Cape May, NJ

We had another long day of cruising on Thursday, September 5 traveling from Atlantic City to Cape May.  We could make better time if we traveled outside on the Atlantic rather than the ICW but we weren’t sure about the conditions.  So after leaving our comfortable anchorage at 8:45, we stuck our nose out of the inlet to see how the ocean looked.  It looked choppy with whitecaps so we erred on the side of caution and took the inside route.  We anticipated that it could take us about 8 hours to get to Cape May instead of 5 if we went on the outside.  And once we were underway we thought it might take even longer because the many bridges and no wake zones were really slowing us down. Again, this was to be a day of hyper-vigilance due to the sinuous passage and the often shallow waters.  However, in the long run, it was a beautiful cruise passing by a lot of comfortable waterfront homes (the Jersey short is filled with them)!

And we cruised through long stretches of serene vistas as well.   The whole trip only took us six hours. We were on a rising tide and we thought that maybe the effects of Hurricane Dorian were pushing water into the bay which helped to speed us along..

We arrived  at Utsch’s Marina after stopping at another one for a pump out. We had never stayed at Utsch’s but it’s very popular with loopers. The last time we tried to stay here it was full and we stayed at another more expensive marina.

We docked next to Puffin, a beautiful 42 foot Nordic Tug with very friendly owners, Peter and Cathy. The dockmaster and dock hands were helpful and welcoming and we quickly saw why this marina had such a good reputation.  We planned to stay for two nights waiting for the best weather window and tide schedule for the next leg of our journey up the Delaware Bay to Delaware City.

Jonny had been suffering from an earache for a couple of weeks and finally decided to go to a clinic to have it looked at. A fellow from the marina gave him a ride to the nearby clinic and sure enough, he had an infection and was able to get a prescription for it. Upon his return, the marina (and the general area) lost power but fortunately it came back a couple of hours.  Although Dorian was moving up the coast, we hadn’t expected it to affect us in any significant way other than the fact that in the middle of the night it poured rain and the next day it rained a little on and off during the day.  Lynn put off doing the laundry which was a very long walk from the boat due to pending rain.

That night, we treated ourselves to a true date night by having a delicious  prix fixe dinner (albeit at 5 :00!) at the elegant Peter Shields Inn and Restaurant. The restaurant was located in one of the gorgeous early 1900’s homes that line the road across from Cape May’s beautiful beachfront.  It was a lovely meal with wonderful service and we felt quite pampered.

The next day was bright and sunny.  Jonny did some engine maintenance and fixed one of the bikes so we could go exploring.  However, the fix didn’t hold so we had to borrow one bike from the marina.  We proceeded on our way, cycling through the charming town of Cape May which is filled with Victorian architecture, beautiful homes with welcoming front porches, and and cute shops.

We headed to Ducky’s, recommended by last night’s server as “the place to go” for fresh vegetables. We loaded up our backpack with beautiful fresh vegetables. 

From there we biked along the beach road checking out the gorgeous wide Atlantic beach where quite a few people were enjoying the last vestiges of summer.

The day called for ice cream so we found an ice cream shop on a pedestrian mall in “downtown Cape May”.  Lynn was a little disappointed in this part of town. Though it was attractively laid out, it was more touristy and seemed less authentic than the older, more charming parts of town.  On the way back to Zendo, we stopped at a fabulous fish market run by the Lobster Pot, a very popular (and touristy) restaurant right next door to our marina.  They had stone crabs for $7.50/pound, unheard of to us Miamians where the prices are more than twice that! We bought stone crabs, soft shell crabs, and flounder.  Jonny had bought their lobster salad, potato salad and coleslaw when he was here on his way up north and highly endorsed them so we bought those too.  We would be feasting on fresh seafood for the next several days!

When we returned to Zendo, we were invited aboard our dockmates’ boat, Puffin, for drinks and hors d’oeuvres.  Peter and Cathy are a charming couple from Cincinati with whom we were very simpatico. Too bad we were both leaving the next day - we would have enjoyed spending more time with them.  Hopefully, our paths will cross again!

Afterwards, on our aft deck we indulged in our seafood extravaganza enjoying our fresh stone crabs, soft shell crabs and corn on the cob. What a treat!  The next morning both Puffin and Zendo would be taking advn antage of calm seas and a favorable current on the Delaware Bay to head out to our next ports of call.