure day had precluded.  South Jersey Marina is well-reviewed for a good reason.  They handle a lot of boats passing through and do it as well as it can be done.  Another dockhand named Matt was terrific and dockmaster Tom is an older salt, very nice with a great deal of local knowledge, lots of stories and biscuits for Jasper – so we were all happy.  Cape May Harbor is a cool, throwback area with postcard charm most everywhere you look.

OLOH-Ritas were the libation of choice for cocktail hour in fine preparation for our cheap and cheerful meal across the street at 5 De Mayo (BYO Margaritas) which was EXCELLENT.  Not just good.  Excellent.  An unexpected surprise.  Breakfast the following morning at the marina’s restaurant, Saltwater Café was also a true treat.  Tim said the Crabby Benedict was the best Benedict he’d ever had (fried green tomato, poached eggs, lump crab, lemon hollandaise over a grilled English muffin) and my crabby omelet was also terrific.  Our last full day was warm and beautiful so we decided to hit the “tourist trap” called The Lobster House for lunch…we couldn’t resist. 

Funny Jasper moment as we were first settling in.  A group of infrared photography students descended on the docks to take advantage of the afternoon’s great light and the spectacular scenery.  With OLOH positioned right at the beginning of the dock and Jasper standing watch on the foredeck, all of the students started gravitating towards him and he gave me the nod that he was willing to model for a bit.  I explained to the photogs that the cost of doing business was to send us some great photos of our First Dog.  Eduard Moldoveanu was the first to take Jasper’s pic and sent us what we think is an amazing shot – thanks Eduard! 

(posted with permission)

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