Saturday 29 September: Atlantic City to Cape May NJ.
We continue our passage south, motoring through a moonlit and rather chilly night. With the glitzy Atlantic City disappearing astern, we enter Cape May channel. In the channel mouth there is a dredger at work and, same as we did while entering St.Augustine, we give him a call on VHF to ask which side to go. As usual he is very polite, saying to Glen “Roger that Capt, you can pass either side of me, as you wish”.
As soon as we are in the lagoon it’s easy to see where the anchorage is by the several mast head anchor lights there. Clearly Cap May is indeed a popular place to stop. In the dark we don’t attempt to find a spot squeezed in between the other anchored yachts but rather drop the anchor closer to the entrance, just off the fairway, away from everyone. Then it’s quickly down below, set the anchor alarm, and off to bed at 4:30am. Happy to be cozy in this tranquil anchorage after being rocked around in the Atlantic for the last 17 hours.
Needless to say, it wasn’t an early morning. We are happy to wake up to clearer sky and some rays of sunshine. Breakfast in the cockpit would certainly be very nice for Alex, after we only served him meals inside the saloon so far.
We then change anchoring place to get ourselves closer to the town and less in the channel, but we are now in only 3m of water. We dinghy ashore, hoping the tide information is correct and Cloudy Bay will not run aground while we are in town. As a precaution, we leave our phone number with the catamaran anchored next to us, just in case…
The very friendly people in South Jersey Marina point us towards a dock where we can safely leave the dinghy. Then it’s walking time! The town is 2km from the dock, and we walk what looks like the main road to town. Pretty Victorian houses on both sides, all neat and tidy. We certainly feel fall has arrived as the green lawns are covered in leaves fallen from the trees. It’s so nice to be out in bright warm sunshine. It’s been a couple of weeks since we had weather like this.
Cape May is the oldest seaside resort in USA. Apparently people have been holidaying here since the late 1700s. Like many towns we have visited, a fire destroyed the town in 1884 so all the buildings are now from this late Victorian period.
In Cape May town, we come across the pedestrianized commercial street, where lots of restaurants, and souvenirs shops are. All very quaint, and very busy. We have our mid-day coffee at Coffee Tyme, a small cafe with beautiful fall decorations on their outside terrace.
Then we walk on Ocean Street along the beach, where we find a picture perfect row of beautiful houses. The beach is very wide with splendid white sand, and on this bright warm day quite a few people basking in the sun. It feels like summer again!
As we walk back towards the town center, we come across the historical center of Cape May, where a row of eight beautifully preserved gingerbread cottages gets us into photographic mode again. Just splendid houses. Particularly in this bright light.
We come across Oktoberfest Fest fair ground and after so much sun, we are certainly ready for a cold beer and a snack in the shade. Which turns into a pumpkin flavored beer and a German sausage on the steps of a house, in the shade. Yummy sausage, not so nice beer.
Recharged, we are ready to continue our walk through the town, then along the beach towards the south end looking for the lighthouse. Beautiful beach here too, such soft white sand and surfers in the waves.
Before sunset, we walk back towards South Jersey Marina where we left the dinghy in the morning, and pay a visit to the marina shop too. While shopping for a fleece, we learn that Lobster House is a very popular restaurant and bar, so we head there for some drinks.
Turns out that one of their bars is actually on an old schooner moored next to the restaurant, and we gladly have a seat and chat the evening away. Few drinks and a dinner later, we are ready to return to Cloudy Bay. Especially that we all feel quite chilly in the night breeze.
Glen is very pleased with the speed we get out of the dinghy. This is the first time we have tested the new wing fitted to the outboard with three people in the dinghy. Previously we could not get on the plane with three. But here we are, flying along and the one mike back to Cloudy Bay is covered in no time. Good, because the evening air is quite chilly now.
Back at mothership we revise the tides for tomorrow’s trip, then for an early night to bed. Very nice day in a very quaint place.
