Cape May

August 24, 2012
38 57.575 N
74 52. 011 W

We made it to the entrance about 10 AM this morning. Once we got the boat hooked up we both took a shower and a nap.Since leaving PW we had covered 145 NM in 20 hours.

We could not leave PW until about 2PM (because of the tidal current down the East River) so we enjoyed a quiet morning. At about 1PM we took the boat over to the Town Dock and filled our water tanks and used the pump out. By the time we were done we were on our way.

This was the 4th time Tide Hiker had made the trip down the East River and thru New York Harbor. We were very early on the tide so the current was not at its peak. We passed the tip of Manhatten right at peak hour and the ferry traffic was crazy and really stirring up the water. The wind had picked up so it was all a bit unpleasant until we got to the outer harbor and things settled down a bit. We were still riding the tide when we passed Sandy Hook into the Atlantic.

It was now only an hour or so before dark so I fired up the radar and gave Nick his first lesson ("the blind leading the blind") I was confident that we would be able to avoid collisions with boats and ships, it was the crab puts and miscellaneous floating objects i was  concerned about.

The sun was down soon after 8PM and we had an hour or so of twilight. Then the moon came out and that gave some light. But the moon set at about 11PM and then it was totally dark. It felt a bit like Space Mountain" at 10 miles an hour. Spooky.

We decided upon a 3 hours on and off routine and so I went to bed at 9PM. Nick seemed to have a good grasp and I was fairly relaxed and managed to sleep. he had one "incident" with a fishing boat that came over to look at us, but that was it.

I was back at Midnight. Nick had developed a 3 step routine that worked for me too. Check the chart plotter, check the radar (6 sweeps) and then outside onto the Portuguese Bridge for about 10 minutes, staring into the darkness. Once you got used to it, it was quite peaceful. It also pointed out how sensible the the Portuguese Bridge design is for a small boat at sea. Sometime during the night, we began to see phosphorescent animals in the water.There were millions of them, each creating a 1" or 2" circle of light in our wake. Millions of them, quite cool.

I handed over to Nick at 3AM. The lights of Atlantic City had appeared over the horizon. We decided to reduce our shifts to 2 hours so that we would both be up for breakfast. When I re-appeared at 5AM it was still dark, but you could tell the darkness was starting to lift. The weather had progressively settled down. At sandy Hook the sea was confused and rough, but now there were just long smooth swels and the boat moved effortlessly over them.

Deidre and I had visited Two Mile Marina before and I was 100% aware of the current issues. So I avoided the previous mistakes and we looked professions (I am sure!) After hooking up the boat we both took a snooze. The dock master offered to give us a ride into town so we went in for lunch. It is a cool little town, woirth another visit.







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