Rough Seas to Cape May, NJ

10/28/2017
Depart: Barnegat Inlet c. 0800 hrs.
Arrive: Cape May, NJ Utch's Marina c. 1530 hours
~ 65 NM

We anchored just inside Barnegat Inlet to get an early start in the morning for our long trip down the Jersey coastline. Generally speaking, we are not early risers, so the fact that Clark had the anchor coming up by 7:45 attested to his commitment to be underway early. While raising the anchor, Clark took advantage of our saltwater wash-down system that allows us to use the readily-available saltwater to clean the anchor instead of using our fresh, drinking water for that dirty job. The process of raising then cleaning then raising then cleaning ... took a full fifteen minutes or more. We eventually headed out of the anchorage at 8:00.

Throughout the summer Clark worked on improving the saltwater wash-down system. He swapped out various parts and even redesigned the layout and purchased a new, relatively expensive pressure switch. Everything seemed fine with it when he was done. Then, after the haul out in September, he thought he should check it to be sure it still functioned properly, i.e. had not lost its prime. Sadly, it had developed a new malfunction. After several hours "playing with it". He decided that the only way to use it is to turn it on and keep the water flowing until the job is done, so that is what he did at the anchorage.

As soon as I saw from the upper helm that he planned to use the saltwater wash down, I ran down and turned on the circuit breaker. As he washed down the anchor, he kept the hose going until he was done and then told me to turn off the breaker. It worked but is certainly not as convenient as having the pressure switch regulate the flow of water as needed on demand.

To reduce our getaway time, neither of us ate breakfast before leaving the inlet. Clark had trouble seeing markers through the glare of the sun from the west upon our approach to the anchorage, so I thought he might need assistance seeing markers heading east into the sun in the morning. With that in mind, I postponed my breakfast until after I helped him navigate out of the inlet. Since the waters change frequently in this inlet, the markers move around accordingly so visual siting is required.

As we exited the inlet, I noted the breakwater as Sunset Delight climbed over a number of impressive waves on our way out into the ocean. My thoughts as we proceeded to marker "BI" included thanks that we would be turning southward shortly, and the stabilizers would kick in to help control the boats rolling. I guess you could say that was wishful thinking because for some reason the waves seemed to turn with us causing us to have continuous tossing over three-to-four foot seas. Rogue waves, that certainly well-surpassed the four-foot mark, appeared randomly generating spectacular splashes as the boat fought the waves.

At each of several waypoints, Clark said that we would be turning more westward away from the waves, and every time we turned the waves changed approach to continue to torment us. I have noted in the past that Sunset Delight does not seem to have as many readily-available handholds as Sea Moss did. Since it is a longer and wider vessel, things are naturally further apart. A longer reach is required to grab the next handhold, if one can be found nearby. Add to that my injured right arm and moving about the boat proved to be a definite challenge.

Mostly I tried to stay in one place until it became imperative that I move, e.g. get food, use head, etc.! The rogue waves caused the most concern. One such wave hit us just as I prepared to stand up from using the head. Thankfully I had hesitated while considering my best approach for standing up (every time is a challenge with my injured arm). As Sunset Delight took the wave, the toilet and I parted ways and came back together again with a bit of a thump. I was glad I was not standing, or trying to stand, at that point especially with my pants down around my ankles!

Salt spray washed over the boat all day long. Clark tried to capture the action of our bell, named "Wilhelmina" by the prior boat owners, ringing out in protest along with spray over the bow. In the video below, he could get one or the other but not both together. Sitting on the upper helm, we are 17 feet or so in the air. Even so, we experienced a continual mist in our faces from the salt spray. Occasionally, when a rogue wave came along, we would get doused with salt water as the spray went well over the top of the boat.

Climate control on the upper helm was problematic today as well. With the cold air and sea spray, we decided to try closing the front panel of the full enclosure to warm up. That done, the upper helm quickly turned into a "green house". Clark stripped off his coat pretty quickly. Since it would be painful for me to remove my coat and painful again for me to put it back on, I decided to just unzip it. By the time I mentioned to Clark that I was ready to boil over, he had already decided we should reopen the front panel to let in the cooler air and increase our visibility. Seeing through the salt-splashed plastic proved nearly impossible after a while.

Sitting for hours watching the waves go up and down gets pretty monotonous and readily causes drowsiness. I found myself nodding off to sleep more than once. On one occasion where I shook myself awake, I saw us headed straight towards a fish trap. That woke me up in a hurry.

The darn thing was just two small floats ridiculously hard to see on ocean waves -- one dark blue and the other maroon or brown in color. Many traps on the ocean have long poles in the air with flags on top. No such luck with this one! Clark had clearly not seen it as he was studying the chart. I yelled, "Fish trap dead ahead." Clark took the boat off autopilot and said, "Where do I go?" He could not spot the fish trap. I said, "Pick port or starboard! Doesn't matter! It's dead ahead!"

He swerved starboard in time to avoid it. Two more times I spotted crab traps. Again they were positioned "dead ahead" of us. Each time Clark failed to see them in the water (due to glare from the sun he said) but steered port or starboard per my instructions, and we missed them all. I had no more trouble staying awake after that. Funny how an adrenaline rush counteracts weariness.

By the time we had spent seven hours on the ocean fighting the wave action, my right arm ached severely, and I was more than ready to find our slip at Utch's Marina for the night. Since the forecast warned of rainy days ahead, I suggested that we eat out for dinner since I knew we'd be eating in during the rainfall. After docking, we spent time adjusting lines and washing salt off the boat. I thought we might be able to eat an early dinner, but by the time we set off in search of a place to eat, my watch read 6:15.

I had forgotten it was a Saturday! When we reached the Lobster House to read their menu, we found a 40-minute wait for a table. Deciding to try elsewhere, we walked to "Lucky Bones Backwater Grille" to see what they offered. Unfortunately they too offered a 30 to 45-minute wait but with reduced pricing on food items, so we put our name on their list. The place was packed to overflowing!

As we came upon the grill, we noted a pizza place a few steps away, so while we waited for our name to be called we strolled there to see what they might offer as a quicker dinner.  Clark pointed out that the lack of patrons did not bode well. Two people sat at a table looking at a menu when we peaked in the window. He figured that the grill was packed and the pizza joint empty for a reason. We went back to the grill to wait for our number to be called!

We enjoyed dinner though Clark struggled to find something he really wanted on the menu. I had a crab and shrimp cake that was heavenly. He had crab imperial that I found a little too "rich" for my taste. I got more food than I could eat, so Clark finished off my broccoli and fries after I declared myself to be done eating.

I thought given we had risen early and needed to catch up on sleep that we would call it a night early. However, I got working on a blog entry and Clark got involved in whatever he found fascinating, and the next thing I knew midnight approached. Fortunately, I figured we could sleep in come morning. We plan to stay at this marina for three nights due to lousy weather forecast for the next two days - rain all day Sunday and gale-force winds on Monday. I don't mind hanging out in Cape May for a few days. I'm hoping it will allow my arm time to heal more before being jostled by more wave action!

Decisions, Travel Prep, Problems, and Departure

Getting Ready

As we watched Hurricane Irma approaching the continental U.S. in August, we wondered what would be left of Florida after the hurricane passed. With that in mind we wondered what our plans for this winter would be. Prior to the threat of destruction to Florida, we had planned to travel to the warmer climate once again come the fall. Now we had to wait and see what changes might need to be made to our plans.

Clark knew for sure, due to the number of "systems" on our current boat, that he had no desire to "winterize". We contacted a place we heard of in Annapolis to see if we could store the boat for the winter in a climate controlled environment and became eighth on their waiting list. Meanwhile, we continued to watch the ominous weather forecasts on Irma's path as well as the fascinating, day-long special reports as she tore through Florida.

Although I remained skeptical concerning what we might find down there this winter, Clark decided we should head south. That first winter we spent in Florida as part of our Great Loop adventure convinced Clark that he hates the cold (unless he is skiing in Colorado)! Glad that a decision, whatever it might be, had been made, I started prepping for our next adventure on Sunset Delight.

Unfortunately, I could not start loading the boat with supplies because Clark scheduled work to be done on the bottom - cleanup the props, remove barnacles from bottom, fix blisters and repaint the bottom. All of this work required the boat be hauled out of the water and put up on land for several days. Although he started looking into the boat work earlier in the summer, he could not find a place that could haul out a boat of our size in the local area. It looked like we would need to make a trip to Staten Island to have the work done. Unfortunately, the Staten Island place could not take us until October.

Quite by accident, while visiting with the buyers of our prior boat. Sea Moss, we learned that our boat's beam is 15'11". For some unknown reason, both Clark and I believed it to be 17' wide. Suddenly, a marina only a ten-minute drive away could do our haul out right away. Yay! Clark jumped on that opportunity, and we got the boat cleanup addressed in late September.

Before our upcoming voyage, we made sure to get in all the son, daughter-in-law, granddaughter loving we could manage. This entailed multiple weekend-variety visits with my Connecticut son and his family, and a week-long trip to Idaho in early October to visit my elder son and his family. Thank goodness for FaceTime, or I would never survive between family visits!

Lily (20 mos.) in Connecticut

Sierra (3 yrs.) and Violet (10 mos.) in Idaho

Prior to flying out to Idaho, I did as much boat-trip prep as I could manage. I ended up with stacks of items to go with us in a variety of rooms throughout the house and multiple lists of things to bring and remember to do. Once back home from Idaho, we focused on leaving New Jersey as soon as preparations and weather allowed. As I brought items from the house to the boat, I found things to take from the boat to the house, so I carried a steady stream of bags of things both directions for several days.

We have a pesky problem with a thumping noise and shudder on our port side at 700 RPM. Clark decided to get another opinion on this perplexing issue before leaving to head south. We picked up the guys at the marina where we had the bottom work done and took them for a ride with us so they could listen and render an opinion. To get access to the hull of the boat and have better listening ability to diagnose the noise, the hatch in the salon was opened.

I knew the hatch was open, and I told myself "don't fall in there", but as fate would have it, I got distracted for a moment and forgot the hatch was open. One second I was walking across the salon and the next I was five feet below deck. It happened so fast, I did not even realize I had fallen until I found myself in the hole with multiple pains from a variety of spots on my body. I called out to Clark for help.  He had no idea I had fallen in the hole until I told him. I guess he thought I just climbed down there to have a look around.

My knee took a hit and my butt as well, so my first worries were had I broken a leg or hip. Cautiously,  I was able to lift myself up to sit on the edge of the hatch with my legs dangling just to catch my breath. Both Clark and one of the marina guys asked if I was okay. I knew I was not okay. I just could not tell right away how "not okay" I happened to be. Eventually, I said I did not think anything was broken, but that was as far towards okay as I was willing to venture initially. It wasn't until after I was out of the hatch and walking / limping around that I realized that my most serious injury was to my right arm. Suddenly, I was no longer certain that nothing was broken.

I figured I should go have x-rays taken, but first we had to get the boat home. The nice guys from the marina offered to drive to our house and meet us at the dock to help us tie up. We declined their generous offer. I was pretty sure I could manage with my left arm well enough to get a line around a cleat. I figured it would just take twice as long as usual. We managed to get home and docked with no issues and texted the marina gents to tell them we had arrived safely.

The next problem we had before I could go get x-rays was we needed a car. Before taking the boat out, Clark took our one and only car to the shop to have the oil changed, tires checked, etc. etc. The shop is a mile from our house, so he walked home after dropping it off. We had to wait for the car to be done before he could walk back and retrieve it. Since all the excitement had happened in the morning, we decided to eat lunch while waiting for the car.

As we ate, we could see the sky getting darker and darker. I told Clark he should start walking before it started raining. He called, found out the car was done, and set out to retrieve it. Of course it poured when he was about two-thirds of the way to the shop. This just was not turning out to be our favorite day of the year.

He got the car and dropped me off at the doctor's office on his way to the store. The good news ... I found out that indeed nothing was broken. The bad news ... I had sharp, stabbing pains in my upper arm / shoulder whenever I moved it. It is most inconvenient. The doctor's advice - Ice and Motrin.

I wondered if my injury would influence our departure schedule. I fell through the hatch on Tuesday, and Clark wanted to leave on Thursday, latest Friday due to upcoming weather. With my good right leg and left arm, I did what I could to continue prepping for our trip while trying to decide if I am somewhat insane. How was I going to manage boat travel???  I found standing up from a sitting position to be quite painful and difficult due to my asymmetric injuries. My left leg rebelled against my weight, and I could not use my right arm to help push myself to a standing position.  I found it challenging, and somewhat comical, to find a way, any way, to stand up. With some experimentation, I found my right arm to be somewhat functional as long as my left arm assists.

Ultimately, we spent all day Thursday moving every last thing we need for the trip onto the boat and then slept on the boat in preparation for departure the next day. By the end of the day I hurt everywhere and just stepping up into the boat from the dock seemed more than I could handle. I asked Clark for a push up onto the boat. He said all he could offer was a knee to my butt since his hands were full. I said, "I'll take it!"

Friday morning, basically on schedule, we closed the house and departed in search of warmer weather!

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10/27/2017
Rumson, NJ to Barnegat Inlet Anchorage
Depart: 1045 hours Arrive: ~1800 hours
Approx. 60 NM

Although chilly, we had nice weather for the first leg of our trip with calm seas.  Clark said we needed to leave the house by 10:00 to arrive at the anchorage near Barnegat Light before dark. With a seemingly endless list of "last minute items", Clark did not finish closing the house and getting us underway until 10:45.  By then it was almost dead low tide, and I wondered if we would end up aground at the end of our creek.

I watched out the stern as we very slowly made our way towards Pleasure Bay. When the tide is low, I usually see the water turn black as silt is stirred up from the bottom. As I watched our progress, ugly brown water with various plant life swirled in the waters following the boat. It was very unappetizing to say the least even though some of the seaweed washing up did remind me of the spinach I ate for dinner the night before.

Even in the channel crossing Pleasure Bay our depth finder alarm screamed "Low Water" repeatedly. We rarely saw a depth over two feet of water, and frequently saw barely one foot. Astronomical low tide?! Unbelievable! We both breathed a sigh of relief when we reached the main channel and heard no more low-water alarms.

It takes so long to get anywhere by trawler. We passed Sea Bright on the river side around 11:30 and two hours later after rounding Sandy Hook, we passed Sea Bright on the ocean side. It felt like we had been traveling forever and had gotten nowhere.

Fortunately, we had bright sunshine and calm seas as we traveled down the coast. Our only complaint was the chill in the air. I took advantage of the long ride to rest my weary body. After a long day on the ocean, we arrived at the Barnegat Inlet channel marker just before 5:30. I decided I should probably pull something out of the freezer for dinner and then decided that since it would be dark by the time we had anchored, I should probably cook dinner.

I have an electric deep fryer that I absolutely love. I have never once deep fried anything in it. Instead I use it as an electric saucepan. I made a pasta dish for dinner - chicken, tomatoes, spinach, and pasta. While it simmered in the sink (so it wouldn't fall off the counter and burn me) I moved back and forth from helping Clark find markers to stirring the pot so it wouldn't burn to the bottom. By the time I was done, my well-rested leg had begun to ache from all the up and down activity. At least I didn't have to help dock the boat since we just had to drop anchor, and Clark managed that on his own.

We arrived at the Barnegat Light anchorage around 6:00, were anchored by 6:30, and sat down to dinner at 6:45. By 7:00 it was full dark outside, and we were both more than ready to eat. Of course Clark grabbed sunset pictures of our first night out.

Anchorage at Barnegat Inlet in NJ

Barnegat Light at Sunset

Sleeping at our dock last night, we discovered that the heater for the master stateroom would not turn on. At our home dock, we used an electric blanket to stay warm through the night. At the anchorage, running off battery power only, we had no heat on board either from a heater or an electric blanket. I dressed in double layers to stay warm overnight.