Day 119, Saturday October 19th

Oct 19, Saturday Good Bye Atlantic City



Pictures of Atlantic city departure

We are up early (again) so we can make the exit from our marsh anchorage on a rising tide.  We planned for a take off just before 8 and are underway at 7:55.  The anchorage had been good to us providing excellent holding in the high winds we had experienced the night of Oct 17^th.  But the good holding comes with a price of dealing with the mud on the chain and anchor as it is brought on deck.    Once the anchor is stored we are out on the rising tide.  The exit is less stressful than our entrance as we have 3 more feet of water and a gps track to follow. 

Our buddy boat for this leg, Quiescence, a Catalina 40, is right behind us.  It is forecasted to be a good day for the passage to Cape May although the winds are to be light clocking from East to South which will limit our sailing.  As soon as we get beyond the break wall we are greeted by 9 knots of wind out of the east.  We quickly get our sails up shut the motor down and are heading south at 7 knots.  This is the first true sailing we have done since entering the Erie Bardge Canal oh so many days ago.   The winds hold for the entire 8 hour trip along the Jersey Shore.  There are a number of boats out including cruisers and fishing boats a number of which are small.  We have to keep watch for the fishing boats especially the small ones as you can lose then in the troughs of the waves.  Julie believes they should be all painted bright orange.  We are also amazed by the number of sailboats that don’t sail.  This is something we are use to in the North Channel but had assumed (wrongly) that in the world of cruising all would sail when possible.  Oh well to each their own.

Just as we approach Cape May we get light rain but this is a good thing as the boat needs a rinsing.  We pull into the inlet and head over to the anchorage.  It is quite crowded, but we find a spot between two boats we had previously met, Slow Waltz and Antarres.  We drop the anchor and get a good hook immediately.   Once we are sure we are secure Julie takes a shower and Dawson heads off in the dingy to find out how Antarres travel down from Sandy Hook has been.  They had done the full 100 NM in one go in the company of Meridian another boat we had met on the canal.  Meridian is a C&C 30 owned by 3 young lads heading south.  Their passage was good, a little rough at the start but settles down during the night.  Just as Dawson is getting back to Jazzebelle our sundowner guest, Gwen and Guillaume arrive.  It starts off with drinks but progresses into dinner and then after dinner coffees.  Gwen is quite happy to join us for coffee as Guillaume does not drink coffee and she has been drinking instant for the voyage.  When our guest are leaving us we notice that we have 2 more addition boats at anchor with us.  We let out some more chain, as high winds (25-30 knots), are forecasted for the night.  We are not overly concerned as the anchorage is well protected and has good holding

We release out wind generator to make some power and settle in for the night.

Cheers

Dawson and Julie