Cape May NJ to Atlantic City NJ

May 24th found us up early to catch the high tide out of Sunset Lake into the ICW for our trip up to Atlantic City...not far, just about 40 miles. In years past, we've gone "outside" and run the coastline up to AC but this year, after much discussion, we decided to take the ICW because, after all, it couldn't be as bad as everyone was talking about...especially if you'd traveled the Georgia and NC ICW! Famous last words!!!

It was every bit as bad as we'd heard. We wanted to go "inside" this time because there are some neat little towns along the way and the ICW passes right through them. Amusement parks, lovely homes, etc. but, unfortunately, we needed to keep our eye directly on the waterway. The Inland Waterway funding for dredging the canal and keeping it deep enough for boats has not kept up with Mother Nature and relentless shoaling resulting in VERY skinny channels in many areas but specifically here in New Jersey. At anything but high tide, you're bound to run your boat aground if you aren't extremely careful. We were lucky although there were areas where we were polishing our wheels (props were spinning through mud/sand) and sucking dirt/sand into our water intakes. Our traveling companions were not so lucky...they did run aground. Fortunately, it was a soft grounding and they were able to get back into the waterway after a bit of pushing and shoving with their dinghy. All that was lost was a bit of dignity.

Wind Farm outside Atlantic City

Thus, very little sightseeing. However, the closer we got to Atlantic City itself, the straighter the channel became and the water deepened so we did catch a few things....one, there is a lot of expensive real estate on the waterway and two, wind generators just outside of AC. Becky, I took this picture for you...reminiscent of the wind generator farm on the southwestern CO plains, remember? As you can see, we did enjoy a good weather day...somewhat windy but sunny.

King Neptune at Gardner's Basin, Atlantic City

Those 40 miles to AC took us a little over 7 hours! If we had gone outside, we would have made the same trip in about 3 hours. But, we made it safely so all was well. It had been Steve's day at the helm and while chugging up the ICW, he noticed that the alternator on the port engine was "acting up" so that was our first order of business after we tied up to our assigned dock space at Gardner's Basin Marina.

Gardner's Basin is a city supported marina used primarily for tour boats and small fishing boats. However, they have what are known as T-heads (the end of a finger of docks) enough for two larger boats of our size so they could accommodate both our boat and Colorado Cat. Trish, the dock master, has been there for a number of years and we've stayed with her before so it was like old home week. Gardner's Basin is also the home of the AC Aquarium, several restaurants, craft booths and an ice cream store.

After settling down, Steve went into the engine room and checked the alternator and sure enough, it was not working properly. A quick phone call to our trusty engine mechanic in Wilmington NC assured delivery of a new one Tuesday after Memorial Day. Our travel angels were with us once again because if we hadn't arrived in AC a day earlier than planned, our mechanic would have been gone and we would have been delayed even further.

As to the Memorial Day weekend in Sin City Jr (Las Vegas is Sr.), unbelievably, we spent most of the time doing boat chores and sightseeing. Steve and Joan had not been ito AC so they were looking forward to exploring the area.

Atlantic City as seen from Gardner's Basin

Another nice service provided by the city is the "jitney". The jitney is like a trolley bus that runs all over Atlantic City. Cost: $1.00/ride and you can go anywhere. Since Gardner's Basin is remote from all the action, the jitney made it easy for us to go anywhere in the city we wanted. And, go we did! However, though we were in AC through the Memorial Day weekend, we only spent about 4 hours in the casinos "donating" to the casino owners. Fun though!!

Another wonderful part of Atlantic City is the Boardwalk. Only a short walk from the marina to the beginning of the boardwalk. Made a great walking path for our morning walks. Joan and I are committed to our 4 mile daily walks but we like to do interesting walks making the boardwalk perfect! I'm sure you all remember the song about Atlantic City "Under the Boardwalk"! Sure was a fun walk as well because it was a busy weekend with lots of action and color to watch while walking. Full of cafes, junk shops, casinos, people and hotels along with the infamous amusement park, there was something to take in every minute we were walking. Better than an I-pod to keep your mind off your exercise program

On Friday, our "manatee friends", Homie and Carol Hasselbach joined us. They live in Cranbury NJ and have a boat at Long Beach Island just about 20 mi from AC. Needless to say, we had a great time visiting with them. Wish they could have stayed longer but they had a busy holiday weekend and then their daughter, Jennifer, along with husband Bob and granddaughter Jillian were arriving the following week so they had to leave after a few short hours.

And then it was Tuesday. After a little miscommunication with UPS, our alternator arrived from NC. Steve replaced it in not a very long time and we were ready to begin our trek north to the New York Harbor...our staging point for the trip up the Hudson River.

And that story will be our next installment...and then we'll be nearly caught up!