Betterton -> Cape May
Once we sent the "we're leaving now" text to our buddy boat, they too thought getting the journey done in 4 days was a good idea. They left Baltimore around 5 pm and jammed over to our anchorage. We rafted together and enjoyed the quiet night.
Bright an early the next day (around 6 am) they shoved off, heading to Delaware City for fuel. We took advantage of the large and calm bay to calibrate some of our instruments, something we do every couple of years. This is done by starting a program, then following their instructions; things like "move in a complete circle", or "point north", or "do a figure 8." Once done, we headed to the Delaware.
Heading up the Chesapeake went pretty quick since we caught a bit of tide. Once we left the canal that connects the two bays we had current against us and slammed to a crawl. But the day was nice, and the water calm, so we enjoyed the ride. Excellent trip.
We dropped the hook in Cape May at the same anchorage we used last year, Sunset Lake. It's not perfect -- tricky to get into, and lots of local boaters/jet skiers zipping around (quite a thing given it was a holiday weekend), but after dark it was ideal.
Cape May -> Atlantic City
The fog lifted just in time to see the AC skyline. |
After a couple of hours the fog lifted. It was clear when we arrived in Atlantic City.
Crews in AC (starting at the bottom left and wrapping around the bar): Russ, Hannah, David, me, Debbie, and Steve |
Hannah made reservation at Nobu, a Japanese restaurant. The server there gave us the run down on what they had, then offered us a personalized chef's choice, based on our preferences. We snagged that! No thinking, just bring us food! It was mind-blowingly good. I give that place 2 thumbs up.
Atlantic City -> Staten Island
Clear dawn broke in AC. LET'S GO! |
About half way up the coast the fog caught up with us. Not terribly difficult to manage, but whenever we crossed some inlet the traffic increased (holiday boaters wanting to do some offshore fishing, zipping in and out of the inlet). Many of those vessels do NOT have AIS so the only way to see them amidst the fog is to carefully watch the radar. And hope they too are watching to see us.
Fog isn't too hard to navigate if you have the right tools: AIS, Radar, and a fog horn. Which we do. But you still need to be more vigilante than on a clear day. For example, we might see small boats on radar, but we won't see a log in the water until we're right on it. Both of us remain in the helm in fog (sometimes Russ is on the bow so he can hear better, too). This way the pilot can concentrate on the chart plotter and other displays to see traffic while the other helps watch for anything dead ahead. It's not hard, but it's fatiguing, especially after several hours.
The view for about 4 hours. |
As we continued into the harbor the fog cleared. By the time we grabbed a ball in Great Kills, we could see well.
Gypises Palace, Highwind, and we are all here. We all celebrated a tiring but uneventful day with a dinner at Cole's Dockside.
And, we're just a bus ride away from NYC. 🍻