Day 77: A SWELL day on the Atlantic Ocean

5/28/18 Memorial Day:  We have 45 miles to ride the ocean today.  It will take us about 5 hours to go from Cape May to Atlantic City.  Some other boats planned to leave really early.  We looked at the weather, and after the wind, rain, and thunderstorms of last night, it looked like it was going to lay down a little bit after noon.  So we planned to wait and leave around 11:00.  It was windy this morning, so I’m glad this was our plan.  Ron on Kara Mia saw one of the boats leave early, and the wind just about had that boat kissing both of our sterns as it idled out of the marina.  😳

We got going right at 11:00 and the wind had died down some.  From the marina, we had to follow a channel out through the harbor and then out to the ocean.  Right at the mouth of the channel it was really choppy, but looked better out farther.  So away we went.  There were some big swells, and we were riding up and down the waves.  I didn’t last long upstairs.  Captain said that he hoped I had everything put down and safe before it fell down.  So I went down to check, and didn’t feel real safe about going back up.  I don’t usually get seasick, and I do better in rough water if I’m low in the boat and distracted – not looking outside.  I was right on the edge of not feeling right, so I stayed downstairs.  This didn’t make the Captain happy.  He drove the whole 5 hours upstairs by himself today.  But I’m telling you, even if he had to go to the bathroom, it wasn’t safe to come down and go down into that little bouncing room!  I went down there once, and it was not an easy task, and it just about made me barf!   🤢 He needs wind in his face when there’s a lot of motion.  He would not have done well in that tiny no air room.  And I wasn’t confident that I could get back upstairs safely with all the motion of the ocean to take over driving for a relief break anyway!  Not too long after we left Cape May, we saw an amusement park on the shore.  I had to look it up – Morey’s Piers in Wildwood NJ, with three theme park piers – including water parks on the piers.  Who knew?!

This is us, out in the ocean, over half way to Atlantic City from Cape May.

The water was big swells all day.  It was forecasted to be 3-4’ seas.  I don’t know how big they really were.   It wasn’t windy, which was good.  It wasn’t splashy, or rough bumpy, but there was lots of uppydowny.  I know it wasn’t as hard for the Captain as when we came back from the Bahamas last spring, because I could hear Awetoe the auto pilot driving.  It makes some funny buzzing noises when it drives, when it has to make corrections to stay on course.  Our trip home from the Bahamas last year had the swells hitting us in the port stern which made  the boat really squirrelly.  Today they were hitting us on the bow a bit to starboard, so it was much easier to keep the boat in a straight line.  So I know it wasn’t as bad, but it was uncomfortable for 5 hours.  When we made the turn to start to go toward the channel into Atlantic City, I held on tight to anything and everything so that I could carefully make my way upstairs to the flybridge.  I’m a natural born klutz, and I didn’t want to fall and get hurt!  It was calmer than when I came down, but still pretty swelly.  I just sat there and tried to tell the Captain everything I knew about the marina and where we were going.  This is when I found out he wasn’t happy with driving up there for 5 hours all by himself.  🤭😔  He said it had been a very long day alone up there.

This is Atlantic City.  I wondered if we’d be able to go see the famous Boardwalk.

There was a band playing some Doobie Brothers tunes on the deck, so this couldn’t be all bad, right?  Too bad we have to pay over $120 just to be here for just about 12 hours, and we won’t use any of the facilities.

I saw this boat on the dock – I love the name!  Scuba-Dubin-Doo-II. With a scuba diving Scoobie Doo!  That’s me!!

Herb on Phanthom hosted docktails on his porch again.  It was good to get together and compare stories of the trip here, and find out when everyone plans to leave in the morning.  Herb said that we did not want to be out there yesterday!  It was gnarly!  We wondered what he was thinking when he left!!

Most boats are leaving here at 5am for the 90 mile journey.    Only one is waiting until 8:00 for slack tide in the inlet, to get out without fighting an incoming tide.  And then we want to try to time our travel (as well as we can), to try to hit a flood tide in New York Harbor.  The flow of the Hudson River combined with an outgoing tide can make travel upstream really slow.  I apologize that this is kind of a downer post.  I don’t like big water. Not. At. All.   And I haven’t felt real great all day.  And we have another 90 miles of big water tomorrow.  😳  But tomorrow’s forecast is even less wind than today, and predicted calmer water.  That is why we picked this itinerary; do the short day on the not-as-good-day, and do the long day on the more-better-day.  I hope that is true.  We’ll get through it and then we can get back to having fun.  It is strange to think that this is the end of week eleven, and tomorrow we’ll be in New York.  We will have finished the East Coast portion of the Loop, and will be moving into fresh water.  We still have a ways to go north up to the Erie Canal, but then we’ll turn west and go that way for about 3 months!  More exciting times and adventures to come!