The New Jersey Coast
08 August 2012 | Farley State Marina, Atlantic City NJ
Sunrise in New York City. Red sky in the morning ......................
Well, here we are on the dock in Atlantic City after a 100 mile run & a 10 1/2 hour day. We we up with the birds this morning & pulled away from the dock by 5:45am. Too early... but the weather forecast was good so off we went. We passed under the Verezano Bridge which officially marks the end of of New York City Harbor & were out in the Atlantic, along with several large tankers, tugs pushing/pulling barges and one very large container ship. The south end of the Harbor is much busier than the north end with the Staten Island Ferries literally flying across the harbor plus all the commercial traffic either exiting or entering the Atlantic Ocean.
The seas were flat with barely a ripple, just the gentle ocean swells but as usual in the afternoon the winds increased. But, by that time the skyline of Atlantic City was on the horizon so it did not matter if the seas got a bit lumpy.
It was confirmed to us early this morning that we truly are traveling south as we had our first dolphin sighting. Unfortunately they did not appear to be interested in playing in our wake, just came up, rolled over & went back down again. But, it was a thrill just the same.
This is our first visit to Atlantic City ( by boat or otherwise) & although there are lots of bright casino hotel lights the transient docks at the marina(attached to the Golden Nugget Casino Hotel) are virtually empty. A sign of the times I guess.!
Tomorrow will be another early start but it is only 40 miles to Cape May & the finish of the Atlantic portion of our trip. The forecast after tomorrow is for high winds & possible t-storms so I imagine we will get to enjoy Cape May's charm for a day or two.
The next leg, north on Delaware Bay to the C&D Canal is not to be attempted in high winds so we will hunker down & wait out this front passing thru. We are away ahead of schedule so it will be nice to stop for a couple of days & give our dedicated crew a chance to relax and enjoy a New Jersey Beach town. For non boaters they have adjusted very well to the daily routine so they deserve a reward :)
Who knows we might even go swimming in the Atlantic.!!