2020 Heading South: Home to Atlantic City, NJ

 

8 October 2020
Depart: Home / Rumson, NJ 1:55 p.m.
Arrive: Atlantic Highlands Anchorage 3:15
Distance:  8.4 nm
Sunny, Windy, Temps in the 60s

I started making lists and putting items to be brought onboard to one side about 4 weeks ago. Clark had suggested a departure from Rumson some time more towards the latter part of October, which would have given me about 6 weeks lead time. Regardless of that proposed timeframe, I started getting ready in early September and am I glad I did. As the end of September presented evenings in the 50s and 60s and the Atlantic Ocean showed no hurricanes expected to come our way, Clark decided that leaving sooner would be better than later.

We both had annual physicals scheduled for the 2^nd of October, so that set a “no sooner than” date in the sand. In September, I had a visit to the dermatologist where two biopsies were done for potential skin cancer. Fortunately, I got a “not cancer” diagnosis on both. With those items out of the way, we were free to leave when ready. We tried for Wednesday but 1) I was not ready and 2) it started to rain which put quite a damper on loading the boat. The only item left on my checklist for Wednesday was moving food onboard, but that was a big and important item. We decided on a Thursday departure, and instead of trying to get somewhere down the coast, we just positioned ourselves at Sandy Hook ready for early depart on Friday.

Clark had a long checklist required to closeup the house. Every time he did something, it seemed like he found something else that needed to be done. A few examples … He removed the batteries from an outdoor thermometer and found the house trim required nails to be hammered in. When he got the step ladder out to hammer in the nails, he could see that the gutters were in need of cleaning before we left. Later, when he went to put the hose away, I told him he needed to wash the creek muck off the bow and stern lines before expecting me to store them and use them onboard. So, before he could stow the hose, he had some cleaning to do.

The last thing I did Wednesday night was to finish my latest acrylic painting. I had it started and did not know when I would get back to it. Clark took the picture that I based it on when we did the Great Loop.

 

I enjoyed painting a couple of other pictures during the summer. These, however, were ideas from a friend's photos or the internet and not ones where Clark provided photos.

We finally pulled in the last fenders and lines just before 2:00 on Wednesday, and we were officially “on our way”!

 As we passed through the Highlands area, we contemplated going to at least Manasquan. Passing by Sandy Hook, we saw lots of people out kite surfing and sail surfing.

Fun at Sandy Hook

Shortly after that, we entered Sandy Hook Bay and quickly decided we would stay in the anchorage by the Atlantic Highlands Marina.  The seas kicked up, and the boat got quite a salt-spray bath. We are in no rush right now, and if the bay was that bad, I did not want to see what the ocean had to offer.

 

Depart: Atlantic Highlands Anchorage 8:10 a.m.
Arrive: Atlantic City (Brigantine) Anchorage 6:25 p.m.
Distance: 83.2 nm
Bright, Sunny Day, Temps in 60s

 It was chilly last night. Even with heavy-weight pajamas and two blankets on the bed, we were cold. At one point I checked the thermometer in our stateroom and it read 62 degrees. When we got up in the morning, it actually felt warmer outside the boat than in. 

Clark was up and out early enough to capture sunrise pictures at Sandy Hook.

We started our travels with a bright, sunny day and seas less than a foot high – extremely calm.  As we passed Sandy Hook, Clark took note of the dredging underway.

 

Dredging at Sandy Hook

 

We traveled just over a mile offshore for most of the day.  Along the way, he took pictures of Long Branch

 and Asbury Park as we passed by.

Asbury Park Convention Center

 

At Barnegat we passed a pilot boat

and sent a picture of the BI marker to Franklin who traveled south with us last year.

Clark likes to check the AIS to see what other vessels are in the area. He went to “spy” on one and found no vessel information provided. As he looked over to see what type of vessel it was, he got so excited! “Is that a Krogen Express?” he exclaimed. Out came the binoculars and, yes indeed, it was a KE52. Shortly after, we heard a call on the VHF radio to the “Krogen Express off the Jersey shore”. I could tell that the owners of that boat were just as excited to see us as Clark was to see them! Clark and the owner of “Caledonia” exchanged contact information for future use.

Side note …

[ That reminds me of something that happened this summer. We knew that the folks that bought our boat “Sea Moss” sold it to someone who kept the boat somewhere in our local area. In fact we took our boat out and scouted various marinas looking for it to no avail. Then one day, Clark looked at the AIS to see who was around, and we saw “Amanda Renee” appear in the list.

We were shocked. Here, following closely behind us on the Shrewsbury River, was our old “Sea Moss”. Clark called “Amanda Renee” on the VHF radio and got an answer from the new owners who told us that the AIS was not updated (good thing), and the new name of the boat is “Sea Shanty”.  We made a slight detour for our day’s travel and met them at Horseshoe Cove where we exchanged contact info. I passed them a boat card via a net with a long handle and they dropped a card in for me. Clark and Adam have been in touch ever since. Both are happy as clams to be connected.]

 As we followed the contour of the land at Barnegat, we turned directly into the southwesterly winds gusting to 36 knots. Our calm seas went by the wayside. Instead of one-foot seas, we had 4 to 6-foot seas that formed deep gullies that Sunset Delight kept crashing down into. We had waves breaking over the bow sending water way over our heads at 22+ feet in the air.  Unfortunately, we had about 3 hours of that to contend with. I felt qualified to try riding a bull at the rodeo afterwards as it seemed the way my body was pounded and thrown around must be somewhat similar to that in nature. I repeatedly felt like shouting "YeHaw!" (By the way, Clark checked the weather radio, and it said "2-foot seas" at Barnegat. No way!!)

It felt like it took forever for "Sunset Delight" to arrive at the channel marker for the Absecon Inlet (Atlantic City).

 

Note the wave action here

Arriving at Atlantic City, NJ

Clark took a picture through the full-enclosure panel – a little wet up there. That is saltwater spray - not rain splatter!!

Approaching the Brigantine anchorage, we passed a tug very busily towing a number of objects behind him that he eventually attached to a mooring ball. Dredging was being done there, so I expect the objects have something to do with dredging, but I cannot imagine what. It looked more like a train with numerous cars than any tug I have ever seen before.

We were glad to get our anchor set before the sun went down. As Clark positioned the boat to drop anchor, he handed me the camera and said, “Go get a sunset picture!”

Sunset at Atlantic City, NJ --
Brigantine Anchorage