We awoke t 7 am to a fast moving thunderstorm. We had time to fix omelets and wait it out. We headed out into the Atlantic Ocean where winds had stirred up waves. Rolling back and forth about 15 degrees or so, we scooted along over 7 knots. Ocean City and the coastline were visible. The water sparkled. I watched for dolphins but saw none.
We arrived at Farley State marina about 2pm. It was very hot! We docked bow in with a portside tie which proved important that night when wind gusted to 65 knots in a thunderstorm. The dockhand took extra care to tie us securely.
We enjoyed guacamole and a beer at the dock as we watched the mega yachts come in. After cleaning up we went to the golden Nugget Casino to try our luck. Not good. Maybe next time. Jim won what I lost so all was good.
We headed back to the boat around 12:30 and noticed lightning in the distance. We zipped up the enclosure and went below. Soon after, Jim heard a ‘clunk’ and we found that Tasha had escaped and had jumped off the boat. The ‘clunk’ was her jumping back on. Not ten minutes later the worst thunderstorm I have ever witnessed hit. We peered out of the cabin windows as wind and rain pushed Al Di La over at least 30 degrees. We heard squeaking sounds as the boat squished fenders into the dock. We saw canvas torn off of tall fishing boats and worried boaters scurrying to their boats. The lightening and thunder were impressive.
The next morning we found no damage to our boat. Power was out at the marina, and we found out later, it was out in several parts of New Jersey. A microburst had broken out windows of the Golden Nugget Hotel and had caused damage on the restaurant deck about 100 yards from us.
Thanks to a secure tie-up we survived with only a missing stepstool.