Atlantic City, Brielle, & Point Pleasant Beach, NJ

Since the ICW in this area is so shallow, we decided to run on the outside, this would be our first run in the Atlantic Ocean.  Atlantic City was our next stop, about 30 miles north, it took under 2 hours. The ride was a bit rough, with the seas at 2 - 4 ft. 

We stayed at the Farley/Trump  Marina, a very secure marina, each dock had a locked gate. We enjoyed the pool at the top of the casino, and of course I left a donation at the casino.

Atlantic City was a 1 day stop, we are steadily moving north to be home by mid September.
Our next stop was the Brielle, Point Pleasant Beach area. Again we ran outside in the Atlantic Ocean, but a much calmer scenario, hardly a ripple.  The trip took about 3 hours and was approximately 50 miles.  Here are some pictures of another beautiful Jersey beach, and very crowded as we came into the inlet.

Next to the Brielle Marina is a commuter RR bridge.  It sounds an alarm before it opens or closes, luckily there is not allot of boat traffic at night, as you can see we are docked very close to the bridge on the "T" dock.

Avalon, NJ.

The ICW in New Jersey has very shallow water, they say if you draw less than 4 ft you should not have any problems.  Sales & Nails draws 2' 8" so we should of been fine, but we weren't.  Halfway to Atlantic City we hit bottom in the channel and kicked up black muck, and shortly after we noticed vibration. OK, new plan .  Pull into the next marina that we spot with a travel lift and have the boat hauled to check the props and shaft. That is how we arrived at Avalon Pt. Marina. The good news is it was only a slightly bent prop, no problem with the shaft.  They put our spare props on and sent the other ones out for repair.  They would be back by Friday.

Avalon has many beaches on the New Jersey shore, Avalon is a borough in Cape May County, New Jersey, on Seven Mile Island. The town is one of the most affluent communities along the Jersey Shore and is home to some of the most expensive real estate on the east coast. In 2007, Forbes listed Avalon to be the 65th most expensive zip code in the United States.

On this trip I am constantly amazed at the kindness of the people we meet, and Avalon was no different. Rich & Mary have their boat in the slip across from where we were docked, and Cheryl & George were in the boat next to them.  Both couples were very welcoming, and invited us to go to dinner with them.  It was a fun place called Windrift, they had live entertainment, 2 guys on pianos playing songs from the 60's thru the 80's. 

Rich & Mary had 2 cars at the marina, and gave us the keys to one for our use while we were there.  It was great, we ran some errands, and spent the afternoon at the beach. So a big "Thank You" to Rich & Mary and Cheryl & George for making our stay so enjoyable.

Cape May, New Jersey

Utsch's Marina is where we stayed in Cape May.  All the marinas were out of walking distance to the beach and activities.

Picturesque Cape May holds the distinction of being the oldest seashore resort in the United States and one of the most unique. Most of the homes, hotels, shops and other buildings were constructed in the late 1800's at the prime of the Victorian era. Today small gingerbread houses stand beside magnificent Victorian showplaces.Cape May is a fun place to visit, I would come back here for a vacation.  The weather was off & on rain when we went into the town.  We took a cab in because it was too far to walk.  The shops are quaint touristy sort of stores, and the restaurants are numerous, ranging from bar & grill types to linen tablecloths.  And as you would expect there is not a shortage of ice cream shops.

 

An important milestone was reached in the Bicentennial Year of 1976 when Cape May was officially designated a National Historic Landmark City, only one of five in the nation. That designation requires that the community must retain all structures in their original form and design and will insure that Cape May will remain within the architectural guidelines of the Victorian period.

C & D Canal & Delaware Bay

From Castle Harbor Marina on Kent Island we headed north toward the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal.  We stayed at the Summit North Marina on the C&D overnight, a very protected marina in bad weather, but no air movement, so it was very hot. Heading out the next morning for Delaware Bay, the weather was good and the Bay was pretty flat. We went past the Salem Nuclear Power Plant, and passed a few freighters.  This is the first time in many months that we throttled up and actually got on plane.  We have travelled at trawler speed for most of the trip, which is approximately 7 - 8 knots.  So it was fun to pick up the speed a little.  From the Delaware Bay we entered Cape May Canal and into Cape May Harbor.  I have heard that the houses on Cape May are beautiful.  We are looking forward to exploring Cape May.

Oil in Pensacola

I received these pictures from my cousin Cindy, who lives in Pensacola.  We had visited with them for Thanksgiving and of course the beaches were beautiful.  It is sad to see such devastation. What a difference a day makes.

Next day

Kent Island, MD

The trip to Kent Island took about 5 hours, and started out a bit rough.  The weather improved as the morning passed and it turned out to be a very pleasant day on the water.  Castle Harbor Marina is where we are staying,  Jim's cousin Dennis keeps his sailboat here.  The marina is quite large with a beautiful pool, good thing since the temps have risen to a sizzling 103 degrees. 

Dennis and Daniela came down on Wed. and gave us a ride to and from the airport.   We headed to Chicago for our nephew Connor's graduation party over the holiday weekend.  It was a nice break from the boat, and we enjoyed seeing family and friends. 

On Thursday afternoon they took us into Annapolis for dinner.  We enjoyed watching the boats on the water, and had a wonderful dinner at McGarvey's.   After dinner we walked around the town, definitely a place to re-visit.

What would we do without our family and friends.  Dennis and Daniela have been amazing, they picked us up from the airport on Monday and we enjoyed another good dinner at the local rib place.  They went back home on Tuesday, but left us one of their cars to do some sight seeing and shopping.  We went to St. Michaels, Baltimore, and Ocean City by car.

The following pictures are from St. Michaels.

The following pictures are from our trip into Baltimore, most of them were taken from The World Trade Center's observation floor called "The Top of the World", it's the 27th floor.  The view was incredible, and with the temperature and humidity unbearable outside, it was the perfect place to spend some time.

This next set of pictures were taken in Ocean City, Maryland, a very fun place to people watch.