June 17: Cape May, NJ

 

Before I get into today’s action, I have to mention last night. The photo above was taken through the porthole beside my bed. It is not zoomed in. This is where the restaurant was relative to the boat. That’s not too bad unless they have a live ROCK BAND that starts at 9 PM!

These talented individuals were able to play a wide range of music yet make it all sound EXACTLY the same! Seriously. They went from playing the country song “Old Town Road” to “Eye of the Tiger” and the only way you knew it was a different song is because the lyrics changed! 

We left the dock at 5:15 after Deb announced they had raised the winds. This leg of the trip is tricky because of strong currents. You want the current and the wind going in the same direction which is what they’ve predicted. And when the weather people predict something, you can rest assured they are anything but right. 

The  best thing about getting an early start is that even the wind is typically not awake. So we navigated the entire 14 mile stretch of the C&D canal with the current in only a little over an hour! We got into the Delaware River/Bay about 6:30 and the current pushed us along at 10 knots while Debbie dodged logs. Then she did something that made me a little uneasy. She went outside and unlocked the cable holding the dinghy to Cattitude. Sometimes she does stuff to just screw with me. But while I was at the helm, I noticed the current was now opposite of the wind which is EXACTLY what you do not want to happen. Stands the waves straight up. 

We are passing all sorts of debris including one well wrapped package we assumed was pot. No, we did NOT scoop it up! We also passed this pretty cormorant perch called Ship John Shoal light. We’ve lost a couple of knots of speed fighting the current. 

Miah Maull Shoal light

The waves picked us up and then we surfed down. We broke 13 knots recently when our average speed is about 9. We can actually see land so we are less then 10 mile from the Jersey shore. 

We arrived at Canyon Club in Cape May at 12:30. We checked in and mounted our scooters to devour the best crab cakes ever at The Ugly Mug. The traffic is like NSB on a weekend so we went faster than the cars. 

Understand that these are low end scooters in case we destroyed them on this salt water trip. They don’t have shock absorption so they can be rough if the pavement is uneven. Which brings us to Cape May. Unlike most Civil War era towns, Cape May never burnt so it is original architecture and I am pretty sure original 300 year old sidewalks. As we sped down the sidewalks, my 62 year old face bounced up and down so my vision was like watching one of those old movies without sound! Debbie had a similar problem but it was that her shorts were falling down. We certainly make a fun pair to watch.

We managed to make it to the Ugly Mug where they have raised the price of crab cakes to $32 and there isn’t a crab on earth worth that. So we had two double IPAs from a local brewery and the trip back to the marina was a freaking BLAST!

So we are recharging the scooters and heading to the showers. Our plan is to get a late start… like 5:30 or 6 in the morning and head to Atlantic City and stay at the Golden Nugget.