We stayed on the outside until about 1:00 when the wind and waves picked up and it was getting just too uncomfortable. There are not many places along the Jersey sure that are safe to pull into and we were just getting to the Barnagut Bay inlet which was our best bet. Jonny muscled his way into that challenging inlet and we proceeded on the narrow sinuous channel that would bring us to the ICW. We continued on that skinny channel which required a lot of concentration. This was not a relaxing cruising day! We did cruise through some serene areas and passed this beautiful isolated house in Little Egg Harbor (love that name)!
By 5 p.m., we arrived at an anchorage noted on the chart, but it was wide open and had a very strong current. Jonny wasn’t comfortable with the situation so we decided to push on to Atlantic City. It should be noted that we were pushing to make it to Cape May to get ahead of the remains of Hurricane Dorian before it impacted our area.
As we neared our anchorage we watched as a helicopter seemed to airlift someone from a nearby fishing boat. We were not sure if it was a practice maneuver or for real. There was no chatter on the radio to indicate either situation.
By 6:30, after a 12 1/2 hour cruise, we arrrived at a very protected anchorage in Atlantic City called Brigantine across from Harrah’s Casino. It was a nice, calm spot with only two other boats that were on mooring balls.
Jonny had been manning the helm for most of the trip and he was pretty tired. Lynn made a dinner of pork tenderloin marinated in jalapeƱos in adobo sauce which we cooked on the grill. That and a tossed salad made for a satisfying dinner after a long and stressful day (particularly for Jonny). Harrah’s and nature provided an amazing light show. Following that extravaganza, we had a quiet evening and fell into bed early.