We spent 5 (five, fife, fiver) days in Atlantic City, NJ holed up in our boats, waiting out 2 low pressure systems that rolled through back-to-back, producing relentless winds of 25-35kts and steady driving rain. I managed to keep busy with work and barely minded the downtime. As my fresh food supplies dwindled, I began using my reserves… the food in the back of the cubbards I never ever touch, because, well, It’s really not my favorite, or I don’t really know what to do with it. Lentils fall into this category. But I managed to heat some split orange lentils and enjoy them tremendously, quite surprisingly. Our other big discovery in Atlantic City was Redbox, the one dollar video rental vending machine – rather convenient for rainy days aboard a 28′ boat.

With the first break in wind and rain, and we made plans to run for Cape May. That morning was spent grocery shopping while we let the seas settle down a bit. Anchors were aboard by noon and we were back out in the Atlantic by 1300 and bound for our last stop in NJ, after 8 days in the Garden State. Glorious sail under perma-reef main and jib, steered flawlessly by the Monitor.

Arriving at Cape May in the dark with plans to leave at 0600 the next morning, we didn’t bother rafting up or launching the dink for a post-sail-visit. We anchored, on the east side of the USCG station in 12′ and went to bed promptly.

The Delaware Bay has always been a motorboat ride and this trip up, was more of the same. We caught the AM tide and ran with it as long as we could. The tide changes later and later the further up the bay you get, so you just have to keep ahead of the change in tide and you maintain a favorable current the entire way through to the C&D canal… not hard, as long as you maintain about 6 knots! We had no wind but were able to make 6 knots underpower with the help of the current.

The C&D canal… well, I used to love it. The first time I transited it, on the HMS Rose in ’95, I thought it was great. Warm smells of industry, blossoms, orange lights… I don’t know why, but it seemed really neat at the time, must have been all the pine tar I was smokin’.  It’s a 2.5 hr trip on this boat – rather long, and well, almost boring. Too bad there wasn’t any large vessel traffic, that always keeps it exciting. The sunset over the canal’s west end was lovely however.