Cape May and off to Annapolis

As I said, the 6 hour run from New York City to Cape May, New Jersey was picture perfect. The only issue we really ran into was leaving New York harbor and the debris fields we would encounter. You would think a boat had sunk with the mile long trails of telephone poles, chairs, stumps, and whole trees. I’m not sure how people that boat up here avoid replacing props and shafts every year.
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The last hour of the run into Cape May was great with Susie and I sitting on the bridge with the boat bobbing along, and good music playing…
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I wanted to stay at Schooner’s Landing which is a 4 mile run north after you enter the Cape May inlet on the ocean side but when I called on Friday, they were booked. I ended up getting a reservation at Canyon Club but there is really not much there to do. As we pulled into Cape May, I asked Susie to call up to Schooner’s Landing and just see what they said and they said “SURE! Come on up!” Why is it that when I call and a guy answers the phone they never have room but when Susie calls back with her female voice, they always have room? Must be my sparkling personality. I cancelled the Canyon Club reservation.
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Why did we want to stay at Schooner’s Landing? Because my Atlantic Cruising Club (ACC) book rates Canyon Club at “3 Bells” (check upper right corner):

And Schooner’s Landing at “4 Bells”:
And I’m so sick of staying on the boat at this point, I need all the frickin’ bells I can get.

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The cruising guide and charts call this trek northward the Intracoastal Waterway but it’s not like the southern ICW where barge traffic is moving through. This is like swamp land that is “deep enough” for larger sportfishing and cruising pleasure boats can dock. You have to go through this bridge:
And past a fishing boat fleet: And through the swampland:
To get to Wildwood:
I’m also not sure where the town of “Wildwood” is but there where several stores and restaurants within a few blocks of the marina. Most importantly, there was a grocery store, a liquor store, and a restaurant that served cheap food:
We ate dinner there. Here’s a happy looking family. Just a note: The potato skins appetizer does in fact have “cheez wiz” on them.
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Plus, the kids wanted to go down and check out the boardwalk….
I didn’t walk to the boardwalk with them. This foot of mine is turning into a really convenient excuse not to do things I don’t want to… Here’s the boardwalk: And a view as they were walking up to it:
And the family always buys nice things for Dad: I wasn’t there but they said the rides were really expensive… Like $60 a ride for some. Ouch!
We were planning on heading down to Annapolis on Saturday but we awoke to some really bad weather moving in. A front was coming at us from the west: So there is no way I was going out in that garbage. Susie and I watching one of those charter fishing boats that hold about 50 people go out right into a wall of black clouds and lightning that morning. Idiots.
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We decided just to stay at Schooners for the day and do laundry and do some other chores around the boat. The weather cleared up later in the day but the radar showed storms popping up all up and down the coast and it wasn’t worth the chance of getting hit and getting to Annapolis.
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Sunday morning we headed out early to get to Annapolis. On the way out, one passes by a big Coast Guard training facility:

The weather forecast didn’t look too bad. NOAA had put up a small craft advisory for the northern Chesapeake Bay with winds gusting to 20 knots but how rough can that part of the world get? The Delaware Bay had forecast winds of 10 knots out of the NW and waves “1 foot or less”… Now the Delaware Bay has an orientation of NW to SE and is notoriously rough especially when winds are aligned along the bay. I told Susie I wanted to get out early before the waves built up so we got out by about 7:30 am.

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Well… Once we cleared the inlet on the Delaware Bay side, the “1 foot or less” was total CRAP! My wind meter on the top of the boat is indicating winds blowing at 20 knots or so and gusting to 28 knots out of the NW. To add icing to the whole thing, the tide was moving in at maximum ebb (about 2 knots) against the wind. The bay was a total carpet of white caps and very steep 3-4 footers. It was like someone hitting the boat with a wrecking ball.

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I could not make any speed in this slop. Susie turns around and yells at me “Can’t you slow it down and trim the nose down?!!” I think she’s on to how to drive the boat. I ended up having to back it down to 1500-1600 RPMs and nosing the boat down and plowing through the stuff. We had spray shooting over the bridge and it took 3 ½ hours to get up the bay. I think a sailboat passed me at one point… on a tach even.

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So we got into the Chesapeake Bay where this small craft warning was and the bay was picture perfect weather. Unbelievable.

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Made our way down to Annapolis and docked and the Yacht Basin and washed the 2 inches of salt that was crusted on everything off. We went up to the Federal House for dinner and retired for the evening.

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Our plan is to stay in Annapolis until Tuesday morning and then head south... Maybe I'll go buy the owner of Club Sea Ray lunch or something...