2026 October: Ocean City MD

 6 October 2026
Depart: Atlantic City NJ anchorage 8:05
Arrive: Sunset Marina, Ocean City, MD 5:30
Distance: ~ 73.5 nm; ~ 8.5 hours travel time
Conditions: 51 degrees outside / 61 degrees in our stateroom this morning; Sunny

Usually, when we get going in the morning, Clark has me start moving the boat in the general direction we plan to follow. Today, because getting out of this anchorage is so tricky, he suggested I just sit tight until he could take the helm. I was happy to comply. 

As we departed the anchorage and made our way along Absecon Inlet to the ocean, I snapped some pictures of the area.

Harrah's Casino

MGM

Showboat (in the background)

Absecon Lighthouse

We saw two tows with barges in the inlet - one going outbound coming up from the west of us and one inbound coming in from the ocean. The one heading out of the inlet, in red, was pushing a barge with equipment on it.

McCormack Boys

The tug coming in had the barge "on the hip".

Kendall J Herbert

I took a couple of last pictures of AC, and we were once again underway on the ocean.

Ferris Wheel in Atlantic City, NJ

Clark drew a straight line on the chart from Absecon Inlet to the inlet for Ocean City Maryland. I was so happy that this year the autopilot was functioning well. The boat drove itself basically while we watched for hazards. We were well offshore today. Taking pictures was basically a waste of time. I took one to demonstrate how small the tall buildings of the Wildwoods appeared from our boat.

Some section of the Wildwoods, NJ

At one point, Clark took a measurement to see how far offshore we were and found us to be about 6.5 miles out in the ocean. The chart below shows a big black dot that is our boat passing the Wildwoods at about 6 miles out.

Chart showing southern most NJ

The purple lines shown on the chart above show the traffic sepertion lanes for the freighters, i.e. "big boys", coming into Delaware Bay / the Delaware River. Because Clark anticipates conditions on the ocean allowing us to bypass Chesapeake Bay, we did not make the turn up the Delaware River as we do most years. We are happy to shave a couple of days off our trip south when conditions permit. 

As we passed through the marked area, a large commercial vessel, Overseas Cascade, was approaching the Delaware River / Bay. We were not in his path, but apparently a sailboat was as the captain haled the sailboat and requested him to pass behind his vessel. The captain of the small sailboat said he would comply but was struggling to get the boat to do what he wanted. A wee bit of excitement on the water today - all went well and the sailboat did as requested. 

We traveled on the ocean for close to eight hours, and in all that time, the number of boats we saw could be counted on one hand. Where was everybody?? We saw a couple of sailboats and sportfish but that was about it. Most of our trip was looking at the scenery such as that shown below. I asked Clark about wave heights (I find it really hard to judge), and he said he thought 2-to-3 footers. With stabilizers, it was so calm it was hard to tell.

Needless to say, it was a bit boring. To pass the time, we listened to an NPR radio station for a while until the signal got so bad that the story could not be understood. Instead of looking for a different NPR station, Clark said he wanted music. Yesterday, as we passed Barnegat, Clark found a radio station that he liked, but the further south we got the worse the channel became. 

So, today, when we decided to turn on the new Bluetooth setup and listen to music off my Android phone, we looked into accessing that radio station over the internet and found it! The station we liked is WBNJ (which I figure must stand for Barnegat, NJ) and it is accessible via wbnj.org since it is a not-for-profit station. 

I have not downloaded their app yet, but I plan to do that soon. They play music from the '60s to the '80s. Clark and I knew words to a number of the songs, and we had ourselves a sing-along as we made our way south on the ocean. 

As we passed by the entrance to Delaware Bay, in between the purple lines shown on the chart above, our music suddenly disappeared. What!? Clark guessed that we had lost our Starlink connection, and sure enough, that was the culprit. As soon as we got back under on of their "honeycomb" cells that are part of what we pay for, we had music once again. 

I knew Clark planned to head for Ocean City, Maryland today (even though I had a typo in my blog yesterday saying Ocean City, NJ - fixed earlier today). What I did not know until this morning was that he planned, if possible, to stay at a marina there. Temperatures for tonight are predicted to drop down into the low 40s, but is that the reason for staying at a marina? To have heat? NO! 

Clark wants to see what happens with our batteries if he plugs into electric and get the charge to a full 100%. Does he care for his batteries more than keeping us warm for the night? It would appear the answer is a resounding yes! We just get the side benefit of plugging in!

We entered the inlet to Ocean City, MD at 5:00. We had hoped for 4:30 but we did not get the push from tides we hoped for.  I took some pictures as we approached and came into the city!

Initially, the city was a silhouette as we looked into the sun to see it.

Once we turned, we got a view of the buildings that did not blind us.

Inside the jetty going into Ocean City, Maryland.

Ferris Wheel in Ocean City, MD

Rollercoaster in Ocean City, MD

Ocean City Water Tower in the background

I liked the sea green house we passed along the way in. So pretty with the sun hitting it!

We have never stopped at a marina here before and did not know what to expect. The marina seems nice. The docks frustrated me trying to figure out how to tie up the boat. 

The docks are fixed docks with no cleats to tie to - only poles. The poles were not conducive to tying lines  both forward and aft from midships without some strategy that was beyond my capabilities. With the little dinghy attached to the stern, I had trouble figuring out how to cross lines on the stern. 

The young lady who came out to help with lines was very kind and patient. Tying and retying lines as I struggled to figure out this interesting puzzle that I had to solve. Finally, I had a bow line tied to a forward pole, and she had a stern line tied across the slip to the dock. I threw a short line around a pole by the stern to hold it close while we figured things out. With the boat now secured, albeit maybe not correctly, I asked Clark to come down from the helm and complete the job. 

The whole process of tying lines and checking in took about 45 minutes. I walked up with Clark to check in, and when we were done, it was already past 6:00. Instead of walking all the way back to the boat, we decided to go directly from there to a restaurant I had selected while underway. 

The restaurant I chose, Harborside, was almost the only one open tonight. Another opened the next day at 4:00, and yet another did not open until Thursday. The other nearby choice was Italian, and I wanted seafood. I had hoped to see a bit of the city while here, but time got away from us. 

We did get a bit of a walk to the restaurant as we had to circumvent a section of the marina holding numerous fishing vessels. We could see the restaurant from where we checked in, but it was a distance away due to the water being in the way.

So close but so far!

Pictures of Harborside ...

Entrance

"Home of the Original Orange Crush"

Sample of the signage in the rafters

Rug on floor at the hostess desk

We tried to minimize the amount of time in the restaurant, so we could get back to the boat to take showers and check batteries (of course). However, no sooner did we step on the boat than Clark said, "I have to go back to the restaurant! I left my hat!" 

On the way to the restaurant, he said I walked too slowly. For his second trip there, I sent him off on his own so I would not slow him down.  He got his hat; he got his shower; all is well! 

We watch network television using Over-the-Air at home and on the boat. When we scanned for channels, we found precisely zero! Fortunately, we have a series we are watching on Netflix called "Doc", so we watched that instead.

Clark promises a short, only 36 nm, ride tomorrow to Chincoteague, Virginia. If we can, we will tie up in town; otherwise, we will drop anchor. Clark and I both found being on the ocean for hour after hour tedious and will be glad of a short day tomorrow.

2026 October: Arrive Atlantic City NJ anchorage

 5 October 2026
Depart: Horseshoe Cove, Sandy Hook, NJ 8;15
Arrive: Atlantic City, NJ anchorage 6:40
Distance: ~  82.5 nm / 10.5 hours travel time
Conditions: 65 in stateroom / 56 degrees outdoors; slightly foggy

We targeted leaving Sandy Hook at 8:00 and missed the mark by a few minutes. Clark is concerned about the numbers he is reading related to our house battery health. He took some time investigating and diagnosing before we got going.

The day started with waves rolling in from the east that may have been 5-footers. The stabilizers kept us comfortable. As the day progressed the swells reduced in size. Occasionally, one would slam into the boat and we would hear a bang when it hit. Other than the unexpected noise, we really did not notice anything else.

Pictures I took at the beginning of the day showed the residual fog from yesterday. Although the fog lifted, clouds remained throughout the day. 

Starting at Sandy Hook ...

Sun trying to break through the cloud cover

Only Earle Naval Pier appeared to have any sun shining on it.

Earle Naval Pier, NJ

Boat passing in front of Earle

Tanker with NYC in the background

Foggy picture of the Verrazzano Narrows Bridge

Rounding the tip of Sandy Hook, we had a better view of Sandy Hook than New York City.

Atlantic Highlands Bridge

Landmark -- Eastpointe Condominiums Highlands, NJ

Clark pointed out the next point of interest on our trip down the Jersey Shore - Asbury Park, NJ. Home of the Stone Pony where Bruce Springsteen got his start. 

Asbury Park, NJ

The sun tried to get out from behind the clouds. It only partially succeeded before the clouds won out on the contest.

Berkeley Oceanfront Hotel part of Asbury Park Convention Hall on the left

Clark pointed out the "rainbow" building as lying on the boundary of Asbury Park and Ocean Grove, NJ. Here, he said, was where the carousel entertained children of all ages for many years. 

Carousel Building where Asbury Park meets Ocean Grove

Current fuel prices are staggering when taking on large quantities of diesel fuel. Clark called around before we left home to check out fuel prices both in NJ and further south on our route to Florida. Local prices approached $7.00 per gallon which really hurts with the amount of fuel we need. He found a place in Manasquan, NJ that was selling diesel at $6.19 per gallon. 

Fortunately, Captain Bill's was open and located just off the ocean for a quick in and out for more reasonably priced fuel (considering the other options that is). On top of being a lower price in general, they also offered a 10 cents per gallon discount for Boat US membership. So... we got our 125 gallons of diesel for the "low, low" price of $6.09 per gallon. 

Still Clark got better prices from facilities further south, so we only brought our tanks up to 50% full. We will get more fuel later at a hopefully even better price. Fingers crossed!!!

We ducked into Manasquan close to 11:30 (not sure of exact time) and departed their dock with our fuel at noon. The pumps offered a fast fuel, and Clark loves a fast fuel!

Manasquan pictures ...

As we turned to travel between the jetties bordering the channel into Manasquan, I spied a lot of black "dots" out in the ocean by the beach. As I watched, one of the dots stood up on a surf board and rode the surf into the beach. 

Surfers at Manasquan, NJ

At one point I count 11 people in the water

Impressive jetty at Manasquan, NJ

As we exited the area between the jetty structures, we saw many houses / cottages bordering the water. 

Captain Bill's Landing was not well labeled. We saw the sign for fuel but weren't sure it was the place we needed.

Clark called on the radio and someone walked out to signal us to pull up to this dock - nice guy, talkative, friendly! When needed, we would definitely stop here again!

(picture compliments of Google)

Just after noon, we were back on the ocean and continuing south. Of course, the surfers were still having fun as we left the area.

At the beach in Manasquan, NJ -- waiting for the next wave!

When we left Manasquan, we did some distance and time calculations to decide where we would anchor for the night. If we stopped at Barnegat, NJ, we would be done for the day around 2:30 p.m. If we kept going, could we make Atlantic City before dark? We did the math and came up with an arrival at AC of around 6:30 p.m. That is close to sunset; however, we would have twilight until around 7:00 making this option viable. 

If the ocean permits, we are hoping to bypass the Delaware River and Chesapeake Bay to cut a couple of days off our travel time south. The issue with bypassing the Chesapeake, besides weather worries, is finding ports of call where we can get off the ocean for the night to drop anchor. There are only a couple of places that work for our size boat.

Stopping in either Barnegat or Atlantic City instead of Cape May messes up the ideal stopping places, but at least Atlantic City gets us further down the coast. We decided to go for Atlantic City. Given that, I decided I would do dinner prep and pre-cooking so, that once the anchor was down, we could eat as soon as possible. 

Other than when Clark pointed out the Ferris wheel at Seaside Heights, I took little notice of the shoreline. Having seen the Ferris wheel on multiple trips up and down the coast, I did not pull out the camera. 

As we traveled south, we came upon 3 traps randomly located in the ocean. Two were marked with flags that matched them as a pair. The other was partially submerged and difficult to see. Given their peculiar location, we wondered if they were relocated by the Nor'Easter last weekend. Someone is probably wondering where they went. Clark found two more after I left.

I did, however, head down to the galley to pull out a steak to thaw for dinner and chop and prepare / precook veggies for tonight's dinner. 

We calculated our arrival at Atlantic City based on an average speed of 8 knots. Fortunately, we had 9 knots for a portion of the trip reducing our arrival time at Absecon Inlet. Unfortunately, the sun was low in the sky and "blinding" us as we tried to navigate our way into the inlet. I did manage to get some nice AC pictures as the sun set behind the buildings. 

Sunset over Casinos in Atlantic City, NJ

The above picture shows the Absecon Lighthouse to the far right of the picture. As I looked at the scene, it occurred to me that at some point in history, that lighthouse would have been the tallest structure on land to guide boats to the inlet. Today it is hidden and dwarfed!

Absecon Inlet Lighthouse located between tall buildings

Ferris Wheel at Atlantic City, NJ

More sunset pictures as we make our way to tonight's anchorage ...

As we exited the inlet waterway and turned into the Brigantine anchorage, we came face-to-face with a small boat exiting the anchorage. The passageway into the anchorage is narrow. As we entered, the boat in front of us made an "about face" and went back into the anchorage.

We came into the anchorage at high tide, so we had good water. On both sides of the channel in to the anchorage, we could see the marshes.

I took note of a large flock of birds that was taking advantage of a stretch of land as we entered the anchorage. 

Besides the beach-dwelling birds, I spied an osprey proudly perching on a marker.

Osprey

We found a lone boat in the anchorage. 

  

Once in the anchorage, I took a couple more pictures of the impressive sunset colors.

To the west, bright orange and yellow filled the sky.

To the east the sky had a blend of pink and blue hues blended together in the clouds.

With the anchor down, and the upper helm "put to bed", we retired to the galley / salon area where I continued where I left off making dinner. Clark, on the other hand, picked up where he left off this morning worrying about battery levels. 

Even though we had been running on the engine for over 10 hours, the battery charge did not live up to Clark's expectations. While I prepared dinner, he was investigating the reason the battery is not coming up to the preferred levels. He even ran the generator for a while to push more umph into the battery bank. It is not looking good. New batteries were definitely not on our "to do" list! Clark has some ideas to do further research into what is going on with the batteries.

Although we have never ventured in to there before, we are looking into the possibility of going into Ocean City, MD for tomorrow night.