By-Passing Atlantic City

Date            June 3, 2012                            
Day             341
Departure    Canyon Club Resort, Cape May, NJ 6:00 am
Arrival         Howell's Marina, Manasquan, NJ 4:00 pm
Miles                97.0            
Cumulative   5590.1

We awoke early and cast off our lines by 6 am.  The sunrise looked promising of good things to come.  We lead the flotilla of Looper boats Kismet, Jim's Joy, Marc's Ark, Native Son and two other boats that were also heading north.  The destination was to be Atlantic City.  The travel conditions were great.  Bright clear skies, light winds and seas with a rolling swell of about two feet. 

As we approached Atlantic City, three hours later, Bob decided that he wanted to make the most of the conditions (as the next few days were forecasted to be unsettled) and we said our good-bye's to the Loopers we were traveling with by way of the VHF radio.  Our plan was to continue to either Manasquan, NJ or Sandy Hook, NJ depending on how far we wanted to travel.

Atlantic City, NJ as we continued north

Along the way, we spotted this platform of some sort.  Any ideas on what it was??

About seven miles from Manasquan, the decision where to go was made for us.  The skies had darkened, the wind picked up to about 25 mph with stronger gusts and the rain pelted down.  The wind was blowing so hard that the rain was causing a mist on the water and along with the rocking and rolling from the waves, we couldn't see in front of us!  We had never been caught in a squall like this before.  Had we made the wrong decision to by-pass Atlantic City?  Fortunately, the squall lasted only about 10 to 15 minutes and then the sun came back out.  We safely made our way into Manasquan and docked at Hoffmans Marina.  We were tied to the inside of the fuel dock, and this being a big fishing area, were treated to a couple of boats coming into the fuel dock with their catch of the day. 

A 125 pound Mako shark!!

 Shortly before sundown, the rain came again.  After it ended and the sun came out, a beautiful double, double ended rainbow appeared.  I couldn't get the full arc in one picture, so here it is in two halves.

Look close, you can just see the 2nd arc above the 1st one

Tomorrow, Monday, is a full moon.  Full moons cause unusually high and low tides.  It looks like we are already seeing the effects of the full moon on the tides today.  This dock and the two steps is along side our boat and is how we would get from the boat to the main dock.  As you can see, the water is about 2 to 3 inches OVER the dock.  The current through here was at least 2.5 knots, so we weren't about to get off the boat and risk being swept away!!!  We decided dinner on board would be the best choice.