Depart: Cape May Utsch's Marina 10:10
Arrive: Atlantic City Kammerman's Marina 3:10
Distance: 39 nm
Heavy rain fell prior to dawn and the threat continued into the morning. We decided to delay our departure until the threat had passed. As we waited out the weather, we could hear the wind howling at the dock. The winds sounded much worse than the predicted 17 knots.
Given a damp chill in the air, we opted to drive from the pilot house today. I reminded Clark before we left to remove the protective covers we have over the wipers. I had no desire to go out in a gale to play with windshield wipers while underway. We finally got underway shortly after 10:00.
Expecting waves of 3 to 4 feet in height, we headed out into the Atlantic Ocean via the Cape May inlet. As we approached the inlet, we found winds in the vicinity of 25 knots. As we made our way out into the ocean, we found steep and frequent waves measuring up to 6' in height. Today's ride would definitely not be boring!
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| Driving from the Pilot House (a rare event) |
With the wind and the waves, we got pounded by salt spray repeatedly. When the spray hit the front windows, we had zero visibility until the wipers swept across.
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| Reduced Visibility Due to Salt Spray |
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| Salt water pouring down the sides of the boat into the cockpit |
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Wild Waves in the Atlantic |
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| View through the starboard side salon window |
The Krogan Express managed the waves remarkably well. Still, our stabilizer does not stop the boat from the up and down experienced when climbing over waves. At times, as we rode the waves, the action on board made me want to yell out "Yee Haw" like a bronco rider! As long as I was sitting, I was fine.
With high winds, steep waves, and low visibility, what was missing to make the ride complete? Traps! We found them way off shore in depths over 37' of water. Out of nowhere, Clark said, "A trap!" As we sat precisely halfway between Cape May and our destination of Atlantic City when he spied the trap, we had a two-hour ride in either direction and did not want to be impaired by an encounter with a fish trap. Spotting traps in 6-foot waves is nearly impossible, so we hoped we would see any others in time to avoid a confrontation.
When I needed to move around on the boat, however, the waves made the ride very interesting. We have a rather steep, 5-step ladder / stairs down to the heads. Navigating the steps and making it to the toilet unscathed definitely presented a challenge. Expecting waves, I made sandwiches before we left the dock, so the only challenge with serving up lunch became getting to the galley and back. I use plastic baskets to serve food on board when underway to make carrying food easier while holding onto the boat.
After lunch, try as hard as I could, I could not keep my eyes open. I finally fell over sideways on the sofa in the pilot house, pulled my jacket over my shoulders, and drifted off to sleep. Poor Clark was left to navigate the waves and watch for traps all on his own for at least an hour. I woke up abruptly, however, when he opened the half-door in the pilot house for a view outside. A blast of freezing cold air rushed over me and had a similar effect to him dumping a cold bucket of water over my head. I sat up practically sputtering from the surprise. I stayed awake after that!
As we approached Atlantic City, we could see the buildings in the distance.
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| Finally Reaching Atlantic City |
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| Coming into Absecon Inlet |
Having stayed there several times before, we once again docked at Kammerman's Marina. We tied up against their bulkhead for the night where we had a view looking directly at Harrah's Resort across the water.
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| View of Harrah's from Kammerman's Marina |
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| View at dock |
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| Tied to Bulkhead at Kammerman's Marina |
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| Tree shedding its petals |
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| Onto our boat - what a mess! |
Not much is near Kammerman's Marina in terms of stores. Unfortunately, I had run out of bread and needed to figure something out. Fortunately, a convenience store sits only 5 minutes away by bicycle, so we grabbed the bikes and went for a ride.
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| Building disappearing into the fog on the street in Atlantic City |
Clark complained as we rode into the wind about the cold temperatures. We made the trip to and from the store in near record time. After we returned to the boat, we stayed on board for the rest of the night.
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