Sunday, June 4 - Boating in the Atlantic!

Sunday, June 4 - Boating in the Atlantic!

It's finally time to "go out" into the Atlantic.  The Intracoastal Waterway from Cape May to Atlantic City is not recommended for cruising boats because of the shallow depth and the amount of shoaling.  The morning weather forecast looked good for us to go outside, but Gil didn't feel good about days 2 and 3, so they decided to stay put.

The view leaving the inlet was gorgeous!  Blue skies and seas, sand beaches, and SUNSHINE!

                                                 

The Jersey Shore is heavily populated.  The houses are really close together as far as you can see.  We saw the roller coaster at Wildwood, then began to see the tall buildings of Ocean City and Atlantic City way in the distance. 

The weather was perfect - calm seas, sunshine, and just a little breeze.  Our plan was to anchor out in Atlantic City for the night, then take the Intracoastal for Day 2.  I reviewed messages on the Forum (blog) and all seemed to concur that the inside was good for that section. But when we got to the place to turn into Atlantic City, we started questioning ourselves again.  A Harbor Host couple, who have also written two books about The Loop, post frequently about this area, so I looked up their phone number and gave them a call. They were very helpful, agreed that our plan was the best, then told us about a great place to anchor.  Whew!

Atlantic City skyline as we pull into the inlet.

As we approached the small bay, Danny noticed on the AIS that the boat Sanctuary was anchored there.  We have run into Steve and Teresa several times, even rafted up with them in St. Petersburg. So we called them to ask about the anchorage and the best way to get in.  I am glad we talked to them, we would never have turned into the little opening!

I just can't get used to vehicles on the beach!  I know it is really convenient, but it just looks weird.  Sunday afternoon, great weather, these folks were having a blast! 

There were 7 cruiser boats, several run-abouts, and even a pontoon party fishing boat in the little bay.  Danny found a place to anchor, and we settled in to enjoy the afternoon.  Steve and Teresa stopped by in their dinghy to see if we wanted to go across the river to the Gold Nugget, which has a dinghy dock.  Three couples were going.  It was windy and cool, so we decided to stay on the boat and relax.

The casino lights across the river were very pretty.  I didn't even notice the moon in my picture until I was editing them. 

We have no TV and we didn't want to run the generator to watch a DVD, so we went to bed pretty early.  Remember I said it was windy?  I heard a loud bump and waked Danny up.  He said, "We're OK," and went back to sleep.  A little later the phone rings.  It was the lady on Moon Shadow, the boat  anchored in front of us, saying someone called her and said they thought we were adrift.  Remember the loud bump?  We had drifted and run aground!  Thank goodness we hadn't hit anybody as we drifted through the bay!  Danny made sure we were securely aground, and we went back to bed.