June 27-28                      Atlantic City, New Jersey

Our trip to Atlantic City was charted and weather reports were favorable for a day of cruising in the Atlantic.  This would be our first time to venture “outside” (the term used by boaters to refer to the coastal waters outside the ICW).  We were intimidated but not frightened as we had met many others who cruised offshore without incident in boats smaller than ours.  We would leave by 8:30 AM and would arrive in Atlantic City at approximately 1:00 PM.

I was delighted to open the door and be greeted once again by a lovely bag of fresh fruit, the morning edition of The Philadelphia Inquirer, and weather reports from the National Weather Service.  These amenities each morning from the marina provided fruit for our cereal and a newspaper to read over our coffee.  Never before having received such service, we quickly began to look forward to it.  The Philadelphia Inquirer is a great newspaper and was a reminder of how much we have lost with the constant downsizing of The Fort Worth Star-Telegram.  The Inquirer has full national news coverage, great local and regional coverage, and many columnists who provide excellent commentaries, political, humorous, etc.  We have missed the absence in our own newspaper of writers such as Katie Sherrod, Elston Brooks, Molly Ivins, Jim Wright, and others, favorites for many years who have not been replaced.  Possibly the best writer on staff of The Star-Telegram today is Jennifer Engels, a sportswriter whose gutsy commentaries are well-written and fun to read.  But I digress----.

We had no difficulty going through the harbor and Cape May Inlet to the ocean.  Using our charts and autopilot, we established the correct headings that took us without difficulty to Atlantic City.  We were approximately one mile offshore and within sight of land at all times.  The waves were two to three feet, similar to those we had encountered on large bays on our ICW route. Atlantic City was easily reached by 12:00 PM.

Anchoring at Farley State Marina, in front of the Golden Nugget Casino and Hotel, we were amid spectacular yachts and large fishing boats.  Dinner was a light repast on the bridge watching the dock scene and listening to a pseudo-Jimmy Buffett singer on the veranda of the hotel.

On Tuesday, we were awakened by a telephone call from Michael Brinker, the AC repairman.  Our salon A/C system was once again nonfunctional and Michael had agreed to come to Atlantic City to check on the problem.  After three hours below deck and above, he determined that (a) the problem was not related to the previous repair completed in Philadelphia and (b) the compressor for the unit had been fried by some surge that resulted from one or more of any number of causes. He would check on immediate availability and let us know ASAP.

After Michael left, we went to the buffet of the nearby Golden Nugget, had very good food, and great service.  The buffet was immaculate with a large assortment of salads, entrees, vegetables, and desserts.  The collard greens were outstanding as was the bread pudding, made from leftover Danish, cinnamon rolls, and muffins from breakfast with a rich custard sauce.

We visited the adjacent casino and, following my usual custom, I won a little at first and then promptly lost it all.  Twenty dollars in twenty minutes and I am gone.  Obviously, I was not meant to be rich!  Returning to the boat, David remembered he had left his umbrella (it had begun to rain lightly about an hour before we left the boat) in the casino.  I continued to the boat and about an hour later, he came in with a big smile across his face.  He had lost sixty dollars, won seventy-six, and we were down only the fourteen that I had lost.  It was briefly fun but we both agreed that playing slots was generally boring.

A call from Michael confirmed that the needed part was in stock but would have to be shipped from Florida.  We would continue to New York and hope that the recommended repair person could complete the job there.  The weather remains cool and pleasant and the AC is working well below deck.  The galley and staterooms are cool so we are not suffering.

June 22-26           Cape May, New Jersey

Cape May has captivated us.  We love the marina, the weather, the town, and the people.  We have decided to stay a week before leaving for Atlantic City and then New York.  We will have plenty of time for our planned arrival on June 30 at Liberty Landing Marina in Jersey City, New Jersey, located across from Lower Manhattan and near the Statue of Liberty.  We will use the time in Cape May to complete the seat change project on the bridge.  Our three seats behind the helm area are too low for good visibility through the plastic curtains on the front.  David has bought lengths of aluminum pipe which he will cut to fit over the existing stands to make extensions.  Using a hand saw and a small electric saw, he says it can be easily accomplished.    I plan to complete the exterior cleaning job that was not done properly in Philadelphia.  Contracted to clean the boat at an exorbitant fee, the dockhand merely washed it (and not too well).  We were visiting with a neighboring boater when he announced that the job was finished and replied affirmatively to my queries about his work.  Unfortunately, I did not leave and inspect his work before paying him.  I’ve learned another lesson about trusting supposed expertise of others and now I am doing the work that he did not!

Our stay will not be all work.  We rode our bikes to the Washington Mall with its charming shops and restaurants.  Unexpectedly, I found some unique gift items that we purchased for Christmas presents.  An open air trolley ride introduced us to Cape May and its history, including the famous Cape May Lighthouse, still guiding vessels safely into Delaware Bay from the Atlantic Ocean.  The Mall has a tiny Dairy Queen located in a charming two-story wooden building painted in various shades of pink.  Their menu was small—ice cream products and hot dogs.  No hamburgers, French fries, chicken or steak fingers, the staples of Texas DQs.

We continue to marvel at the quantity of beautiful Victorian style homes and the profusion of hydrangeas which surrounds them.  These gorgeous flowers, white, blue, pink, deep rose, and lavender, are plate sized and massed in large bushes. They provide a horticultural display that is worthy of any Botanical garden.

The bridge seat project necessitated several more bike rides to the hardware store (we never seem to get everything on the first visit).  The sidewalks and curb cuts provide a traffic free route although we have to watch carefully for surfaces that are not level due to the eruptions of large roots from old trees. Cape May has many trees which border almost every street.  We are now seeing beautiful, stately, purple-leafed beeches, indigenous to the Northeast, and one of our favorites.

Saturday was spent completing the bridge seat project.  It was slow-going but was finally finished and  looked great.  We celebrated with dinner of take-out pizza from the restaurant across from the marina and watched a fiery sunset from the bridge. 

Sunday was a good day to relax and get ready to leave for Atlantic City.  The boat was clean and beautiful, the seats were perfect, and the route was plotted on the GPS.  We had made reservations for dinner at Panico’s, a local favorite.  Since it does not get dark until after nine o’clock, we felt safe in riding our bikes to this lovely little restaurant.  Panico’s is located in a small wooden structure that was formerly a church.  It retains the steeple, high ceilings, wooden floors, and tall slender windows of the original.  Pews have been replaced by small tables and a wood-burning oven for pizza (almost every restaurant in Cape May seems to have that item on its menu).  The food was Italian-influenced and very, very good.

  Afterwards, we paid a final visit to Washington Mall, crowded with people looking into the shops, sitting on the benches, eating ice cream, and strolling in the cool evening temperature. Looking into the galleries, we found a lovely framed print that we thought to be perfect for our middle stateroom.  The price was right but there was a problem of transportation to the boat.  It was too large to carry on the bikes and the distance to the boat was too far to walk.  The proprietor told us she would deliver it to us when she left the shop at    11: 00 PM.  Now that is customer service!   

  

June 21                                   Cape May, New Jersey

We were eager to see Cape May and took down the bicycles for a long ride about the town.  Only minutes after leaving the dock, David had a call from the office and returned to his computer.  We agreed to meet when he finished.  I chose to take the route that led around the island to the beach.  The weather was cool with only a slight breeze—a perfect day for biking.

Cape May is proud of being the nation’s first seashore resort.  At the turn of the century, it rivaled Newport as a summer destination.  Presidents Lincoln, Grant, Harrison, and McKinley vacationed here.  Designated as a National Historic Site, Cape May boasts of more than four hundred Victorian-style homes, many of them built in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.  Most of the larger ones are now bed and breakfasts or inns.  They dominate Beach Drive and are showplaces of architectural design with gorgeous lawns and magnificent displays of hydrangeas, lilies, begonias, and periwinkles.  Every street was clean and buildings were painted and well-kept.  Civic pride was evident as I encountered residents who were eager to share information about sites to visit, tours, and restaurants.

David soon called and we rendezvoused at the small outdoor pedestrian mall that comprises the shopping center of the town.  After a lunch of fried oysters and chicken salad (an unusual combination which was featured on menus of several restaurants), we had a long bike ride along the beach and through the residential area.

Cape May’s beach was filled with bathers and dotted with colorful umbrellas and tents.  The modest charge to enter the beach areas pays for cleaning and maintenance.  For several miles, it was a picture postcard scene of blue water, white sand, and green dunes.  With few buildings between the beach and the boardwalk (actually asphalt), the view from Beach Drive was unobstructed far out into the ocean.

Returning to the boat, David decided to lower the dinghy into the water.  I opted to lie on the sofa and read my newly purchased book and take a nap.  My rest was soon disturbed by men’s voices giving directions, advising caution, and making comments concerning the dinghy.  I surmised there was a problem but opted to let others solve it.  I continued my nap.  After an hour or so, I awakened to find the dinghy in the water, the light on our new stern camera broken, and four men standing on the dock drinking bottles of beer.  Apparently, David and the dockhand had a line, hooked to the dinghy, become tangled. It failed to lift properly and broke the camera light (fortunately, the camera, which aids in docking, was unharmed). When the dinghy settled into the water, it quickly began to sink.  The drain plug had not been replaced when the dinghy was serviced several months ago. Hearing the commotion, three men rushed over and helped to retrieve it before it sank. The dinghy and its 40 HP motor were heavy but, with the aid of the connection to the davit on the bridge, they were successful  in keeping it upright.The were rewarded with beer from our fridge. David was embarrassed but was quickly assured that “it happens to everyone.”   We are learning we should not assume anything despite the supposed expertise of others.

June 20                                   Cape May, New Jersey

We planned an early morning departure from Philadelphia for our nine hour journey to Cape May. Preparations had been made the evening before so we would not be delayed.  David checked all the systems of the boat and I settled all matters with the marina.  We would travel south on the Delaware River to the junction of the C & D canal and Delaware Bay, turn east into the Bay and continue for approximately five hours to Cape May on the Atlantic shore.  Weather predictions were favorable.  Our information had warned it could be extremely unpleasant and possibly dangerous to be in Delaware Bay during rainy or windy weather.  After leaving our marina, there was no other place for us to dock except at Delaware City—and we had found that to be inadequate when we stayed there on our previous journey.  We would make the long trip to Cape May in one day.

Shortly after 5:00 AM, we untied the lines, started the engines, and left the marina.  Two minutes later, David calmly stated, “We’ve lost our steering and we have to go back.”  Using the gear and throttle controls, he managed to turn about, enter the marina, move close to the dock so we could throw a line around a cleat (dockhands were not available at that early time), and secure the boat.

After examining the steering mechanism, checking manuals, etc., David called Carleton, who had taken care of the boat for many years when it was in Fort Myers, Florida.  They conferred and determined there was a steering fluid issue.  Since we had very little steering fluid on board, I was dispatched to a service station four blocks from the marina while David continued to learn about the problem. 

The addition of steering fluid and subsequent “bleeding of the lines” finally was successful.  At 10:00, we agreed to start for Cape May.  We had marina reservations there and they would have dock help until 8:00 PM.  We should reach the marina before it closed and the weather was so perfect, we did not want to risk it changing by the next day.

It was great to be cruising and we again enjoyed the experience of passing the huge ships at the Naval Boat Yard and meeting the massive tankers coming up river.  Unlike our previous journey up the Delaware to Philadelphia, we were not constantly under attack by floating logs, auto wheels, and other debris—the river was clear.

Delaware Bay is huge and at one point, land was only barely visible on either side. Our GPS functioned perfectly and we had no difficulty finding Cape May Canal, the narrow entrance to Cape May Harbor from the Bay.  Reaching our marina only a few minutes past 7:00 PM, we were almost secured to the dock when I began to query a dockhand about the area.  It was about three miles from town, the restaurant was closed, and there was nothing else nearby.  Remembering that the owners of this marina also owned another one, I asked if the other place would have a better location for us.  He immediately stated that it would be much better since the best seafood restaurant in town was located there.  We called, made a reservation, untied and headed across the harbor to the other marina.  Hidden behind a fleet of commercial fishing boats,  South Jersey Marina was not easy to find but it was well worth the effort.  Small, quaint, immaculate, and hosting, to our surprise, several huge yachts, it was minutes from town and the beach.  We finally docked at 7:45 PM.  It had been a long day.  Dinner at The Lobster House, only a few yards from the Marina was a great reward for our efforts.

June 16-June 19                     Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Our return to the boat had been delayed an extra week while David went to Seattle on business.  We were delighted to arrive in Philadelphia in the early afternoon to find that The Bottom Line looked great and the salon air conditioning unit was functioning beautifully.  Barbara and Michael had watched over the boat and made sure that it was not damaged by the debris that washed into and out of the harbor.

After unpacking, we took our rental car and headed for the nearest Costco, across the Ben Franklin Bridge to Mount Laurel, New Jersey.  David is never happier than when he is roaming through the aisles of Costco and this one had many items that we don’t have stocked in our store in Fort Worth.  We were there for almost two hours and spent a sum only slightly less than the national debt.  Afterwards, we stopped at a large grocery store to buy additional items.  We were trying to stock the freezer and pantry for our Fourth of July weekend when Dave, Suzanne, Gloria, Blake, and Amanda will visit us in New York harbor.

The cool weather and occasional thunderstorms were a great relief from the horrible heat and dryness of Texas.  We were in no hurry to rush about and were delighted to spend the following day on the boat completing projects and SGA work.  Saturday, we drove to South Philly and walked the Italian Market, which fills the sidewalks and shops for several blocks.  This unique market is a continuation of the custom of pushcart vendors which served the Italian families in this area for many years prior to World War II.  Many of the shops are owned by descendants of these early immigrants.  We spent over an hour perusing the great specialty food shops and meat markets.

Leaving the Italian Market, we drove through the beautiful Society Hill area and the tourist packed Historical District to Reading Terminal Market to look at more food shops.  Housed in a former train station near City Hall, the Reading Market is open daily and is filled with meat, produce, fruit, and food specialties as well as small booths with all kinds of cooked foods.  One section is devoted to Amish products and foods.  Booths in this area are tended by Amish men and women in traditional garb.  Music was blaring, the aisles were packed with people, and the noise level was great.  We decided to lunch instead at the quieter, more pleasant Maggiano’s across the street.  It was a good choice and we indulged in great fried zucchini before halving a more than ample eggplant parmigiano with a deliciously light marinara sauce.

After lunch, we visited the Pennsylvania Academy of Art, housed in a unique architectural treasure, with an exterior of staid traditional nineteenth century design that belies its fanciful  Moorish designed interior.  The PAA counts as alumni some of America’s most noted artists, including Mary Cassatt and Thomas Eakins.  Its permanent collection includes significant works by Rembrandt Peale, Gilbert Stuart, Benjamin West, and others from the early days of this nation, in addition to paintings by Winslow Homer, Thomas Eakins, and more recent artists.

I wanted to return to the PAA to show David the building and to see The Gross Clinic, a recently acquired painting by Eakins that had been the possession for many years of a medical school in Philadelphia where Dr. Gross had taught.  The school decided to sell the painting and a successful fundraising effort in Philadelphia made possible the purchase which kept it in the city.  The composition and style of the painting is reminiscent of Rembrandt’s great work also celebrating the contribution of a noted physician, The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp.

Returning to the boat, we met John Jaran, whose beautiful sports fishing boat, Miracle, was docked ahead of us.  John accepted our invitation for happy hour and generously spent considerable time with our charts and cruising guides to show us the best places to visit as we headed northward.  John is originally from New England and has extensive boating experience.  We were delighted to receive his guidance and have the opportunity to visit with him.  He encouraged us to go to Block Island and Nantucket and made David promise he would purchase for me a Nantucket Bucket, a small golden bucket worn as a reminder of a visit to this charming little island.  I am looking forward to it!

On Sunday, we loaded our bicycles into the car and drove to the rental return office, located a little over a mile from the marina.  After turning in the car, we rode bikes through the Historical District and marveled again at the incredible pristine beauty of this part of the city.  Arriving at the marina, David remembered he had left the access card for the parking lot in the car.  The deposit was $100.  I agreed to ride back to the return office and retrieve the key.  In payment for this effort, David agreed to cook dinner and clean the galley.   He did a great job!