Atlantic City

Monday July 1st, 2013
39 22.598 N 
74 25.263 W

Tough day. We did not get to Atlantic City until 8 PM and we are really tired. The conditions were difficult most of the day but our plan worked well. We "only" ran aground once but I fear it was on rocks or a rock shelf and it did not sound nice. As soon as conditions allow I will dive under the boat and see what damage I did. One other time I felt the boat hit something although we still had water under us. Bottom line is that we had to be 100% alert for 8 hours in poor conditions and it was not much fun. At one point the rain hit us so hard we could not see the bow.

Waterfront living, NJ style

The waterfront real estate in NJ is quite different from Florida. Not mansions with sweeping lawns down to the water, but clapboard houses squeezed together and right over the water with runabouts in docks. There were hundreds of runabouts and wave runners.  The cold wet weather was probably a blessing keeping them all off the water.

The ICW coming through Atlantic City almost looked European (if you squinted your eyes and tightened your sphincter) because the canal was quite narrow with houses jammed together on the water. There were a lot of bridges, and they slowed us down. At one spot we saw black kids playing cricket in a park alongside the ICW.! (Jamaicans I assume). We also saw what we assumed was damage from Sandy.

Governor Christie must have stood on this deck!

Realizing we would be tired and arriving late I reserved a spot at a marina. But the staff left at 6 PM so we had to secure ourselves. The marina was just inside the entrance and the wind off the Atlantic was blowing so hard. Tide Hiker was leaning over 10 degrees when the wind was abeam. When I went up to the bridge to dock the boat my hat blew off.

Often there are some other boaters around who can take a line, but not this time. In this situation, I drive the boat, Deidre either lassos a cleat, or steps off onto the dock with a line when we are close enough. As I maneuver the boat she calls at the top of her lungs "5 feet" then "3 feet" then "2 feet". Fortunately the wind was right on our bow so approaching the dock was easy enough.

Deidre has just put a frozen pizza in the oven and its starting to smell great. Then its bed.

Another bloody bridge in AC