In Cape May we stayed at the Canyon Club Resort Marina – sounds like we’re living high on the hog! It was a lovely place.  A beautiful pool, which we never got in, and a wonderful Memorial Day cookout for everyone at the Marina.  The grilled hot dogs and burgers smelled and tasted great.  There was a courtesy van that took us into the historic part of Cape May.  The town décor is VERY Victorian.  Don’t know that I have ever seen SO much gingerbread trim on houses and buildings.  There is a pedestrian mall that allows shoppers to walk without worries of cars to dodge.  We walked thru Congress Hall – a beautiful old hotel – the kind with lots of polished wood and velvet chairs and sofas.  The ocean beaches were filled with a big weekend crowd and there was also a big crowd of Loopers.  Many of the Looper boats were at another marina – which was fully booked.   We had to hike over a big bridge to get there, but it’s never too far if “docktails” is the end result.  There were a total of 18 Looper boats in port, so we made quite a crowd.  Lots of fun meeting new people and swapping stories.

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We stayed until the weekend crazies were gone, then made our first trek into the open Atlantic Ocean to go to Atlantic City.  There is an inside New Jersey Intracoastal Waterway, but it’s not well maintained and the part to Atlantic City is very shallow.  With recently repaired props, we weren’t willing to gamble on the inside route.  So we gambled on the outside route.  We had some big waves, but nothing we couldn’t survive.  Got to Atlantic City and docked at the Aquarium which included admission.  Thought that an Oceanside city would have an impressive Aquarium, but not so much.  Went through in about 45 minutes – and we looked at EVERYthing.  Then we walked to “the strip.”  Not a Vegas kind of place, but we walked through a casino or two. For all the gambling we’re doing with this boat, we didn’t bother laying down any money in the casino.  

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Planned for the next day by texting, calling, and talking with other Loopers in the area.  At this point, we could get on the Intracoastal – we had been told that it was OK if we were careful.  Several other boats were going back on the outside.  OK – so maybe we’d gamble on the outside. The next morning we weren’t going ANYwhere.  The city was fogged in – the kind of fog that doesn’t want to lift.  Some boats did leave – bigger gamblers than us.  They used radar and eventually made their next port.  We stayed and rode our bikes down the famous Boardwalk.  It was a lot longer than we expected.  Never did quite make it to the end.  Fog didn’t lift until 2:15 PM.

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So the next day we followed another Looper out to the Atlantic.  We got through the inlet and things didn’t look so good.  Much rougher than two days previous.  Got to the 2^nd bouy in the channel and Kathy said – “no way.”  Turned the boat around and returned.  We connected to the inside intracoastal route.  That turned out to be not so deep.  We had a constant eye on the depth finder – listening frequently to the alarm signaling low water.   A Looper (Magic), way ahead of us, called on the radio and warned that he had hit a low area – grounded – and was warning others to go wide around him.  When we reached him, he had started to list.  The towing service got to him and tried, but couldn’t help until high tide would come in.  Later we heard on the radio that his fuel was leaking and the Coast Guard was there trying to help get that under control.  Not a good day.  We continued –  still watching the depth finder.  We were headed to Mansaquan, but had to first go through a canal.  The ride was like a flume ride at a water park. So glad to get through there without hitting a wall!  Then we headed to Captain Bill’s – “no frills” kind of place.  Ate at a great restaurant next door, but we tossed all night as commercial fishing boats went in and out.  Didn’t feel so bad when we later heard that the more expensive marina wasn’t any more comfortable.  Gambling – sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.

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